Pastor Caught on Camera Shoving Elderly Church Member Down Steps (Video)

Tensions are boiling over at a South Bay church after surveillance video surfaced appearing to show its pastor shoving an elderly woman down concrete steps.

On Sunday, a group of members from Beulah Land Missionary Baptist Church in Gardena, CA gathered outside the building, calling for Pastor Lorenz Roseman to step down following the disturbing incident.

The video, recorded on October 7, 2025, appears to show Roseman pushing longtime church elder Elise McTaw through a metal gate and down a short flight of cement steps as she stood near the church entrance. In the footage, McTaw can be seen holding onto the gate before losing her balance and falling hard to the ground.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:

McTaw claims she suffered fractured toes and a broken wrist in the fall.

Roseman was taken into custody but released after two days on a promise to return to court. Since then, he has resumed preaching, telling supporters that a majority of congregants voted during a business meeting to allow him to remain as pastor.

In a statement addressing the controversy, Roseman claimed the confrontation stemmed from internal church disputes. He said he had removed certain influential members after investigating what he described as unethical or illegal behavior. According to him, those individuals then attempted to remove him and filed legal actions he says were dismissed as frivolous.

But for many in the congregation, that explanation doesn’t justify what they saw on video.

“He does not get to put his hands on anyone. That is not okay. He has to go,” church member Dr. Ta-Taneisha Thames told KTLA.

Community activist Najee Ali of Project Islamic Hope also spoke out, pointing to a brace worn by McTaw as evidence of the injuries she says she sustained.

“This is what the pastor did,” Ali said. “That’s why the members of the church are asking him to step down.”

As the legal case moves forward, the divide within the church appears far from healed, with some backing their pastor and others insisting that accountability must come first.