In the previous post about Redeemer Church of Charlotteville’s departure from the Sovereign Grace Ministries family of churches, a reader – “Empty” – said the following:
I have a concern that I have never seen addressed… I don’t know what the answer is, but honestly, the idea of churches leaving doesn’t thrill me. I am very anti-sgm… they sicken me. I spent far too many years of my life there and will never, ever go back. Not even to a church that used to be a part and has left. I want to be forgiving and I know that people can change and grow, but I also know how ingrained the sgm way becomes and have little to no faith at all that leaving will change a lot. I guess what I’m trying to say is, there is a certain sense of “safety” in being associated with sgm because I know to stay away, and many others do, too. But when a church leaves and is independent or joins another group, it is still going to have the same mindset and the same issues, just under a different name, and there won’t be that sgm warning label. I’m terrified of ever getting involved with something like sgm again. Nothing is new — yes, there is lots out in the open now that was concealed for so long, but come on, it’s been there all along, and many of us saw all the junk years ago. The main thing different now is that more people are talking about it after being hushed for so long under the “gossip and slander” cr*p. If they had left before it was looking “cool” to leave, they would have had my utmost respect. But leaving now, when they know they have a fan base of anti-sgm’ers? Um, no, I just see a bunch of churches going off on their own (or starting a new group) that is no longer associated with sgm but is still full of the same stuff. Yes, God can and does change hearts — but behavior is deeply rooted and it’s not going to change just because a church is no longer part of sgm. Pastors have been trained a certain way, and have patterns that have become a part of them — so much so that I have no doubt they don’t even realize how far off they are. I know my feelings are strong, but honestly, the only hope for true change and reform to me is that it all comes crashing down and any new churches start from scratch with brand new leadership.
What do you think? Is leaving the SGM organization an adequate solution for a Sovereign Grace Ministries church that wishes to address SGM’s issues?
August 27th, 2012 at 2:10 am
Izze 197
I saw the same tweets. Perhaps Mohler recommended that CJ and others at SGCL, take some courses?
Academics have historically been challenging for CJ, but Mohler would not have to twist CJ’s arm to at least try. CJ always said he wished he could attend seminary.
Still, it seems as if he will be be teaching in some capacity there as well, even if only sessions like the marriage seminar.
I also saw somewhere that Jeff Purswell will be doing some teaching at SBTS. This could become a kind of a cozy arrangement down there, eh?
MAK 194 That’s fine as long as they are releasing information to CLC members.
August 27th, 2012 at 4:50 am
@ cult watcher on comment 176
I personally have no desire to hear the tapes. I do however feel that they could be significant in proving that C.J. has not been completely genuine with his apology to us.
August 27th, 2012 at 6:46 am
Perhaps he is taking courses at SBTS like his sons-in-law in order to be ordained by the Baptists. Perhaps he would like to merge Sovereign Grace with the Baptists.
Where did the puking emoticon go?
He’s actually already very skilled at working with the Baptists. He’s been going into towns and splitting their churches for decades.
August 27th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Oh, Yentl!
As a Roman Catholic (Wait! HOW did a papist get on this comment thread?????!!!!!) I LOVED your comment.
Blessings!
August 27th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Gutless ….
That will be my word of the year if churches leaving SGM don’t talk about THE issue and leave like a bunch of ungodly men afraid (once again) of other men!
Pastors, please go back and read the Apostle Paul’s writings … Especially when he calls out INDIVIDUALS (which includes their name and sin) for all eternity to read. He did it to warn the others not to follow in their foot steps…
Don’t be a wimp! Call out Mahaney, Harvey, Connolly, Loftness, Kauflin, et al, for their unrepentant sin!
August 27th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Somewhere 205
CJ & Co. have made it fairly clear they will not be repenting for any more of their past deeds. Probably the best we can hope for now is to warm others from following them and hold SGM churches accountable for current and future acts.
Though a trickle of folks seem to continue to follow them, there is also a trickle of x-patriots fleeing. We met more of them this week at the non-sgm-church we attend. God is faithfully leading disappointed members away from SGM. And these ones hadn’t even read any of the blogs!
August 28th, 2012 at 5:59 am
Which is why I say “Release the tape!”
It will bring down their kingdom.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Here’s an excerpt from a Washington Times article:
Church leaders later apologized to Justin.
“There was admittance as to wrongdoing as to the way he was treated,” Larry Tomczak told me. “I and my wife wait for the same thing to be admitted to us.”
Now notice the date. 2008. 2 years before everything came to a head.
The link is below.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/06/evangelist-tomczak-still-a-force/
August 28th, 2012 at 10:10 am
Releasing the tapes won’t accomplish much that hasn’t already been accomplished. Such a strategy might actually backfire.
In the winter, he says accepts Reformed doctrine. In the spring, he says he’s taking a 6-12 month leave of absence to deal with family problems. In the fall, after only 4 months, he says he doesn’t accept Reformed doctrine and that he’s ready to end his leave of absence. When he tells the leadership, he’s leaving, the reason he gives is doctrinal disagreement. When he publicly announces his departure, the reasons he offers don’t include doctrine.
Before C.J.’s leave of absence, he announces they’re reconciled. In the announcement, he makes much of C.J. and other SGM leaders humbling themselves, flying to Nashville, listening to him at length, admitting they were wrong, apologizing, and asking for forgiveness. After the panel report, he issues a statement entitled, “What really happened.” After the AoR report, he issued another statement, “7 Points of Concern.” Meanwhile, he spends 250 hours preparing for the AoR interview.
Now that C.J. has been reinstalled as president and now that SGM is relocating its headquarters, with Brent still cranking out letters and declarations, and with Larry still answering Brent and obviously urging him on, you want him to release the tapes and announce, “Here’s what they really said according to their own voices.”
People will wonder, “You’ve already sent copies of the tapes to 6 prominent ministers outside SGM and they’ve already sent their assessment to the SGM board. You’ve already played the tapes to the investigators. By your own account, everyone involved has already confessed. What are you hoping to accomplish by releasing the tapes to the public?”
I might not have the chronologies exactly right, but there’s only so many times a guy can offer a contradicting version before he loses credibility. Even if he acted under duress, and clearly he was under extreme duress, even if we believe his account, and I’m definitely inclined to believe Larry’s account before I believe C.J.’s account, at a certain point, you have to ask, “How long and how far are you going to pursue this?”
Do you want him saying on his deathbed, “They blackmailed me, they blackmailed me! It was blackmail, blackmail, not coercion, blackmail…” ?
If he’s truly convinced that C.J. and the gang have changed, that they no longer treat people the way they treated him, then his next public announcement needs to be that its safe to be a member of an SGM church, not that he’s still waiting to hear accurate terminology about the way he was treated.
He knows about the blogs. He knows about the testimonies of spiritual abuse. He’s even listed over 100 former leaders who were similarly burned by SGM. But instead of stating that there’s something fundamentally wrong and dangerous about SGM, it’s all about how the admissions about how he was treated aren’t strongly worded enough.
August 28th, 2012 at 2:35 pm
Cult Watcher -- were you, yourself a part of an SGM church? If not, how did you become acquainted with the whole mess?
August 28th, 2012 at 4:48 pm
I’m getting the gist that Cult Watcher was burned by another cultish-behaving ministry (Maranatha? Bob Weiner?) that Larry Tomczak has since somehow become connected with in some way, and that tracing that former cult has led him/her to the SGM saga.
I’m thinking he/she sees in SGM the familiar signs of a cultic system, but isn’t inclined to like or trust LT (or BD) because he is aligned with something/someone on Cult Watcher’s bad list.
The original cult is the main target, LT is second by association, and SGM et al because they came within the crosshairs.
August 28th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
“Cult Watcher — were you, yourself a part of an SGM church? If not, how did you become acquainted with the whole mess?”
Bob Weiner’s association with Rice Broocks, Rice Broocks’ association with Larry Tomczak, Larry Tomczak’s reconciliation with C.J. Mahaney, Brent Detwiler’s accusations against C.J. Mahaney. Then the Josh Harris factor and the move to Louisville.
Somewhere in this process. I discovered the SGM Survivors and SGM Refuge sites. At SGM Refuge, I found a lot of spiritual abuse testimonies indicating a distinct cult pattern that bore a chilling resemblance to Maranatha. At the SGM Survivors site, I found child molestation coverup cases that so alarmed me, I notified the media.
So I came in the back way.
I had an interest in Larry and C.J. from way back because they used to speak at Maranatha conferences and because everyone in Maranatha read People of Destiny magazine.
Between sessions, C.J. and Bob wrestled. At the beginning of the next session, C.J. said, “Wrestling with Bob is like wrestling with a wild boar.” During one session, Bob had everyone sing the same song over and over. He kept saying, “One more time.” (It was that popular dancing song about King David). After the session, Larry ran into Bob by the hotel elevator. Larry started dancing and teasing Bob by saying, “OK, one more time Bob.”
(It was during this time that Larry got hit with that multimillion dollar lawsuit by the author of “I’m OK, You’re OK.” Larry was on the cover of Christianity Today. CT called him, “The 7 Million Dollar Man.” After the lawsuit was filed, when Larry spoke at the next Maranatha conference, we couldn’t help but notice he was careful to reference the media article he was quoting from, even to say, “Quote…unquote.”
When me and another member of my Maranatha congregation saw Larry at a restaurant between sessions, the other member explained that a friend in his hometown invited Larry to speak at the local Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship, but Larry had to decline because he was distracted by the lawsuit. This chapter of the FGBF tapped speakers from the local Maranatha chapter and the Maranatha conferences.”)
C.J. and Larry tried to confront Bob about shepherding abuses. C.J. wrote Bob off for a while, but at a conference years later, was seen taking communion with him. A Maranatha board member told me Larry stood up at a Maranatha board meeting, looked down at Bob, and said, “This is the most ungodly, oppressive thing I’ve ever seen, Bob. When are you going to stop this?”
Larry was one of the few close friends Bob had outside Maranatha who never broke with him. How ironic that C.J.’s organization would later practice the same shepherding abuses and that Larry would become a victim.
Rice was Bob’s right hand man. Several years after Maranatha disbanded, Rice started a new denomination with 2 major Maranatha board members. The original church membership roster was mostly former Maranatha chapters. It was Maranatha minus Bob Weiner.
Several years later, along came the Internet and former Maranatha members exposed Rice. So he changed the name of his denomination. Then the Champions for Christ mess and the Phil Bonasso mess. Then Rice stepped down as president.
A few years later, Larry bumps into Rice at Carnegie Hospital in Nashville. They both conclude it’s a divine appointment (isn’t one of Larry’s books about divine appointments?). They do some brainstorming, then set up an organization to train church planting pastors. Then Larry moves to Nashville.
I’ve been watching Larry’s situation ever since. Because if Larry ever crosses Rice in any way, he’ll get burned by Rice the way he was burned by C.J.
I visited CLC once several years ago. C.J. had just stepped down and turned CLC over to Josh. I attended the reception for visitors. The reception was conducted by Kenneth. One of the visitors asked about theology. Kenneth said, “Reformed.” I though, “C.J. Mahaney has embraced Reformed theology? I guess it’s been a while since I had my finger on the pulse.” Another doubletake.
I spoke with him after the reception. I was looking for people interested in a certain country, which I can’t name. I explained to him that because of the sensitivity of the situation in this particular country, I could not reveal my identity. Apparently this was a stumbling block to him because he immediately went cold and shut me out. He didn’t introduce me to anyone, didn’t even ask me any questions about this country. I emailed him later, but he again cut me off curtly. So I sent C.J. an anonymous snail mail.
That encounter left a very bad taste in my mouth for a long time. I don’t make it to DC very often, so that trip was important. But judging from the testimonies of people with the same interest, especially Greg, I have discovered that I might have been wasting my time anyway.
OK, Jenn, I hope this answers your question.
August 28th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, not Carnegie Hospital.
August 28th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
Jenn 210 Good question. I wondered the same.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Good grief…it’s beginning to sound like a Frank Peretti novel.
August 28th, 2012 at 8:37 pm
CW…fascinating post. Thanks.
We go back to the 70′s shepherding, not as controllers on top but as submissive sheep underneath with a desire for approval and some inferiority complex mixed in. We were under the Ft Lauderdale 5 crowd, and even then Bob Weiner had a bad reputation as being way off the deep end with controlling lives and abusive practices. Lamb Fellowship at Penn State fell into that whole mess to some degree; we’ve heard some sad stories.
We all went to regular conferences with Larry and CJ, Bob Wright’s group, Ray Ciervo and Harmon Johnson, and a bunch of others. Larry and CJ were moderates; some of the others taught that in a position of authority (husband, pastor) God anointed you such that you were infallible in the decisisons you made for those under you.
Bob Kauflin was in Philly under Ron Klaus back then, John Poole’s successor (Poole was #6 in the Ft Lauderdale line up in magazine ads for conferences). We heard from the best of sources that RK was very heavy handed. Eventually dumped by the elders.
Bob K goes from RK to CJ. Sad. Some people never get out of the shepherding error.
It’s funny, we got out and I think saw things clearly, and when we started going to PDI, shepherding error didn’t seem to be there. The “renewal” was happening. It took us three years to start to see the reality with CJ, and another two to actually leave.
I think Empty in the original post is correct. If SGM churches leave, they may just end up with more of the same old same old. They’ll find another guy to take CJs place, at least emotionally, another big name to identify with and be the spiritual father. The shepherding errors may all stay the same. Only God can really deliver you out. It took me years- decades- to honestly know that I can be as close to God, and as into His scripture, as the big dogs I felt inferior to.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
SGC Louisville kicks off on 30 September — https://www.facebook.com/SovereignGraceChurchOfLouisville
They’ll be meeting at the English Station campus of Christian Academy of Louisville.
August 29th, 2012 at 6:37 am
5 Years said, “Only God can really deliver you out. It took me years- decades- to honestly know that I can be as close to God, and as into His scripture, as the big dogs I felt inferior to.”
Amen, 5 Years!
August 29th, 2012 at 7:28 am
5years #216 — I will add my “Amen” to Stunned. Praise God, we are not inferior to any.
August 29th, 2012 at 8:44 am
“SGC Louisville kicks off on 30 September — https://www.facebook.com/SovereignGraceChurchOfLouisville
They’ll be meeting at the English Station campus of Christian Academy of Louisville.
”
Well now this is interesting. Christian Academy was started by the seeker mega Southeast Christian Church which is Campellite Christian and believes in things like Baptismal Regeneration when they are not hawking cheap grace. It is also located very near Highview Baptist East Campus which is Al Mohler’s church. The LAST thing we need is another church on that end of town as there are tons of them. It is also pretty close to Southeast Christian which used to boast 25,000 members but like all megas is suffering and going to the franchise system of McChurch. I am not so sure they will be happy to have such competition so close. Although they would never say that out loud.
I do wonder if the Board of Christian Academy knows that SGM is a shepherding cult? I know some of them so think I will make some inquiries what they know or if they just took Al Mohler’s vouching for CJ. Maybe they are not aware that Mohler is on the hot seat these days in the SBC. I don’t think there is a Baptist on the board anymore. Most are involved at Southeast.
August 29th, 2012 at 8:56 am
Also, I do not understand the picture they chose for their facebook page. It does not represent the area where Christian Academy of English Station is located at all. It is no where near that sort of older urban area. It is East Louisville way out past even the suburbs in a very wealthy area. Most homes out there have been built in the last 10-15 years and are high end for this area.
Are they trying to give the impression they are doing more urban church planting when they are not?
Here is a picture of the school
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=picture+of+christsian+academy+english+station&view=detail&id=8A3AEE2FE8840892A55D79A858CE02C389C9F08D&first=1
Here is a link to Lake Forest a wealthy community which is right up the street:
http://lakeforestky.com/
So what is with the facebook picture? They are many miles from anything that would look like that here
August 29th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Imalone 221
Hopefully, folks from all the other churches won’t be tempted to jump ship for SGM but, we all know that is the main way SGM builds, though sheep-stealing is something they try hard to hide.
The SGCL team has a few photographers and one of them probably took the vintage-looking photo. They obviously chose it for a reason but, don’t expect them to reveal the reason. The image does look like a humble, low-income neighborhood but, we all know SGM does not typically target low-income persons.
August 29th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
You got me curious, so I took a look at the pic. My first guess was somewhere on Frankfort over near the backside of the seminary, but it’s actually the 900 block of Baxter. I suppose they were going for a “classic Louisville” kind of photo. Who knows, maybe that’s close to where the plant’s permanent location will be (since I don’t expect them to rent from CAL long term), but a spot in the east end is more what I expected. Does make for a convenient 5 min drive from my house though.
August 29th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I previously posted that what Larry’s son did might have been something trivial. After thinking on this more one thought I have is that there is no question that C.J. Mahaney was successful in his blackmailing Larry Tomczak. One would think that to be able to successfully blackmail an individual one would have to have something “significant” on the other person.
Thus I would doubt it would have been something as trivial as “kissing a girl” like what contributed to one Philadelphia pastor having to step down. It must have been something significant. “Significant” could mean various things in the spectrum but must have been something that Larry wouldn’t want exposed. It could have also been how Larry handled what his son did.
One will probably never know this side of eternity.
August 29th, 2012 at 7:51 pm
Cultwatcher
Can you send me an email? My email address is on my blog main page.
Thanks
August 29th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Brent has a new post up:
http://www.brentdetwiler.com/brentdetwilercom/2012/8/28/sovereign-grace-ministries-soon-to-decide-on-an-apostolic-pr-1.html
August 29th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Steve, thanks for the link.
Brent totally misses it on Presbyterianism. It isn’t about men over men. The rulers are not men, the rule is the Bible as understood in the Westminster Confession of Faith and to a lesser degree the BCO- Book of Church Order.
All pastors and elders must take vows to uphold the Confession and BCO, state any personal exceptions at their ordination (some differ on what is allowed on the sabbath for example), and must not teach against the WCF where they have an exception. The BCO is more about procedures and nobody claims it to be interpreting the bible like the WCF, but you must promise to follow it or else introduce amendments to change it in the proper way. (There have been lots of amendments over the years.)
It would do SGM good actually to have some accountability on paper for both doctrine and procedure. What do they believe? What must pastors promise to uphold? What are the essentials of the faith for teachers? What are the non essentials on which pastors can disagree? How about the procedure to dump a pastor? The procedure when a guy beats up his wife or rapes a girl? The procedure to select small group leaders and dump small group leaders? How much power does the pastor have by himself,or what decisions need a vote of all the elders? Where can pastors disagree with the board?
SGM could use the accountability that you see in Presbyterianism. Maybe not to the degree that you see there (I find the BCO to be rigid and occasionally stifling), but how about putting on paper just what the basic rules are. Then CJ has to obey the same rules everybody else does. And they can’t change the rules and pretend the old rules never existed.
How about a doctrinal statement similar to what Piper has, instead of the ever changing top down doctrinal winds that blow in whatever direction CJ purses his lips? You can change it later, but how does it change? One man? All the pastors? The board? Who decides the doctrinal standard? Again, what are the essentials? Is Grudem’s Systematic Theology the basic statement of faith or what?
All Presbyteries really do is determine if pastors are going against their ordination vows when charges are brought. They uphold the law. Men don’t rule, the Confession and BCO rule. Presbyteries enforce it.
I suppose given SGM history the last year, with the way they write things on their blog and then ignore it later and do something different, even a whole entire SGM Confession and SGM BCO would do no good, they would just ignore that if they wanted. Which takes us back to ethics….and it is all about ethics- or lack thereof.
August 30th, 2012 at 7:33 am
Don’t be surprised if C.J. changes the denomination’s name after the relocation. After we outed Morning Star as Maranatha revisited, Rice Broocks changed the name from Morning Star to Every Nation. With Maranatha, it was the media. With Morning Star, it was the Internet. With SGM, it’s been both.
August 30th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Sorry Steve240, I don’t correspond directly with anyone except Kris.
August 30th, 2012 at 9:26 am
ANOTHER CHURCH TO LEAVE SGM….. rumor has it, come this Sunday Gulf Cost from St Pete is announcing on this Sunday their official departure from SGM.
For some reason this news is creating censorship….. Lets try this blog and see if the news ‘sticks’ around.
August 30th, 2012 at 9:30 am
I REPEAT THIS IS ONLY A RUMOR……
There are multiple sources stating that they may leave…..but it seems GCCC leadership has resisted that news and saying NO.
So we will continue to wait.
August 30th, 2012 at 9:46 am
Craig,
I think they are going for the “hipster” look or feel for the photo and attempting to attract that type of sheep to the new church. Remember CJ thinks young people are the future of the church. He is looking for new Timothy’s and Titus’! He wants their energy and enthusiasm and he said he can fix their other issues later.
August 30th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Nick #232 — Concerning CJ, you said, “He wants their energy and enthusiasm and he said he can fix their other issues later”. How arrogant to have confidence that one can ‘fix’ the issues of others to suit. And yet, we see that it usually works for him.
August 31st, 2012 at 7:28 am
UPDATE……found the real reason CJ and Crew are moving to Louisville, KY.
Look what the crews discovered under the building SGM HQ was to be located. The secret is out!
http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/08/29/abandoned-sm-club-louisville-ky-found-under-whiskey-row-buildings/
of course this is satire, but still a thought!
August 31st, 2012 at 3:09 pm
I haven’t commented here in a few months (taking some quiet time to process some stuff), but I read to stay in touch. I read this verse today and thought of the many truth seeking commentors here who regularly challenge the false teaching of SG (my opinion).
2Corinthians 10:5 -- “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I continue to be grateful to all of you who have helped me to more accurately embrace the truth of God’s Word and the freedom that it brings. Be encouraged to hold onto your knowledge of God and who He is and continue to examine all teaching against God’s Word. I praise God for this site and others like it.
God bless you all.
August 31st, 2012 at 10:53 pm
I haven’t been on here in ages, but I just clicked through to girl talked and while I know that it’s a common for sgm people to talk about avoiding gossip online, I was quite shocked at how much they are telling women to GET OFFLINE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY. Seriously, there was like 20 posts there saying go do your duty and leave the computer.
Timing, much?
September 1st, 2012 at 5:29 am
C. -- Yeah, you’re right. Funny, isn’t it, that the blog title byline says “Conversations on biblical womanhood and other fun stuff”, yet the GirlTalkers don’t seem to allow any comments on their blog. Some “conversation”. Should be “lectures on biblical womanhood.”
September 1st, 2012 at 7:27 am
This is from WJLA TV news. Get me caught up: Isn’t the SGM Fairax church where there were multiple cases, where the pastors had a special meeting to discuss the cases, where the parents had a reconciliation meeting with the pastors, or rather attempted reconciliation, and posted their response to the meeting?
James West, church youth group volunteer, charged with sex crimes against minor
By Richard Reeve
August 31, 2012 -- 11:48 pm
Tweet
King’s Chapel Church in Clifton is a place of worship, prayer, and trust.
But for some in this quiet Fairfax County suburb, that trust is being tested this weekend.
“I was very sad,” says Chi Wai, who lives in Fairfax. “I have two kids myself, and you have to be vigilent. Sometimes these things escape you.”
On Friday morning, police arrested 23-year old James West, a King’s Chapel Youth Volunteer.
He’s accused of sexually abusing a 14-year old church member.
“(The victim’s) parents did determine, they felt something inappropriate had occurred between this church volunteer and their child,” says Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell.
The youngster’s parents called police August 3rd, after the teen allegedly told them that West had offered or given massages to several other young people.
“These things are horrible,” Wei says. “But it seems we’re hearing more and more about it these days.”
But that’s not all.
Detectives believe West transported the 14-year old to a nearby house, where he was living at the time, and sexually abused him there.
“Children don’t always have a voice, and are easy targets,” say Peggy Brkic, a teacher on leave, who’s worked with sex abuse victims.
“I think every organization, whether it’s religiously affiliated or not, needs to properly check people who are working, especially with minors.”
Police say West was not a paid church staffer, but had been a youth volunteer for several years.
Investigators are trying to find out if there are other victims.
In Clifton, there is much anger.
“Of course, he’s a predator,” says Binh Akers, of Fairfax. “How terrible. He cannot be trusted. Absolutely no, no.”
West, held in the Fairfax County jail, faces two counts of aggravated sexual battery.
The church pastor says on the advice of attorneys, he cannot comment.
He says the case will be discussed with church members Sunday morning.
September 1st, 2012 at 10:52 am
Thanks for that news, Cult Watcher. Unfortunately, the SGM “pattern’ has not only been to accept a perpetrator’s “confession of repentance” as being forgiven and ‘justified’, meaning (to them) “just as if I’d never sinned”, therefore no safety precautions are necessary, and no information is passed, but, from what I have understood especially concerning juvenile perpetrators, they do not want to let any authorities become aware, therefore no one, except the victim and their family, and the pastors and perpetrator will be aware. So how is anyone protected then, and what good does ‘background checking’ do? It is such a sad state! I now genuinely feel the only way to protect my child is to teach her to NOT ‘submit’ to anyone, but to follow her own gut with what is right and what is wrong, that a 2 ft span around her is her ‘personal space’, and she NEVER has to allow anyone to cross it. I am still hesitant to go to a church, and get suspicious of people who are too friendly. It has been over 20 years. I appreciate your summary of your involvement, and the action you have felt important to do. I, too, first became involved during the 70′s.
September 1st, 2012 at 10:59 am
For anyone interested, the http://www.symboulosministries.org August Newsletter has been posted.
September 1st, 2012 at 11:00 am
Moniker and C.,
I chuckled at the “Girl Talk” comments.
Who reads blogs like that? Ugh. Where’s the barf emoticon.
http://youtu.be/MMb8Csll9Ws
September 1st, 2012 at 12:17 pm
C.,
They would love for us all to get off the computer.
Karen Campbell has a post on understanding the differences between applying Matthew 18 and Galatians 2. An excerpt…
September 1st, 2012 at 12:33 pm
What happened to the news about an announcement Friday night about Dave Harvey?
September 1st, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Cult Watcher,
Are you familiar with “Tik Tok”, the poster of the Every Nation Exposed blog? That blog has been taken down, but it had some very engaging first-person narratives of people from Maranatha Campus Ministries. I would appreciate seeing it reposted.
I knew many people in Maranatha at the time Weiner was in charge, and that blog very accurately and powerfully described the mentality and the dynamics of the organization.