Tag: letter

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Ex-SBC Prez. Formally Suspended from Church After Sexual Assault Allegations

First Baptist Church of Woodstock has formally suspended Pastor Emeritus Johnny Hunt, according to a letter by Jeremy Morton, Lead Pastor issued to the church, after it was revealed Hunt, 69, had allegedly sexually assaulted another pastor’s wife a decade ago.

You can read more about the details here, but the gist of it is that 12 years ago while on vacation together with another pastor and his wife, Hunt is accused of making inappropriate comments to her about her body such as her tan lines, and then manoeuvered himself into her room, where he is alleged to have pinned her to the couch, got on top of her, forcibly removed her clothes, and groped her and put his hands and mouth on the breasts and body. Afterward, he apologized to her and the husband and they all did some counseling and collectively decided not to bring it up ever again.

In the letter posted on the church’s website on June 3, Morton informs the congregation of all the steps the church has taken to ensure their safety, assuring them that any abuse or potential abuse will be investigated and taken seriously, then explains the fate of their former leader:

Second, we have recommended to our former pastor, Johnny Hunt, a clear process of counseling, accountability, and restoration. We also believe it is in the best interest of FBCW to suspend his role as Pastor Emeritus. While we are forever grateful for the supernatural work of God over the last 30+ years at FBCW, we believe this decision aligns with our biblical theology as a church regarding spiritual leaders being above reproach (1 Tim. 3:2).

Two weeks ago, Hunt copped to the interaction, but not on any of the details. After the news first hit, Hunt tweeted out a brief message, reiterating that he “vigorously denies the circumstances and characterizations set forth in the Guidepost report” and that “I never abused anybody.” later, he put out a message on social media to his church family at First Baptist Woodstock, further denying the claims against him.

Though he doesn’t go into any detail, he describes their interaction as a “brief, improper encounter” that was fully “consensual” but which he fled after feeling conviction about it. He states in no uncertain terms “it was NOT abuse NOR was it assault” and that “the most absurd allegation is that this brief, consensual encounter constituted assault.”

Hunt further castigated the report by Guidepost as being “sensationalized” and emphatically asserts that he did not groom her or arrange the encounter, all the while the story as told by guidepost has some truth to it, that “the allegation made in the report is false” and that “there are other details in the description that are stated as fact which did not happen.”

We’re on the record of saying that basically everyone in this story ought to be fired, as they’re all disqualified.

Hunt has not posted anything on his social media since the announcement from his church.

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Evangelical Stuff Featured Scandal

Nearly 40 Former Mars Hill Elders Issue New Statement: Mark Driscoll is ‘Unfit’ and ‘Unrepentant’

Nearly 40 elders who once worked at Mars Hill Church and served alongside Mark Driscoll during the most tumultuous years of his career have released a public statement outlining their dismay that their former leader has continued his abusive tactics at his new church; calling on him to step down and to enter into a process of conciliation with those he abused.

Comprising of “the majority of the pastors who served at the church between 2011 and 2014, when formal charges were raised against Driscoll” and released to Christianity Today, the letter comes in light of several reports- covered extensively by us here and here – which detail that Mark Driscoll has devolved even further since Mars Hill imploded on account of his abusive behavior. As time has progressed, and as the new church he founded in 2016, The Trinity Church, has grown to nearly 1000 people, his better angels have transformed into crooked and decrepit demons, and he has carried on many of the same practices, and worse.

Key among the grievances of the signers, which include members of the highest levels of his executive team, is that Driscoll, after being put under discipline by his elders at Mars Hill, has now set up a new kingdom where he has no elders at all, only a mysterious board of unspecified people that oversees operations from afar.

With no accountability or anyone telling him ‘no’, it creates a fertile hunting ground where he can locate any sheep that he deems as disloyal or insufficiently submissive and compliant, and repeatedly smash its head with a rock.

His previous elders further warn that it would not be “be prudent or healthy” for Driscoll, having fled his previous post rather than to submit to accountability and church discipline,” to be in a position of spiritual authority in a church or ministry setting for the foreseeable future.’

We could not agree more.

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News

SBC Presidential Hopeful Destroys Russell Moore in Devastating Video

With Dr. Russell Moore’s ‘leaked’ bombshell letter being released and conveniently timed to be of a kick in the gonads of the Southern Baptist Convention President hopeful Pastor Mike Stone, accusing him of turning a blind eye to sex abuse during his time as Executive Committee chair, this scorched earth tactic has paved the way for CRT-enabling final boss Albert Mohler to wrest the denomination away from conservatives and into his progressive possession.

Stone, backed by a sea of raging supporters who are now seeing and saying out loud what we have been for nearly a decade (and getting labeled divisive over it), took to his social media to lay into the departed Russell Moore in an open rebuke of his character and intentions, declaring in a damning indictment:

The letter itself is incredible. That is, it is without credibility.

Think about it for just a moment; here’s a man who’s the highest positioned ethicist in the Southern Baptist Convention – at least he was until just a few days ago. And if you take his letter at face value, then he has known about cover-up, intimidation, bullying, stonewalling, barriers, pressure, all of these sorts of things against victims of sex abuse.

He’s known about lies and backroom deals and corruption and he’s known about it not for days or weeks or months. He’s literally known about it supposedly for years while he has not breathed a word, meanwhile republishing a book called The Courage to Stand.

Fact check: true. Stone continues:

Nobody who knows me believes that I would ever be a part of trying to cover up sexual abuse or silence its victims. That again is an outrageous lie. And again I don’t use that lightly toward anyone, but nobody who knows me would believe those accusations.

And when I talk about people who know me, let me be clear; that does not include Russ Moore. He has never, though claiming the high moral ground in this issue, he has never, not one time in a private phone call email text message visit letter, he has never not one single time contacted me privately and personally to confront me about a sin that he thought that I was committing, to caution me about an error that he thought that I was making or to warn me about a misstep that he thought I was about to lead the southern baptist convention executive committee into. No, rather he chooses these guerrilla tactics, to use some of his own terminology.

Part of the problem we have here, is we have a generation of leaders who are raised in a participation trophy era that think that if you disagree with them about anything that you’re attacking them, and that they’re enduring some kind of trauma or psychological terror.

Once again, this is not the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. And while I’m on this point, the outlandish nature of the ungodly, unbiblical nature of Russell’s slander against me on this point, is only rivaled by the outrageous nature of pastors over on SBC Twitter. Pastors who hear one side of the story and immediately call for me to be removed from any office and banned permanently from any service in the Southern Baptist Convention…

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Church Coronavirus In-person Church Righteous Defiance

John MacArthur Reads Letter From James Coates+ Their Prayer for Him

John MacArthur read a letter from Pastor James Coates of Gracelife Church to the congregation during their Sunday morning service, thanking them for being a model of faithfulness and counting it a joy to be considered a co-sufferer for Christ. Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California has born the brunt of the heat in the United States for being open at full capacity through the latter part of the pandemic, being one of the most visible and largest congregations after they chose to reopen in the summer.

Explaining that Gracelife Church is meeting at an undiscovered location, MacArthur comments ‘it’s amazing to have an underground church in Canada, because the government of Alberta tripled fenced the church in and locked it so people couldn’t go there.” Coates and his Associate Pastor Jacob Spenst are both graduates of Master’s Seminary, and he credits MacArthur and his congregation with his resolve to remain strong.

He writes

To Grace Community Church which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace in him. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has superabundantly glorified himself through you.

For decades you have been a strong and steadfast pillar and support of the truth. So much so the Lord has established many other beacons of truth throughout this world as a direct result of your ministry. You have exemplified a profound love for the brethren, warm service and hospitality, and an undeniable love for God and his word. In fact, his word has sounded forth from you with such power and precision that the fruit of your ministry is absolutely immeasurable this side of heaven.

Pastor Johns’ 52 years of faithful ministry is as much a testimony to you as it is to him. May God richly reward you for faithfulness.

Thank you for the way you cared for me, my family and congregation during my imprisonment. Your love and prayerful support were vital to our steadfastness in the face of suffering. The letter from the elders was an immense encouragement. The support from Dr. Nathan Busenitz and the Master’s Seminary was both humbling and strengthening and the pastoral care provided by Pastor John was incredibly comforting.

It was also a rich blessing to receive letters from a number of you while imprisoned. Those letters provided necessary fuel for my resolve.

My wife Erin also sends her greeting and thankfulness. She was and continues to be greatly strengthened by your letters. You poured into her early in her spiritual development and you are pouring into her now as well.

You have suffered well for the gospel. It is an indescribable blessing to join you in that suffering. Our congregations have been counted worthy for this purpose. May we rejoice in this as did the apostles in their sufferings. Jesus Christ is the sovereign Lord over all creation and the Supreme Head of the church. We will bow to him and him alone. Only he is worthy.  

And now may he continually strengthen you unto all faithfulness and may he constantly radiate his honor and glory through you. To him be the glory forever and ever,

Amen

James Coates


In return, MacArthur prayed for Gracelife again, echoing their sentiments.

Father we pray for our dear friend James Coates and Erin and their family and others who stand with him for Gracelife Church up in Alberta, that the word will continue to sound forth from them.

We thank you for his godliness, his manliness, his courage, his conviction, his strength, his resolve. Thank you for the work you’ve done in his heart so that he would be strong and courageous and put himself in a position of obedience no matter what the cost so that you could be honored.

 Even as he concluded his letter. his words are our prayer. May you O Lord constantly radiate your honor and glory through us, through Grace Church and through Gracelife Church. To you be the glory forever and ever amen.

Editor’s note. The letter and prayer are both a transcript that we provided. We do not know exactly how it was laid out, so any errors in the reading are ours.

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Charismatic Nonsense Conspiracy Featured Heresies News Scandal

2018 Sex Scandals at Hillsong NY were ‘Mostly True’ Say Church Officials

Hillsong has responded to allegations made in 2018 about widespread and pervasive sexual promiscuity and sexual contact between certain church staff members and interns and parishioners at Carl Lentz’s old stomping grounds at Hillsong NYC, acknowledging that much of the scandals were true, but that they had been dealt with and action was taken.

The report, in a nutshell, claimed that “Hillsong staffers used the church like a seedy dating service, ‘sleeping around’ with volunteers and asking them to send nude pictures.”

In a statement to the Christian Post, Hillsong officials explained in part:

In February of 2018, Hillsong Church received a letter with serious allegations regarding specific members of the Hillsong NYC volunteer and staff teams. We were very concerned to learn that any church member, volunteer or staff member would feel unsafe. Immediately, we launched a comprehensive three-month inquiry into the claims made in the letter.

Sadly, we learned that some of the allegations were true. In response, our team took immediate action to address those allegations. Though some of the letter’s allegations were found to be inaccurate, we realized that those situations required care and concern as well…

We created a Team Code of Conduct, which now serves as the standard of ethics for every volunteer who serves at any Hillsong East Coast locations. We also created a team relations department to help us examine any future allegations of volunteer or staff misconduct that violate our Code of Conduct…”

The response from Hillsong comes in light of new allegations of sexual impropriety from their former pastor Carl Lentz. We revealed last week that a longtime employee of the Lentz family walked in on him and a young pop star “making sex sounds” and emerging disheveled from a bedroom where they were alone and didn’t realize anyone was home.

Lentz has reportedly recently been dropped by his PR firm and is in counseling for “pastoral burnout.”

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abortion Featured Heresies LGBTQQIP2SAA News Politics

100 Black Pastors Say Loeffler Ads against Pro-Choice Dems are Attacking the ‘Black Church’

A coalition of mostly black and all progressive pastors and bishops from Georgia (with a few muslim leaders sprinkled throughout) has published an open letter criticizing GA Senate candidate Kelly Loeffler for her repeated broadsides against openly pro-choice, pro-LGBT “pastor” Ralph Warnock’s faith, whose hellish origins and theology we have documented here.

The letter, whose purpose was to “call on you and your campaign to cease your coordinated attacks on the prophetic imagination of Reverend Raphael Warnock today,” also takes the campaign to task for criticizing his bringing political activism to the pulpit, highlighted Loeffler characterizing Warnock’s religious convictions as “despicable, disgusting, and wrong” as particularly egregious and beyond the pale.

We call upon you, Kelly Loeffler to cease your false attacks on Reverend Warnock’s social justice theological and faith traditions which visualizes a just and ardent world where love, fairness and equal justice under the law for marginalized people of all races is not only accepted as an authentic prophetic message in the tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, but also a central message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [sic]

The letter concludes:

We see your attacks against Warnock as a broader attack against the Black Church and faith traditions for which we stand. We stand for Raphael Warnock! We stand for truth!

Loeffler has responded to the grievamces of these “pastors,” explaining:

Though Loeffler won’t say it, we will. We’re already on the record anyway. We actively and aggressively petition God that if Warnock and his church represent “The Black Church,” then we will cry out our knees until they are torn up and bloodied, and that the Lord wipes “The Black Church” and false gospel and false theology it has been propagating from the face of this earth until all that remains is a smoldering heap of ash and ruin.