Back when I lived in Waseca, I went for a time to a small Baptist church that ultimately revealed itself to be a bit more of the KJVO/Trail of Blood/Jack Hyles orbit than I was comfortable with, and one of the things the "pastor" did there was to try to get a "Reformers Unanimous" group going. For the uninitiated, "Reformers Unanimous" is more or less a fairly hard line fundamental alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous and other groups seeking to free men from addiction to alcohol, drugs, and sexual behaviors. They are...um...."famous" for being the group which "assisted" Josh Duggar, now on trial for possession of child pornography, as he "dealt with" his history of molesting juveniles (including his own sisters), pornography, and adultery. I think it's safe to say that the therapy was not entirely successful.
"Reformers Unanimous" is a "ministry" of North Love Baptist Church in Rockford, IL, and Julie Roys reports that close to two dozen people have reported being sexually assaulted by members, pastors, and missionaries of the church, at least one of whom has been convicted in a court of law, and another of whom features prominently in the GRACE Report of Bob Jones University. The "pastor" there appears to have resigned over his failure to report these matters to police, but those remaining at the church apparently are still arguing that he didn't do anything that disqualifies him as a pastor.
My bet is that Mr. Kingsbury, the "pastor", is going to be back somewhere unless a large civil judgment is awarded against the church (and hopefully him as well). Pray for justice in this case, and the data we have at this point suggests very strongly that there was wrongdoing by the church and Mr. Kingsbury.
4 comments:
This is awful. Wow. I can't find the words to express how disheartening it is to hear this kind of thing happening unchecked in a Christian church.
It's a TERRIBLE witness. I know we all *want* to fix folks with God centered stuff, and of course that can work - if the person in question lets God in and does the work with a mind of humility. But all too often, it fails. We need to get accountability, stat.
We want to fix things, yes, and I think the tension is that one wants to pretend it's fixed when it's just papered over. Josh Duggar may be headed for prison in part because of this.
Closer to home for them, the desire to pretend it's all good is also probably why they ignored clear signs that all was NOT OK. It's a tendency we all need to watch out for.
Exactly. So, if you were fixed... would you mind being humble enough to be "officially" refixed to submit to some supervision or whatnot? Probably that's a good indication that you're right with God, being willing to undergo some obnoxiousness connected with the mess you'd made before He cleaned you up.
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