WINGS Note: This disclosure does NOT involve CSA. It is posted as an example of bringing to light past actions that have been kept hidden. A related disclosure is https://wingsfortruth.info/2023/05/14/honourable-disclosure-of-past-conduct/
LeRoy was overseer of North and South Dakota.
LeRoy Sandford 7:37 am
Dear Dakota Friends,
It’s with a heavy heart that I write this letter of apology to you because I’ve broken your trust. I’m very sorry…
Around twenty years ago I was in an inappropriate relationship with a sister worker. This past Saturday evening she shared the experience with a group of our friends where she labors in Minnesota.
Yesterday I came to my brother’s and informed our Dakota Staff about my failure, communicating with most personally before sending them an email.
My hope was to communicate with ones among you that would feel this most keenly, before sending a letter of apology to all of you.
Dorothy Kleeb (the sister) communicated with the Minnesota staff last evening, also. Her apology has already been posted on the internet, which makes it imperative that this be sent immediately. We were in communication in the days leading up to this.
This is the final part of the letter to staff:
“I am the brother. I’m very sorry. Much of the above is the echo of my heart. Life in this ministry has been rich. It’s difficult to imagine life not in this ministry because of the love our Lord puts in our hearts for our fellow laborers, for His people and for seeking souls.
Workers are my very best friends.
This feels like an awful dream, but I know that the Lord sees everything, and there are possibilities of usefulness where ever we find ourselves.
I intend to spend time with my family until the future becomes clear. I came to Phil and Karen’s today.
Lyle Schober has ticketing to arrive in Minnesota on Tuesday. He’s to arrive at Hunter Thursday by suppertime, and is to guide the Workers’ Meeting on Friday.
The temporary plan is that you communicate with Perry and Paul concerning arrangements in the Dakotas.
Regretfully, but with love in Christ,
LeRoy”
PS: Will include Dorothy’s apology:
————————————
Saturday May 14, 2023
Before all the world:
I will state only facts, without details, in this first part.
My name is Dorothy Kleeb and I am on the Minnesota worker staff.
Twenty years ago or more, I was involved in a consensual relationship with a male co-worker on my staff.
That relationship was cut off and there was a clean break.
After some years, that staff member was asked to move to the position of overseer.
He called to confirm that there was continued certainty that there would be no future connection. I affirmed that.
I had been in Minnesota some years already.
I have given myself to the work and people here. I love them.
Those are the facts.
WINGS for Truth 
This is at least the fifth Cult “overseer” to go down since the Bruer news broke. Wondering why the “overseers” of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and the North East states are not communicating?
Even though they have both repented, it was wise to step down from the work, otherwise, what message would they be giving to the young people…that it’s okay to have relations before marriage while preaching against fornication, as long as you repent later~
You mean it wouldn’t be a good example of Gods enduring mercy, love, and forgiveness? That it wouldn’t be a beautiful lesson to EVERYONE that you can sin, ask forgiveness, and be granted it simply because you are a human that God created in his own image?
Many of these workers have told devorced and remarried people that they may not have a part in the meetings. not cool.
I found “workers” attitude is to preach for thee and not me. They love to act and look the part, sitting in the very front at conventions and being server at a special table at conventions. Then they tell who can and can NOT get baptized, or who can speak in a meeting. Define self righteous and you’ll see worker!
Thank you for that! It has bothered my family for years that the workers sit at their own table at convention eating better food than us. When we go to night lunch at convention the workers eat in the house and get the best snacks, they have special worker housing at convention and these days they roll up in nicer cars than many of the friends.
It’s not really a big deal other than it has caused the workers to act more like the pope than like servants. Shame on the friends for spoiling the workers and double shame on the workers for allowing it.
Before this started blowing up we (my family) decided we were leaving the “truth” we just didn’t know where we would go. Maybe it would be best to just meet together with other believers completly seperate from the workers.
It would be nice to not have to drive an hour to meeting one way when we live only 10 minutes from other friends. They seperate us “trouble makers” and make us drive super far for meetings so they can maintain control.
We have met many wonderfull believers in our area who accept us as brothers and sisters in Christ and we love having fellowship with them.
sometimes I think maybe we should invite them to meetings but then I remember I’m ashamed of the workers and of our exclusive only right way church so I don’t.
Workers eat better food than everyone else? I’ve seen them go out and buy their own food to not put a strain on the hosting family because of their dietary needs. I’ve also seen them choke down the same awful oatmeal that we do every convention morning. Except they do it from beginning of the season to the end. Without complaint. Maybe that’s something that would benefit you.
Proverbs31, They go out and buy their own food with the money they worked hard for? or did you mean they buy their own food with money they get from us? There are some awsome workers and I love them but they are getting pushed out and there are not many left.
Is that what you want for me? to have to choke down awful oatmeal?
That’s not very nice
I want for you to see the Truth.
Brian, I think you and your family know exactly where you are going after leaving God’s true way. Jesus asked what a man should give in exchange for his soul. It takes a defiant spirit to contemplate that question and decide that the correct answer is better snacks.
jwnz, I’m so sorry that you feel that way. I love Jesus with all my heart and I am confident in His blood to cover even my sins. Please Please be carefull what you say about me and my family for the sake of your own soul. Jesus is the only way, Lets agree on that and love each other even if we disagree on other things.
There are a lot of people on this platform that are hurting and that have been abused but nobody is wishing harm or a lost eternity to others we just want God to fix everything that is not of Him.
Wait so you don’t want to eat awful oatmeal but think they should?
I mean what do you actually want?? Is there a point to anything you say? Or are you just perpetually upset at everything all the time?
You can’t simply throw all your anger and hatred in every direction and not be exhausted. You’re spreading yourself and your argument thin. Sleep, eat a solid meal. And then come back when you have your argument solidified. Because being upset over what they eat is just pedantic.
It’s important to remember that they didn’t confess from the goodness of their hearts. They confessed because they didn’t want to be found out and embarrassed during these HORRIBLE times.
To the corrupt, deceitful workers,
Whoa, ye hypocrites.
Nothing new under the sun.
Come out now and bring to light all that you are hiding because you WILL be found out and humiliated. Don’t you think you’ll have a better shot at eternity by bringing your hypocrisy to “the sheep”.
Please. You folks are lucky you found the honey trail. The work is now 90 percent filled with lazy, unmotivated boys and girls who live off the fat of the land that the saints provide. Sitting in coffee shops, going on hikes, going out to breakfast, lunch and dinner and just wait for your next gospel meeting. When did it become okay to not work and not go out knocking on doors to spread the gospel? From what I’ve seen, it’s the saints herding the sheep and the workers being lazy. Waste of resources.
Look at the workers pictures from years ago, HUGE. Now look at them, half the size. Fields are getting smaller. Fields are combining. You’re telling us which meetings we need to go to? Drive an hour for gospel meeting? How about do your job that you were called to? You think God called you into the work to sit in the saints home and wait for dinner to be made?
Thank you!! My husband and I have been saying this for years now! They go into the “work” but they do no actual work (except make long, complicated lists for union mtg). WE are expected to bring new people to mtg only we don’t get the cush life that goes with it!
Oh, and they own more expensive electronics than we do! Go figure that one!!
Loose lips sink ships.
Confess your faults to each other; your sins, to GOD.
Everyone has committed fornication in their hearts. If anyone denies this fact, it is because they are either lying or are insensitive to their own iniquity.
Bringing up an affair that occurred 20 years ago between consenting adults serves no useful purpose to the speaker or the captive audience. Such impulsive verbal behavior is best treated with anti anxiety medication and/or psychotherapy. Anecdotal evidence reported on the internet suggests that similar end results may be achieved via the use of warm coffee enemas.
If I had any influence at all in the outcome of this middle school tattletale episode, I would vote for Mr. Sandford to be restored to his position if he so desires. He seems to have taken being cut off at the knees with noble grace.
Post my name.
Frances C. Phillips
Hillsborough, North Carolina
Thank you! I am so thankful to find a commonsense reaction to this! Warm coffee enemas are exactly what they seem to need!
I feel embarrassed, disgusted, appalled, and saddened. Not because of LeRoy and Dorothys CONSENSUAL and mature relationship. No, I feel this way when reading the 8 comments above mine. How absolutely dare any one of you. Did Jesus not say, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.”
The following is an email sent to the workers in regards to this “scandal”.
“Good morning,
I feel the need to have my opinion be heard on this matter. Whether it’s well received or not, it feels important to me.
This email is extremely distressing to read. I see someone who confessed an apparent guilt with people she trusted and someone threw it on the internet within an hour. Like vultures circling a brand new calf. And then she calls it love. Love is patient. It’s kind. It keeps no score. What that person did, was not love.
I have nothing but an acute feeling of disgust for whomever posted that. If someone managed to pray about it and receive an answer in less than an hour, I’ve got some things they could talk to God about for me.
Their relationship is/was in no way a danger to my spirituality. Not when I was 9 years old and certainly not now at 29 years old. And if someone feels “led astray” because of it, they have bigger issues and need to look into that. At which point, Dorothy and LeRoys CONSENSUAL relationship two decades ago is once again, none of their business.
Trusting and expecting humans to be above reproach is detrimental to their mental health and spiritual wellbeing. It doesn’t give them room to learn and grow. If I were to trust a human to be perfect in every way simply because of a position they hold, that would be embarrassingly idiotic. Absolutely out of touch with reality. Lacking my God given discernment, and God given wisdom.
My heart is breaking for Dorothy and LeRoy. I want to hug them both and remind them that it’s OKAY! No one but them have a right to feel hurt. To feel love for someone” [another consenting adult] “is OKAY, natural, and I admire how they handled it. That I’m sorry for this monstrosity of a situation. If they regret their relationship because of a religious group telling them it was wrong, I want them to stop. Regret should be one of the seven deadliest sins.
And while I’m sure that will infuriate many, I refuse to apologize. While 29 is young comparatively, I have battled regret and guilt for over 20 years myself. And because of that, I know just how detrimental those two can be. Forgiveness of self is FAR more important and healing than forgiveness by others.
There is one more issue I would like to address. While I support and appreciate the continued move towards greater transparency from this organization, I would like to caution the workers.
Focusing on a consensual relationship and making a scandal out of it, is nullifying the movement. It’s taking resources and attention away from the bigger issues. The issues that truly need transparency. Protecting the ones who can’t protect themselves. ”
Signed, your fellow fallible human.
There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. Be angry if you want but God is the One revealing these things.
I stand with God.
There are three things you can’t hide from. The sun, the moon, and the truth.
Your reluctance to acknowledge anything in my original comment tells me all I need to know. You don’t want to be fair minded. You want a witch hunt.
I, for one, will not be apart of that. Nowhere in my email did I say the truth should be hidden. I said it wasn’t the vultures place to do it.
Focus your energy into something that will benefit people. This is not it.
Regret should be a deadly sin? People shouldn’t regret their sins? Tell me you voted for Joe Biden without telling me you voted for Joe Biden. Honestly, what are you talking about?
You sound like you’re the type of person who supports everything because “support makes people feel good”. That’s not unconditional love. That’s unconditional support and it doesn’t solve problems.
You seem to forget how the rest of the story goes with Jesus about “he that is without sin can cast the first stone..” the lady taken in adultery was still wrong. Just like these workers. It’s wrong. Your liberal interpretation is wrong also.
Hi Frances, I was told I couldn’t get baptized because I wouldn’t hide my tv when the workers visited. I was told I would never have a Sunday meeting in my home because I like to smoke a cigar, drink a beer, and drop an F bomb once in a while. The workers having sex between Gospel meetings or at convention and hiding it for 20 yrs is cool though right?
It’s one thing to sin It’s another thing to hold the office of a worker and tell others they’re not good enough to have fellowship with you while hiding your own stuff and continuing in that office. You are being played.
Lets turn from our worker worship and return the the Lord.
Hi Buddy,
How’s it going? I read your message several times. Thank you for responding.
First of all, if you think I worship workers, you have no idea how I think. Jesus only and Jesus ever is our worship. We follow Him, not people. Having said that, let me be clear that I think our workers are the purest, most conscientious, most compassionate and most humble people AS A GROUP that I have ever known. I have never been approached by any of them in any manner that was less than exemplary. They are my best, most faithful friends . I just wish you could feel the same way.
I can see from your words, however, that you have been hurt and I am sorry. I understand that being hurt is really difficult to get over.
So I am going to ask you to do something and this is something I cannot do for you even though I would like to.
Take your beer and cigar and your bag of F-words and go spend the night in the garden of Gethsemane. Sit down on the ground and tell Jesus about your pain and anger and aloneness while His sweat drops like blood in His agony. Tell Him His apostles weren’t nice to you while He cries Abba, Father, not my will. . Stay with Him til the soldiers come to take Him away.
Love, Frances
I came from the ‘outside’ when I sas 17 and also thought the workers were the purest, kindest, humblest people. I thought they were so much ‘higher’ than the rest of us because they were giving their whole life for God. But, after all these years, ( I’m 71 now), I see that they’re just like us. We’re just all trying to be close to God. One day at sp. mt. time all of the workers were over, to swap cars, etc. and one came up behind me and began touching me in a very debasing, sexual way. I was astounded as I still believed they were almost perfect. I’ve had several other experience also, that make me want to cry, as the workers were hard when we tried talking to them about various situations. Yes, I’m thankful when they spread the precious gospel of Jesus, but I no longer hold them up on a pedestal like before. And those that are truley God’s workers, in their heart, and giving of theselves so completely for Jesus, you are Precious to my heart and an inspiration to me to give my life completely to Him also. Thank you! It must be a hard time for you because of those that don’t take that precious and imprortant place seriously. But, no matter what our experiences are in life, God has promised us the strength to be victors. Someday, from eternity, we’ll be thankful for every battle that God has brought us through…even these hard days now with all of these things coming to light. God is doing this because of His Love for the flock.
And I was told I couldn’t get baptized because I don’t attend enough gospel meetings. So what? I don’t need their approval, God knows what’s in my heart. So when I’m really ready to go get baptized I’ll do it in any number of churches that love and advocate for baptism in its true meaning. I’m not hurt, and no one died. How lucky is that?
Why are you so hurt over those things? If you think hosting a meeting is be all end all, you’re apart of the problem. So drink a beer. Smoke a cigar. Watch TV. Swear like a sailor. Your relationship with God is yours and yours alone. No one on this planet can make you feel “less-than” besides yourself. Life is far too short to hold yourself to a standard that wasn’t meant for you.
No matter how hurt you are by this organization, it will never make it okay to take it out on simple humans. You want them to hurt because someone somewhere said they were better than us- AND you prescribed to that way of thinking. The fact remains, they’re no different than you and I. I also know, you didn’t like being treated like trash. So maybe have a little empathy. Take a stroll in their shoes for a minute, breathe deeply, find that peace in your soul that only God brings. Because it’s okay. No one died yet. The witches haven’t been burnt at the stake. Their souls are just as precious today as they were the day they were born. And that, is something I will stand by.
You deserved the same compassion and understanding that I am advocating for in this situation. You were done wrong. And it’s okay to admit that. It isn’t okay though, to throw other people under the bus to make yourself feel better.
Proverbs31, Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Thank you.
Today is a good day to breathe deeply, and find peace in my soul with God.
Proverbs 31, I would like to be your friend. 🙂 I am on FB as Boo Hamon if you are interested.
I’m confused on your Switzerland like response. So it’s not wrong of what these workers did? So why are they hiding it? You do understand what’s wrong about this.
Workers take a vow of celibacy and a life of sacrifice by going into the work. They also do dictate what the saints can and can’t do. You do understand the hypocrisy here right? It is wrong.
jwnz
You certainly attract response to the comments you make on WINGS blog posts! 😀
Are you really from New Zealand? and are your initials jw
or are as I suspect someone who is up to mischief? I could suggest a few NZers, one of whom you are likely to be!😳
anyway:
a) You are having your idea of ‘fun’. Hoping that some readers might get confused and think you an NZ worker with the initials JW position and
b)The sentiments you expressing aren’t yours at all. You are just stirring people up with the ridiculous things you write? You are having your fun and getting your ‘cheap thrills’! Enjoy!😀