Dear Souls whom l love,
This last week I had a troubling mental/emotional crash, and my brother had to come and take me home. Since this is now my third crash like this, I have come to the place where I fee! settled and at peace stepping aside from the Ministry.
These crashes seem to take weeks (sometimes months) to recover from, and just from a practical standpoint, it seems unwise to keep pushing to this limit. It is difficult to keep going in and out of the Ministry, and having to start life over again.
Due to the current climate, I feel the need to clarify that I am not a pedophile, and have not been accused as such. I am not a sexual predator, and have not been accused as such,
I am not leaving because I feel this Ministry is false. There have been some costly mistakes made, and some people doing abominable things that they should not have been doing, but I am thankful that there are some positive changes being made to help the Fellowship/Ministry going forward. I am deeply grieved by the ones that have been hurt. I have talked to so many within this Fellowship in the past weeks, and all are grieving for the victims/survivors, and feel a need to be a help if they can.
I am thankful that the future of the Church is in God’s hands. I believe He is moving different ones at different times to do specific things to help.
I still purpose to give my life in service to God, and in support of the Gospel being preached to the world, but it seems my place may look a little different going forward. Only time will tell.
I have no regrets for giving my life as I have, and consider the moments, days, years I have had in the Ministry as a great privilege/gift from God. It certainly breaks my heart to be stepping aside, and I will deeply miss that special connection with Gods people.
I have had the thought for a long time, and especially now…I always hoped my part in the Ministry would be like John the Baptist. It was not a perfect ministry, but helped bring people to Christ.
Jesus is the TRUTH…meaning His actions, words, motive, spirit, was always right/True. For all situations, all people, all circumstances.
I hope I can be more like that going forward.
I love you all in all camps.
With care,
Clint Bechdolt
WINGS Note: See also Clint Bechdolt sermon at Walla Walla convention June 2023
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So sad! But good th
abominable
adjective
repugnantly hateful; detestable; loathsome:
very unpleasant; disagreeable:
The weather was abominable last week.
very bad, poor, or inferior:
They have abominable taste in clothes
I very much appreciated what Clint spoke at WW. Also appreciating that a letter of resignation isn’t the best place make a last stand, why are we still using words like “abominable”? This is as equally out of touch as describing DB as “immoral”.
Crimes were committed and coverups continue to this day. We need to continue to call it for what it is, organized crime.
It would seem reasonable to me to think that MOST of the victims of these crimes left the church. This means they were destroyed by the church and dumped onto the backs of general society. This is beyond anti-Christian behaviour, it is evil.
How can we help law enforcement to get interested in this? We made several calls and it went to VM with no follow-up… frustrating but they likely have thousands of files they are dealing with….
If someone is experiencing a “mental/emotional crash”, I don’t think that they are in a state to parse out the meaning of every single word. As a reader of multiple translations of the Bible, including the KJV, “abominable” seems quite appropriate: *”…exciting disgust or loathing, morally detestable…”* Using a word (or specific definition) not in common speech isn’t necessarily out of touch; it can reflect the writer’s struggle to find a word that adequately conveys a deeply experienced sentiment.
Focus on the essence, not dissecting each individual word. Ironically, dissecting every word of a letter would logically lead to exactly the outcome we don’t want – lack of transparency in future communications and more good workers stepping down due to stress.
You are 100% correct. I was wrong and out of touch myself. He served a higher calling for as long as he could.
I going to find where I discarded my humanity and my empathy…
Thank you for the follow-up…I fully understand how easy it is to make statements that I’ve had to rethink or retract! Online communication tends to be very one-dimensional and easy to mis-speak; I have appreciated others’ gently reframing things for me, so thought it was appropriate to do so here.
Clint B,
I have never met you, but am thankful for you. We were already sharing and discussing notes from Walla Walla convention all over North America the night you spoke them from the platform. Your thoughts were so helpful to my wife and I, and exactly what I had been hanging on the edge of my seat to hear at our convention. You dispensed with the metaphors and spoke directly about what is on all of our minds.
Thank you for your clarity and empathy for victims. I heard from an outside brother who is also very clear on this issue, that you are a big help to him as well. That brings me comfort in this darkness. I have been in the position of needing care before, and I’m glad you are taking the time and space you need. Take care brother. Wherever you are in the future, you will be useful. We need more kind souls like you in all parts of fellowship.
Clint, we love you and appreciate your service to us all. You are welcome in our home any time.
Paul and Teresa Svendsen
I hope someone can convey to Clint that many of us appreciate the message he gave at WW and are sorry about the mental and emotional toll the necessity of such a message has taken on him. All our best to him.
Thank you so much Clint for your letter .
You encourage me so much .
I can’t express my gratitude to you .
May your soul be comfort .
May God’s promise encourage you :
“I will never leave thee, no forsake thee “
Please come join us,
This is a place to connect with like-minded individuals who prioritize faith and Jesus over tradition. Our community is a safe space where we come together to support each other, share our experiences, and make a positive change on our surroundings through Jesus and only through him. We believe that our relationship with Jesus is a personal journey, but we can enhance it by sharing our individual journeys with others. This is a completely private social network, only the members can see each other..but it has many of the same features as a public social network so you can add pictures, links, or anything else you feel will help others.
We welcome everyone that needs this community to the Platform.
Shane Garner
https://connected-and-concerned-friends.mn.co/share/CTu88wDyuFwaahVT?utm_source=manual
If I were Wings, I’d take out the “Honorably” part. You don’t have the full story behind what happened that made Clint “crash” and how and who reinstated him.
We tag that on titles so that people don’t automatically assume it is because of CSA.
If you have the full story, please email wingsfortruth@googlegroups.com so that we can revise the title.
As is the case with any statement of this sort, it is useful to consider if what is shared meets the criteria of Phillipians 4:8. I don’t know Clint at all, so this is more of a general statement. If it related to CSA, by all means, bring it to light. If it is more of a “garden variety” of issue, I would urge discretion.
We have seen a huge uptick in general “worker bashing”, “elder-bashing”, “anybody-who-rubs-me-the-wrong-way bashing”.
Ultimately, there is *not one* of us who can stand with our heads held high next to the standard of Jesus. In addition to cleansing, we all need sufficient grace from one another as well as correction delivered in the appropriate forum.
To Discretion, please-
Please give us just one example each of what you call
“worker bashing”,
“elder-bashing”,
“anybody-who-rubs-me-the-wrong-way bashing”.
That should be very easy for you. And then perhaps let us know how you prefer that concerns be addressed.
I’m not intending to start a fight, so will just make this clarification, then bow out. Again, I do not know Clint personally. My original comment was in response to a statement implying that there was something dishonorable about his conduct.
I was applying to this specific situation what I’ve observed both in online and in-person discussions regarding people where I DO know the parties well. And, no, I don’t intend to include names & examples, as it would seem you are requesting…not sure there would be any profit in this exercise. Without names, any example I can offer could easily be dismissed.
However, I do stand behind my statement.
For Clint, or any other individual, I believe we need to exercise caution in implying that there is something unseemly about them unless we have concrete evidence AND can honestly say yes to the following questions:
(a) Is it a significant enough issue to merit disclosure, as in CSA, some deep moral failing that has hurt other people, or similar?
(b) If it is not CSA or similar issue, have I already done my part in approaching the individual on a one-on-one basis, as Paul mentions in his letters?
(c) Does disclosure create more good than harm?
If we can’t say yes to these questions, then it is very easy to needlessly ruin someone’s reputation, and easy for the discussion to fall into the realm of gossip.
For issues of CSA, the answer is clear to disclose. For issues of bullying, belittling, or generally acting in a profoundly un-Christian way…absolutely. For issues where those in authority have blatantly ignored the Church’s sincere pleas for help…go for it.
If the above statements are not true for Clint, then please use discretion. Anything less is a distraction from the most urgent issue of CSA.