Tag: sexual immorality

WINGS Note: A CSA/SA task force was formed by some friends this summer, in part because it was noticed that some regions were creating CSA policies quickly and other regions were resisting having any policy. So they formed a group to study best practices (and worst practices) and consult experts and research to take a science and fact based approach towards policy construction.  The Safe Church Task Force has asked WINGS to post their material.
WINGS has provided pdf versions of the linked material below.

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The Safe Church Task Force came together this summer to identify what policy elements should be included in a safe church policy and what loopholes or “negative” policy elements should be avoided. The Task Force studied a wide range of external research, science, and reports from other organizations, including from various churches, youth-serving organizations, athletic groups, published academic research, as well as through direct conversations with survivors, experts, and other sources.

We are publishing our version 1.0 work product, in two files:

1) A slide deck overview of our effort: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ARtx-GKs8jLtfIK1_TQdyvGX6bDQCx6vU-pME-Ca4Ms/edit?usp=sharing

2) A Google Sheets file that contains five separate worksheet tabs, including the specific Safe Church Policy elements and the Safe Ministry Handbook elements plus an intro about the file, links to definitions, and resources: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xbefbeak-uRLSqb35w2MDRWJw5yQJzNZLqg0m0RfYxI/edit?usp=sharing

It’s probably best to go through the slide deck first, as it gives the background and gives the lead-in for the worksheet file, which is more actionable.

It is our hope that these findings will be considered as new policies are developed and existing policies strengthened, in order to end the abuse and provide healing for the survivors and the church at large.

We now move to the Engagement Phase of our effort. All members of the team (who are listed on slide 2 of the slide deck) would be happy to help support regional efforts to either implement policies or to improve existing policies. If you’d like to discuss, please reach out to any member of our team.

Also, we held a Zoom call on Sep 11th to present our preliminary findings, and that gives the voice-over for the slides (note that we did make tweaks to what was presented, based on inputs from that Zoom call, to arrive at the final v1.0 products noted above). The link to the Sep 11th Zoom meeting is: https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/ONPwDvRpS6PwUEjXA0hjk2HofEwA_m53hoilQcd6efPJjma8zhQNw3eAIAaCUI7p.695aDvo8a13nbDiD  and the passcode is e=AH&8xG.

Thanks for your support. And feedback is always welcomed at safefellowshipfeedback@gmail.com

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WINGS Note: THis report was prepared by one of the friends.

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Scope of the CSA/SA Problems

Current data collected by reports of CSA after March 2023:

As of July 14th, 2023, there are credible allegations against 550 abusers.

What this means is that per capita, we have surpassed the Catholic Church for abusers. This means that the chances of knowing an abuser, having had them in our homes, or meeting with them in fellowship are extremely high. Every family has been touched by this CSA crisis in one way or another.

Each perpetrator has a minimum of 2 separate allegations, meaning there is a minimum of 1500 victims. (and reports continue to roll in).

What this means, is that in every meeting, there will be a minimum of 1 or more survivors in that meeting. Every meeting needs to be a safe place for our survivors. This means that family, friends and those we meet with have been fighting battles we did not know about. Learn how to support them, the proper language to use and be an advocate for change. It is impossible to know the exact number, partly because SA and CSA are rarely reported. (Less than half of SA cases and only about one in 10 CSA cases are ever reported to authorities.) Based on statistics about how many victim-survivors a single perpetrator abuses, these reports could indicate 5,000-8,000 people subjected to SA or CSA within the Truth.

Around 21 workers in the US and Canada have been removed.

What this means, is we have an unusually high number of perpetrators in our ministry. This means that we have been left vulnerable and unprotected as we have been encouraged to trust our workers. This also means that steps are being taken to listen, learn and remove those from their place of ministry due to allegations.

At least 15 or more workers have left on their own due to mental health or personal convictions (just in 2023 so far).

What this means is our workers are under a large amount of stress. These conversations have been triggering for them. They have been encouraged to continue with gospel meetings and conventions despite their own mental health. Those who have tried to speak up have been pushed to the side. They are not experts in the field of CSA, marriage counseling, or financial matters, yet over the years they have been made responsible for advising in those situations. We need to normalize taking rest/breaks from the work, if they need a rest or are dealing with issues that hinder their ability to preach an honest transparent message. I hope every worker realizes that we love and support them regardless of their place.

8 or more elders have had public allegations made against them.

What this means is we have been choosing dangerous men to serve as elders. Is it possible that we have been choosing based on home size and parking rather than the qualities we read of in 1 Peter 5. We have ‘forgiven’ past CSA sins and given eldership to those who should not be in the presence of children. Creating an unsafe environment for children, survivors and vulnerable people.

Some CSA crimes happened 20 years ago so some people think it should stay in the past.

When you say, ‘it happened 20 years ago’, you are saying that you don’t care about the trauma of the survivor, which lasts well beyond 20 years. Survivor trauma lasts a person’s whole life. When you say, ‘it happened 20 years ago’, you are saying that you are not concerned about the predatory habits of an abuser and that you think it is reasonable to put children at risk rather than hold an abuser accountable to the consequences that are the result of the abusive behavior. God’s arm is not shortened to abusers. An abuser can find help from God. They don’t need to do that by putting innocent children in harm’s way.

6+ Conventions have been canceled and/or adjusted this year (some by workers, some by the owners).

What this means is many convention owners are not willing for the liability that comes with a convention ground where predators are allowed to attend. This means that convention owners understand the seriousness of the crimes and are willing to take a break from convention this year until our fellowship is in a safer place.

98% of CSA/SA allegations are proven true (only 2% are false allegations).

What this means is if someone discloses abuse to you, you should believe them. Chances are extremely high they are telling the truth. Be supportive. Have empathy. Of the 2% that are false, they typically have to do with custody arrangements and money. Neither of which applies to these situations. Coming forward with an allegation takes immense bravery. There is little reason for someone to face the obstacles of reporting SA and CSA if they were not abused.

Some People say that everyone should be innocent until proven guilty.

Actually, a guilty person is always guilty, whether it is proven or not. The law in the USA and other countries is that a person is “presumed innocent” of a criminal offense in a court of law until the state proves him/her guilty. This does not mean that a charged person isn’t guilty and/or dangerous to others. This statement is not meant to inform whether or not individuals set boundaries in order to keep people safe. The wrong statement speaks of absolute innocence; the correct statement is limited to a legal presumption of innocence applied during prosecution.

Only 16% of CSA allegations are ever reported to law enforcement. Less than 4% ever lead to conviction due to statute of limitation laws and other factors. It takes 20 to 40 years on average for survivors of CSA to come forward.

What this means is that survivors face a lot of barriers when it comes to reporting. Our court system is not victim friendly. There is often no ‘proof’ and it is hard to take to court. Survivors take years to process the trauma they experienced as the result of abuse as children. And even as adults, are plagued with shame and doubts. They want to be heard, but going through the courts is triggering and retraumatizing for survivors. We cannot build a culture of safety by relying solely on law enforcement to handle everything, and expect that survivors of abuse will come forward quickly and simply. Often we must use discernment to determine that certain behaviors pose risks to others, even if law enforcement hasn’t been involved. Those behaviors have consequences and those consequences need to be upheld to protect children.

What does this mean for Canada?

The perpetrator count for Canada was 50+ as of a few weeks ago. Canada has no statute of limitations and therefore survivors can come forward to law enforcement with no time limits. (We know that trauma has no time constraints so Canada is ahead of many countries here). What this also means is if we are knowingly putting alleged perpetrators into meetings with children and in peoples’ homes, we too can be held accountable by the courts. That is where the push to listen and take every allegation seriously comes from, to have meetings be taken out of homes of perpetrators and asking those with allegations to not attend meetings or conventions.

This also means that we need our leaders to be educated on disclosures. We don’t expect you to be experts–but we ask that you are willing to listen and seek advice from trained professionals. We have many abusers who are currently in meetings with survivors, children, and potential victims. Without relationships with the experts, who have experience in dealing with sexual offenders, a pastor or community can make grievous decisions that may unintentionally wound a survivor. We ask that you respond to disclosure of abuse with love and concern for their safety and the safety of others. We ask that you not shame those who are speaking out and asking for meeting changes.

Last of all this means that other states and provinces are beginning to listen. They are realizing that we need to prioritize the survivors, those who have been silenced so long. They are removing those with convictions-past and present, and those with allegations of CSA/SA from eldership, meeting and conventions. They see this is for the safety of children, survivors and vulnerable people. They are consulting professionals to create procedures to ensure that everyone knows what to do in the case of CSA/SA. They are putting in boundaries to ensure we keep our youth safe. And they are spending time listening to those who have been hurt so deeply. Trauma has no time limit and no miracle cure. They are also holding worker workshops to educate themselves and learn about selfcare.

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Some friends have started a newsletter series to help inform on the crisis in our church in a gentle and easily digestible way. They explain:

“This initial issue is aimed at spreading awareness for those still in the dark.

Many of us are struggling with helping others understand why we are so upset and grieved. I hope this document can help with those conversations, to show the magnitude of what we are dealing with in our church and educate on the effects CSA/ SA, grooming, low rate of conviction for crimes, etc.

Since many friends are waiting for the workers to validate the crisis, please suggest to your workers that they send it out to their whole field to inform and get everyone on the same page.

The next issues will seek to explain CSA/ SA guidelines/ protocols, cultural/systemic issues that contribute to abuse and coverup, ways forward, and more.“

Google Drive folder containing current and future newsletters: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zhEVseyWpUCchUHqr2PChTy2eK-jYqe4?usp=sharing

Monday, Sept. 4, 2023 

(The translation in English is approximate. The original letter was in French) 

“Several of you in France and in Belgium will now have heard of the very serious and very sad sins that were committed by members of our ministry in North America, as well as in other countries of the world. These events are causing an outcry amongst us, to the point of shaking a good number of our brothers and sisters.

We will not attempt to defend what is indefendable, and want to assure you that we absolutely condemn such acts. If such crimes were to be committed here amongst us, we would treat them with the most firmness / decisiveness.

If someone amongst you in France or in Belgium has any concerns or questions regarding this, we invite you to get in touch with me or any of the FR/BE staff.

More than ever, the scriptures are a source of direction, comfort and balance for us. More than ever, we see that the simple message of the gospel is important and healthy for our souls, and we plead with you that you would grasp all possible opportunities to listen to the gospel, and generally speaking, to seek to be present in all meetings.

The enemy of our soul wants to sow doubt, fear and mistrust, but in brotherly fellowship, God gives us everything that contributes to the health of our soul and of the soul of our children.

With our brotherly greetings.

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Letter in French:

Lettre des serviteurs responsables en France/Belgique – lundi 4 septembre 2023 

“Plusieurs d’entre vous en France et en Belgique aurait eu vent maintenant des péchés très graves et très tristes qui ont été commis par certains membres de notre ministère en Amérique du Nord, et dans d’autres pays du monde aussi. Ces évènements provoquent un tollé parmi nous, au point d’ébranler un certain nombre de frères et sœurs. 

Nous n’allons pas essayer de défendre l’indéfendable et voulons vous assurer que que nous condamnons absolument de tels agissements, et que si de tels crimes devaient se produire parmi nous ici que nous ne manquerions pas de les traiter avec la plus grande fermeté.

Si quelqu’un parmi vous en France ou en Belgique a des soucis ou des questions à ce sujet, nous vous prions de bien vouloir vous mettre en contact avec moi, ou avec n’importe quel membre de notre équipe en FR/BE.

Plus que jamais les écritures sont une source de direction, de réconfort et d’équilibre pour nous. Plus que jamais, nous voyons que le simple message de l’évangile est important et sain pour nos âmes, et nous vous supplions de profiter de toutes les occasions possibles d’écouter l’évangile quand cela se présente à vous, et d’une manière générale de chercher à être présents dans toutes les réunions. 

L’ennemi de notre âme veut semer le doute, la crainte et la méfiance, mais dans la communion fraternelle, Dieu nous donne tout ce qui contribue à la santé de nos âmes et celles de nos enfants.

Veuillez recevoir nos salutations bien fraternelles

Dear Dakota Friends,

Our fall convention season is rapidly approaching, and we want to send out a letter about our days together.  We remain committed to making our conventions a safe place for all attendees, and especially those with young children.  Because of this, no known sex offenders or those with known allegations of Child Sexual Abuse/Sexual abuse (CSA/SA) will be attending any South Dakota or North Dakota convention.

While we understand no setting can be guaranteed risk free, we can practice wise conduct to deter risk.  This includes a renewed awareness of the need for healthy boundaries.  Our purpose is that any interactions we have with your children will be in public view.  Another practice to reduce risk is to follow the buddy system introduced in the Boy Scouts of America training program.  This is a system where a child is paired with another child to keep track of each other.  We encourage you to follow this safe suggestion.  However, this should not be considered a substitute for parental/guardian supervision.

While at convention, we don’t want to live in fear, but we must be wise.  If something appears inappropriate or uncomfortable to you, please speak to someone you trust who can help you.  Situations that are reported can be dealt with properly, including involving the authorities if warranted.  Communication is our safety!

Please feel free to make alternative sleeping accommodations if you are uncomfortable staying on the grounds.  The most convenient locations are as follows:

Utica – Yankton

Hunter – Casselton or Fargo

Mandan – Mandan or Bismarck

Any who choose to do so are welcome to listen via a conference call number which will be provided. We are aware that this option has given spiritual help to many who have listened from home in recent years.

We hope this information will help make convention an edifying and encouraging experience.

The Dakota Workers

WINGS Note: Advocates For The Truth is a small group that has been working extremely hard to support victim-survivors and prevent further abuse, working with law enforcement, friends, workers, former members, and nonmembers to address this massive crisis. WINGS applauds the work they have done, and has pasted below a recent news update from their website.

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As today marks the five month mark of when the investigation was started by Cynthia Liles, we thought we would give you the highlights of what we’ve been working on.

August 23, 2023, is five months to the day since Lauren, Cynthia, and I met with Doyle Smith for over three hours discussing Dean Bruer and the issues of child sex abuse and sex assault within The Truth. We knew it had been a poorly handled issue in the past. Little did we know the enormity and depth of destruction we were about to expose.

The following day, we activated our hotline (503-386-4634) which opened the floodgates of victim/survivors coming forward. Our intake has not stopped, and it appears it will not stop anytime in the foreseeable future.

We have been working relentlessly, boldly in the public eye, as well as behind the scenes. As a result, we have not had the time or bandwidth to provide the updates to the general public as we would have liked. Throughout the next couple of weeks we will be providing several updates.

For now, here are some of the things we have accomplished as a direct result of our mission statement:

• We are currently conducting a comprehensive investigation run by Cynthia Liles, a licensed private investigator who specializes in investigations of child sex abuse within institutions of trust.
• 550+ perpetrators with allegations of child sex abuse and sex assault have been reported to the hotline.
• We launched the AFTT website.
• We have had 70,000 visitors to our website at http://www.advocatesforthetruth.com.
• We have had approximately 110,000 public Facebook visits per month.
• We registered as a C-Corp.
• We registered with the IRS and became a legally registered non-profit 501c3.
• Countless workers have been removed with allegations.
• We partnered with two nonprofit organizations offering therapy resources to survivors.
• We created and financed an all-men’s equine therapy retreat which will take place in September 2023.
• We created and financed an all-women’s equine therapy retreat which will take place in October 2023.
• We are offering therapy resources both in the US and internationally.
• First major fundraiser resulted in $28,007 donated to AFTT.
• Total donations YTD of $201,720.
• Through exposure of perpetrators, we have protected countless lives.
• We have given voice to thousands of victim/survivors.

In the works:

• Volunteer Team of Victim Advocates.
• Matching Donation Drive.
• John Hopkins funded research study for survivors.

We will have many more updates to follow!

Sheri + The Advocates Team

8/21/2023

Dear Friends,

This is Bob and Viv Hansen, owners of the Eagle Bend, Minnesota convention grounds. We feel it is imperative for us to convey some messages prior to our conventions coming up in October of this year. This will be a longer convention letter than you’ve been seeing because we want to clarify some points and help you understand our thoughts and motives. We have not wavered from our intentions of having a convention this year because we believe we have been moved by the Lord to do so. We have loved hosting conventions here in the past and we are looking forward to seeing you all coming to enjoy some restful and peaceful days.

That brings up the issues that we are facing in our fellowship. The victims and the survivors of child sex abuse or sexual abuse are our number one concern. Some have inferred that by having convention that we are insensitive and uncaring towards the victims of child sex abuse, and/or sexual abuse. That is totally untrue! We are so, so sorry for what these precious souls have had to endure through physical and mental anguish and it tears our hearts apart just to think of all they’ve had to suffer because of these wicked deeds done to them. We hope and pray that these victims will get comfort for their soul and hearts, the healing that is needed, and the love and care and respect they deserve. We will always listen to and believe the victims! We will never side with the predator and since we bought this place in 2000, our mission has been to provide a safe place for people to come and worship freely and have sweet fellowship. Over these 23 years, this has involved prohibiting certain individuals and removing certain individuals from this convention place, and we have never failed to do that IF we knew about a predator. As we have all learned, predators can be unknown to many, many people because of their deceptive grooming abilities and behaviors. While we believe that the fellowship and the ministry are made up of almost all or nearly all people with good hearts and righteous motives, we understand that there could be someone who could be amongst us who is a predator. Therefore, as we will explain a little bit later, we have put into place some safety protocols that we believe will help us to provide a safer place for people.

Another subject that we want to cover is the short staff that we have of workers. We feel very sorry for those workers and understand that they have had to endure great mental and physical stress through these times. So we know that we will need many good volunteers to step up to help us all, to make this a doable and spiritually profitable convention for everyone. Our health has failed some and we are not as able as we once were but we will do what we can.

Now for the safety protocols. We have decided that there can be NO walking path as provided in the past, north of the grounds. There is just too much area out there that is not supervised or cannot be observed by anyone and we decided we will take away that risk for our friends. You can walk up and down our long driveway and walk on the gravel road and for the most part, should be safe doing so but please observe the traffic and move well over to the side of the road when traffic approaches.

Secondly, while we have not been actively posting on social media, we have been actively reading and listening to your concerns on social media. One of the parent’s concerns has been of their children entering a community bathroom when they couldn’t be there with them because of difference of gender or other responsibilities, like taking care of their other children. So what we have decided would reduce or eliminate that concern is that we will have clean portable toilets positioned all through the grounds in well lit areas and especially close to the meeting shed so children can go out to these portable toilets and come back into meeting quickly.

Thirdly, there will be security cameras positioned throughout the grounds. Of course, they won’t be installed in private settings or sleeping areas or bathrooms because of privacy issues. They are installed in common spaces because we will be recording all movement. We don’t know the entire value of these cameras, but we do believe that it can be a deterrent if there are some evil deeds being considered and if we need to go back and review some activities.

The fourth concern is making sure that the visitors that we have coming are safe. While we will not know most of these people, we believe they are coming with good hearts and righteous motives. But, again, because predators can be so deceptive, we know of credible third party professional sources that are available for us to search out these people’s backgrounds. And at any time, if we are informed that we have a visitor with allegations of sexual abuse or unacceptable behavior coming here, or is here, we will take immediate and appropriate actions to prohibit or remove that person.

Our zero tolerance policy is very strict. It always has been, and it always will be, as long as we are owners of these grounds. Our definition of zero tolerance is that there will be no accused, alleged, or convicted predator or individual allowed on these grounds, IF we know who they are. We will always be on the side of the victims or survivors or potential victims. If there is a false accusation against a person and later, has been declared not guilty by law enforcement and/or other credible sources, we will reconsider our previous decision.

Our fifth concern is about those who have been enablers to these criminal and evil deeds. On one hand, though, we want to be very careful and thoughtful about accusing somebody who may be in a God given place of authority of something that they are not guilty of doing. We may not have firsthand, or even second hand knowledge of those people, and what they have done. However, if we do have adequate proof that any person/persons have been involved in those activities, we will prohibit them from being here.

Lastly, and most importantly, if anyone sees any suspicious behaviors or criminal behavior, please contact 911 immediately. We would want you to contact us as soon as possible. Our phone number will be posted around the grounds. We will be there as soon as possible to assess the situation and take appropriate actions. If you are hesitant to call 911, please feel free to call us and we will be with you as soon as possible to discuss the situation with you.

Another thing we would like to address is young parents who have children. We hope with all our hearts that you will feel free to come to the convention because of the safety and refuge provided here. However, we respect your choice whatever you choose. We had young children once ourselves, and we understand the challenges of keeping young and energetic youngsters under control, and under your supervision constantly. We have a large convention grounds here and we should have plenty of open area for young children to play and we encourage that the grounds would be used accordingly. There is one restriction that we will have to place this year on children. In the past, they have enjoyed playing in the woods northeast of the convention grounds and we will have to prohibit children from being in those areas. The reason for this is because the children are too far away from the main part of the grounds, that area is unsupervised and can’t be seen easily by observers. However, the woods behind the campers has always been a delightful place for children to play, and that can be easily seen by others and observed so that should be a safe place for children to play also. We want the youngsters to enjoy convention as much as we did growing up. We really appreciate you loving and caring parents who we know will do your best at knowing where your children are and thank you for your diligence in that endeavor.

We are in uncharted waters. As far as this fellowship is concerned, because what has been allowed to happen, the evil minds, and evil hearts of people, have created great damage to this fellowship. We are very saddened by it all because of the mistrust, the lack of trust, and just unsure of where to turn at times. We want you to know, and believe, that none of the above was written with the spirit of arrogance or pride. For months now, we have been tearfully and prayerfully, pleading with the Lord for His guidance. So we humbly want you to know, that we have the same, if not more love and respect for the humble and good hearts of this fellowship. Thank you for your consideration and welcome to convention!

Sincerely,

Bob and Viv Hansen

Guidelines for Elders/Wives dealing with CSA/SA

1. Any allegations of CSA/SA amongst our fellowship meetings will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement immediately. 
2. With a single allegation, all elders will be contacted immediately.
3. The alleged perpetrator will be immediately told not to attend any meetings.
4. Ministers in the field will then be notified, though they will not be involved in the initial process of hearing the allegations or reporting it to authorities.
5. Any victims who decide to come forward or anyone with concerns can talk with any elder/elder’s wife. They do not need to go to the elder/elder’s wife where they usually attend fellowship meetings if they are more comfortable talking to someone else. Certainly, a victim may also be more comfortable talking to someone other than an elder/elder’s wife initially.
6. Victims can report to authorities first then inform/discuss with the elder/elder’s wife as appropriate. 
7. If a CSA/SA abuser – convicted or with allegations – moves to the area, the meeting in the area will not be polled to see if everyone is comfortable adding this abuser to the meeting. Rather, those who wish to have a bible study or meeting with this abuser may form a study group with those interested.
8. Every elder/elder’s wife will take the Ministry Safe course every two years.
9. For reference, Child Abuse Hotline (CSA): TN (877) 237-0004 and KY (877) 597-2331, Sexual Assault (SA) call 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). 

Guidelines for Middle Tennessee fellowship meetings:

1. The fellowship meetings will be a safe place – meaning no known convicted or accused abusers of CSA/SA will be allowed attendance at fellowship meetings.
2. Any elder and/or their wife will listen to an accusation or concern of CSA/SA from their respective meeting and will aid in reporting it to the authorities as warranted and legally required. (Any accusations/concerns can be made either to the elder or their wife or both together depending on situation and comfort level.  Accusations/concerns can be made to the elder or wife of another meeting if more comfortable.)
3. Known offenders in the area will be shared with the elders and their individual meetings. Ministers will be informed of further communication to be disbursed.
4. If you have children, please be aware of safe parenting to add another layer of safety to their welfare.
5. Elders will make every effort to seat families together during the fellowship meetings.
6. Elders will notify meeting attendees of friends and/or ministers visiting from other states/areas.
7. For those visiting the meeting, elders will inform the visitor that there are children in the meeting and express that we have a zero-tolerance policy for CSA/SA.

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WINGS Note: THese Guidelines were developed by 25 elders and their wives (not the workers).

Aug 17, 2023

Dear friends,

How do we begin to say sorry to people we’ve loved and hurt? We hope this letter can be the first step.

We would like to make an apology for our part in allowing SA and CSA to continue in our fellowship. Whether out of ignorance or denial, we did not act on what we were being told.

Many years ago our oldest child was a victim of CSA by a member of our fellowship. At the time, they were four years old and didn’t have the words to express what happened. We continued our relationship with that family and unfortunately another violation occurred. It was many years later before that violation was brought to our attention. We still remained in denial. Immediately after the Dean Breur news broke, this child contacted a close friend to discuss a need for a website for victim-survivors to go to for support. They developed https://voicesforthetruth.org . We are so thankful for the many selfless hours of work given by our oldest child in support of victim-survivors all while also being a victim-survivor. We are terribly sorry that they had to suffer alone in silence for so many years.

In 2013, our next oldest child became aware of the extent of CSA in our fellowship. Since that time, she has been actively trying to make us more aware of the CSA issues. Due to her persistence, we finally began to see the gravity of Ira Hobbs’ involvement in CSA and the mishandlings of the Ministry’s leadership in dealing with predators. In September 2019, just five months after Ira Hobbs raped our dear sister worker (which we were unaware of at the time), and prior to Clever Convention, we asked to speak to our overseer (who was aware of the violation). Although this daughter was no longer in the fellowship, she remained intent on being a child advocate. With tears in her eyes she sat down with us and the overseer. We pleaded that the overseer would not allow Ira Hobbs to gather with young children and asked that he please ban Ira from coming to Clever Convention. We were told we alone could say who could and couldn’t come on our property. She helped us to write a letter to Ira Hobbs stating that fact. We want to thank her for the persistence in being a child advocate and continuing to be involved in making us aware and educating us on the dangers of CSA and coverup. We also want to apologize to her that for so long her voice fell on deaf ears. The following is our letter to Ira Hobbs along with his response.

09/01/2019

Mr. Ira Hobbs

I am contacting you concerning the conventions at Clever. As you know, hundreds of our fellow Christians both young and old gather together here once a year to celebrate the life of Christ. We will have a phone number set up to listen in for those that cannot attend convention in person. I strongly urge you to utilize the option to call in to each of the 3 meetings that will be held daily.

This year as in future years, attending in person or staying on the grounds during the week of convention is not an option that will be available to you. It is not our place to judge or convict only to walk with God and open our home as a safe place of worship. We have not addressed any safety concerns in the past as we felt moved to allow the workers to handle the situation. We have been advised that only we have the authority to make a decision about who can and cannot attend the convention at our home. We also feel that this would be best for your own protection against any future accusations that you not be present.

We have made the call-in option available because through Christ is our salvation and we want anyone who can to participate and enjoy the spirit of convention. This has troubled our hearts for some time now. Therefore workers were contacted and they have consented to, and are in agreement with this request. We ask that you respect our decision and respond to let us know that you have received this communication.

Sincerely,

The T Family

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09/07/2019

Dear Lecil,

God is witness of the grief caused by your strange and questionable judgment.
Even though we had hoped to get to Clever convention this year, considering our current major health issues, it is not even feasible to physically attend any convention next week.
We love the fellowship and quickening meetings, and hope to share at least some of the meetings by conference call, if that is provided.

Sincerely, Joan and Ira

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In 2013, our youngest daughter, who had 3 small children, also became acutely aware of the horrific acts of CSA committed by Ira Hobbs. She vowed at that time to take action. She contacted as many people as possible via email to sign a petition pleading for our Overseers to take action to rid the fellowship of CSA. Sadly, only 86 people signed that petition, fifteen signed ‘Anonymous’. Due to our refusal to open our eyes and see there was a problem from within our fellowship, she felt she was fighting alone without the support of her parents. For that we want to apologize to her. We also want to thank her for doing what she felt necessary at the time to protect her own family and our grandchildren. Back in 2013, it may have seemed extreme, but we are grateful for her insight and that she felt strong enough to make a stand. The following is a link to the petition written by our youngest daughter 10 years ago. https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/create-publish-and-implement-a-child-sexual-abuse-education-and- response-plan.html

Our youngest child, our son, is presently very active and involved in assisting us in this fight to rid our fellowship of SA and CSA. We want to thank him for volunteering his time, along with our oldest in helping victims-survivors through Voices for the Truth. We want to apologize that he did not see his parents take a more active stance against SA and CSA in the past. We realize what a disappointment this must be to him as well as to his siblings. We want to thank our son for always challenging us and opening up hard conversations. And thank him for the work he’s done to help open us up to a kinder and more loving perspective towards others, especially those who may not share our skin color, sexual orientation or gender, or faith. It is in this that we have become more aware of the needs and struggles of others.

Although none of our children currently are in this fellowship, they realize our commitment and love for this fellowship and our desire to remain a part of it.

We are sorry that we recently allowed an alleged perpetrator to work on our property even after we learned that there were allegations against him. On June, 9, 2023 we received a letter notifying us of allegations against Brad Holman. Then on June 16, 2023 we were notified that Brad would be coming to Clever Convention grounds to pick up some of his personal things, wrap up an electrical project, and drop off a vehicle. Although Brad was never in our home, one week later, Brad was still present on the grounds. We asked Craig Winquist if anything was being done to clear Brad of the allegations and told him that if not, Brad would need to leave. Craig informed us that the allegations were serious and doubted that they would be cleared. Brad was told he would need to leave our property and he left on Sunday June 24, 2023. We know now that allowing Brad to work on our property even after we knew there were allegations against him appeared as us supporting him. To the community and especially victim-survivors, we hope you will accept our sincere apology.

To all victim-survivors of CSA and SA: we are deeply sorry for the pain you have experienced. We are sorry that we didn’t do more sooner. We see you. We hear you. We believe you. And we will do everything within our power to support you.

SA and CSA have many secondary victim-survivors. It is a crime not only against an individual, but against a community. For our part in the complicity, we are so very sorry. Our lack of awareness and understanding delayed the urgency of action. We have been educating ourselves through literature, conversation, and sharing. And we plan to continue to do so. We understand that ignorance made us make wrong decisions, but that is inexcusable. We have also learned that accountability does not erase the damage done by our actions/inactions. We hope that our current stance against SA and CSA can show that we are not only sorry, but we are also committed to taking an active role in the healing of victim-survivors as well as the prevention of further harm. This letter is in no way written to justify our complicity and inaction in past years. We take full accountability.

For too long, we have not considered the anguish SA and CSA has caused the victim-survivors. To those who consider our stance too radical, we hope that you will come to see there is nothing radical about supporting victim-survivors and protecting our fellowship.

We know that many of you may have been personally harmed by our inaction on this in the past and you deserve a personal apology as well. Please reach out to us if you feel comfortable doing so: we would be grateful for the opportunity to apologize to you directly.

With remorse,

Lecil and Gaby T

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WINGS Note August 21, 2023: Some details that were initially redacted to preserve privacy have now been reinstated after clarification that the authors approved the full disclosure.

Previous posts:

Clever, MO convention cancelled

Clever, MO Convention Safety Protocol

Preparing for convention at Clever, MO