I began writing this post some months ago, while I was in Germany. I drafted much of the material while travelling, and then became immersed in and distracted by other projects. One of the reasons I was slow to complete and publish this essay is that it is in the main a signpost, directing the reader to more thorough treatments of the several subtopics: a group of major scandals in American Evangelicalism. In drawing all of these threads together, I don’t consider my original contributions ground-breaking; in fact, probably none of them is particularly unique, especially relative to the writers and resources to whom and which I point, these others who have done the leg work and cogitating about these various symptoms of spiritual disease that has descended upon the church in America.

What motivated me to complete it was the recent posting of a presentation by Julie Roys on her blog, which I found inspiring and exhortatory. I am not aware of similar compilations of material for comparison to what I present here, but Julie herself mentioned a handful of major scandals, including some on which she has not written at length on her blog. This leads me to believe that most, like Julie Roys, who have of necessity focused on exposing the truth in one set of circumstances, are nevertheless fully aware and keep themselves appraised of the developments in several other cases. So, it is likely that there are such compilations of references and links elsewhere. Anyone happy to do so may post links to such resources in the comments.

While it is sad to think of ‘getting the scandals all together in one place’ (or at least, as many as I know about), I do hope treating them however briefly and no doubt inadequately, will prove useful to someone somewhere. And of course, considering disparate crimes and experiences in tandem may help us better to understand shared or unshared aspects of the cases, provoking deeper analysis of spiritual and practical processes by which all these evils have taken place, and Lord-willing, more thorough repentance, accountability, resolution, and even revival. That’s what we need—to echo Julie Roys’ overarching point, the exposing of so much corruption throughout the Evangelical Industrial Complex (I believe a term originating with Carl Trueman), in so many of its different camps, is a ‘move of God to purify His church’.  We need to know the truth to know what kind of trouble we’re in, to know how to pray and what appropriate remedial action to take (and what discipline to do).

Some commentary on the cases will be more thorough than others. This is not meant to be an indication of what I think of their relative scale of importance: it is due simply to my own varying levels of knowledge (and ignorance) and to my lack of time in being able to spend the same amount of time on each case. The misconduct in each I find personally disgusting, but I will not say this every time it occurs to me.

In the beginning, the trigger for beginning to accumulate ‘panels’ for the signpost was the lack of clarity characterizing the discussion, self-representation and communication by the respective leadership and allies in even those cans of misdeeds and cover-ups which had already had their lids blown off. The truth was/is proven and publicly available, and yet the spin and desperate attempts to deflect and redirect onlookers’ attention, and the lack of transparency and even visibility (where’s Bill?) on the part of leadership has continued to create and encourage confusion. When repentance and restoration on such a massive scale is required, obfuscation, evasion and deliberately muddled narratives cannot be of God.

What I will say at the outset is that I have discovered a common thread between scandal on the small scale—like that at Aetna CRC—and the large: a twin lack of clarity and curiosity. People, usually the culprits, insist on half-truths, vague and even bizarre abstractions when it comes to responsibility and culpability, and urge all others to direct their attention elsewhere (e.g., ‘we just need to move forward’) without ever having defined and addressed problems or given a thorough and accurate account of what has happened. Others, including what we might call ministry allies and many in the respective congregations, sometimes rising to the level of aiding and abetting, are, for perhaps many reasons, totally disinterested in burning away the fog by seeking and even pushing for the truth. Even if they suspect they’re being lied to or at least aren’t getting the whole story, it is easier to accept what they’re given and to do what they’re told. Neither of these characteristics is a virtue.

So, I have titled this essay, ‘The Curious Incident of Clarity in the Church’, taken from a conversation in The Adventure of Silver Blaze:

“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?” [asked Colonel Ross.]

“To the curious incident of the dog in the nighttime.”

“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”

“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.

*

This is meant to be (only a partial) annotated blogography of recent major abuse scandals in American Evangelicalism, some of the annotations being summaries of the cases as I understand them, and some of them being my responses to these revelations. I readily admit that some of my responses are speculative, and are not to be attributed to the sources to whom/which I link.

Before we begin properly, I will introduce a handful of category-pairs and dichotomies, which may provide us some concepts ‘to think with’, as they say in academia:

1. Origins and Symptoms.

2. Small scale (Aetna) vs large scale corruption.

3. Hard Hearts vs. Regeneration (on regeneration, listen to this conversation between Janet Mefferd & Al Baker)

4. Love of Truth vs. Zeitgeist.

5. The twin lacks of clarity and curiosity: in their place are confusion and indifference (CASUAL INDIFFERENCE). Is there a difference between uninterest and disinterest? Is apathy dangerous? Is it sinful?

6. Consider Ignorance and Want beneath the skirts of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

7. Systemic unfitness and incompetence.

One final note before we begin: This conversation will not cover what has gone on in the Roman Catholic Church, a story in itself! See Rod Dreher’s blog for commentary on recent exposure of scandal in the RCC, with alleged cover-ups aided by Pope Francis himself.

*

One glance at the home page of any news site reveals the ghastly state of the sinful world we live in: disaster, hypocrisy, intrigue, plague, violence, despair. Sadly, a sprinkling of information from the past few years’ news on some of the most important Christian blogs might indicate that the church world–more specifically, the enclave that calls itself American evangelicalism, though that term is now itself the subject of discussion– is not much different.

Here’s a question: have there always been so many wolves, and so many sheep and shepherds expending so much effort and heaping so much judgement upon themselves on the wolves’ behalf, in the fold? In some of these prominent church scandals, the wolves have been allowed to prey repeatedly and with impunity upon the most vulnerable in the house–the children.

This is what is most disturbing to me as a [fairly] new mother. This has kept me awake at night. Church is not safe for our children. I ask myself, staring at the wall in the dead of night, would I be more likely to be encouraged to go to the police and seek justice for my abused child in the secular world than in the church, if the accused were a member of my fellowship? I don’t like the answer that offers itself, which is ‘Yes’. And cynical as it may sound, it is not a baseless conclusion.

If we look at a few of the most high-profile scandals in the church world, especially ‘Evangelicalism’ and including its ‘reformed’ corner, of the past several years, we will see a tendency toward injustice (and I must emphasize I don’t use that term in the fashionable, politicized, Marxist sense, but rather define it in keeping with biblical and classical principles), which manifests itself in a number of different kinds of frightening behaviour, telling uses of language, and fascinating individual and group psychology/ies.

What is important to note at the outset is that no denomination, no camp, no enclave bound by soteriological persuasion, has a monopoly on abuse. Small associations and large denominations, little country churches and mammoth ‘organizations’ which function as denominations or even as single bodies with many ‘members’, i.e., satellites, groups with cult-type leaders and those without, have all been guilty of ignoring, failing to address, or actively covering up abuse of all stripes. We can talk in a later post about what shared cultural factors there may be to cause similar behaviour across groups which otherwise appear to function, and even believe, so differently.

Sovereign Grace Ministries

Perhaps the most apparently scandalous should be named first: SGM, and its higher-ups, beginning with CJ Mahaney. The short version is that members/leaders/teachers within this ‘organization’ (really, it’s a denomination that was run by one charismatic man) were accused of child molestation and sexual abuse of teenagers. When victims and/or their families approached SGM leadership with the allegations, they were dissuaded from going to the secular authorities and encouraged to let the ‘church’ handle it ‘in house’. Deals were cut, promises to keep quiet exacted, and in one case, alleged vitcims were compelled to accept the accused’s apology and verbally grant forgiveness in the presence of the accused and witnesses. This act of ‘forgiveness’ was then touted as a period on the matter which precluded the alleged victim from going to the police. Some have been publishing on SGM for YEARS, the most prominent being a former SGM insider, Brent Detwiler. He claims there is no way such actions and decisions could have been taken in such serious matters without CJ Mahaney knowing about them. To date, CJ Mahaney has admitted to knowing and covering up nothing.

Perhaps worse, several of his ‘friends’, colleagues, fellow conference speakers/goers, publicly defended him, proclaiming that they believed in his ignorance and innocence, without having acquainted themselves with any of the documentary evidence. Most of these–men whom I and others have respected and admired (among them the men pictured sitting with him in apparent solidarity at Together for the Gospel in 2014, and those whose ‘investigation’ of the allegations against SGM is called corrupt by Detwiler)–to my knowledge have never, even after further developments, publicly acknowledged their own ignorance and haste in so committing themselves on behalf of a man who has been running from accountability for years (one of them offered an apology that has been characterized aptly as ‘incomplete’). Mahaney’s silence and apparently successful escape from any real comeuppance is truly sinister.

Recommended Resources: Brent Detwiler has written extensively and exhaustively about Sovereign Grace for years.  The man is a credible former insider whose documentation–for anyone trying to defend SGM from the allegations–is insurmountable.

Todd Wilhelm has also written some on CJ Mahaney and SGM, though his primary focus is on convicted child sex abuser Tom Chantry and ARBCA (see below).  To be frank, the fact that so many smart and ‘accomplished’ (read ‘published’ and ‘famous’) pastors have been so late to the game in recognizing and naming Mahaney and SGM and their misdeeds is perhaps as big and troubling as the abuse itself.

Harvest Bible Chapel (Harvest/HBC)

There then has been the ‘systemic’ corruption of Harvest Bible Chapel, begun and run by James MacDonald. His ‘open secret’ sins have included high stakes poker, big game hunting overseas, disturbing displays of anger and loss of control, bullying, shameless material self-indulgence with everything from mansions to coffee machines, and lavish gift-giving to and hosting of high-flyer friends on the church’s/organization’s dime (known on the inside as the ‘black budget’). Surely this must have kept him busy (trips to South Africa to kill sable take both time and energy to plan–not to mention MONEY). Yet he had time for his various ministries.  When I mention money, we’re talking millions of unaccounted-for dollars.

At any rate, former Harvest insiders have been publishing on his extravagence and the administration’s (should we even call them elders and deacons?) enablement, for years at websites like the Elephant’s Debt. They have been attacked and vilified both within and without Harvest, and MacDonald has managed to weather the mini-scandals of one-off exposures (like the gambling reveal back in 2013, and the theological fiasco that was the Elephant Room 2). More recently, exposure was given a professional voice thanks to Julie Roys, who braved abuse, threats, and ultimately a malicious and frivolous lawsuit to get the truth out, not least to those being fleeced and lied to in Harvest itself. MacDonald has been fired, but has conveniently dropped from view, with no public confession made (nor, it may be assumed, required by those who have had his back–and bank sort code– for years).  Julie Roys surmises he may soon resurface in another prominent ministry with global reach.

Now there are whiffs of sexual scandal as well, with Harvest leadership failing to report abuse allegations, and as will be seen to be all too typical, none of the leadership has come forward to confess their complicity in pulling the wool over their sheeps’ eyes, which should be the first step for ‘Christian’ organizations who want to move forward with the blessing of God. Not only must biblical protocols be followed (obviously!), but in such situations where so many people have been slandered, abused, defamed and ostracized for telling the truth and demanding some accountability, and where so many others who were kept in the dark suddenly discover they’ve been lied to and taken advantage of, RESOLUTION must be sought. Real resolution can only be pursued and effected when biblical principles are brought to bear, and where psychological and emotional–as well as personal, physical, and reputational–damage is acknowledged, named, and dealt with. The members of these monster ‘churches’ are encouraged to treat the organizations like family. The wounds in such circumstances therefore run deep, and people should ask what it takes to promote true healing. Surely hurrying to move on and hope people forget would not be recommended by professionals who deal with the relational side of injury and injustice in families and communities. On the ‘business’ end of things, where there should be official accountability, there should be written, public responsibility apportioned and acknowledged, and those responsible should face consequences–church discipline, and removal from positions of authority (and the payroll). Where is all this with respect to Harvest? And where, pray, is the butcher himself?

Recommended Resources:  Years in the making (beginning in 2012) is The Elephant’s Debt; see also Julie Roys’ work, and the comments of other discernment blogs over the years on, for example, the damage done by James MacDonald at the Elephant Room 2.

Willow Creek Community Church (Willow)

This brings us to Willow. ‘Bill Hybels started a revival, from the Bible…’ Ed Young, Jr.’s rap told us, lo, these many years ago (I’d link to it on Pirate Christian Radio’s Museum of Idolatry, but the video link there no longer works.  And I don’t want to encourage views of ‘UBU’ on Youtube, so I won’t link to it there either). Behold, another circumstance wherein an international superstar leader-pastor has been accused by MANY credible people of sexual misconduct over the course of many years. An ‘internal investigation’ backs him up, allows for the attacking and disparaging of the accusers, and all are encouraged to forget. This approach blows up in Willow leadership’s faces. The more complete picture can be found at various other sites.

The sum, as you may have guessed, is this: leader is accused publicly and with detailed testimony, sometimes with timelines and documentary evidence, of unbiblical, immoral, sometimes illegal conduct; leadership first ignores the accusations; growing numbers of accusers, greater visibility/readership of the allegations, and questions from the congregation eventually force a confrontation with the accusers, which typically results in a slapdash, surface-level and minimal investment ‘inquiry’, which is internally conducted, does not involve law enforcement or outside agencies, and which produces a leader- and leadership-affirming report that says practically nothing meaningful: it will probably include some subtle language that implies the accusers are crazy, confused, or misguided; or worse, that they ‘have it in’ for the leader for some personal reason, or for the ‘church’, and are therefore to be ignored. More clearly the report will communicate that ‘it’s all good’, the leader is great, the church is great (so the sheep need not worry themselves and should indeed be ‘stoked’ that they’re so special and useful), and God wants us to put this behind us and get back to important things, like our unprecedentedly amazing ministry like the Global Leadership Summit. In short, there’s nothing to see here.

This report, probably accompanied by some sort of feel-good, motivational public statement by the leadership, will be met with outcry from the accusers and their supporters, who will state the obvious: it wasn’t a proper inquiry because it wasn’t independent, and the conclusion was reached before the inquiry began: defend the leader and the brand at all costs, while saying as little about the allegations as possible and trying to appear to ‘be nice’ about the accusers. Once there is pushback against this initial approach, the organization’s leadership will shift gears and go into attack mode. No holds barred. The ensuing push by the leader/ship to regain and/or maintain control over the narrative, and over the sympathies of the organization’s members, will grow increasingly brutal and desperate, and will result in truly harrowing sin, the majority being grievous shattering of the ninth commandment, and sometimes culminating in physical threats against the accusers and whistleblowers.

In some cases, like at Willow, the truth did eventually come out. It is out, and so is Bill Hybels. But as with James MacDonald, where is he? And where are his handlers and right-hand men and women who assisted in character-assassinating his victims? Well, in late summer they had a meeting. And Julie Roys’ post reflecting on that meeting gets at the heart of our discussion: confusion. If Bill Hybels is officially disgraced and his victims have been vindicated, how can there still be so little clarity about what happened, who’s responsible for what, and what needs to be declared and done to make things right? As little kids, we’re told to say sorry when we’re wrong, and we’re told to say what we’re sorry for. It’s concrete acknowledgement to the injured party of what we’ve done wrong. Perhaps when Christians get on leadership boards of corporate-style chain churches, they forget this very simple lesson.  Now, Bill’s ridden off into the sunset, or rather, parachuted into a cushy retirement with zero demand that he make public confession and declare his repentance.

Recommended resources: Definitely, Willow attendee and insider Dr. James Bedell.   A truth-lover and clinical psychologist, he not only provides incisive biblical insight into the facts he presents, but also brings his vocational experience to the table, helping the reader to understand several of the group/corporate social and power dynamics at play in Willow’s particular subculture, identity, self-defense and self-representation.

As will be clear from the embedded links in this section, Julie Roys has also written several posts about the scandal and fallout at Willow.  Also useful RE: Willow is The Wartburg Watch, though I don’t recommend the reader wade into every topic on which they comment, as I find some of their commentary to be abjectly biased (they are particularly reactionary when it comes to ‘Calvinism’.  I put the term in scare quotes because I’m not sure the writers understand the doctrinal system to which they object).

Association of Reformed Baptist Churches in America (ARBCA)

A small enclave of Reformed Baptists has found itself—unexpectedly—in the national evangelical limelight because a man who would otherwise be small fry, but happens to be the son of one of the movement’s leading lights and pastors, has recently been convicted of sexual abuse of children. This of course is Tom Chantry, a ‘pastor’ himself. He continues to profess his innocence of all charges, and the wickedness of all involved in the criminal justice process who have proven/found him guilty, and some in the denomination—Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America—are still sympathetic. But as with our other cases here, the bigger story, as repulsive and evil as Chantry’s actions are, is the systematic, organized, coordinated campaign of complicity and cover-up perpetrated by his fellow pastors. For years they knew of the truth of the allegations against him; rather, many of them believed the allegations of physical abuse of children, even if they didn’t believe the accusations of molestation.

As in so many of these cases, the parents went first to the elders of their church when they learned what Chantry had allegedly done—one thing I’ve learned from these stories is, if there are accusations of criminal activity against a church leader or member, to go to the police first, so no one can talk me out of doing so. They cut a deal with Chantry, a means to get him out of their hair. They sent him out of state, arranged for the accusers not to go to law enforcement, and secured a promise from Chantry that he would not pastor again. And, I presume, would not be around kids. Within the next year he was teaching at a private Christian academy. And abusing again. Thanks, chiefs.

This was nearly twenty years ago. Justice has only begun to catch up with Chantry and ARBCA’s shenanigans, with his extradition, trial and conviction all happening just in the past two years. Even after his extradition to Arizona, certain men who would otherwise command a great deal of respect from someone like me spoke publicly in his defense or attempted to hush all discussion of the matter in the church at large, and have since not retracted their bold statements of support for Chantry or the leadership of ARBCA who covered for him, a slap in the faces of the victims who were denied protection and justice twenty years ago. It’s not that Todd Pruitt, for example, should have condemned him as guilty (and not thrown ‘bloggers’ under the bus), it’s not that the justice system shouldn’t have been allowed to do its job; maybe the argument can be made that everyone should have waited for the jury’s verdict after the presentation of the evidence of both prosecution and defense, even if people couldn’t help but discuss it. But the court documentation is out—online—and the verdict and sentencing are now realities. Now is the time to admit to being mistaken and misinformed.

But nobody…none of these professing Christian ‘leaders’…will do this. What has been one of the more interesting developments in this case is the departure of several of the congregations from the group, and some of them have left rather quietly, or, have erased any and all signs of affiliation with ARBCA. Interesting, indeed, as is the noteworthy fact that many of the ministers are related to each other: fathers, sons, uncles, nephews, brothers. Administrative nepotism and/or incest? Sadly, blood is thicker than water, and familial ties more weighty than the reputation of Christ’s church, and even one’s own integrity. And then there’s the revelation about their ‘seminary’s’ credential-puffing… Organizations big or small, you can find corruption and self-interest anywhere.

Recommended Resources: My primary source on ARBCA, Chantry, his crimes, the cover-up, and the talking out of turn by friends/colleagues who prematurely dismissed Chantry’s accusers, is Todd Wilhelm.  Wilhelm has also written about CJ Mahaney and SGM at his website, so I have cross-referenced his site above.

The Master’s Seminary (MS)

The Master’s Seminary, affiliated with John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church, had its own issue with transparency and procedural integrity, though I must confess I’m not as informed about this case of mishandling of sexual harassment/abuse allegations; one of the reasons, in my opinion, is the under-reporting relative to these other under-reported cases. Long story short, the staff at MS fumbled, then apparently kept it quiet, and John MacArthur and the other high-profile leadership have kept mum about it. I can’t blame those who think that if they pretend long enough there’s not a problem, over time the vast majority of uninformed, and the goodwill of their fans, combine to minimize, de-legitimize or eliminate the concerns of the informed and the wary. It does seem to work often, or even most of the time.

At any rate, when allegations are mishandled in ways that can only at best be described as inexperience or carelessness, and at worst, as gross negligence or callousness, reluctance or outright refusal to own mistakes may reveal troubling disregard for the truth and failure to apply biblical principles to procedure. So…what will Master’s do about it?

As an aside, there’s the past problematic conduct (or at least, claims) of Grace Community Church’s Phil Johnson. Once again, someone is called on the carpet for something inappropriate, perhaps wrong, and he appears to decide to simply wait it out. Neither defend nor admit to anything; just ignore the ‘detractors’ and even the most formidable arguments and evidence, and hope your fans will help you ride out the storm until everyone forgets about it and/or gives up on answers and accountability.

Recommended Resources: Brent Detwiler.

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)

I’ll confess, this is getting exhausting and disillusioning. It seems like the failures, cover-ups, and victim/accuser blaming and smearing—coddling the wolves—are everywhere. From the second-stage abuse by the leadership who have been entrusted with allegations, and who in turn fail to the take the right action (and caused further harm to true victims and undermine the process), by neglecting to do proper investigation and then harmed Truth and Justice, unto the protection, even elevation and promotion of the initial aggressor/accused, like in the case of Andy Savage. This kind of coddling is typically followed by the vilifying of the accuser, like the DISGUSTING treatment of accuser Jules Woodson (the record of which I cannot find), who was a minor at the time of the alleged assault, at the keyboard-pounding hands of professing Christians taking to social media to smear her. These people prove themselves more conscience-seared, wagon-circling fan boys and girls of pastors like Savage than sober-minded, truth-seeking disciples of Jesus Christ.  (As of October 2019, is he another one who gets to move on and start a new church, like Mark Driscoll and so many others I thought were has-beens?)

And now the SBC—hit with the downfall of proud conservative-resurgence leader (and notorious anti-Calvinist) Paige Patterson and the slapping of Matt Chandler’s church [hey, at least they called the po-po!] with a major lawsuit this past summer–is being rocked by the conflation of different but connected issues. There is the matter of handling current and historic allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, and addressing mishandling, cover-ups, and corruption in these cases. Then, there is the ongoing and increasingly heated and complicated debate about gender(ed) roles, within the church and without. One of the reasons this debate has become so complicated is due to the inadequacy and imprecision of definitive terms: like ‘evangelicalism’, labels like ‘complementarian’ and ‘egalitarian’ may be destined for the dustbin, as they mean either too much or too little, and the moving target of meaning resulting from human beings’ inconsistency (in the changing of minds or unhelpful definition – ‘clarifying’ over time) creates a need for new terms with which to argue, distinguish, and self-identify.

Demanding accountability for sexual abuse and cover-up does not equate to ‘egalitarianism’ or elimination of biblically outlined gender roles in church ministry.  But regardless of one’s position on gender roles, any biblically tenable position would require condemnation of sexual misconduct (and abuse of authority and power) of any kind. I feel stupid having written this, but it must be declared because it apparently is not a given. How else can one explain the rampant misbehaviour by some, and the excusing of it by countless others? And what must be pointed out again is that one’s official position on anything does not preclude one from favouring a buddy and throwing the weak and victimized under the bus. Ultra- ‘conservatives’ (with regard to the position and role of women) are duty-bound to protect women. Duh. Sweeping female accusers under the rug with no investigation, and leaving male potential abusers to continue in their behaviour, encourages tyranny, not leadership.

And of course, the most liberal-minded on the equality of men and women, like those secularists we find in Hollywood, have been exposed by the #MeToo movement to be the most power-vaunting and craven opportunists when it comes to sexual assault. ‘Respect for the autonomy of women’ is only a buzz-phrase to them, and the victims’ ‘sisters’ in the industry have sided time and again with their accused male buddies. Hypocrisy, again, thrives everywhere.

Recommended Resources: Google. The Houston Chronicle. Myriad Christian blogs, including Wade Burleson‘s.

*See also the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against the SBC-affiliated International Missions Board (IMB).

Parenthetical: Mammon strikes again, ironically in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.  Heh.

Bizarre Developments: James White, Apologia, and Doug Wilson (‘Theologian’, the disambiguation provided by Wikipedia!)

There is much more that could be said about these individual cases, and more generally about the state of the church and how people in it think and behave.  There is one more situation that hits particularly close to home, because the attitudes of the people involved have disappointed me personally.  For years (more than 10?) I was a regular listener of Alpha & Omega Ministries’ The Dividing Line, the long-running podcast of Reformed Baptist Apologist Dr. James White.  I also have several of his books.

Those facts should be enough to demonstrate that I respected his work and found his materials useful.  One of his talents I found particularly helpful over the years was his ability to make complex issues accessible, and to boil arguments down to the basics and make them concise.  His work has trained my thinking.  One example: when hearing a proposition or argument that doesn’t sound quite right, the first reaction should be, ‘What does the Bible say?’  It sounds obvious, like it should be a Christian’s instinctive response to something new or different from what he or she thinks.  BUT IT ISN’T.

Anyway.  He’s also emphasized, constantly, the need for consistency in thought and apologetic method, holding everyone to the same standard.

Concision. Clarity. Consistency.  A virtuous trifecta.

I knew something wasn’t right, then, when he hosted a podcast that left me scratching my head.  It was the first time in ten years that I said to myself, ‘What is he on about?’ During this podcast, Dr. White was ‘explaining’ (ish) why he had left his church home of (I believe) 20 years or so, Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, to join the up-and-coming Apologia.  I can say no more than that I had a funny feeling, and that he had said a lot of words which communicated, to me, very little.

Something happened in August 2019 that was quite similar: he discussed what he called a ‘face-plant moment’, a mistake he’d made with regard to a video and what I assume he thought was others’ rush to judgment about it.  To this day, I still know very little about what was then apparently becoming infamous, ‘The Founders Trailer’, what people found objectionable in its content, and what they were saying to which Dr. White initially responded.  In his ‘face plant’ acknowledgement podcast, he seemed to admit that he’d not been fully informed when urging others not to rush to judgment, and…sort of…apologized?  But he never said he was sorry, if I recall, and in the end, the face-plant moment ended up being about how ‘we all need to be more loving and gracious’.  But the tone and takeaway left me feeling like it was one of those ‘apologies’ that is really about how the problem is everyone else’s fault.  I know this is highly subjective and nebulous: there is no other way to describe it.

What was unsettling about this podcast, like that concerning Dr. White’s move to Apologia, was that it left me confused.  Dr. White never leaves me confused!  This, plus his rather strange ignorance of who Boz Tchividjian is.  Most people do not have time to inform themselves about everything, and over the years, Dr. White has rarely mentioned abuse scandals in evangelicalism.  But this lack of familiarity with BT gave quite a clear indication that his interest and his attention has been totally focused elsewhere, and that is telling as we move to our next subject, Doug Wilson.

Doug Wilson has been defended (or perhaps more often, his detractors have been dismissed) by Dr. White over the years in the face of what I consider to be overwhelming evidence that he has a.) covered for and enabled convicted sexual predators; b.) plagiarized extensively in his ‘academic’ work, the arguments of which at times lack merit anyway (e.g. his statements on American slavery); c.) conducted himself in a manner unbecoming an elder in Christ’s church, when such should be above reproach.  Perhaps if Dr. White doesn’t know who Boz Tchividjian is, and is unaware of what’s been going in SGM and the SBC (the exposure of widespread abuse of all kinds, but particularly sexual), perhaps he isn’t informed enough to speak about Doug Wilson and the allegations against him, or to rebuff Wilson’s detractors, often people who just want some transparency and honesty.  His apparent ignorance of such situations may mean Dr. White doesn’t understand the ramifications (or implications?) of appearing to defend such a thug.  (And wannabe.  Being married to a man who is actually from Scotland, I find Doug Wilson’s pretensions to be profoundly pathetic.)

Things have gotten more confusing and more troubling since.  I’ll leave it to others to catalogue Dr. White’s and his producer, Rich Pierce’s, strange and questionable online conduct, their perhaps strengthening affiliation with Doug Wilson (if not all of his doctrinal stances, such as Federal Visionism) and with Apologia, about which several thoughtful bloggers and writers have raised concerns.  I will close by saying that I have not listened to a Dividing Line since August.  Initially, I wasn’t able to explain why.  But since then, after seeing further developments (particularly online exchanges and the ‘blocking’ of folk asking straightforward and more often than not fair questions), I now think I had a sense that something had changed, something had gone off the rails, though I couldn’t explain it and had no real evidence that something had ‘happened’.

Recommended Resources:  The Truth About Moscow.

CONFUSION, CONFLATION & HASTE.  The way to keep the truth at bay.

In sum, all is not well.  One of the most frustrating features of several of these stories–including the as-yet unmanifested cause of my ‘falling away’ from AOmin, is the inability of these people–these big pastors, these would-be shepherds–to admit they’re wrong.   They’re all just like Keith Mannes and the others involved in Simon Templar’s case, when their failures are lined up in front of them like carnival ducks to be shot, and they can’t acknowledge anything. 

Now, we could talk about the falls from grace of evangelical superstars, or the—I presume– impending doom of those still standing. Several of those on my radar rose through the ranks of the so-called ‘Young, Restless, and Reformed’ movement. Carl Trueman has already written a poignant short article on this phenomenon, apparently occasioned by the personal implosion of Josh Harris—but I will mention the names of those who have fallen hard, but have not necessarily implicated their churches or ministries in cover-ups in quite the same way, and yet who have not to this day confessed to any wrongdoing: Perry Noble; Mark Driscoll (it took a while for his accusers to get noticed); Tullian Tchividjian.  Perhaps readers can think of more?

I urge readers to supplement my resource list in the comments, and to correct any errors of fact in my presentation of these materials.

We close with some input from a co-contributor:

‘What does it all point to?

The Narcissistic Leader is too big to fail;

The Narcissistic Leader surrounds himself with yes-men who won’t/can’t hold him accountable;

The Narcissistic Leader’s lackeys need him to remain in power because they derive status from being in his presence;

The Narcissistic Leader is above the rules; he can avoid accountability by running away.

It is noteworthy that in addition to the misdeeds of Bill Hybels and James MacDonald, their “leadership teams” or “administrative boards” or whatever they called them attacked the complainants/plaintiffs. In light of how terrible BH’s and JM’s behavior was, this makes for very bad optics. I wonder if those elders “get” how disgusting it was to defend those guys?

Regarding the [issue of] so little clarity about what happened– there sure was clarity when they [Willow leadership] called the women liars!’