Ted & Kelly Davis, Elder & Wife — Missouri

Lecil & Gaby Townsend, Clever Convention ground owners & parents of a victim-survivor — Missouri

Nadine & Calvin Mead, Elder & Wife (survivor) — Missouri

Sam & Kim Vallery, Elder & Wife — Arkansas

Thomas & Sharon Melendy, Friend — Missouri

Travis & Janelle Veldkamp, Elder & Wife — Missouri

Joe Trapp — Texas

Jim & Lori Collins, Friend — Missouri

Selkie Hope, Victim-survivor & former member — Virginia

Kelly Grotte, Elder & Wife — North Dakota

Dan & Paula Timmersman, Friend — Missouri

Brad & Kelly Graves, Ex elder & wife — Maine

Nate Thompson, Friend — Wyoming

Shanna Smidt, Former friend, no longer attending — Illinois

Frank Williams & wife, Friend — Missouri

Brandon & Mikaela Hellevang, Friend — Nebraska

Mary Jo VanDermyden, Friend — California

Nathan Rudolph, Friend — North Carolina

Jennifer Ott, Friend — Michigan

Shirley MacGregor, Concerned friend — Sk, Canada

Rita Boettcher, Friend — Oklahoma

Tom & Liz Klepzig, Elder & Wife — Missouri

Dennis & Rebekah Hamon, Elder & Wife — Washington

Sean & Karen Melendy, Friend — Missouri

Sally & Clinton VanSickle~MIchigan, Past Elder & wife for 25 years — Michigan

Wes Walker, Elder & Wife — Montana

Mark Williams, Elder & Wife — Minnesota

Seth & Minda Fore, Friend — Minnesota

Deb Riker, Friend — Wyoming

D. Jones, Friend — Kentucky

Zach & Carmen Fore, Friend — Minnesota

Devin & Becca Alumbaugh, Friend — Missouri

Jim & Cyndi Timmersman, Friend — Missouri

Jay & Shauna Vallery, Former Elder & Wife — Louisiana

John & Darcie Carr, Paused in September — Indiana

Rich & Sharon Kleinstick, Friend — Minnesota

Patty & Jon Rieckenberg, Friend — Minnesota

Stacy Quackenbush, Friend — Minnesota

James & Joy Mathias, Friend — Arkansas

Travis & Amaliya Anderson, Friend — Wisconsin

Rita Anderson, Friend — Wisconsin

Doreen Saunders — Canada

Michael Nelson, Friend — Iowa

Kristina Boyle, Friend — Alabama

Bill & Donna & Aaron Vaughan friends in Ava, Mo., Friend — Missouri

Dan & Amber Pearce, Friend — Arizona

Alishia Jelinek & husband, Friend — North Dakota

Tom & Sara Sikes, Former elder & wife — Michigan

Chris & Michelle Burns, Elder & Wife — Florida

Michelle Wilson, Friend — Idaho

Anna Beach, Friend — NS, Canada

Perla Hughes, Friend — Georgia

Neil & Lynda Anderson, Elder & Wife — Missouri

William Johnson, Friend — Arizona

Laura Bryan, Elder's Wife — Arkansas

74 signatures, last updated Wed, Jan. 10:47 p.m. EST

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Clever Convention ground owners & parents of a victim-survivor — Missouri

Wed, Dec. 13, 2023

Friends,

We are writing to you with broken hearts. We feel moved to share this with you because we care deeply about your spiritual and physical safety. This letter is our response to the devastating news and events that have unfolded since last spring when we learned of the horrific abuse of our dear fellowship children and friends. We also discovered that members of our trusted ministry actually covered up these criminal acts and allowed the abuse to continue. We knew that we must do our part to protect and support victim-survivors. We are shocked and devastated to learn that our ministry does not feel the same.

We have hosted the Clever convention on our property for 21 years and had hoped to preserve this special reunion for years to come. Unfortunately, because leadership will not take meaningful steps to resolve the abuse issues, we are heartbroken to have to tell you that we have no intention of hosting another Special Meeting or Convention on our property.

Since leadership has chosen not to support or protect its flock, we can no longer support the ministry or its leadership in any way. We will continue to be a safe place for anyone — worker, member, former member, or otherwise — who stands with victim-survivors.

The priorities of the ministry were made clear to us when Craig visited with us on Aug. 8, shortly after the Overseers Meeting in Seneca, IL. When we asked him if the Overseers would pass a universal policy for creating a safer fellowship, he shared with us what their real concern was.

Here is a transcript of him describing the Overseers’ consensus, during that conversation with us:

“One of the issues, and this is another way of looking at it… When we're not looked at as a monolithic Fellowship, in other words, we don't have one identity in a sense, then our region is in legal protection. Otherwise, you can get sued as a whole group. But because we aren't a monolithic work in the sense and we are Regional, then that is a protection in a way. So, there's that thought that we don't want to become identified as one universal fellowship even though we have a lot in common; there is room for regional differences. It's one of the reasons we haven't been sued in the sense because there's no Central money, and so there's no way to identify some kind of incentive.”

We never considered there was “another way of looking at” protecting our fellowship from abuse. Yet Craig’s statements demonstrate that the Overseers are more concerned with protecting their finances and shielding themselves from the law than they are with keeping us safe. They seem willing to distort their view in order to protect worldly goods rather than the people they claim to be a shepherd of.

When we asked Craig to share with us some of what our leadership discussed at the overseer's meeting, he said that Barry Barkley started the meeting by saying:

“Perhaps this is the Lord's way of disciplining His ministry or, as he called it, ‘Chastising’ His ministry.”

As parents, we know that it is heartbreaking to discipline those we love, but it is necessary for our children's safety. And that discipline must result in change. Why has our leadership chosen earthly comforts over God’s correction?

In our meeting with the task force on Dec. 10, Craig and his staff mentioned that the workers are confident in how they are currently handling allegations. However, their method of ‘handling’ allegations is no different than it was before this chastisement. They rely on deceitful and dishonest perpetrators to stay within boundaries that they've crossed before. We know of a few recent examples in our region where this system has already failed.

1. One of the workers gave an example of how well they believe they’ve handled a specific CSA predator in Oklahoma. However, several months back, this same predator showed up at our home with two of his children. We had no idea there were serious allegations against him and feel violated that the ministry hid information about his past from us and did not give us the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to allow him into our home.

2. After sharing our draft convention safety policy, we received information a man who raped a 15-year-old girl has not only been attending our conventions for years but also hosts a meeting in his home. The ministry was aware of his actions in 2019, and claims to have ‘handled it’ appropriately. We don’t know whether or not Craig had this information when he came to our area, but we do know that he has been aware of it since 8/17/23 when we shared it with him. There is still a meeting in the predator’s home, and he showed up at an event two weeks ago where many workers and Friends were present.

In that same meeting, the workers said their concern about a policy is that it would cause the ministry to rely on man-made rules rather than spirit-led decisions. The scourge of evil within this church has proven that the ministry requires a policy in order to establish the bare minimum of care for our flock. What is spirit-led should be far and beyond what is in a policy. Perhaps 5, 10, or 15 years from now a policy may fade into the background as people are made aware and we work together to form a culture that cares for victim-survivors and protects our fellowship from predators. But before that can happen, there must be a unified understanding of the evil in our midst. Until then, the ministry will continue to create division by refusing to be honest about these atrocities.

We had hopes that we could work with Craig on resolving these issues, but the leadership’s stance has made that impossible. The vast scope of evil within our ministry proves beyond any doubt that a written policy is essential. The leadership was invited to multiple task force meetings, which included many concerned friends, where we implored them to make changes for a safer fellowship. Sadly, the leadership is firm in its stance and feels confident in its handling of allegations. Their faulty system will continue to fail, and history will repeat itself. Our goals of finding unity and working together with the ministry have been thwarted.

At this time we desire to continue to follow the heart of Jesus and look at the safety of our children and most vulnerable in the fellowship. We CANNOT look at it any other way. We CANNOT choose earthly comfort over the righteous path that God has revealed to us. We believe that every penny that this ministry is trying to protect should go toward support for victim-survivors. We will no longer be financially supporting this ministry in any way. We will continue to have fellowship with all of you in accordance with safety guidelines, our conscience, and the word of God.

Lecil and Gaby Townsend

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Elder & Wife (survivor) — Missouri

Wed, Dec. 13, 2023

Our Most Precious Friends,

Most days since March of this year have been filled with deep sadness at what we have learned. As we write this today, it is no different. The sadness we feel nearly takes our breath away, but amid the sadness, we feel a profound thankfulness that we have a Father that has been so patient & kind to us in this journey. He has been willing to carry the heaviness when it seemed too much.

Through all of this we have been reminded of how precious the children & the vulnerable are to Jesus because He used many examples of this. When we married, our greatest hope was to bring children into this world and we begged God to bless us with them. Sadly, our first two babies went to heaven prior to us holding them. We believe that perhaps, those two precious little lives went to God so that we would have a greater understanding of the seriousness of being parents. We now have the privilege of God lending us 5 beautiful souls here on earth. We are tremendously protective of them, and raising them has been one of our greatest joys. Through them we have gotten to see the heart of our Father more clearly. It is not something we have ever taken lightly & we know God sees every child through much more profound vision than even ours. Little children teach us so much! How to unselfishly love, how to forgive, how to not keep records of wrongs, how to not envy. It is no wonder their angels see the face of God always! The fact that little children & the vulnerable have been used, abused, discounted, labeled & discarded like yesterday’s trash within our fellowship is more than we can fathom. It is a stain and a stench that has reached up to heaven.

We looked to those in our leadership thinking they would have the same level of horror that we do and we have been deeply grieved to realize not only that they don't, but often seem dismissive or even apathetic. It seems, although they have spoken often about sorrow and repentance, it is not something that they can live out. The longer we have progressed in this journey it has become obvious our leaders have known of these horrible crimes for many years, explaining why they weren't shocked at their exposure. Perhaps another reason why they are not also horrified is they have never experienced human love on the level a parent does when their new born baby is placed in their arms and we are awestruck at the miracle of life God created. Every victims’ story we have viewed as though it was one of our own precious children who was violated. It has crushed us deeply to experience that pain. It has made the hymn “I want to feel the pain my neighbors often know” very palpable, because our visceral reaction is to run away from the pain of others, but as someone shared, to turn away from the pain of others is another layer of abuse, and Jesus did not ever do that.

Our resolve has become more grounded as each day has passed, that “not on our watch” will we let this happen to another precious little vulnerable soul. We have pleaded with God for help & clarity. We don't know or understand why God revealed this in such a profound way, but it is very clear that He is calling to those who have ears to hear and waits to see what they are willing to do for “the least of these my brethren”. Some will choose the approval of men, and like the Savior said, “they shall have their reward”. We each bear the responsibility of being our brothers’ keeper in the future. We are so stricken within ourselves that we have had the spirit of a Pharisee in the past & we beg God to never let us slip into that spirit again, or allow Satan to delude us into complacency.

With deep love and great sorrow,

Calvin and Nadine Mead

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Elder & Wife — Arkansas

Thu, Dec. 14, 2023

Dear Steve and Daniel,

I am 61 years old, recently retired, have professed for 50 years, and so far, have hosted the local meetings in my home for almost 30 years. My wife and I have had an “open home” for over 40 years.

I am going to share my thoughts, as you requested.

Yes, we are in turmoil. And we have now been in turmoil for at least 8-9 months, with very little acknowledgment or change for the better. However, the reason for the turmoil is not limited to “the way some sexual abuse cases among our friends were handled”. Far from it! The reason for the turmoil is because of the way that multiple things have been “handled” over many decades, and continue to be “handled” even until this present time. Below are some of my thoughts:

Sexual abuse and several other forms of abuse, victimizing both minors and adults, has been a problem in our midst for many years. It has existed within both the fellowship and the ministry. We now have undeniable reports of this occurring for decades, and now know that efforts were made to keep it from becoming common knowledge by way of denial, bullying, slandering/silencing of victims and their advocates, and even excommunication. All were tools used as means of controlling the flow of information and the narrative.

How many people within the fellowship, even to this day, have an accurate picture of what is and has been going on? Have people been truly and honestly informed? Or has there been a continuing effort to “keep people in the dark”? Can anyone deny that there has been total silence outside of those who “need to know”? And whose right or responsibility is it to choose who “needs to know”? Does everyone who “cannot be part of an organized religion or efforts to institutionalize our family fellowship” know that there are now close to 700 verified allegations of abusers, and thousands upon thousands of their victims? Do these same people have any idea how many individuals and families have left the fellowship, and that over 70 workers in N. America alone, have left the ministry, voluntarily and involuntarily, since this crisis began? Why are people being forced to get information from the Internet and word of mouth, instead of from elders and workers? How is this at all helpful in regard to any attempt at rebuilding shattered trust? I believe that it is simply the continuation of a long history of lack of transparency. In fact, I don’t like that term “lack of transparency”. Doesn’t “dishonesty” sound and fit better?

How did we arrive at this point of turmoil, loss of faith in our fellowship structure, and loss of faith in our ministry? I believe that it is due to a combination of several interrelated factors. I have intentionally kept my list short, so it is certainly not all inclusive:

Exclusivity of Form: Our form of meeting together and worship are the only true way to salvation, and anyone that is not a member of our fellowship is doomed to a lost eternity. Or at the very best, in veiled argument against this teaching of exclusivity: “We are not the judge, and our God is merciful”….how many times have we all heard this statement when people who “lost out” and then died are later discussed? Just recently, a dear little man and his elderly mother who meet in my home were told that by a sister worker that “we are now in the end times, and that people presently leaving the fellowship are part of the great “falling away”.

Exclusivity of Ministry: Our celibate(!), “homeless”, 2×2 ministry, which stays in the homes of fellowship members is the only one approved by God, and any other form of ministry is “false”. Every evangelist/minister/pastor/worker outside of our church is a false prophet/hireling. And the very proof of this, as I was taught, is because “this form of ministry has lasted for so long! Surely, if it wasn’t of God, it would have fallen apart by now”.

Worship of Tradition and Man: Only those who have been willing to dress a certain way, have a certain “appearance”, wear their hair a certain way, and attend Sunday fellowship meetings, Wednesday night “meeting”, convention, special meetings, and gospel meetings are true Children of God. Anything else or “less than this” is false, vain worship, evidence of the “wrong spirit”, and is not of God. And the ultimate “example” for women in our fellowship is the way that sister workers behave, wear their hair and dress. Because one can always tell what is on the inside by the outside appearance….especially among the women!!

Lack of Accountability and Transparency: We like to tell ourselves and others that we are not an organized religion. We have taken great pride in this. But in reality, we are VERY organized. We have a definite hierarchy, from “overseers of overseers” all the way down through senior workers, junior workers, male workers, female workers, elders, and rank and file fellowship members. To deny any of this is an outright lie. On the other hand, we have a totally opaque, secretive system of decision making, including decisions of doctrine, church form/structure, finances, and even unwritten “policy”. Everyone wants to deny accountability in any of this, especially as one moves upward in the hierarchy, but once again this is simply put, all lies. Our framework of “independent regional overseers” conveniently supports the system of lack of accountability, as well as continued plausible deniability in the future. We have thrived in darkness and lack of accountability, and it has finally, but inexorably, led to this tremendous upheaval. There is no doubt in my mind that we are an extremely organized religion, and have been so for many decades. Being unwilling to admit the truth does not alter the truth. If we are going to continue with denial of accountability, and the fact the we have dangerously lost our way, are we then, logically, going to blame everything wrong within our fellowship and ministry on God and the leading of his Holy Spirit?! God Forbid!

Of course, one hears arguments denying the “truth” of the above listed items, but can any of us, in our hearts, before God himself, deny that we were taught all of this either directly and/or indirectly, and that together, they have had a tremendous impact upon us individually and as a group/culture? And when one is born and raised in such a cultural milieu, how can our fellowship and the ministry that largely draws from it, not become a breeding ground for all types of sexual, mental, spiritual and other immoral forms of abuse? Of course, there are still a few “worldly” people who occasionally “find” our church, but who can argue that well over 95% of present day members were born and raised in this, and were culturally conditioned to have blind faith, without questioning anything?

After >8 months of countless personal visits, written letters, phone calls, being an advocate for victims in our fellowship, being an active member in several groups, and still witnessing the lukewarm, milk-toast, reluctant responses to any of this by the ministry, and then the same cues/responses being mimicked by most fellowship members, I no longer have much will to fight on, mostly alone, for what has become so obvious to me in hindsight. I am ashamed and grieved to realize that what I thought I had and much of what I believed were not as I imagined. I also do not think, even for one moment, that if we can come up with a written “policy” to ostensibly deal with any potential predators whom we might inadvertently “catch” in the future, that we have accomplished anything worthy of hope for long-term sustainability in our fellowship and ministry. History will simply repeat itself over and over again as long as God allows this present world to stand.

Several months ago, I decided to neither invite workers into my home, nor support any functions in which the ministry is involved, including conventions, special meetings, and gospel meetings. Unfortunately, my stance has not changed.

However, I continue to feel a deep love and spiritual responsibility for my local little fellowship meeting and its members. I will continue in my role as elder of our local meeting, but I no longer answer to anyone but God. Perhaps there is still a slim chance that if more of us, both fellowship members and workers, would stand up and shout from the rooftops that “enough is enough”, there could be impetus for meaningful progress forward. But I fear that most are comfortably complacent, and have great fear of addressing systemic problems openly and honestly.

I hope that you will find it appropriate to forward my complete letter to all in our tristate area, both workers and fellowship members. I firmly believe that if more people had exposure to the absolute truth of our predicament as a church, that more would be moved by the Spirit to step up and play a role in saving our fellowship. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is and always has been a false facade.

Kindest regards,

Sam Vallery

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Friend — Michigan

Sun, Dec. 17, 2023

I am so thankful for all the work and prayers that has gone into this document in order to make our ministry and church a safer place.

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Concerned friend — Sk, Canada

Sun, Dec. 17, 2023

Thx for asking for righteousness.

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Friend — Missouri

Thu, Dec. 28, 2023

I only have one suggestion.. If any predator is identified in anyway by a survivor or victim that if the predators name and address be sent to every friend and worker that supports this. And end all fellowship and exile him or her from all fellowship or support from anyone in the fellowship that we love. It may no be a way of prosecuting them but, it would separate them from being able to continue it in our fellowship... Bill

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Elder & Wife — Missouri

Tue, Jan. 02, 2024

12/28/2023

Greetings again, all,

The Lord works in mysterious ways (Isaiah 55:8). The past 10 years have been a series of discoveries and lessons and we feel God has certainly been in it. He has so gently shown us things, both good and bad. Taught us to better judge situations. It has been our prayer that he would lead us closer and open things to us, that he would help us to love Him more and love what He loves. We feel that he has answered those prayers and would likely provide far more if we had the faith and the diligence that we should have.

We greatly regret having to write another letter, but it has become so clear that without those willing to take a stand, no change is possible. Thus, we are choosing to do so, in the hope that problems can be corrected. We are thankful for others who have also done so and for those who were willing to call attention to problems initially. It is not comfortable to stand alone.

Most of you will be all too aware of the Dean Bruer scandal that rocked our world this spring. Again, most will be aware that subsequently, news of many more abuses continued to pour out. Survivors, often long silent, finally felt freed to speak of the trauma they had borne. The news of abuses continued to pour out, a sickening flood of disgusting behavior finally brought to light. We heard of both children and adults that had experienced terrible sexual abuse. We heard of a sister worker who was raped by an ex-overseer. It seemed the flow would never stop and indeed it has not, as reports continue to stream in from around the world.

It is important to note that our group is certainly not alone in sex abuse and child sex abuse. We all can point to churches and other groups that have had issues. What is a surprise is that the problem is so very pervasive and as yet has not been dealt with in a substantive way. Not so long ago, the world was shaken by the revelations of truly terrible abuses in the Catholic church. We learned early on that per-capita, the problem is worse in our group. The Catholic church was forced into making some changes – likely not enough, but at least some change. We find that in our group there has been very, very little change. In fact, just recently, we heard a worker proclaiming how well the workers had handled an abuse case. Others on the call were able to show that it was, indeed, not handled well at all. Even with that information, there seemed to be no change in belief. This is purely ridiculous. Our group is supposed to be better than this. It is truly embarrassing to be associated with such ineptitude that has such a devastating effect on those who are victimized. Unfortunately, every indication shows that management has doubled down to simply continue as always, destined to repeat the same problems that have affected us for over *100 years*. The alarm has been raised many times, always repressed, with “troublemakers” labeled bitter and often expelled. Disgusting and unacceptable.

This all sounds negative, but that really isn’t the case. God has been here. Working, gently working. Comforting, revealing, guiding. We have learned truths that make us embarrassed, angry, sad, and more. Most importantly, this year has absolutely driven us to God, pleading for his guidance. He has responded. That has been an awesome experience, and we feel it will continue. So, while we started looking at sickening abuses of children, women, and power in general, our eyes have now been opened to so much more. Now we realize that the abuse which our fellowship has been rife with is just a symptom of a larger problem. One may ask, what is the root cause then? That is yet beyond us, but one can see numerous possibilities, including idolatry, forbidding marriage, and exclusivity. If you are one who likes the details, I have compiled a list of things that we have found troubling this year, to show our thought process. We’re not going to share it here, but are happy to share with anyone who really wants to know.

It has been posited this year that we have no official leadership and are not an organization. All involved in this fellowship will realize the ridiculousness of that claim. Everyone is well aware of the hierarchy and there is absolutely no doubt where the decisions are made. This year has shown that the top leaders (“uberseers” if you will) are entirely untouchable, unwilling for change, despite a majority of the group who believes they are morally bankrupt, guilty, and likely even evil. Likewise, most of the overseers seem unwilling for any input, most likely because they are being led by those above them in the hierarchy, the “uberseers”. In fact, our overseer, who we have often greatly appreciated, stated exactly that at a public meeting this year, that he would not challenge the “uberseers” and would do what they asked. What about the lowly, nearly voiceless workers? Let us all pray for them. Many are stuck in a system with nothing to fall back on. Many realize that speaking up results in the immediate dismissal that we have seen again and again. We know there are many with pure hearts who truly want to help, but how can they in an environment that is being managed in this manner? We know we are known by the company we keep, so how unfair to subject them to such a situation.

One thing that I want to be absolutely clear about is that nothing has made us doubt God or doubt that Jesus is God’s son. Or doubt that Jesus died for our sakes, as the only perfect sacrifice that could give us an opportunity for eternal life with our Father. Instead, we believe so much that our seeking has led us to question manmade things. We are so thankful for the grace of God!

All that said, we make these points:

- Our group has created a system that leads to abuse

- Our leadership has not sufficiently dealt with these problems

- Child sex abuse and sex abuse in general are rampant and this is something 100% incompatible with a proper relationship with our Father

- In looking into these abuse problems, it has led to deep thought about other issues within our larger fellowship group

- We are embarrassed to have our names associated with such a group that has not turned from abuse, including little to no repentance from leadership

- We have lost all faith in the leadership of our fellowship at this time.

- Given the inability of our leadership to address any of the above, we reject oversight of our church by the workers at this time. At this time, we do not intend to attend further special meetings, conventions, etc.

- We intend to continue hosting a humble, Sunday, Jesus-focused gathering (“meeting”) in our home as long as any are interested in participating. However, at this time, we reject the leadership oversight. We will answer only to God.

- We love each of you and find our meeting very helpful. We hope you do as well, and hope you would like to continue to meet with us. If not, we certainly understand and respect that choice.

In His Love,

Travis & Janelle

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6/21/2023

Dear beloved members of our fellowship,

I'm afraid that I'm much overdue in writing to you all and making you aware of the situation that is unfolding before us. I care deeply about all of you and I so appreciate our fellowship. I will warn you that this email is direct, long, covers a difficult subject, and may upset some. I apologize for that and I will understand if you prefer not to read it. I don't seek to upset but rather to educate. This whole topic has been very much like dealing with the death of a loved one, except it has been much like a series of deaths. I understand that hearing much of this feels like attacks on our very identities, though that in itself may be troubling. I have been through stages and I understand that most probably have a similar journey. I am not sharing details in this email, but if anyone wants to discuss details, I'm happy to do so.

Dark secrets that have been buried deep are being exhumed at a sickening pace. While the revelation of these truths has been and continues to be painful, it appears to be driven by God. I'm told our overseer has described it as the "divine wind of God". Much of what has been discovered was found to have been purposely hidden, in order to protect perpetrators. It is also likely that this was sometimes done with misguided good intent of protecting "the truth". It is rather ironic to think that anyone would believe that lies and silence could serve "the truth", but apparently that is the truth. We now find ourselves with no choice but to deal with the issue. Our overseer said so many things have been swept under the rug that the rug can't cover it any longer.

When this all started to break, first with information about Dean Bruer, then other workers, I tried to ignore it. When our local worker sent an email about a meeting in Centertown, MO to discuss the issue, I tried to ignore it. My thought was that it doesn't involve me, I don't really need to know, and I don't really *want* to know. However, it remained in my thoughts and I asked God to lead me in the appropriate direction. It wasn't long before a friend, 10 miles from Centertown, called and said he had some things for the fire department that he wanted to give me. He'd be available Sunday afternoon. Yes, about the same time as the meeting with our overseer. I also received word from others that they wanted to know more but didn't want to be involved in the meeting and labelled as troublemakers. I also re-read the email and noted the meeting was for those with concerns. Well, if those things were true, I was *most certainly* concerned. How could we possibly feel otherwise to hear of things like this done in God's name! At that point, I decided I would make the journey to Centertown, though still not wanting to, and rather despising the lengthy travel involved.

Once the meeting had gone on for some time, the gravity of the situation started to become apparent. It also quickly became apparent that not only this meeting but the whole situation was entirely unprecedented. Several victims spoke up. The whole meeting was rather moving. There was righteous anger. There was a cry for someone to listen, for changes to be made, for communication, for safety. Our overseer promised zero tolerance and to start to address the situation. Overall, the meeting was absolutely draining, but it felt hopeful that a light was being shone in dark places. I'm glad I attended. It was wonderful to see so many so committed to righting the wrong.

Upon return from this meeting, I started to notice how few were aware of the situation that was unfolding. It started to become evident that there were some who would like to keep the status quo of hiding things "for the truth's sake". I don't believe that good people would stand for the things that we are learning, but that's the trouble with knowledge. If you don't have it, you can't use it. While we definitely want right hearts, I'm also convinced that God intended for the miraculous lump in our heads to perform as more than just ballast. It was that understanding as well as the desperate cries from the victims that made me realize that I need to speak out about these things, speak UP for those who don't have a voice, speak against that which we all know is not pleasing to God. It isn't my nature to do this and I dislike the conflict. However, the words that our overseer spoke about speaking against the crowd in a difficult time rang in my ears. He told us that he once made a choice that he expected could get him thrown out of the work, but did so in order to be able to live with himself.

I tell you all this as background so that you can understand my position, my motivation, and why I'm behaving as I am presently. We have been reading and praying at a feverish pace. I'm thankful for the guidance we can receive.

After the announcement of Ira Hobbs finally being removed from meetings after his atrocious, multi-victim abuse, I wrote an email to our local worker, thanking her for keeping us informed. I will attach that email.

We recently joined a new website that someone in MN started (CCF), with the intent of rooting this type of behavior out of our fellowship. I actually joined with trepidation, because I didn't want to put my name on something with ill intent. However, I was encouraged by others who had already joined. What I found is largely positive, and full of information freely shared. One has to keep in mind that there are *many* who are hurt. Many who have been lied to, lied about, vilified, labelled, etc. Thus it is also easy to find those who are angry, though maybe starting to be less so as they are finally acknowledged.

Janelle made the decision, which I fully supported, to post a link to this website on Facebook. She limited the post to only those of our fellowship, and went in aware that this was not following the party line. We soon heard from the workers, asking to meet with us as soon as possible, per my email.

On Tuesday 6/20, our local workers joined us for lunch. We had a long discussion, about 4 hours in total. I want you to be aware that our opinions on this matter are not well aligned with our older sister worker. The younger worker's thoughts are unknown as she didn't speak during the discussion part of the visit. Our discussion was cordial, but with limited agreement. I tell you this so you are aware and able to make your own decision on how you feel about this. Again, knowledge is power, as a thoughtful, uplifting sister worker recently shared with us.

To make my stance clear, until this situation has been property resolved:

- I do not intend to cease posting on the internet.

- I do not believe that divorce and sexual abuse/child sexual abuse have any similarity and thus is not a model for handling this situation.

- I believe that God grants forgiveness, but I don't believe that is always without consequences.

- I believe that knowingly allowing those with predatory sexual proclivities into our midst is the same as offering innocent children to those predators. In Leviticus, offering children to Molech was more than frowned upon.

- I believe that this process truly is terrible for those who are named as abusers. I pray for their healing, but I fear that sometimes we forget the victims who are *already* broken and need healing.

- I agree with our overseer that there is strong evidence that sexual predators seem to never get over that problem, much like alcoholics never get over their desire for alcohol.

- I strongly disagree with sitting idly by as long as this isn't being fully addressed. Until there is a strong procedure in place that has actual agreement throughout our fellowship, this is NOT fixed. To put it bluntly, "we ain't close"

- Our overseer stated that while false claims are possible, on average, in excess of 95% of sexual abuse cases turn out to be true (I've heard 98%). I agree.

- Unless we have strong, respected voices denouncing this, it's not done. I know I'm neither, but I feel strongly enough to speak. I hope it will spread to those who CAN make a difference.

- We must give a voice to victims. Listen to some stories. It's heartbreaking, sad, and anger-inducing to hear the stories of some labelled "bitter", who are really just hurting.

- I agree we can't FOCUS on the bad, but we must ACKNOWLEDGE the bad, all the while FOCUSING on Jesus

I apologize if this hits you hard and I apologize if my boldness offends you. I do not want anyone to be offended, but I want everyone to be aware. I feel that it is so very important to ensure our focus is on Jesus. To ensure our foundation is Jesus. To remember that this must be a personal service. We could easily allow the form to become an idol. I hope that we can all look at these sins and realize that they absolutely cannot stand in our fellowship. I hope that we can all cling to Jesus who is not at all shaken by all this. Let us be blown by that divine wind of God, to a better place, to a greater love for God and our savior, Jesus. I welcome your thoughts, questions, criticisms, etc.

In Love,

Travis and Janelle