Grant Layman, "No we didn't call the police!"

A Christian leader, charged with any credible, serious, and direct wrongdoing, would usually be well advised to step down from public ministry. No such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C. J. Mahaney. Instead, he was charged with founding a ministry and for teaching doctrines and principles that are held to be true by vast millions of American evangelicals.

 

The above quote is included in the support letter of CJ Mahaney after parts of a lawsuit were dropped against Mahaney and his church due to the Statue of Limitations.  Translation?  According to the law they waited to long to file. 

 

Many states are changing these laws, because adult survivors should have their day in court against the person that harmed them.  Some states have already changed the timeline.  I think the movement to change it is growing in other states to thankfully. 

 

Sadly, what should have been a moment of transparency turned into a spiritual version of ‘Not Guilty’ for CJ Mahaney by his many Celebrity Pastor Friends.  What I never did understand is they KNEW that parts of the lawsuit was going forward, and if they couldn’t see the bias in the above statement?  Their discernments skills are WAY off.

 

To me it showed the habitual snarky attitude they tend to use when people question their belief systems, personal values, etc.  They preach about humility, benevolent leadership and authority.  I do question how people can’t see the hypocrisy at times.

 

You don’t use a political spin when transparency is clearly needed.  This is why many question their sense of ‘biblical authority’, and all that jazz.  They are supposed to be ‘mature believers’, and in their rush to say SOMETHING?  They basically put their foot in their mouths instead.

 

James 1:22  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

 

Sovereign Grace Ministries Scandal and Conviction

 

This week:  Nathaniel Morales, 56, who most recently served as a pastor in Las Vegas, was convicted of three counts of sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of sexual offense by a jury in Montgomery County, Md. He will be sentenced Aug. 14 and faces up to 85 years in prison.

 

Nate Morales is going to trial soon stemming from additional accusations from others as well.

 

Just to fill in a little history…..

 

Sovereign Grace Ministries has been described as a family of churches, and Covenant Life was the Flagship Church until 2012.  In layman’s terms?  The Corporate Headquarters.  Shortly after the lawsuit surfaced -  if I remember correctly - Covenant Life voted to remove themselves from Sovereign Grace Ministries family of churches.  They were not the only church either.

 

Nathaniel Morales used to be part of this Covenant Life church before he moved to Las Vegas, and was part of the lawsuit that the Brotherhood of Celebrity Pastors SPOKE against.

 

This week Covenant Life’s longtime executive pastor Grant Layman testified that he should have reported alleged abuse to police but did not.  Grant just happens to be CJ Mahaney’s brother in law, and worked with CJ Mahaney in leadership at this church during the time the abuse happened.  Grant recently left his position at the church, and now works in some sort of paint business.

 

Nate Morales was part of CJ Mahaney’s church (Covenant Life), and he and his church were accused of knowing about the attacks towards children there.  They basically dealt with it internally – as in did nothing about it.  You can read they felt it was their Constitutional right to do it that way as well in the document I have uploaded.

 

Keep in mind I uploaded the ‘revised’ statement.   They felt that the lawsuit harmed their ‘confidentially’ with their members.  I guess despite KNOWING its their lawful responsibility as a mandated reporter to also contact law enforcement.

 

The new statement on the ministry website said allowing the courts to second-guess a church’s pastoral guidance “would represent a blow to the First Amendment that would hinder, not help, families seeking spiritual direction among other resources in dealing with the trauma related to any sin including child sexual abuse.”

“Child sexual abuse is reprehensible in any circumstance, and a violation of fundamental human dignity,” the statement said. “We grieve deeply for any child who has been a victim of abuse. SGM encourages pastors from its associated churches to minister the love, grace and healing of God to any who have suffered this horrific act.”

 

Spiritual Slang for, “I shouldn’t have to report we are handling it just fine in house!’

 

Keep in mind it was noted in court that they claimed they would ‘take care of it’ (ie the predator), and yet the habitual sexual abuse by Nate Morales continued.  I suppose your not to question their ‘spiritual direction’ there huh?

 

You have to wonder now if Grant Layman – along with others will be charged with NOT reporting this to the police.  My prediction?  They will throw him under the bus as far as blame goes.  WELL until more evidence surfaces, and the story will change again.

 

If you remember back a couple of years we spoke about the Tina Anderson trial, and how her pastor Chuck Phelps did call the police…but then basically blew them off when they wanted to do an interview with him over his ‘mandatory’ report. 

 

So, he followed the law legally but his actions MORALLY?  Not so much.  Chuck Phelps actually blamed the police, because he claims he didn’t receive any follow up.  They showed in court that they did, but you know how that goes…..

 

The spirit of WHY this law was enacted is lost on them.  Makes you question their pastoral ‘wisdom’ doesn’t it?  This is what happens when they feel their biblical authority trumps what they don’t wish to face. 

 

Now, we have a church that had to admit IN COURT they didn’t even bother calling the police at all. 

 

Grant Layman was sworn in next.  Under oath he told the jury he did not report the crimes told him by Scott and Charlene Bates in 1992 that were committed by Morales against their son, Samuel Bates.  He also stated that within one year, he learned of the sexual abuse of Brian Wolohan and did not report it to the police either. 

Under cross examination by the Defense Attorney Drew (which was surprising), he was asked “Did you have a responsibility to report to police” the crimes committed against Samuel Bates and Brian Wolohan.  To this Layman said, “I believe so.”  Drew responded, “Did you report to police?”  Layman answered, “I didn’t do it.”

 

 

It should be interesting to watch HOW the group of celebrity pastor’s explain how their friend and head pastor of the church in question STILL had no clue about this.  How the lawsuit was over his teaching and doctrine.   Please.

 

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

 

No Comment From The Together for Mahaney Crowd?

 

I find it curious that Al Mohler, John Piper, and the rest of the celebrity Pastor group has not released one statement since the conviction this week.  They sure did RUSH to judgment when parts of the lawsuit were denied due to the Statue of Limitations.

 

In other news:  The Southern Baptist Task Force released their report about declining membership and baptism numbers this week.  Many are claiming this downward spiral is the fruit of ‘our spiritual lukewarmness’. 

 

What is sadder is what happened this week (conviction of Nate Morales), and the often the insensitivity and callousness of their responses.  Does that even enter their minds? 

 

Hmmm…

 

• This not the nasty way they deal with abuse within the church. 
• Its not the ugly names they call people that don’t believe as they do. 
• Its not the attacks on so called, ‘feminists’ who are more likely a group that disagrees with their role theory. 
• Its not the awful approach to homosexuality…

..NOPE its just lukewarmness.  I guess they feel their nastiness isn’t nasty enough.

 

Who would wish to enter their churches, be baptized by their pastors, and be encouraged to follow their band of celebrity pastors who allows one of their ‘friends’ to enable a child predator.

 

In reality is their coldness towards humanity.  Their indifference towards the reality of some families life’s.  Their stuffy attitude towards those they feel aren’t the ‘chosen’ ones.  Its their empty words and actions that I call spiritual pixie dust.

 

They wouldn’t know how to reach the world if their life’s depended on it.

 

Yep, and I did I mention they call that ‘love’.

 

Matthew 21:28-32

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

 

Additional Resources:

BrentDetwiler.com

GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment)

Brief History of Sovereign Grace Ministries

Copy of Lawsuit in Question

Why Sovereign Grace Ministries Doesn’t Like Victims

An Example of the Anatomy and Physiology of Spiritual Abuse: Mahaney, T4G and the Gospel Coalition

Together For Mahaney at Southern Baptist Convention!

Well it seems the Brotherhood of Mega Pastor’s feel its okey dokey to dig their hole just a little bit deeper!  I honestly don’t understand WHERE their logic is!  If you remember Together for the Gospel, and the Gospel Coalition wrote letters of support to a partner in their old boys club, CJ Mahaney.

Sadly, their bad behavior is continuing.  What they seem to be doing is trying to scare others into NOT coming forward for help.  They seem to have forgotten their ‘biblical role’, because it should be the opposite.  They know this as well. 

Keep in mind the lawsuit is still going on, and everything is still ‘alleged’ at this point.

Changes to letters of Support of CJ Mahaney

Together for the Gospel wrote their letter of support on Facebook, and it was taken down after over 100 negative responses were received.  They moved the letter to their website where it can safety stay with NO comments from anyone.

In line with how they tend to control their environments it didn’t surprise me to find that they also decided to change their letter around a bit.  Wartsburg Watch and Spiritual Sounding Board is who I noticed sounding the charge! 

When first posted on May 23, 2013, the statement included this paragraph:
“A Christian leader, charged with any credible, serious, and direct wrongdoing, would usually be well advised to step down from public ministry. No such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C.J. Mahaney. Instead, he was charged with founding a ministry and for teaching doctrines and principles that are held to be true by vast millions of American evangelicals …”
Checked on the morning of June 6, it was discovered that two sentences — “No such accusation of direct wrongdoing was ever made against C.J. Mahaney. Instead, he was charged with founding a ministry and for teaching doctrines and principles that are held to be true by vast millions of American evangelicals” — had been removed from the statement. This is how the new version reads: “A Christian leader, charged with any credible, serious, and direct wrongdoing, would usually be well advised to step down from public ministry. We believe this lawsuit failed that test.”
However, the date on the statement remained May 23. No reference to an update was included on the changed statement.

Shh!  I don’t think we were suppose to notice!  You have to admit the second is a better cleaned up version.  I mean their martyrhood was showing a bit to much on the original.  I guess they figured ‘charged with founding a ministry’, and teaching its doctrines and principals was a bit over the top – even for those that respected them.

What they never did mention was the fact that CJ Mahaney was the lead pastor at the churches (or one of them) while the covering up of the abuse was happening.  How he was allegedly part of the encouragement of the church members NOT to involve the authorities when this was happening.  THAT was why he was mentioned in the lawsuit, and that’s a far cry from ‘founding a ministry’.  Habitual cover up of abuse is what he is accused of after all!

Boz Tchividjian serves as Executive Director of GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), which he helped found.  The purpose of GRACE is "to educate and equip the faith community to correctly respond to sexual abuse disclosures, while also providing practical guidance to churches on how to protect children."  In addition to this position, he serves as a law professor at Liberty University School of Law.  Boz Tchividjian is the third eldest grandchild of Billy Graham.

He was interviewed by Janet Mefferd:

In case you missed the interview, you can listen to it here (starting at the 20:30 mark).  Janet Mefferd explained that there have been cries from a lot of ordinary Christians who are calling on evangelical leaders to address what she describes as "American evangelicalism's biggest sex scandal to date".

Documents and Audio Surface

Sadly, since all of this started Wartsburg Watch also got to listen to an audio for Sovereign Grace Ministries discussing how they as the church need to handle these cases of abuse as they come up.  The church’s policy is also on a 17 page document.  Sigh!

It was sadly much the same type of garbage that has got so many other organizations in trouble.

The church leaders feel they need to decide if its abuse FIRST OFF.  They will approach the other party – the perp I guess to get their side of the story.  They call their lawyer to see how to protect the church.  They get all their ducks in a row, and then if they feel the case has merit?  They tell the family to go to the police, because after all the authorities don’t like getting information ‘second hand’.  They will not notify anyone else in the church, because I guess they feel its none of their business.  Encourage the family to hush as well.  Then the perp and the victim get handed two different pastors to ‘counsel’ with. 

There is more to it of course, and that is my nutshell version!

Problem is they are mandatory reporters, and the reputation of the church SHOULD be the last thing on their mind!  The lawsuit happened, because they decided ‘it wasn’t abuse’ and buried it allegedly.  Sadly, of course cries for help were ignored.

SBC getting Ready for Convention, and they REALLY would rather deal with the Boy Scouts!

Another interesting part to this story is that the Southern Baptist Convention is coming up again.  The mega pastors didn’t get the ‘support’ they were looking for, and no doubt they want to put this to bed.  It’s not going to happen, because people are crying out! 

They want to discuss the Boy Scouts agreement to allow homosexual scouts into their troops, and NOT sexual abuse within the church!  Notice how they don’t want to take that darn SPECK from their eye, but rather deal with the LOG in the Boy Scouts?  How biblical right?!

 David Clohessy, national director of SNAP -- the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – said May 28 that religious leaders voicing support for embattled Pastor C.J. Mahaney, named in a lawsuit recently thrown out of a Maryland court for legal reasons, ought to be ashamed. (Keep in mind it was the Status of Limitations that had run out, but amended lawsuit has been filed)

Peter Lumpkins  has a Resolution on Sexual Abuse of Children - Proposed to the 2013 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Houston, Texas.  I don’t honestly know if they will even acknowledge him under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Amy and her husband are Houston leaders for (Snap) Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (and other clergy).   They belong to the Houston First Baptist Church.   She was planning on attending the Southern Baptist Convention, and holding up a picture of a sexual abuse survivor to being awareness of victims within the Baptist’s churches.    They already has sent a letter to the convention asking for time on this issue (letter is attached on her site).  They get a phone call from their pastor, and have a meeting with the pastor of their large church that they never spoke to prior.  Part of her transcript is below, and she also get a call from the police department concerned about her 'protest':

I saw your blog.
I'm confused. You don't see it as a problem? [speaking out about child sexual abuse by Baptist clergy, about Baptist churches that cover up such abuse, about silence from SBC leaders about this abuse, about the vocal support of another evangelical pastor C.J. Mahaney accused in a lawsuit by 11 plaintiffs of covering up child sex abuse, and planning an awareness event next week at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Houston]
What good is it going to do, you standing outside the SBC?
What good will it do if the SBC president did issue a statement on abuse?
We're not like the Methodists. [each Baptist church is locally autonomous]
How can you say that? [that child sexual abuse within Baptist churches is a systemic problem]
You may be seen as fringe.

A comment from the article:

At the meeting with my husband the next day, Doug brought up the subject of me stepping down (from her role within the youth ministry), and he told my husband that I had told him I was stepping down but that he had said to think about it. Doug told my husband that after thinking about it overnight, he thought me stepping down "is for the best."

My husband asked him, "Why?" Doug replied, "You don't see it as a problem?"
My husband said "No."

Sadly, it seems her pastor feels towing the line with "Together for Maheney".   Another quote:

“They agree with us that child sexual abuse is bad, and they don't want me to stop what I'm doing, but the church doesn't support me raising awareness by pointing out the problem within SBC churches and pastors that cover abuse up by failing to report,” she wrote. “It's not a problem for me to point out these issues with Catholic churches or Penn State, just don't point the finger at my own Southern Baptist Convention.”

Here we go again with this ‘autonomous’ church stuff.  If you remember the Tina Anderson and Chuck Phelps story?  Their Independent Fundamental Baptist churches also use the ‘autonomous’ aspect to NOT deal directly with this sin as well. 

Did they NOT figure out that just isn’t going to HAPPEN? Why is it these preacher boys want everyone to face their sin, and decide where the sin sniffing needs to begin – yet can’t face it themselves?

No, Its not easy to have a friend of yours facing these awful charges.  Common sense needs to be used in these types of circumstances, and yet Chicago type Gangster stuff does instead!  Where is the benevolent leadership?

They are so WORRIED that the darn feminists were going to take them down, and RUIN life as we know it … and look who is doing it all by themselves?  Is this the ‘MANHOOD’ we have been hearing about?

Seriously.  SHAME ON YOU!



_____

*Post as been edited to add more detail.

Expel the wicked person from among you

1 Corinthians 5 ¹¹ But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister^[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

¹² What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? ¹³ God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.

This section was in response to a man within the fellowship that was sleeping with his father’s wife.  I do wonder at times why the woman is not mentioned, and have to wonder if it is due to him forcing himself upon her.  After all, the beginning of chapter they were being told to remove this man from fellowship.  No mention of her at all.

Today you can read all kinds of ugly stories of those within the church being brought to the law to pay for crimes they have committed against individuals within the fellowship. 

Although you notice they are NOT removed from the fellowship, and excuses are made instead (ie: pray for them, forgive them, and pretend their sin was minor like a baseball going through the church’s window).  What we seem to miss from the bible is not all sins were treated the same!  Organizations tends to ignore this portion of scripture within the Bible.  Now, they are paying the price for it.

I think most can understand serious crimes can really hurt the fellowship, and YES they should be allowed to mourn this loss.  They also need to be responsible about finding out how this happened, and figuring out how they can lesson this type of thing from happening again.  Since we are human I can’t sit here and write that I feel it can be completely removed from the fellowship, because I honestly think that is unrealistic.  Don’t I wish we could perform such miracles!

Problem it seems today is church organizations seem to wish to handle these types of sin ‘in house’, and sadly their public records of how badly they handle it!  They end up not helping anyone, and hurting more people than what they started with. 

For example, when you defend a man of GAWD, and blame the victim?  The criminal has no incentive to turn from their ways, because no one has the will or backbone to ‘expel’ him as scripture states.  Instead, they would rather them cry at the alter or follow steps the leadership has in mind to show repentance that satisfies them – not God.  Meanwhile, the victim and their family must be instructed on how they are to process things.  If they don’t?  They are the ones that are expelled.

Yes, we tend to do things BACKWARDS!

No doubt some wonder why God would have us do things the way he wrote in the bible.  I have to wonder at times if God doesn’t wish the criminals to face the music of their crime, and once they hit rock bottom have the choice to continue in their sin….or repent and truly turn from their ways. 

Criminals can turn their life around, and God knows this – more than it seems we do at times – but they ALSO have to choice NOT to.  If they stay within the fellowship because the church is too cowardly to follow God’s word?  We have old bread leavened with malice and wickedness.  All we have to do is check history to find this is true, and yet we we still choose to fix things ‘in house’.

⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

What would happen to the victims if we actually followed scripture?  We already spoke about the criminals above…..

Victims of these crimes are given the support they need to move forward, and I feel forgiveness can be more freely given.  Anger can be processed in a healthy manner as well – after all its righteous anger at first!   

When victims are thrown out of fellowship, and support is given to the criminal instead?  We see the church crumbling around our ears.  Why?  We didn’t follow the Word of God!

Sovereign Grace Ministries seems to be going down fast….