Today, Shauna got her first deposit from GoFundMe. She now has enough to buy tires for her car. She is driving on 3 bald tires and one donut spare! She needs her car to get to her jobs. Also, in the last few days, she has been terribly low on food and this will fill up the larder. Think about the movie, The Martian and you will get my drift. She has texted me all day, letting me know how grateful she is and what a witness you are to Billy. You all are the absolute best. Thank You!
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Thank you dee for sharing what is on my heart. I am almost done here at discount tire. I was able to get a good deal on 4 tires that are considered midgrade which is great!!!! And yes this helps in regards to safety and allows me to continue working for those I have left, what a blessing.
@marquis,
Just a note that we are grateful to have contributed to the GoFundMe for you and your son and it is a blessing to be able for us to come alongside you both. You both did the RIGHT thing and we have your backs!
Also there are those among us who are in financial hard times and who can’t afford to contribute, although they wish they had the means. They are lifting you to up in prayer and they also have your backs!
Love and hugs, friends.
Velour wrote:
That would be me.
Marquis, Though I am not in a position to help you financially, I am SO with you in my heart!
Thank you for letting us know about the needs of this dear family. We were thrilled to give directly to people in need and then to know specifics how it has helped. I cannot imagine being treated this way by church people; but, as we know, it happens and should never happen. Did the pastor at the latest meeting plead for the church to help this couple? Did anyone get up and speak out? Did no one realize what shape their car is in? Where are the real men in this church? I am shaking my head and am disgusted. I am glad God doesn’t give up on us or turn his back, but rather carries us on His shoulder.
I will never understand why the church can get new carpet or build a new building when a struggling single mom needs new tires.
Janice McKenzie wrote:
For my part, I tweeted the GoFundMe campaign for Shauna and Billy to Pastor John MacArthur (Grace Community Church in Southern California) and to The Masters’ Seminary which JMac heads, also in Southern California. I pointed out that this TX pastor was one of theirs and had FAILED. Dee Parsons tweeted it on and also asked John MacArthur and The Master’s Seminary to donate.
My ex-pastor, also a graduate from the Masters Seminary, was like Shauna’s ex-pastor. Mean-spirited men cut from the same cloth.
Lydia wrote:
Funding someone’s new tires also gives much greater pleasure than funding church carpeting.
Bill M wrote:
For sure!
Lydia wrote:
One of the saddest stories I ever saw was at A Cry For Justice blog several months ago.
A Christian lady had to divorce her abusive husband. They had two little kids.
Her church, which she had served at for a long time (years), refused to help her financially, though she was living in about near poverty and dropped hints to her church that she could use $$$ help (or food).
She could not afford to keep her and her kids in groceries regularly, so her kids were often hungry.
One day she was taking her two kids out of a church service. They were hungry. So they stopped at a table with food on it, a buffet, that her church had been doing for months, where they allow homeless people in the area to stop in and get a plate
When her 2 kids grabbed plates to help themselves, the church ladies scolded them and said the table was for “needy people.”
Their mother (the lady who wrote this post) told her kids to ignore the church ladies and go ahead and get plates of food (she noted that she used to regularly donate food to that ministry herself).
See, this is one issue I have with a lot of Christians these days. Many Christians and churces are highly selective in when, where, and who they help.
If you fall in to an “acceptable charity case slot,” which almost always consists of homeless guys, or drug addicts, or orphans overseas, churches will throw money, time, and food at you all day long.
If you are a struggling American single, or divorced mom with 2 kids to feed, or a lonely widower on a limited income, Christians often tell you to get over yourself, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, and realize that only orphans and the homeless “deserve” money or help or compassion.
Where does the Bible teach that attitude?
Anyway, I am glad to see that people are helping Shuana and Billy.
Thank you, Dee, for providing us with this opportunity to show love & care in a practical way to two of God’s children, Shauna & Billy. I’m glad that we don’t just write about loving victims, but we do something practically for them. Jesus said that whatever you do to “the least of these” (which I think means those who are not respected by the rich & powerful), that you do unto Him.
I also tweeted the GoFundMe fundraiser to Mark Dever (pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist in Washington, D.C., and founder of the very conservative 9Marks of a
[un]Healthy Church, which Shauna and Billy’s ex-pastor in TX. adheres to.
I asked Dever & 9 Marks to contribute to the GoFundMe account, since this is the kind of damage that their teaching is inflicting on a single mom and her (abused) boy. Just grievous.
Velour wrote:
Great idea!!
Can someone tell me how GoFundMe accounts work? I’m good at sending cash or writing a check, but I don’t use credit cards.
@ Daisy:
One has to actually talk to me people and seek to understand their situation. That RARELY happens at church. Ironic, isn’t it?
Darlene wrote:
Darlene, gofundme takes credit or debit cards. They used to take paypal but apparently they don’t anymore.
If I use my Hong Kong $credit card will the money be able to be changed to US $S?
@ clarissa:
I know others have used out of country cards so I bet it can be done. There is a help page at Go Fund Me that might answer your question. Plus, the people at Go Fund Me answer emails super fast.
Thanks dee, shall get on that tomorrow morning our time.
I wanted to thank all of you for helping me and billy. It has been an incredible encouragement and relief. I was able to buy tires, pay utilities, some past rent and water bill, phone, food,gas in my car, shoes and a few articles of clothing for billy that he desperately needed. Boy it gos fast. It allowed me to get the most immediate needs taken care of for this month and finally have something to get some of billy’s needs met. Jr. High is brutal when you have old shoes and shirts. His clothes are good and God has been good to us. I actually bought shoes for myself since it had been over a year since I bought any clothing or shoes. There’s always something. I am sharing because I feel it’s important you know that your support means the world to us and we want you to know what it is going for. @ marquis:
UPDATE: I want to thank you all again for your prayers, your support, and to dee along with others for being such a blessing financially and in so many other ways to Billy.
Everything tat has been done has gone for immediate needs and has been such a relief for me just in being the sole provider for our home as I should be! I deserve no medals for taking care of billy. It sure is an encouragement when an amazing thing like this has happened and it’s nothing I do but coming from a wonderful loving God who does not forget.
With this said it should be said that another member /customer from LBC just dropped my services yesterday because and I quote “because of this blog your attacking God’s word”! Yes Melissa Blaine from LBC not only cut services but she purposefully scheduled this cleaning a month in advance and a week before I contacted her to confirm she confirmed ( keep in mind that she stated that my coming to Dee and having Dee post the documents /blog offended her so much that she is cutting services! Actually she accused me of sending the link to the blog in a text to her and that this offended her so much that she cut off services ). So she received a text from someone giving her a link to TWW and calling Ken Ramey a lier that Melissa blamed me and said it was a text I sent her which was a bold faced lie!!!!! When I realized this because once I left her house I scrolled through my texts and I never sent her anything like that! I turned around within 2 minutes I was back at her door knocking to show I didn’t send anything. Guess what?I stood there for about 8-10 minutes knocking and she wouldn’t answer her door. Now she was blatantly shunning me!!!
Melissa Blaine could have cancelled a week ago or not scheduled with me if she was so offended! Why did this LBC member continue with the appointment /cleaning knowing she was that mad and didn’t want my services anymore? Keep on mind for months she and I would talk in length about my son , this situation and she led me to believe that she supported my child. So this woman not only schedules cleaning when I text to confirm she confirms April 1st with me only to text me late at night on the 31st to tell me she has a migraine and for me to pick up an envelope and what I then assume is payment for cancellation. I then give her the opportunity to reschedule so she gets her home cleaned and doesn’t lose out on $90.00 she gives me vague evasive response and won’t answer my question. I’m forced to go there and I knock on her door to which she invites me in. I’m still thinking she’s just going to reschedule and because I’m familiar with how these people operate I hit record on my phone! Yes, I did record the conversation I also brought someone with me to which Melissa acknowledged that I had someone waiting for me in my car! So this woman invites me in to not let me go but it’s now another confrontation of church discipline in action…. if that wasn’t what it was then can someone please tell me what it is then? This woman if she had an issue with the blog could have cancelled cleaning that prior Saturday when I was confirming and not wasted my time. I also could have scheduled in other work for that day! She baited me to get me to her home to try to do some form of confrontation /church discipline. She not only scheduled me knowing she wasn’t going to have me clean bit she tried to blame me for why she was cancelling because she was to much of a coward to tell the truth! I did leave her a voice mail while I was at her door and a text msg. I also have my witness plus an 18 minute recording of me defending my son ( Billy) again! Friends this is what ken does to those who go against him. He sends out the church to discipline those who speak out, shame members, and take work from a single mother!!! The Blaines are equally responsible for this because no one held a gun to this woman’s head. These members know what they are doing. So another job lost that is $1,080 a year off this customer. $1200 a year with the Goins, $3800-$4000 with Clint and kay , $1800 from another church member I won’t mention, Beverly Jacobs and Tyler Jacobs about $8,000 a year, Mike Brittain $600 yr,another family $600 a yr there are more….. so if you do the math there go’s my livelihood all while ken gets his cushy salary and his kids go on trips, have amber crombi and fitch, they go to private school and yet it’s ok to take food off of Billy’s table? These names are here because maybe it’s time to start calling people out for the crap they shovel. Keep in mind every person I named said we are concerned about you , we love you and Billy and they say it to make themselves feel better for doing what they do!
Billy and I will be ok and dee was on the phone after this happened. She is amazing and I don’t know how I would have handled this without her because I fell apart. I was defending my baby all over again and trying to maintain professionalism and not cuss this woman out. Needless to say I think the recording I have will reflect that.
I share this so you see how far this pastor will go.
Please let me correct something. Clint and Jay are the kindest sweetest people. They in no way let me go. The assault occurred at their house I was close to this couple and they were a customer. They treated me and billy like family. We could not return because the assault happened there and they felt this would be to hard for me, which I believe was wise. Because of the assault we lost this income and could never return. That was a lost relationship. I in no way harbor any ill feelings towards this sweet couple.
marquis wrote:
Dear Marquis,
I am sorry to hear about your latest loss of income and loss of someone you thought was a friend. Not that it will make you feel any better, but I lost many so-called friends when I quit United Christian Church of Dubai. I have not suffered like you, I just want to let you know that I feel your pain and am praying for you and Billy.
I think many who leave their churches are shunned. I am not sure the reasons for this. I can guess one reason is that many idolize their pastor. He can do no wrong in their eyes. They are then offended that you or I would leave their church because of the pastor’s behavior toward us. They interpret our leaving as a direct assault on their perfect idol, and they lash out in anger or just shun us.
Todd, thank you and I do believe you suffered just as much as us because it hurts no matter what part of the globe this happens on. It is just money and I believe that it all belongs to Him and I’d I believe this then I have no doubt it will be replaced. I shared because I think we need to call to the table even those who do the shunning. They may idolize ken ramey but they also know better because even unbelievers know this,behavior is wrong. My hope in sharing this is to let them know that God is SOVEREIGN and that nothing she or ken did took away my love for Christ in this situation. I also am letting them know since they don’t want to be accountable for this type of behavior then maybe the church needs to hear it when it happens. I know for a fact that many families walked away from LBC in the last 16 years shunned in this same manner and hurt all because of situations that ken ramey spinned to benefit himself and they walked away in silence. Gossip and divisiveness is what ken uses to shut up those who he abuses and abused. I say no more I say tell it to the church which Todd, you and many here are the church. I can not wait to share with all of you some things that billy recently shared with me. I’m waiting on Dee’s call as I know she was thrilled herself when I sent the text last night. Todd just know that your prayers are being answered in billy’s life along with people here. If you only knew what God has been doing in this boys heart because of all of you. I can’t wait to tell you. So in spite of these new developments I’m at a point where my tears were she’d and it’s time to just let God do what He’s going to do. Todd your story touched me as well and I’m sorry you went through that but I’m so proud to know that you stood solid and did not waiver. @ marquis:
Todd Wilhelm wrote: