Vermont’s Fellowship Bible Church Attracts News Media After Hiring a Convicted Predator as Pastor Without a Background Check and Then Claiming They Don’t Believe He’s Guilty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_bush
The bush at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, which monastic tradition identifies as being the burning bush.

“The highest form of worship is the worship of unselfish Christian service. The greatest form of praise is the sound of consecrated feet seeking out the lost and helpless. ” Billy Graham

__________

Do you remembers the stories we did on John Longacre who went to prison for molesting Kelly Haines when she was a student in a Christian school in which he taught?

Longaker claims that he was hoodwinked by the judicial system into pleading guilty in order to receive a reduced sentence with no prison time. However, he ended up going to jail link.

Haines’ story was picked up by three sources.

It is easy to understand why a convicted molester might deny doing anything wrong. But this story takes an ugly turn when it comes to the leaders in his church, Fellowship Bible Church in Castleton, Vermont. The titles of these articles say it all.

According to the Burlington Free Press:

Since they were told in 2014 of Longaker’s criminal convictions, church leaders have continued to stand by their pastor. They say they believe Longaker pleaded guilty to crimes he did not commit.

“The Lord has appointed him as pastor, and the Lord will remove him. Not anyone else,” said Don Wood, an elder at the church, in a telephone interview. Wood said he has known Longaker for 12 years and has never witnessed or been told of any impropriety.

…Less than two years after Longaker completed his probation, he moved to Vermont and started attending Fellowship Bible Church. He began teaching Sunday-morning adult Bible studies in 2003, church elder Wood said. He was hired seven years later as pastor.

Wood said the pastoral search committee who eventually chose Longaker saw no need to request a criminal background check or call references. The lack of vetting in Longaker’s case was an exception to what would typically be done for other job candidates, Wood added.

“We didn’t think it was necessary for John,” Wood said. “It would have been necessary if it was somebody that we had no knowledge of.”

According to the Rutland Herald:

In light of media attention, a local church is standing by its decision to hire its current pastor, who has a criminal record, without first conducting a background check.

…Longaker said those who do work with children through the church have had background checks done on them.

“As far as background checks are concerned, the implication on social media is that our children are open to anybody,” he said. “The reality is, I think with the exception of maybe one, our Sunday school teachers all have had background checks. They’ve not had background checks from us. Most of them work in a public school so they’ve had their background checks then. So they’ve had background checks.”

Longaker said with few exceptions he’s been careful not to counsel teenagers or woman alone.

“With the exception of one, I talked to one teenager, she’s 13, but her grandmother was out in the hallway. That has always been my policy. I don’t counsel women alone, unless they happen to pop in with an emergency, then I’ll counsel women alone. I’m not going through that again, so I make it a point not to do it,” he said.

He and Wood said they plan to install cameras in the pastor’s office and in other places around the church.

Longaker said he’s offered to resign several times now to spare the church embarrassment, since he holds no hope for his own reputation.

The Burlington Free Press quoted a Pennsylvania prosecutor regarding this situation.

Pennsylvania prosecutor Houck, who spent a decade prosecuting sex crimes against children in Bucks County, says that people who “groom” victims are likely to offend again.

“This type of behavior is in you,” Houck said. He added, regarding Longaker, “There’s no middle ground with someone like him.” 

According to USA Today:

At the advice of her current pastor, Haines told her story this past fall on a blog devoted to publicizing church abuse, the Wartburg Watch. Several other bloggers also picked up the story.

Longaker said in January that he regrets keeping his convictions a secret because of the recent publicity.

Let me spell this out for you.

  1. Longaker went to prison for his crimes against Haines.
  2. Longaker continues to claim he didn’t do it.
  3. Longaker did not tell the entire church about his convictions until recently and told some leaders in 2014.
  4. The church hired him without a background check or even checking references.
  5. The church said they didn’t have to do a background check because they *knew* Longaker.
  6. The church continues to claims that they don’t believe he committed the crimes.
  7. The church recently claimed that *God* placed Longaker in his position and only *God* will remove him.
  8. The church will put cameras up around the church. Why both since they know him to be innocent?

Why I believe that Fellowship Bible Church is mired in disturbing naïveté

The leaders of this church in a little town in Vermont claim they know more about Longaker than the court which convicted him. They have chosen to disregard his conviction and prison sentence because they *know* Longaker. I wonder if they know this sounds arrogant?

I have said this before and will say it again. Every time a serial killer is discovered, the neighbors cannot believe that a guy they *knew* could do such wretched things. This killer would help shovel snow, come to the block parties, give Christmas cookies, etc. The naivety of people is exactly what predators are banking on. Predators are successful precisely because they appear trustworthy and nice. They can preach a great sermon. They are loved by parents and all the older people in the church. They are often charismatic. They can be married and have children.

According to The Washington Post, We’re shocked by every nice guy caught with child porn. But we shouldn’t be.

We imagine pedophiles as creepy men with shifty eyes, stubble and a trench coat. We think they lurk around schools and playgrounds, waiting to snatch children. We think of these men as despicable lowlifes whom we can spot when we meet them, which is why news of sex crimes against children are invariably met with disbelief. “Stunned” parents and community members say the same thing: “He never seemed like that type of person.” In my three decades working with many men who sexually violate children and teens, I’ve never met one person who fit “that type.”

Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. Some are rich and others poor; some are highly educated while others aren’t; some are very socially skilled and delightful conversationalists and some more reticent. So often we hear that people would never in a million years expect so-and-so to harm children, be a pedophile or engage in child pornography because they’re charming, clean cut, fun to be around, successful in their careers, have a nice family life, and so forth. We wonder how such a winner could be a pedophile.

If the leaders of this church truly understood the Gospel, then they should be the first to say that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means they are fallible in their decision making and should be wary when anyone who has been convicted of a crime against a child or a teen presents themselves as a *victim of the system.* They are highly likely being had by a pro.

Why I believe that Fellowship Bible Church is spouting nonsense when it comes to God.

One of their leaders claims that God put Longaker into his position. Excuse me…exactly how did that happen? Did God appear in a burning bush at the front of the church one Sunday morning and say “Make John the pastor here (and get a new sound system while you’re at it)?” Having been around a variety of churches since I became a Christian when I was 17, I have observed that people become pastors after being voted on by either the church leaders or the church membership.

I think what the leader (Wood) is really saying is, “We put him there and he will stay there until we are good and ready to replace him.” Let me meddle a bit more. Could it be that there is a bit of pride involved here? Could it be that the leaders are a bit embarrassed by their poor decisions in this area and have decided to cover it over with some Christian lingo. They should be careful when they claim that God did something when it is merely men who did it. Let’s not blame God for our poor or thoughtless decisions

Let me reassure those leaders. We all make errors in judgement, even leaders. Sometimes, for the sake of our witness to the world, we should humble ourselves and admit it instead of playing Christianese word games. In my opinion, you all voted to put him there, not God, and you made a mistake.

Why I think Fellowship Bible Church is an unsafe place for those who have been abused.

Longaker was tried and convicted. How much more does a victim of abuse have to do to prove that they were harmed? This is a church which says they don’t give a hoot about the evidence, the trial and the conviction by a court. Somehow, a victim must do more to convince this church that their pastor is an abuser. How sad is that? I do not believe anyone who has been a victim of abuse should hope to have a fair hearing and receive comfort from this church body.

Even worse, they have not reached out to care for Kelly Haines. This, in the end, is the sad legacy of this church in 2019.

Here is a discussion by the writers of the Burlington Free Press about the the Kelly Haines’ story. The only disagreement I have with them is that they keep referring to Longaker as an alleged  criminal. We can state he is a criminal. He was tried convicted, sentenced and served time in prison.

Comments

Vermont’s Fellowship Bible Church Attracts News Media After Hiring a Convicted Predator as Pastor Without a Background Check and Then Claiming They Don’t Believe He’s Guilty — 62 Comments

  1. O the irony. I visited the church website and found audio of the most recent sermon:

    “Dealing with Fear,” by Pastor John

  2. It continues to amaze me that the people of the church refuse to accept court records (which include record of John’s confession!!) as proof of guilt.

  3. The Miraculous Intervention of God in Appointing This Man Longaker as Pastor is very clearly documented in the Burlington Free Press:

    Longaker, who served as chairman of that pastoral search committee, said he felt conflicted because of his convictions when other members of the committee raised his name as a possible candidate. He initially said no.

    After speaking with his family and praying, Longaker took the job. He said he withheld his convictions from the church because his wife was concerned about how the information would affect their teenage son.

    “Things were going exactly as I wanted them to go,” Longaker said. “I wanted people to know me as who I was, and not based on these allegations about me before. They knew who I was, and they had no hesitation.”

    Voting members of Fellowship Bible Church unanimously approved Longaker as pastor in 2010, Wood said.

  4. I just sat through two hour meeting with insurance broker at church. I wonder how having a convicted child molester on staff affects their insurance rste?

  5. We had our annual parish meeting yesterday and nominated our governing board. A person cannot be nominat d without having passed a background check. Sad that this is necessary. Glad that it is required.

  6. Loren Haas:
    I wonder if they know?

    After the media backlash, I don’t know how the local agent wouldn’t. But if they have a church member as their agent, that person is maybe concealing that information from a larger company.

  7. Watburgers will be aware of the statements Jesus is recorded as having made about wolves. He spoke about knowing them by their fruit, so it’s a mixed metaphor, but still, false teachers are likened to wolves in sheep’s clothing.

    The thing is that, as far as I can see, most Christians today don’t believe in wolves. Presented with a wolf, they only see a sheep in a wolf’s clothing. Indeed, they may have far more compassion for the wolf than they ever do for the sheep he attacks.

  8. Nick Bulbeck: most Christians today don’t believe in wolves

    Heck, I’m not sure that most Christians believe in a devil who is actively trying to disrupt the work of God! A devil who too often finds his way to a pulpit, unhindered by the pew.

    Nick Bulbeck: they may have far more compassion for the wolf than they ever do for the sheep he attacks

    How many times have we seen this?! When their “wolf” pastor is exposed, they rally to his side to protect him from attack, while the sheep he attacked have been cast out of the sheepfold and their wounded cries are ignored.

    In regard to Mr. Longaker, it’s one thing for a congregation to be uninformed or misinformed about a “pastor”‘s past, but to turn a deaf ear to the facts is to be willingly ignorant.

  9. “The reality is, I think with the exception of maybe one, our Sunday school teachers all have had background checks. They’ve not had background checks from us. Most of them work in a public school so they’ve had their background checks then. So they’ve had background checks.”

    So…this church is as lazy/cheap/uncaring about whether they have predators in the children ministry as in the pulpit. Sounds about right.

  10. PaJo: annual parish meeting

    I share your belief that open and inclusive processes help to protect churches from trouble. My plan at church this week is to ask whether clergy search committees are allowed to nominate the committee chair as the next pastor, and then eliminate the criminal background check from the hiring process. Can’t wait to see the blank stares and slack jaws, probably followed by mention of conflict of interest, insurance, and the fact that search committees consist of lay members who are looking at ordained candidates.

  11. RobinG: record of John’s confession!!

    They will not believe a woman over a man, even in the face of the man’s confession and prison sentence.

  12. Lea: Most of them work in a public school so they’ve had their background checks then.

    Wasn’t Mr. Longaker a high school teacher who had illegal involvement with his own student? I’m thinking that would show up in a subsequent check…

  13. Friend,

    I think they were talking about the people working with kids were mostly schoolteachers? Sounds like the church didn’t bother to do background checks on any of them, but they sort of presumed some of them had had background checks at their employment. But they’re clearly not careful about these things at all so who even knows.

  14. Lea: they’re clearly not careful about these things at all so who even knows

    I suspect that they never even considered doing background checks on any of their church staff/volunteers until this was flagged. Small independent churches like this one don’t bother with such protocols. They trust church leaders to be who they say they are. You simply can’t do that these days!

  15. Longaker said, “I don’t want to go through that again…” when he discusses his refusal to counsel women and girls alone. Does this idiot realize he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble in the first place if he wasn’t grooming young girls for sexual abuse?!!! Who does he think he is kidding?? Well, other than his current elders and congregation. Here’s a clue, don’t behave like a sexual predator when alone with young women and girls so you won’t get in trouble. What a scumbag!!!

  16. RobinG:
    It continues to amaze me that the people of the church refuse to accept court records (which include record of John’s confession!!) as proof of guilt.

    SECULAR court records.
    “Vain Imaginings of men or WORD OF GAWD(‘s Anointed)?????”

  17. I have said this before and will say it again. Every time a serial killer is discovered, the neighbors cannot believe that a guy they *knew* could do such wretched things.

    I have said this before and will say it again:
    SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS ARE MASTERS OF CAMOUFLAGE.
    SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS ARE MASTERS AT HIDING WHAT THEY REALLY ARE.
    SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS WILL “GROOM” THIRD-PARTY ALLIES AND SUPPORTERS TO COVER FOR THEM.
    ESPECIALLY AMONG THOSE IN AUTHORITY OVER THEM.

    And Christians are easy marks.

  18. Lea: They will not believe a woman over a man, even in the face of the man’s confession and prison sentence.

    i.e. “It’s Only a WOMAN.” (Not One Of Us Chosen Dudebros!)

  19. Headless Unicorn Guy: SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS WILL “GROOM” THIRD-PARTY ALLIES AND SUPPORTERS TO COVER FOR THEM.

    This seems difficult for people to grasp. Get people to realize this and that people need to give up their ideas about only having a ‘perfect’ victim, and we would have much clearer views of this stuff as a society.

    But we would also have to get rid of the misogyny, which seems a steeper climb.

  20. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Christains are not just easy marks, there is significant “peer pressure” for Christains to “get with the program” and go along with the “vision” or “piousness” of the leadership. And if you raise questions, you are “luck warm”, or “contaminated by the world”, or just plain divisive, not “spirit lead”…..

  21. Headless Unicorn Guy: SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS ARE MASTERS OF CAMOUFLAGE … SUCCESSFUL PREDATORS ARE MASTERS AT HIDING WHAT THEY REALLY ARE

    As I’ve said before, the problem with deception is that you don’t know you are deceived because you are deceived. When you combine that with the trust-factor in church (“Surely, the pastor can be trusted!”), unsuspecting churches/church members are targets for those who have it in their heart to use/abuse them in various ways. TWW documents this every day.

  22. Jeffrey Chalmers: if you raise questions, you are … not “spirit lead”…..

    When a watchman’s warning is ignored, the church is spirit-led, but it’s not the Holy Spirit.

  23. Max: Heck, I’m not sure that most Christians believe in a devil who is actively trying to disrupt the work of God!A devil who too often finds his way to a pulpit, unhindered by the pew.

    Oh, they do. But the devil is either someone who tempts them to eat that extra candy bar or glance too long at the Redbook cover at the grocery store, or the driving force behind all the mainstream media/godless professors/abortionists who are undermining Christian America. That the devil might want to exploit their own paranoia and blindness to evil and suffering in their own ranks is almost unthinkable to them.

  24. Max: I suspect that they never even considered doing background checks on any of their church staff/volunteers until this was flagged. Small independent churches like this one don’t bother with such protocols. They trust church leaders to be who they say they are. You simply can’t do that these days!

    I suspect this is what happened, and you know what, it is understandable; forgivable, even, if acknowledged and confessed. ‘We were naive, ignorant . . . gullible’. I think a lot of churches can and will confess a great deal of naiveté that once allowed them to trust people, and take them at their word. And I think we need to give them grace, and help them better understand the real risks of the world in which we live. But stubborn denial of bad choices just doesn’t cut it.

    In a small, rural church, who is taking steps to protect the children, or other naive members of the church from potential abusers? Anyone can do a basic search on those who wander in, to see if their names pop up on sex offender lists. I was naive to such things once.

    Let’s say you uncover a long history of arrests, as well as an outstanding arrest warrant for a man your church is providing with food, clothing and free housing. Unsuspecting older women are being encouraged to invite this man into their homes, to give him dinner and transportation as, for unspecified reasons, he cannot drive his car, which holds all of his worldly goods.

    When questioned, your elders inform you that ‘Pastor says the law does not ‘require’ that we alert the authorities of this person’s whereabouts’. But maybe your concern is not simply with the legal ramifications of a church sheltering a man wanted on a felony arrest warrant; although many might have ethical issues with that.

    What if your concern is for the well being of family and friends, many of whom are intimately involved in providing for the needs of this person? A person whose history the elders, directed by the pastor, deem no one, but them, need know anything about. Just as Longacre deemed no one needed to know his history, because “Things were going exactly as I wanted them to go,”.

    Ah, who are we, mere worms, to question God, er, challenge the self-claimed wisdom and authority of a group of bozos, er, esteemed elders, to put innocent people at risk by withholding important information from them? Don’t we understand that these anointed men, or at least their revered leader, ‘speak for God’?

    If our pastor and elders will not adequately protect their ‘flock’, we, as human beings, have every right, nay, responsibility, to tell others what we know, or to alert civil authorities. Whether its as serious as sexual abuse or simply drunken driving, we do not need anyone’s permission to do what is ethical and right. And when our self-proclaimed ‘rulers’ come after us with their discipline papers, we can laugh at their absurd belief that they have some sort of power over us. We can walk away, and never look back.

  25. TS00: If our pastor and elders will not adequately protect their ‘flock’ …

    If they did, Christian watchblogs like this one would not exist.

  26. Lea: !!!!!

    Yes, that caught my attention too. This is a clever way to land a pastoral job – get it from the inside.

  27. GC,

    And how much deception did it involve? When, if ever, did he admit to being a former pastor? What excuse did he give for leaving the pastorate, and/or his former church and community? How did he account for the time spent in jail?

    If nothing else, this congregation should be scratching their heads and asking, ‘Wait, sure seems like a lot of important information about this man’s past was deliberately hidden.’ Were I in this church, all of this deception, or lack of information, would not tend to generate trust. Far different than had he arrived at the church, with full disclosure, telling of his ‘harrowing experiences’ and asserting his innocence. But he just kept it all a big, fat secret? Doesn’t that make these people wonder what other ‘secrets’ he has under his hat?

  28. I’m wondering how much choice they have, or if Longacre has switched to a top-heavy model and all of this is really coming from him.

  29. Ishy: I’m wondering how much choice they have

    This makes me wonder why a small congregation would not break with a powerful clergy member who covered up a criminal record of this kind. They can stay home, go to the church down the street, meet in somebody’s house, withhold money, change the locks. My guess: members have been convinced that the victim is a kook, Pastor John is such a great guy, and they’ve gone to that church forever.

  30. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Christains are not just easy marks, there is significant “peer pressure” for Christains to “get with the program” and go along with the “vision” or “piousness” of the leadership.And if you raise questions, you are “lukewarm”, or “contaminated by the world”, or just plain divisive, not “spirit led”…..

    Or “SAY-TANN-IC ATTACK!”

    All the predator/con man has to do is recite the proper (SCRIPTURAL) Tribal Recognition Codewords and there’s a CHRISTIAN(TM) Sucker born every SECOND.

  31. Friend: My guess: members have been convinced that the victim is a kook, Pastor John is such a great guy, and they’ve gone to that church forever.

    “TOUCH NOT MINE ANOINTED!!!!!”

  32. Eeyore: Max: Heck, I’m not sure that most Christians believe in a devil who is actively trying to disrupt the work of God!A devil who too often finds his way to a pulpit, unhindered by the pew.

    Oh, they do. But the devil is either someone who tempts them to eat that extra candy bar or glance too long at the Redbook cover at the grocery store, or the driving force behind all the mainstream media/godless professors/abortionists who are undermining Christian America. That the devil might want to exploit their own paranoia and blindness to evil and suffering in their own ranks is almost unthinkable to them.

    “Almost”?

    “NOWHERE DO WE CORRUPT SO EFFECTIVELY AS AT THE VERY FOOT OF THE ENEMY’S ALTAR!”
    — Screwtape

  33. Philip Snyder: “neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” Luke 16:31

    Yep, if they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets … and the multitude of voices warning them from cyberspace … they won’t be persuaded by anybody. “Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!” (Hosea 4:17)

  34. Lea: Friend: “Things were going exactly as I wanted them to go,” Longaker said.

    !!!!!

    Nice little clue there, right? Honestly, I despair of finding any discernment in the church.

    It’s so much more pleasant to believe the little story they’ve got going. Victims are out of sight, out of mind.

  35. Friend: This makes me wonder why a small congregation would not break with a powerful clergy member who covered up a criminal record of this kind.

    Sadly, the same thing happens as at the megas, maybe even more so. It’s the church they grew up in, so they “won’t leave, no matter what”. There’s always then naive belief that they’ll get their church back or things will get better. There’s the old power core who have always ruled the church and argue until they’re blue.

    But once a pastor gets control of the money, often there’s not much they can do but leave. And they still won’t.

  36. ishy: It’s the church they grew up in, so they “won’t leave, no matter what”.

    I refer to this as “soul ties”. Folks get tied to a building, a church community, a way of doing church. They are reluctant to give any of that up, even when a bad-boy actor is in the pulpit. While it’s understandable – to not want to walk away from the familiar – soul ties can be unhealthy if church leadership and/or members are walking contrary to the will of God. That’s why a faith built on a personal relationship with Jesus is more important than trusting in religious things. It’s easier (but still hard) to walk away if you need to … when you get that check in the spirit, pause and pray, listen, and move when He says move. Your spiritual health depends on what you do.

  37. ishy: There’s always then naive belief that they’ll get their church back or things will get better.

    The congregation has control over this. They don’t have to believe the minister is still victimizing. He failed to disclose a serious criminal conviction. He got the job through conflict of interest, as chair of the search committee. They need to articulate the problem and deal with it, instead of circling the “Godly” wagons. If his past is tearing the place asunder, he should insist on resigning to spare the congregation.

    My own church went through serious difficulties (without criminality or a takeover), and slowly recovered. We left and came back, and now work to keep the place healthy. I don’t sit quietly hoping for better times. I carry a small skunk in my purse and, when necessary, politely place it on the table.

  38. Friend: They need to articulate the problem and deal with it, instead of circling the “Godly” wagons. If his past is tearing the place asunder, he should insist on resigning to spare the congregation.

    Your still assuming they have some amount of control and they are doing the messaging in this situation. As we’ve seen with lots of churches on TWW, often the congregation has no say or control. Small churches can be controlled completely by the pastor. They might have the belief they can Cheney it, and that’s why they are still there, but I wouldn’t assume they are protecting him as much as reports claim.

  39. Ishy: Small churches can be controlled completely by the pastor. … I wouldn’t assume they are protecting him as much as reports claim.

    Thank you. Yes, pastors can exert a lot of mind control (I have been in such groups). My hope is that members will consider their own civil rights, or rights endowed by the Creator, especially if they believe this is a Christian nation. By the numbers, at least, it is.

    Your comment that the members might not be protecting him does suggest control of the message, but maybe people are quietly wondering if they are the only ones noticing something amiss. News reports offer a chance to break free of isolation.

  40. Friend: I don’t sit quietly hoping for better times. I carry a small skunk in my purse and, when necessary, politely place it on the table.

    You and your buddy would have come in handy in contentious church business meetings I sat through over the years.

  41. Lea: Friend: I carry a small skunk in my purse and, when necessary, politely place it on the table.
    This is a wonderful visual!

    In our family a stuffed skunk caused division; my daughter was very fond of her stuffed skunk from a park in WV and wanted to name it after one of her brothers, who said it should be named after the other brother, which led to a fight between them!

  42. Philip Snyder:
    “neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.”Luke 16:31

    Before I learned the Official Party Line, I thought this a magnificent bit of snark from that Rabbi from Nazareth.

  43. From the article:

    “I think what the leader (Wood) is really saying is, “We put him there and he will stay there until we are good and ready to replace him.” Let me meddle a bit more. Could it be that there is a bit of pride involved here? Could it be that the leaders are a bit embarrassed by their poor decisions in this area and have decided to cover it over with some Christian lingo. They should be careful when they claim that God did something when it is merely men who did it. Let’s not blame God for our poor or thoughtless decisions.”

    This part of the story really gets my blood boiling! Not only did Longaker weasel his way into this position by conveniently being the head of the pulpit committee, but then you have elders having the audacity of crediting God for putting him there. YIKES! The point is, there is not merely “a bit of pride” in this situation, but unbridled, overflowing arrogance! Because of their laziness and lack of due diligence, that church, much to their shame, is now pastored by a convicted child molester!
    Sadly, their arrogance and pride runs so deep, that they are more afraid of losing face in their decisions than they are in protecting church members from a convicted attacker! Talk about leaving the fox (or wolf) in charge of the hen house…these guys absolutely take the cake! I wouldn’t even give them the benefit of the doubt as being too “naive” either, especially since they now know what he is. Their inaction speaks volumes as to the content of their character!

  44. We imagine pedophiles as creepy men with shifty eyes, stubble and a trench coat.

    Except for the trench coat, I have run into a lot of people who fit that description in various fandoms. The one who comes to mind first has Aspergers plus PTSD from psychological abuse in his past. The “creepy” comes from his lack of social skills (at least in person – he presents himself best in written correspondence), the “shifty eyes” are because of PTSD fear, the “stubble” is because he has periods of depression from all the above where “he lets himself go”.

    (You find a lot of such socially-awkward misfits in various fandoms; the fandom provides a safer place where they can finally belong. In some cases, finding a niche like that can be a matter of life or death. Finding a niche in SF litfandom and D&D gaming was for me.)

    Now it has always struck me that a REAL pedophile with a good Angel of Light Mask (i.e. “very socially skilled and delightful conversationalist”) as part of Grooming third parties could very easily deflect suspicion from himself by indirectly falsely accusing some messed-up misfit like described above. “Concerned” gossip, whispered hints, various manipulations to get third parties’ attention focused on the misfit instead of himself. (BEWARE THOU OF THE MUTANT.) And while everyone’s attention is misdirected onto the scapegoat…

  45. ION: Cricket

    AWWBA, Wartburg cricket updates are

     biblically-faithful
     god-honouring
     kingdom-centred
     gospel-focused
     … more so than a lot of church mission statements, anyway.

    The Second Test between the Windies and England starts tomorrow in Antigua. The hosts were, of course, on fine form in the First Test. The visitors… weren’t. In fact the Windies won by more runs than England actually managed to score. So, we’re all hoping for a bit more of a contest this time around.

    I started a new job today; in due course I’ll be able to work from home part of the time, but obviously not to begin with. The practical upshot is that I won’t be able to provide anointed cricket updates as frequently as before. Lay Wartburgers are strongly advised not to attempt to follow the cricket for themselves, as they have not been properly grounded and will not be able to properly discern good cricket, nor will they be biblically qualified to provide a proper godly interpretation of the score.

  46. PaJo,

    My church is similar…elders, deacons, paid staff-all need to go through an official (i.e. criminal) and unofficial background check. I was on a search committee for a new associate pastor last year, and I was surprised at how thorough we are. Anyone in the children’s/youth ministry also goes through a criminal background check (that included me). There are no guarantees on a criminal background check, obviously, since they only catch people who get caught. But when word gets out that churches and other organizations do responsible vetting, future criminals seem less likely to apply.

  47. I think that sometimes small churches attract people who have things they want to hide, that would be harder to hide in a bigger congregation. This is especially true if the “hider” is also the main leadership person. If he is able to ingratiate himself with others, it’s hard to think he would do anything wrong. I know of two such cases. The first, the church I grew up in, was small and struggling and could never keep a pastor. They finally found one, and the pastor did everything-from sermons to hospital visits to baptizing babies. He would organize all the maintenance projects on the building. Then, he came down with hepatitis, as he did his other good pastor friend. They shared the news with our congregation, and it was whispered that the pastor was probably gay (this is not a comment on the gay lifestyle, by the way). Members stopped sending their boys on houseboat trips with the two pastors. The congregation, for the most part, was still very supportive. Since that relationship seemed okay, the wife of the co-pastor hired a few years later, ran off with another man’s husband. No one batted an eye. I was about 13 when most of this happened, and I will confess I didn’t “get” it, although I eventually found another church to go to (a healthy one, by the way).

    Second case-a much loved accountant at a local Christian school who embezzled so much money the school couldn’t meet payroll. The folks at the school and church said she was so “nice” that they just wanted the money paid back-please don’t arrest her. She was arrested, however, because the school couldn’t stay open without taking legal action (I think the bank stepped in).

    I know this isn’t exclusive to small churches, but it does seem to happen often in places that don’t have checks and balances. The other places seem to be the mega churches that have one person/one party rule.

  48. We had a pedo in the church where I grew up. He was a doctor, tall, distinguished, pretty wife with 2 kids. Long story, but he was convicted and fled the country. Wonder where he is now. This was years ago, so he has probably passed on. So again, I wonder where he is now?

    The point is, he wasn’t shifty, and not that creepy. I think those are the most dangerous ones.

    Also…

    I’m concerned about the lack of Cricket coverage, and my lack of ability as a US citizen to understand what’s going on.

  49. My nephew-in-law recently accepted the post of head pastor at a church. The process took several months. I’m sure this church did a criminal background check on him, plus many other things. My family has known my nephew-in-law, for almost 20 yrs, and we can vouch for him. But this church didn’t know him except for his references. I’m glad this church went through all the trouble they did. They now have a fine pastor and a great pastors wife and family (might be a bit prejudiced here).

  50. He left his previous state as soon as it was legal. Then he worked himself into the group slowly and quietly. He compartmentalized everything he did. When asked about background checks he answers with the Sunday school teachers have them. Then he takes the nice guy route so he doesn’t want the church to be harmed further, only having people asking him to stay. Perfect manipulation.

  51. Eeyore: That the devil might want to exploit their own paranoia and blindness to evil and suffering in their own ranks is almost unthinkable to them.

    “If you aim and time it right, you can do more damage with one Suggestion spell than with a hundred Fireballs.”
    — Old-School D&D proverb