TFCA: Wikipedia

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here is the overview of what transpired. All of the information that I discussed was part of an investigation into the long-term sexual abuse and sexual grooming of young male teens at The Falls Church Anglican. This church is one of the nation’s historic churches. George Washington attended here, as did prominent politicians and business leaders. It is a wealthy church considered a prize property of the Anglican Church of North America. This church was Episcopal until it cut ties and joined ACNA. Many of you know that the ACNA has been embroiled in sexual abuse scandals. Hence, this church appears to fit in with the culture of the denomination, both in religious values and in the way they have poorly handled the sexual abuse scandal, as outlined in this report, which is also available on the home page of TCFA.

Overview of what happened since there is too much material and a mess.

I have had to deal with my emotional response to this report. The actions of Jeffrey T. Taylor, the abuser, mimicked those of Doug Goodrich, the abuser at my former Providence Baptist Church. While reading this report, there were many moments when I had to pause since it appeared I was reading what so many experienced at my former church. It was like I was reading a play-by-play description of how to abuse teen boys.

• Jeff Taylor ran the youth program at TFCA from 1990 to 1999.
• TFCA was delighted that the Cornerstone program had 500+ students attending.
• It was primarily high school students, although Taylor made some inroads involving middle school boys.
• He was married with four children. This was crucial in pulling the wool over the parents’ eyes.
• He often focused on topics such as masturbation and sex, appealing, in my opinion, to the purity culture at that time. I guess parents and church leaders felt that such topics were of far more value than understanding the Gospel. (p.24)
• He did not want adults around in his meetings. (p.37)
• Taylor also stated that he was “spiritually gifted,” leading this outsider to point out that he may have displayed the narcissistic personality of an abuser. (p.38)
• The report emphasized that many kids grew in their faith despite Taylor’s antics. Do they think this good outweighed the devastation of male teens’ lives?
• I believe the pastor, John Yates, did not take it upon himself to find out what Taylor was teaching and how he behaved with boys. I guess he was so impressed with the numbers that he didn’t do what he should have been doing by watching him. Yates was stupid, naive, and way too impressed with numbers. Yes, he bears some of the blame for this.
• The parents of these students were also to blame. Before anyone gets upset, I have a confession to make. I was also grateful to hand off my kids to high school programs and didn’t pay attention to what was happening. Only my son told me, “Doug is weird, and I don’t want to go to his studies.” That caused me to remove him from the monster in my church and set up a separate Bible study. I was blind to what was happening, and I was as stupid and naive as the parents at TCFA. The parents were so unconcerned that they took Taylor on family vacations. Imagine the access this afforded. (p.34)
• Taylor went on to churches in Atlanta, where his son, Rev. Dr. Porter C. Taylor, now an Episcopal priest, has a Change.org petition demanding that the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta (Michael Youssef’s church) hire GRACE to investigate potential victims there. I am in awe that he would publicly and vulnerably stand up for victims.
• He was dismissed from the Church of the Apostles due to inappropriate conversations with kids, and porn was found on his computer. (p.46)
• Shortly after that, he was ordained, and Yates from TCFA spoke at his ordination! (p.48)
• The report alleges that as Taylor went through TFCA, then onto the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta and Christ Church in Atlanta, he encountered and pastored hundreds of boys.
• While at TFCA, Taylor engaged in this like massages, encouraging boys to give wedgies, touching thighs near the genitals, encouraging a thing called “nut-smacking” and wrestling. In one instance, he had the boys sit in their underwear in a circle for his teaching. I know what happened in my church when this behavior was encouraged. Oddly, the report called his “court” abuse. It appears that it is outright abuse and grooming them for more disgusting activities. (pp.27-29)
• In 2007, one victim came out to Rev Yates. Although he notified Taylor’s current church, he did not name him at TFCA. He made vague mention that people who have been abused should come forward to talk about it. He did not mention Taylor to the congregation. He chose to keep him in the dark. Yates “felt” the victim was credible and paid for some counseling. (p.50)
• In 2021, one family told Yates, now retired, that their son told him Taylor abused him. Sadly, the son died from alcohol abuse. Yates told the new pastor, but nothing was done. A life was destroyed, and no one did anything about this. The chancellor, apparently behaving quite badly, did not respond to requests from the family of the student who died. Dee won’t say what she thought about this. (p.58)
• Nope-they never called the police because “they didn’t have to do so.” The local law gave them an out, saying one did not have to report the abuse of a child after he became an adult. My church used a similar law that said they were not “mandated” reporters. They didn’t get the police involved until the police themselves became involved. This reminds me of one lawyer from my previous church who reassured the church they didn’t have to report anything! She seemed pleased by this finding.
• In 2023, parents complained to the Bishop of the Diocese, who recommended that a study be performed.
• Yates was involved in another sexual abuse scandal (?coverup) when he dismissed Bruce Newell. No one apparently knows why. (p.59)
• And in a “can’t make this up” moment, Taylor got a congressional staffer who volunteered removed due to some incident involving a student. I guess he didn’t want another person moving in on his territory. (p.60)
• This was a concerning  comment from a member of the church’s Executive Committee who asked if it was helpful to” dredge this up.” (apparently  referring to the sex abuse.) This guy was an elder type of person saying something this stupid when this investigation was ongoing. That speaks volumes to me of the kind of men in charge of this church. (p.57)
• The conclusion: No one knew this was going on. (p.67)

Who did the report?

This was no GRACE sort of investigation. The header of the report states

Report on theIndependent Investigation of Allegations of Sexual Abuse by a Staff Member of The Falls Church between May 1990 and January 2002
Edward Lee Isler
ISLER DARE, P.C.

I received this information from an insider.

The chancellor for TFCA is Scott Ward, who is also the chancellor for the diocese and for the province. Professionally, he is a principal at Gammon and Grange, which specializes in defending churches.

What might this say to an interested outsider such as myself?

This report was structured so that the church was “off the hook,” That is how I read some of the investigator’s comments.

Here is what I believe was the actual conclusion for Pastor Yates, the subsequent Pastor Ferguson, the leaders, and the parents:

• All were naive.
• The pastors and leaders were deliberately stupid and held their hands over their eyes and ears while singing “la, la, la” to avoid receiving anything awkward,
• Failing to supervise a staffer who had access to minor children for years was a dereliction of duty.
• The leaders and pastors were derelict in their duty to report this to law enforcement because it was the right thing to do. The police would have had reports on file if more accusations came up in the future, as they did for Taylor. This is how the system works. I routinely advise families and churches to do this as a minimum.
• When parents learned that adults were not welcome in the Cornerstone activities, they should have immediately demanded to attend to see what was happening. I do not recommend that parents dump their kids off for talks that the parents aren’t supposed to hear. Remember, I blame myself in this category.
• The leaders should have held Yates’ feet to the fire when they realized supervision was lacking. Oh, they didn’t know that? They should have. Where were the church leaders?
• I must admit that I find it problematic that no one knew anything about what was happening. Indeed, they heard of the discussions on masturbation. Didn’t anyone realize that this was weird, or were they so into the purity movement that they thought this was normal and advisable?
• Every church and organization that had Taylor involved must conduct a real investigation, not one “to protect the church.” It’s time the church started acting like the church by doing the right thing, even when it’s hard.
• Everyone should support Rev. Dr. Porter Taylor’s petition. Involved churches should contact him to get his thoughts on protecting their kids.
• Parents: abusers are clever, and they will worm their way into your hearts. It happened at my church. When Goodrich was being tried, some deceived moms begged the judge to let them “mentor Goodrich.” They loved the guy, and he had them right where he wanted them. Protect your students. Supervise them and be careful when someone starts paying lots of attention to them. Red flags should be waving.
• My heart goes out to the victims. One victim died, most likely because he was abused. This happens to victims of abuse. If any victim wants to tell their story, please get in touch with me at dee@thewartburgwatch.com. I would be happy to print it.