Photo by Altınay Dinç on Unsplash

“Talking to Reva about misery was insufferable. ‘Look on the bright side’ was what she wanted everyone to do.” ― Ottessa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation.

My new computer, which has something involving a terabyte, is being configured as we speak. Thank you, GBTC. I hope this will end the problems I’ve been having with the website.

When a licensed counselor initiates sexual contact with their client, even of age, they can go to prison and lose their license. If a school teacher initiates contact with a student, even one who is “of age,” according to the law, they can go to prison, and they will never be able to teach again. So why do pastors get a pass? They can initiate sexual contact with a member of their congregation who views them as their authoritative leader (and Chris Hodges loves the words “authoritative leader.”) If the overseers of the ARC have anything to do with it, they can jump in after a sabbatical of “learning how not to do it.”

Why do they get a pass? Is it simply because there is no law against such behavior that the boys take advantage of that freedom from prosecution? Thankfully, US laws are changing as most people, Christians or not, think that such behavior on the part of pastors is wrong and even creepy. Clergy abuse laws are being passed in many states, and I predict those laws will pass in all fifty states.

Think about it. Isn’t it an indictment of the church that the secular system has to pass laws to get pastors to do the right thing? Churches also use NDAS to hide “unfortunate clergy interactions.” We haven’t heard about this activity because it involves “nondisclosure” on the part of both parties.

Today, I am looking at the ARC and its apparent history of restoring those who commit clergy abuse to the pulpit ASAP. This is a post I wrote in 2023a, and I have updated the Prayer-Force-Manual-COTH link. That is the only change I have made to the original post. Before I begin the repost, I decided to see if I could find a statement from Chris Hodges on his old BFF, Robert Morris.

What did Chris Hodges say about Robert Morris?

It is apparent to me that the ARC and Church of the Highlands (COTH) do find child sex abuse problematic. However, Chris Hodges’ response was couched as the COTH organization saying something about Morris instead of Chris Hodges or Dino Rizzo condemning such actions. 1819 News posted that the Church of the Highlands overseer resigned after admitting to ‘moral failure’ in 1982.

COTH trustees said they were unaware of the allegations until recently.

“After being made aware of the disturbing media reports, Highlands trustees and overseers immediately initiated a due diligence process that included reaching out to Gateway’s elders,” the trustees stated in a letter. “Before the scheduled follow-up meeting to determine changes in our governance structure, Pastor Morris resigned as an overseer of Church of the Highlands.”

Is the COTH Lodge for “Fallen Pastors?” Chris Hodges denies those claims, but I wonder.

Chris Hodges appeared to let his organization speak for him, which is poor form. Hodges lost an opportunity to talk about abuse. The article also had a few tidbits, one of which relates to the post that follows.

All pastors can be restored.

COTH pastor Chris Hodges has also made appearances at Morris’ church. The two participated in a “Restoring Fallen Leaders” special in which they discussed how to respond to fallen pastors. They both agreed there is a path to restoration for all.

Here is an interesting tidbit from the conference.

They can possibly be restored at the COTH new lodge?

COTH has reportedly spent $4.5 million on a lodge to restore fallen pastors, which Hodges has said is a priority for him.

Perhaps all of this discussion caused Hodges some angst. AL.com originally posted the following on July 17, 2023, 4 days after my post which follows. Church of the Highlands’ Chris Hodges says no clergy accused of sexual misconduct will stay at The Lodge. He blames the reporters, and I have a hard time believing him, given his history.

Church of the Highlands Pastor Chris Hodges said that no clergy accused of sexual misconduct will ever stay at The Lodge, a retreat center that opened this year primarily for the “restoration” of pastors suffering from burnout.

Hodges said that his previous comments in sermons and videos about a “pastoral restoration center” where ministers can “rest, worship and grow” referred to pastors suffering from burnout, not accusations of misconduct.

…“We have this stigma on it now that we’re trying to break because it’s just flat-out not true,” Hodges said.

Hodges said he won’t take on a case of sexual misconduct like Carter again.

“We’re not taking on any more,” Hodges said. “I don’t even want to say it that way. It makes the assumption that we’ve done it a lot, and we haven’t.”

The Church of the Highlands has no program that applies to all cases of pastoral restoration that involve moral failing, Hodges said.

Chris Hodges and the “Get Them Fallen Pastors Back in the ARC Pulpit Chop-Chop” Lodge. July 10, 2023

ARC

Since I am presenting this at TWW, might one guess this is to serve the abuse victims? Nope-because when Chris Hodegs is involved, you can be sure this has something to do with his designated pastors that serve the broader ARC community. If you are not familiar with the ARC, it’s time to get reading. For you SBC types, this crowd outplants the SBC. Of course, the NAMB has become the place to serve tired and worn-out pastors, IMO. Since the ARC removed (or hid) some information after my original post, here is a link to the infamous Prayer-Force-Manual-COTH the most requested item in my emails.

What isn’t Chris Hodges saying about his Chop-Chop Lodge?

Hodges introduces his new Lodge. (Please go to the Instagram link since it is not allowing me to embed it at TWW.) What a beautiful place. The lovely dining facility, soaring ceiling, excellent bedrooms, and fire pit are all for pastors to share and encourage one another. One commenter found this inspiring.

It sounds like it might be a nice retreat house. It’s not. Here is a link to The Lodge at Grants Hill. See if you can figure it out from this description.

Highlands hosts pastors from all over the world for roundtables and events designed to strengthen the Church. The Lodge will provide a place of rest and renewal for these pastors and their spouses during their stay. We are praying this space will provide a getaway of peace for so many that devote their lives to the call that God has given them.

The ARC has a history of sexual indiscretions on the part of its pastors.

The saga of Michan Carter: restored, unrestored, and restored.

The ARC has a history of restoring “fallen pastors” to their pastor position. I wrote Church of Highlands and Michan Carter: Playing Games With the Restoration of Fallen Pastors two years ago. #churchtoo.

Church of the Highlands finally had to kick out one of their restorees: Michan Carter.

Is restoree a word? It should be.

I wonder if the #Churchtoo is getting a bit too hot to handle for the ARC. AL.com posted: Church of the Highlands cuts ties with minister accused of sex abuse. 

As allegations of sexual abuse against a former pastor took hold on social media, the Church of the Highlands has cut ties with the accused minister they had agreed to help rehabilitate.

Micahn Carter, former pastor of Together Church in Yakima, Washington, had stepped down in April 2019 from Together Church for undisclosed reasons. Carter joined the staff of the Church of the Highlands in Birmingham later in 2019.

Please note the bolded comment: he stepped down from his original church for undisclosed reasons. This is how the ARC overseer crowd operates. When Hodges stepped in to whisk off Rizzo he asked the church members of his former church to “trust” those incredibly gifted overseers. I bet they’re glad that I’m not in one of those churches. So, it appears that the members of Together Church decided to trust the ARC once again. However, this one came back to bite the ARC/Church of the HIghlands in the nose. They deserved it.

Here is the statement that the Church of the Highlands released.

In 2019, Micahn Carter’s Pastoral Overseers from Washington state asked Church of the Highlands to assist them in directing a ministerial restoration process for him,” the statement said. “Highlands agreed to do so, and since then we have been working with Micahn and his family. Recently, Highlands received correspondence raising new allegations about events that occurred over two years ago in Washington state. When we shared this information with the Carters, they resigned from their positions on staff to work through these issues themselves. Highlands is no longer involved in the restoration process.”

Notice the bolded part of the statement. It appears that the Carters knew what happened since they resigned right away. However, rape is not an issue! Rape is a crime and the Church of the Highlands are masters of downplaying icky things…

It gets worse. Julie Roys presented Church of the Highlands Quietly Advances Controversial Pastoral Retreat Center.

The most referred-to example is Micahn Carter. Carter relocated to preach at Highlands as part of his restoration process after being accused of rape by a staff member at Together Church in Washington State. After the lawsuit escalated, Carter resigned, and Highlands severed ties and affirmed they were “no longer involved in the restoration process.” However, Carter preached with accolades last July at an ARC church in Orange County, California.

At this point, any sane person would declare codswallop on the entire ARC process. Wait, you might say, this is just one little example. There are many more. Julie Roys and I have documented this bizarre restoration process at ARC churches for years. Here are a few more to read.

• Part 1: Dino Rizzo and Pastors/Leaders of the ARC Get Sued Over Allegations of Sexual Abuse and Coverup
• Another ARC Church, Another Pastor “Affair”; How to Look for Red Flags in a Church: Grace Fellowship, Toronto.
• Megachurch Pastor Named in Lawsuit for Allegedly Failing to Protect Intern Against Sexual Abuse
• THERE DOES SEEM TO BE MORE TO THE RESIGNATION OF DINO RIZZO

I still remember writing about how Chris Hodges arrived at the Healing Place, where Dino Rizzo was in trouble for allegedly putting up his paramour in a local apartment. Suddenly, Dino and his wife were whisked off, allegedly to Hawaii, to recuperate and then brought to Hodges’ Church of the Highlands, where he remains to this day, preaching away. We wrote about this here, but the documents have “disappeared.”

And now, on top of this history, Chris Hodges will help these pastors recover!

Today, Anna Claire Vollaers of Al.com posted Church of the Highlands opens a $4.5 million ‘pastoral recovery’ center. What is it?

It’s an outgrowth of Hodges’ long-term involvement in pastoral restoration, a broad, catch-all term used in evangelical Christian circles to describe a program of faith-based counseling and support typically used by churches to help a pastor work through an issue that triggered removal from leadership.

Yikes- how many restorations are Hodges and friends involved with?

Hodges told the crowd at a church leadership event in 2021 that he and Highlands Associate Pastor Dino Rizzo were “in the middle of about 20 pastoral, moral failures or restorations right now.”

The article recalls some of the “failings” of pastors. Look what Hodges called Rizzo’s failure.” An inappropriate friendship.”

In 2012, Rizzo was asked to leave the popular Baton Rouge church he pastored and had founded. Hodges brought Rizzo to Birmingham, telling his congregation that Rizzo had been involved in “a brief but inappropriate friendship” at his previous church with a woman who was not his wife. Hodges said he and leaders at Rizzo’s Baton Rouge church created a “restoration” plan for Rizzo.

Hodges told industry publication Ministry Today that it was the first time he’d ever attempted pastoral restoration.

Even Hodge’s son has had a temporary failure and is preaching away today.

Hodges’ son Michael has also been through a pastoral restoration process. Michael Hodges was removed from his position as campus pastor at one of Highlands’ satellite campuses in 2017 for what his father said was a “moral failing.” At the time, Baton Rouge pastor Larry Stockstill said Chris Hodges asked him to “take charge of the process of bringing discipline and long-term restoration to Michael,” according to Stockstill. Michael Hodges returned to public ministry two years later.

Some people are concerned, and they should be.

some critics and former staff and congregants have raised questions about the Lodge and the church’s pastoral restoration efforts. They’ve asked for more clarity about who the program serves and how those pastors might interact with staff and church members.

Vollers quoted me accurately, saying:

What worries me,” said Dee Parsons, who writes about church issues on her website and who has followed Highlands’ pastoral restoration efforts since visiting the church a few times with family, “is that I’m not sure they understand that a pastor who has had an affair with a church member, it’s not an affair, in my opinion. It’s clerical abuse.

Here’s the deal. When I see unusual beliefs like those expressed in that Prayer Force Manual, it causes me to wonder if they have other beliefs that I might find uncomfortable or even dangerous. Pastors who have sexual relationships with any church member do not have affairs. They are guilty of clergy abuse. Many states are passing laws that call this a crime. This is a crime, just like it is for certified counselors or psychiatrists with client relations.

Make no mistake about it, Church of the Highland attendees. I believe this Lodge is to help Hodges continue his work in restoring pastors who have fallen due to sexual relations, and that may include rape as described in the Michan Carter situation. I believe that Hodges is pastorcentric, which means he believes that pastors take precedence over members. How do I know? It’s relatively easy.

Think about it. Hodges built a restoration lodge for clergy failures, not hurting victims. Does Hodges even believe there were victims? I wonder what happened to some of those victims. Did NDAs cover any agreements? Were they just thoroughly ignored?

I do believe this. Hodges doesn’t seem to care for the victims and will restore any pastor he brings into this ARC ministry. Let me leave you with this from Voller’s post.

Parsons, who has written extensively about clergy abuse on her website, said she thinks more resources should be directed toward the people the pastor has harmed, rather than the pastors themselves.