“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Update:11/14/24: It appears that this church is no longer a member of the ARC. It cannot be found on the website.
Update 9/19/24: Today, I received word from the attorney of Pastor Macdonald, who claims that this post contains falsehoods and that he did not molest Melissa Hobson. I believe Melissa’s story and did not knowingly say anything false. I have asked for documentation.
Dear Pastor Hodges,
Although we might differ on some theological matters, I am sure that we both agree that sexual abuse of children is horrendous. When I wrote {Update: 06.14.24}, I Was 12 Years Old and Wearing My Pink Pajamas When Robert Morris, Now of Gateway Church, Began to Molest Me. The Alleged Abuse Lasted for 4 1/2 Years. #Churchtoo #ARCtoo. I was gratified that Robert Morris stepped down from Gateway and his leadership position in the ARC. The Roys Report posted about his resignation in Robert Morris Resigns as Overseer at Alabama Megachurch, Following Sex Abuse Allegations.
In a statement released to former Baptist leader Wade Burleson, which was shared with TRR, COTH’s trustees, who are non-staff elders, stated that they were unaware of “this part of (Morris’) past.”
They added, “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. Before the scheduled follow-up meeting to determine changes in our governance structure, Pastor Morris resigned as an overseer of Church of the Highlands.”
Thank you for ensuring the public understood that the ARC would have responded swiftly and biblically.
The Restoration of Morally Fallen Pastors
As you know, there has been controversy regarding the purpose of The Lodge, located at the Church of the Highlands (COTH). Due to previous remarks attributed to you, it was thought that this retreat center was to offer rest and support for pastors who had failed morally.
The Lodge, funded by the church’s Legacy donations, is a $4.5 million retreat center where pastors, leaders, and their families will be, according to an original pamphlet, “mentored, counseled, refreshed, and restored.” The program is the vision of Highlands Senior Pastors Chris Hodges and Dino Rizzo. Both are co-founders of the Association of Related Churches (ARC).
The project sparked concern over how Highlands and ARC reinstate morally-fallen pastors to the pulpit with seemingly minimal consequences. Some questioned whether the goal to extend forgiveness and redemption to fallen leaders would result in The Lodge becoming a “safe place” to harbor and enable unrepentant sin.
In July, you denied that the purpose of The Lodge was for morally failed pastors in Church of the Highlands’ Chris Hodges says no clergy accused of sexual misconduct will stay at The Lodge.
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.
Due to previous comments, some observers, like myself, were confused.
In a 2021 church conference sermon about pastors suffering from depression and at risk of suicide, Hodges said he was involved in “about 20 pastoral moral failures or restorations. I love doing that. I want to be known for that.”
That sermon did not mention The Lodge, nor was it intended to describe the future mission of The Lodge, Hodges said.
“I’m not talking about the ones that are in sin,” Hodges said in an interview. “I’m talking about the ones that are ready to quit. All this came out of the pandemic.”
When I saw the ARC’s response to the Robert Morris scandal, I began to accept that the purpose of the Lodge was not to restore immoral pastors. I also hoped that you knew, as I do, that child sexual abuse is horrific, a sin, a crime, and evidence of a serious psychiatric disorder. Such a person has no place in guiding a church where many children and teens are present.
Pastor Martin MacDonald City Church Batavia: Credible Allegations of the Six-Year Abuse of 12-Year-Old Melissa Hobson
On September 13, 2024, I posted a story about another woman who was molested by a pastor starting at the age of 12. Melissa Was 12 and Molested for 6 Years by Pastor Martin MacDonald. She Was Told She Seduced Him and Her Family Was Told by Pastors to Forgive Him. I believe her story. A number of the people in Batavia are aware of the allegations. Sadly, some have accused her of “seducing” this pastor and of being “promiscuous” and that this relationship was her fault. Many of these claims came from those who confessed to the Christian faith.
His son, Ryan, allegedly told the victim that she had seduced his father. Ryan is the lead pastor, and MacDonald is the senior pastor.
In researching the church that this pastor, Martin MacDonald, started, City Church, Batavia, I found that it is a member of the ARC.
Like Robert Morris, MacDonald’s City Church is tied to the ARC, the Association of Related Churches. As many readers know, the ARC appears to have a history of fallen pastors, and it looks like one more will be added. They have also restored some. This is a screenshot from the ARC’s church directory. Ryan is MacDonald’s son. Marty is the Senior Pastor.
I am sure that you know it is abnormal for an adult male to have a sexual interest in a 12-year-old girl.
I have been writing about child victims of sexual abuse for 15 years. Much research by the government and psychological/psychiatric organizations has been conducted into abusers of children. It is more prevalent than many suspect. Most, if not all, have a form of paraphilia, which is often pedophilia. Even with massive interventions, psychological, pharmacological, and even spiritual, many reoffend.
There allegedly has been no expression of repentance to the victim not admission of the victim being 12 years old when this started.
Pastor Hodges, I’m sure you are a fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who has much to say about “cheap grace.” This was one of the first books I read as a new convert many years ago.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote the enduring and convicting The Cost of Discipleship. He is known for defining cheap and costly grace.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
It is wrong to demand forgiveness until a man owns the depth and breadth of his sin. “I’m sorry” is not repentance. Repentance is prolonged sorrow, so profound and noticeable that it is sensed by the abused and the community surrounding the wounded. Forgiveness is never demanded, and it is rarely immediate. It is a process. The abuser must seek to repair the damage in any way possible. Anything less is like the little child told to say he is sorry for stealing the cookie. His quick “I’m sorry” said with a mouthful of his treat is childish. Yet it appears some pastors are demanding such cheap forgiveness. They tie it into cheap grace and pretend all is well. Grace is costly. As Bonhoeffer said:
Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.
In the end, Pastor Hodges, there is someone whose life was forever changed by this abuse. Her name is Melissa Hobson. She was twelve when MacDonald allegedly decided to indulge his aberrant sexual appetite. She has borne the scorn of those who say she was “promiscuous.” She was a sweet, 12-year-old girl babysitting his two sons, and he took advantage of her. Is this who you want in the pulpit of an ARC-related church? Is this who wyou eant to pastor children and teens?
Seeking justice for Melissa,
Dee Parsons
dee@thewatburgwatch.com
(I will both email and snail mail this letter.)
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Thank you Dee for an excellent letter.
Where are the Men of God in the Church who should be fighting for these innocent victims? All I hear is silence.
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Yeah, there seems to be nothing but crickets from so many leaders about this. In fact they seem to actively participate in making things worse for victims.
God’s comments in Ezek 22:30 sound similar to your complaint / observation / question.
“I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land . . . . but I found no one.”
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Some of us are fighting in silence behind the scenes because we are more effective that way.
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They’re far too SPIRITUAL to concern themselves with such Worldly/FLeshly matters as the victims.
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HUG,
To quote Jack Nicholson in the first Batman movie, “You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs.”
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AF,
Exactly…. If one were to stand back and look at it objectively, the church has it backa$$ward
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Jeffrey Chalmers,
PS..
But the, many church “leaders” would say we do: “Biblical counseling!!”
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How is it possible to restore the unrestorable? Child sexual abuse by a pastor is a permanent disqualifier from ministry, a disentitlement from the sacred office of pastor. You will find no examples in the New Testament of pastors who failed morally being restored to the pulpit.
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“We shall not see any great change until we have some men in our ranks who are willing to be martyrs. That deep ditch can never be crossed till the bodies of a few of us shall fill it up.” (Charles Spurgeon)
In the meantime, dudebros protect each other until the potato becomes too hot to handle. Restoring a depressed, burned out, suicidal preacher is a world of difference from providing a retreat for disqualified pastors who abused those under their watch. Perhaps “The Lodge” should change its mission to minister to victims rather than their abusers … there would be more Biblical defense for that endeavor.
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1 comment not allowed since it was entirely political which I don’t want at TWW.
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How about that….!! Sad that there is and will continue to be people that need therapy and recovery from the effects of church! I wonder if those folks would fall under the “heal the sick” command/instruction for followers/disciples?
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Any believer who has spent much time in the organized church suffers some level of sickness of the soul, groaning with all creation for the church to get it right!
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Thank you for this post Dee!
And I will say this again: first, I believe the victim’s story and do NOT believe she attempted to or did seduce the perp.
That said, men, LISTEN UP. EVEN IF a person of EITHER SEX AND ANY AGE attempts to seduce you and you have sex with then, YOU HAVE SINNED. Seduction is NOT an excuse.
And for the dudes interested in little girls: It would be very rare for any child to attempt to seduce an adult, but just for arguments sake we will say it happens. YOU ARE STILL THE RESPONSIBLE ADULT. It DOES NOT EXONERATE YOU OF ANYTHING.
There is NOTHING an underage person of either sex can do to justify an adult “doing” them.
Didn’t your mama teach you 15 will get you 20????
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dee,
Thank you dee!
I love Taylor Swift!
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“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline …”
I wonder what Mr. Bonhoeffer had in mind in the way of “church discipline.”
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It doesn’t, though, obviously.
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You mean Contaminate their Lodge with LAITY?
It’s for CLERGY ONLY!
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I don’t want to put words in Bonhoeffer’s mouth, but based on his other writings, I think he would say that believers should not be disciplined for refusing to submit to the teachings and traditions of mere men. He most likely would hold that church discipline should only be meted out for refusing to repent of behavior condemned as sinful by Scripture. Abusers should repent, not be “restored” to potentially abuse again. Church leaders who sexually abuse those entrusted to them, should never be restored … that is a permanent disqualification, IMO … you should never restore the unrestorable.
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Max,
Bonhoeffer was the real deal in the realm of courage.
He knew he was marked for death by the Nazis, but still would not back down.
A far cry from the dandies of today who sob on twitter over any imagined slight.
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He certainly was, but that doesn’t say anything about what he meant by “church discipline.”
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First of all, recheck your blogs wording , one minute you are saying allegations are true the next allegedly, second journalists check their sources and get proof of what they are saying before they post it, including interviewing all parties you named without a care. Without fact checking it’s not good for the author, you have to be objective as well not one sided
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You must be new to this blog. Utilizing the word “I believe” is the same as saying “allegedly.” According to the law, I have the right to believe anything that I believe is true, and I believe Melissa. I hope this will allow you to read more carefully here and elsewhere.
I did. I found people in the community who believe this is true because they were there or heard about it. Sexual activity is done in secret, and there is often no physical proof of that. However, Melissa is a credible outcry witness to her molestation. Do some reading and catch up.
Finally, I called and asked to speak with Pastor Martin, Pastor Ryan, Apostolic Overseer Rond Domina, and Tony Reed. They did not answer.
Finally, I am not a journalist. I am a kitchen table hacker, and I have been doing this for 15 years. I was the one who broke the story on Robert Morris. I have had journalists at places like CBS and NBC call me an investigative journalist. However, I do something different. I express my opinion, which I base on facts that I’ve found. That allows me to say, “Shame on you,” and that is how I end this comment.
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dee,
Ah, but Anonymous “BE-LEEEEEVES!” and that trumps all.
Just like the leader and followers of that post-Apocalyptic cannibal cult in Lucifer’s Hammer (1977 asteroid/comet-impact disaster novel by Niven & Pournelle).
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I am tired of hearing the excuse that little girls seduce grown men. I wonder if that’s what they would say if their 12 year old daughter or granddaughter was in the same situation. It is adults responsibility to protect children and especially as Christian’s to raise them up and guide them and lead them not take advantage of them. And it’s especially their job as Pastors who say they do life together but they actually just care about themselves and the limelight. That sickens me
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But (like Eagle) you’re functioning as an investigative journalist, uncovering and exposing the Deep Dark Secrets of those Too Important to Be Suspected.