“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.
Today, I spoke with a person whose story I will tell soon. She made a valid point. What happens if nothing happens when a victim or concerned church member comes forward to tell their story? Today happens, when church members decide to do what I did 15 years ago.
On July 19, 2024, I wrote An SBC and 9 Marks Church, Edgefield Nashville, Appeared to Allow a Violent, Convicted Pedophile, Michael Brake, Considerable Freedom in the Church for Years. Could There Be Other Victims? So, what did the church think about the violent pedophile?
“His life is a trophy of God’s grace, the kind of miracle that we always long to see.”
Dee was not impressed with their declaration of a miracle since, as I outlined in that post, most pedophiles have a disorder that tends to stick around for a lifetime, and many sex offenders reoffend. Here is a link at the National Institutes of Health: Paraphilia by Kristy A. Fisher and Raman Marwaha that explains this.
It appears that those with paraphilias are likely to reoffend.
Despite the psychological and pharmacological interventions designed to manage paraphilias and paraphilic disorders; an ultimate treatment or change has yet to be established. Existing interventions merely allow for increased voluntary control through self-management skills over sexual arousal and reduction in sexual drive, with the best-yielded prognosis only from those individuals who are actually motivated to change.[2] Those who do participate in either therapy alone or, ideally, the combined management of psychological and medicinal intervention show improvement with a marked reduction in the intensity and frequency of deviant sexual arousal and resultant behaviors.[18] However, the literature suggests that most sexual offenders are likely to re-offend.[2]
As one would surmise, the NIH is a more reliable resource than some 9Marxian declaration of a “miracle.” The obviously uninformed elders, keeping the abuser’s history on the down low, appeared to let this violent offender have a bit too much access to the church without informing the members. Pay attention to the last line.
- Another SBC church mishandles a sex abuse situation. When will the SBC wake up to the serious problem of sex abuse in the church?
- It is my opinion that the church seemed more concerned about keeping the violent sex offender in church than protecting the children. I believe that the emphasis on church membership, a 9Marks distinctive, falls apart when it comes to pedophiles.
- The church leadership should be ashamed that the Smiths easily found out the extent of Michael Brake’s violent abuse background. Their excuses are silly. I believe they didn’t care enough about the safety of the children in their church. Instead, they appeared to focus on the protection of Brake.
- The church should be more forthcoming in its adherence to typical 9Marks directives. They spend time having the congregation read their “church covenant” biweekly. It’s kind of like a Gregorian chant. It sounds nice, but what does it mean in practice? It is left intentionally vague so that leaders can assert control in many aspects of the members’ lives. Are the members aware of this?
Under US law, people have the right to withdraw from contracts, yet 9Marks refuses to let people go unless they join another church. They claim this is “caring” for the members. It is not. It is controlling the members. They did this to Todd Wilhem, who helps with this blog, and they do so to many others. In this church, they debated whether or not joining a Greek Orthodox Church by a former member was allowed. They finally consented after much deliberation. Many members may not understand this.- Most importantly, the leadership made decisions to keep Brake’s abuse history from the members. This is an example of authoritarianism run amuck. I would be surprised if the church members believe this is conducive to the safety of their families. I also think those who kept this secret from the membership should resign.
- I am left wondering if there are victims in this church. Pedophiles, even those who say they found Jesus, reoffend. I believe a third-party, independent investigation is called for in this situation. Often, children do not report their abuse, and Brake had access over a long period. The “Uncle Phil” stuff was downright dangerous, and apologies should be given for encouraging this behavior.
- If “Uncle Phil” goes to another church, I hope Edgefield reports his background.
- There is more to the story, and there may be a second post.
The rest of the story: Amy and Simon (their names now) appeared on the Bodies Behind the Bus podcast.
I highly recommend this podcast and all of the material at Sacred Wilderness. Here is a link to the team behind it.
Sacred Wilderness was founded by a team of individuals who recognized a deep need for healing among those who have experienced abuse within the Church. In 2021, we launched a podcast dedicated to giving survivors of church abuse a vehicle to share their stories.With each story entrusted to us, we have become increasingly committed in belief of urgency for moral reckoning within the American Church. As we highlight prevalent issues such as abuse, misogyny, racism, and greed within our churches, we know and advocate that transparency is crucial for healing.Through advocacy, storytelling, education, and promoting the inherent dignity of all individuals, our team passionately urges those who identify with Jesus to embody His teachings in their actions.
Then, Simon started a Substack account known as Cheap Grace. (I love anyone who riffs off Bonheoffer!)
Here is a link to Cheap Grace.
From the About page;
Our former church hid a sex offender from the congregation. When eventually they disclosed him, they did so by eulogizing him in vaulted terms.
We then discovered they’d failed to follow their own policy, neglecting to uncover his full criminal history, including multiple rapes of children – not just one as they claimed.
We found a history of entirely inappropriate contact with children in the church, but the elders didn’t care: they did nothing and refused to start a third party investigation.
Why a Substack?
The first step for us was fully exhausting all options to allow the church every opportunity to do the correct thing internally.But when the church remained open to the possibility of believing the deceitful offender, over a deputy sheriff who provided two sworn witnesses, we could bear it no longer.
Now, we see this pattern plays out over and over throughout the SBC church and beyond. These elders must be publicly rebuked for their own good, and so others might be afraid should they go down the same road of protecting offenders and institutions over victims and the vulnerable.
Let’s make our churches safer by talking about this issue and not tolerating weak and foolish leadership.
Take a look at these excellent articles. Simon sounds a lot like TWW!
- 9 Marks of Unwise Elders in this Church’s Sex Offender Policy
Edgefield Church, Nashville, released a dangerous policy. It remained unchanged 5 months later and still is, to our knowledge. - “His life is a trophy of God’s grace, the kind of miracle that we always long to see.”
How a disclosure about a sex offender centered the offender, sidelined victims, and groomed the congregation. - “Why are you attacking God’s church?”
Why as Christians we should always seek to serve the truth - 9 Marks of Unwise Elders in this Church’s Sex Offender Policy
Edgefield Church, Nashville, released a dangerous policy. It remained unchanged 5 months later and still is, to our knowledge
Final thoughts
I am so grateful that this is one more advocate out there. I am saddened that they had to experience 9Marx in all of its glorified nonsense. Shock happens when a church acts in such a manner. The people who asked the questions became more reviled than the violent sexual offender who is now a “trophy of God’s grace.” Those 9Marks people sure know how to dress up their codswallop.
However, shock and pain can lead to something new. Been there, done that. Simon is a thoughtful writer; he and Amy are good speakers. Chalk up another one for the good guys. I bet 9Marks has already blocked them on Twitter… just like Jesus would do.
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From the main article up-top:
“Those 9Marks people sure know how to dress up their codswallop.”
Wait till’ the poo-poo really hits the fan with a high profile court case, and huge pay-out.
Let’s see well they dress up their $hit then.
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Muff Potter,
Can you imagine how the court would take that the pedophilie is a “trophy of God’s grace?”
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I smell ego-boo for the Mighty ManaGAWD who orchestrated the miracle(TM).
“SEE HOW GODLY
I AMWE ARE?”P.S. “Uncle Phil”?
Anyone remember “Uncle Raggy”?
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“Pedophiles, even those who say they found Jesus, reoffend.”
Court records are replete with accounts of ex-convicts who “got Jesus” in prison and, when set free on good behavior, committed additional crimes.
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It appears that things are a little edgy at Edgefield.
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If his life really is a trophy of God’s grace as they so claim, then why not tell his story in full? Why do they have to hide it, and then when they do tell it, only tell part of it? Why should they edit “God’s story?” (Because they also edit the Bible. “Look at this verse but not a that verse.”) So glad they are so many people standing up for what is right no matter what their so-called leaders say. I will have to check out that podcast.
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One question: are the pastors and elders who support these “reformed criminals” willing to find a reformed embezzler and trust them with the funds for their paychecks for the coming year, and allow them to manage their retirement and insurance and tax funds?
If not, why are they so trusting of sexual offenders?
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They think they’re immune, and that what happened to those awful Catholics in Boston, won’t happen to them.
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The New Calvinists are all about grace-this and grace-that, but know very little about Grace.
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Muff Potter,
Exactly – I think, specifically, what “ministries” like 9Marks do is equip their churches with a sense that they are the “chosen few” who just know better than everyone else. Add to that, an elder with a brother who’s a sex offender, and you have a recipe for chaos.
On the first Wartburg Watch article on Edgefield, someone quoted a CS Lewis to students where he said, “the heads bent together, the fog of tobacco smoke, and the delicious knowledge that we — we four or five all huddled beside this stove — are the people who know”
I think that’s what festers. The idea that they are somehow better and wiser than everyone else. Yet the irony is in the contrast that their foolishness has been repeated ad nauseum in the church for decades, in the evangelical church just as in the catholic church.
Thank you, Dee, for shining light on Edgefield here at the Wartburg Watch. We can never have enough advocates! I really appreciate everyone who has subscribed to the Cheap Grace substack. Lots of posts not just about Edgefield but about the wider church and this issue that I’ll continue to post there.
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Max,
could not agree more, Max! add that to the list of those who supposedly “got Jesus” and served in noteworthy capacities in the church for decades yet have committed heinous acts, and the danger of minimizing/defending/affirming an individual with a known and serious, often intractable illness is more concerning. as someone who has treated psychiatric illness for several decades i can affirm that, as usual, Dee is spot on. God is gracious and good–He does miracles, He heals, He forgives….but we are not God and should treat these issues and these individuals carefully.
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What if he abused the LEADERSHIPS children? Is that what it would take to act???
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Muff Potter,
After reading post, I was going to comment on “ They sure know now to dress up codswallop”…. and Muff beat me…. I guess we are becoming quite similar
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I do not defend 9Marks ever, but I don’t see how they would be held legally responsible.
They are a voluntary association of churches and individuals. They don’t operate any churches directly, so if (when) a pedo runs loose in one of their churches, they can say “the church runs its own operations; we aren’t responsible”.
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“WE THANK THEE, LOOOOOOOOOORD, THAT WE ARE NOTHING LIKE THOSE FILTHY ROMISH PAPIST PRIESTS OVER THERE…”
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Just like Calvary Chapel.
JUST LIKE CALVARY CHAPEL.
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God’s Speshul Anointed Pets.
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That’s how the Southern Baptist Convention has avoided any sort of responsibility for child sexual abuse in its associated churches, while at the same time drop-kicking any church that has a woman pastor. I am of the opinion that eventually someone is going to pierce the SBC’s corporate veil and it will be ugly. 9 Marx is operating under the same assumption.
I would note that 9 Marx and its churches are *morally* responsible for encouraging and promoting allegedly “reformed” pedophiles in their midst. It astonishes me that calling a woman pastor (also forbidden by 9 Marx) is a terrible, horrible sin requiring churches to be expelled, but it’s quite OK and righteous to have a convicted pedophile moving around unsupervised in their churches.
If you’re in a 9 Marx church and you care about children, GET OUT. Your church is going to protect pedophiles if they manage to tickle the ears of the elders with their salvation story. And as we know, pedophiles are *good* at what they do. Protect your families, GET OUT. Don’t put up with this nonsense, there are better places to take your family where your children are not sacrificed on the altar of “oh he’s repented!”
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I did some noodling around and it is unclear whether Tennessee law actually allows convicted and registered sex offenders to attend church. That said, I did learn Tennessee has a new law as of July 1 where:
https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/tn-laws-aimed-at-protecting-children-go-into-effect-july-1/
Of course, it has to be *knowingly*, but parents/guardians should be on notice that putting your kid in a nursery or Sunday school or church’s small group babysitting arrangement with a known and registered sex offender can get you a misdemeanor charge. You know it happens. Now don’t do it and protect the children!
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Yeah, SBC national leaders stress church autonomy to dodge the bullet on such matters but overrule autonomy to boot a woman out of the pulpit. I guess a woman preacher is more of an abomination to them than a sex-offending pastor.
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Max,
In practice, that is exactly what the SBC is saying… Women pastors are more “evil” than a pedo preacher…
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linda,
Great comment linda.
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It boggles me too.
It’s enough to make Saint Christopher cuss.
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The same definiton of Autonomy as Calvary Chapel:
Totally autonomous independent “Fellowships” when that is to their advantage, a single steamroller marching in lockstep when that is to their advantage.
Disperse for Defense, Concentrate for Attack.
The first is Unnatural and Uppity.
The second is “ATTABOY! HE SCOOOOOORED! HEH-HUH! HEH-HUH! HEH_HUH!” combined with “ONE OF US! ONE OF US! GOOBLE! GOBBLE! ONE OF US!”
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linda,
🙂
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All of us saints only cuss what needs to be cussed!
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Followers of Jesus Christ can defend their faith by promoting the Big Tent of God accepts all in any condition including the proclivity to violate children and women at will cuz we just can’t help ourselves and God’s grace is good for every type of continuous evil behavior without end.
Or, like the Church Fathers such as Justin Martyr, Jesus followers can defend our faith as a community that lives up to higher moral standards than society at large as we are called by our Lord Jesus to do. And Jesus accepts all who actually LIVE the straight and narrow path of love that is neither gunning for power, nor vice, nor self-indulgent greed.
I’ll take the second path, in defense of faith in Jesus, grateful to God for the opportunity.
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We’ve become so open-minded in some corners of the church that our spiritual brains have fallen out. Being covered by “grace” doesn’t excuse stupidity.
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Bingo!
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linda,
Mic drop.
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JJallday,
Truth rationing = dill tithing. Stealing the bread of life from the lips of children.
The real glory of God is talking the walk of what happened when we exchanged the gifts as equals (God’s real economy: Prov 21: 10-31 and the feedings of the thousands).
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Furtick Mansions and private jets are expensive.
Must keep up with the Copelands, you know.