On August 19, 2021 John Griffin, in a plea deal, plead guilty to 20 of the 43 felony counts he was charged with. Griffin was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Griffin, 73, was an elder who ministered to senior adults at Riverbend Community Church, in Ormond Beach Florida. The church is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention and also listed as a 9Marks church on their website.
Griffin was arrested on January 6 after police found more than 200 sexually explicit photos in his home and charged him with 30 felony counts of possessing child pornography. Later, authorities charged Griffin with an additional 13 felony counts when they found Griffin had sent files to other pedophiles.
I have previously written two articles on John Griffin. The first, titled “2 Southern Baptist Leaders Arrested Within 3 Weeks of Each Other For Child Pornography, Social Media to Blame” can be found here.
The second, titled “Update on Florida SBC Pastor and SBC Elder Arrested For Child Porn: A Reminder for the SBC Annual Meeting” can be found here.
I have included three cuts from senior pastor Scott Menez’s address informing the members of the Riverbend Community Church of the arrest of John Griffin.
Note in this first one how Menez immediately attempts damage control. He stresses three times that Griffin is a “non-vocational elder,” not a paid, staff elder. Would someone please do me a favor and refer me to the duties of a “non-vocational elder” as described in the Scriptures?
Menez then trotted out Proverbs 18:17 – you know the verse – I think it goes something like “things look bad for our non-vocational elder, John. Law enforcement have arrested him and charged him with 30 felony counts of child abuse, but wait until we get to examine him – things will look much better.”
And last, but not least – remember social media is baaaad.
This second clip can be summed up as, “don’t gossip – withhold judgment until we know the truth – don’t gossip – we don’t know the truth, but we have removed John from his non-vocational elder job anyway, therefore, don’t gossip.
This last clip vocational elder Menez reminds his giving units that his job is to “protect our church.”
I’m uncertain what he means by this. The pedophile is in jail, so the children are safe from Griffin, but perhaps Menez means he will protect the church from other non-vocational elders, or others who may be pedophiles. Or, maybe he means he will do all he can to protect the revenue stream for his tax exempt 501(c)3 business, thus keeping him and the other vocational elders gainfully employed.
As you can see below, Riverbend Community Church links to all the right neo-cal groups.
So, only 20 out 43 counts. Sounds like more than half innocent.
May I ask ….why has no one spoken to John? The video said that even his wife has not spoken to him.
Red flag, red flag, red flag!!!
Watchman on the Wall: May I ask ….why has no one spoken to John?
This video was from the day Griffin was arrested.
I believe this is common in plea bargains. The State achieved their goal – they effectively put Griffin away for life.
“Riverbend Community Church links to all the right neo-cal groups …”
Whew! That list is about as hardcore Calvinista as you can get!
“… Menez immediately attempts damage control. He stresses three times that Griffin is a “non-vocational elder,” not a paid, staff elder …”
As Senior Pastor, Menez must take responsibility for all elders whether they are paid or unpaid, vocational or non-vocational. Most NeoCal pastors handpick their elder team, so they can control them. It would be interesting to know how Griffin ended up in that position.
“And last, but not least – remember social media is baaaad … don’t gossip …”
The pastor is obviously trying to squelch the flow of communication about this bad situation for the church. I wouldn’t call this “gossip”, but place it in the “inform and warn” category.
His effort reminds me of Robert Morris’ chastisement of his congregation about reading Christian watchblogs:
“I have to say this, um, I’m really concerned about how much time people spend on the Internet. I’m extremely concerned about it. Extremely concerned about it; here’s one thing, just even the blogs that mention Christian leaders, and I’m one of ‘em. Praise the Lord, I’ve made the Satan, Satan’s hit list now you know, but here’s what blows me away. You wouldn’t listen to gossip, but you’ll read it.”
Satan’s hit list?!! Oh brother!! It appears that certain ministers and ministries are increasingly concerned that social media has become a conduit of information for shedding light on the darkness in their midst. Responsible social media sources, such as TWW, are providing a service to the Body of Christ in this regard. Praise God for the red flags they raise for all to see. Keep “gossiping” folks!
The Riverbend “Resource” page is fascinating to me. It’s a snapshot of a theological and intellectual bubble that defines this certain subset of churches. I don’t even know what you’d call the subset: NeoCalvinist? Middle-Aged, Restless, and Reformed? Reformed Baptist? The resources listed share many similarities to the church I left at the beginning of this year: 9Marks, TGC, Piper, MacArthur, etc…
Someone could write an article titled, “9 Marks of a 9Marks Church”. What are the marks? Patriarchy, authoritarianism, “biblical” counseling, determinism, etc…. It’s like these churches all sprang out of the same half-dozen minds: Dever, MacArthur, Piper, Keller, Carson, and Mahaney (for the music!). Add Grudem for staunch Biblicism and patriarchy.
I know that nothing springs up out of a vacuum; we all have our influences. I don’t even think the influence of the above men is totally bad. I think the harm may come in the rigid boundaries: these churches simply don’t read anyone that doesn’t have at least a couple articles on TGC. It’s a largely unexamined theological and intellectual bubble. That’s a mark of “authoritarian control” outlined in Steven Hassan’s BITE model.
As in “There is no ‘Christ’, There Is Only CALVIN”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg7MAacSPNM
Who was it – Bob Larson? – who bragged that Satan was PERSONALLY attacking him, how he was so Godly and Anointed he merited Satan’s PERSONAL attention?
Like the Witchcraft accusers who claimed Satan (and his Witches) had nothing better to do than to PERSONALLY make their cow sick. Somehow I think an ex-archangel who was the pattern for Dark Lord Sauron and Dark Power Morgoth would have bigger fish to fry.
P.S. Many years ago, a local character told me about a 1920s Russian satirical novel called “The Master and Margarita”. As he described it (and he was known as an unreliable narrator), the Devil comes down to Russia to corrupt it, but at the end goes back because “I don’t need to – You’re doing a good enough job of it by yourselves”.
Dangerous group think that is characteristic of personality cults. New Calvinism will go into the church history books as a cult which led millions astray in the 21st century.
Perhaps I’m wrong…invite your comment, but what choice does a calvinist church have? If these charges are true, they MUST concluCJ Mde that these things happened because God ORDAINED them to happen, He WANTED this evil to occur. Or, if they prefer, (and many calvinist churches take this option) they can conclude that the offender in question was NOT REALLY ever a Christian but only appeared so. The dissonance between the unquestionably evil acts that occur and the maintenance of their distorted, false theology leads them to make absolute jackazzes of themselves. They NEVER conclude that perhaps they need to rethink their theology. Not after Bob Glenn, CJ Mahaney, Josh Harris, Abraham Piper, Josh Duggar, and on and on and on….
Yes, that’s one reason why 90+% of Christendom worldwide have rejected the tenets of Calvinism for the last 500 years.
No they won’t rethink their shtick.
Their god is like a mean kid with an ant farm, a magnifying glass, and strong sunlight.
Kinda’ sorta’ like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuAzvb38PyI
Max,
Max,
Regardless of who the church “links” to, earthly “justice” has been executed at both the local church and legal levels.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
“IN’SHAL’LAH…”, just like the Taliban.
“Just like ‘No True Scotsman’, Except CHRISTIAN(TM)!”
The Party Can Do No Wrong, Comrades.
The Party’s Ideology Is Perfect In Every Way, Comrades.
They’re not the only Personality Cult among Christians.
Like when the continuing Politicization of Christians reached its logical end state five years ago.
Ah, yes.
The famous Twilight Zone episode that illustrates it Perfectly:
An Omnipotent God but not a Benevolent One.
Only Will and Infinite POWER.
There’s also the final scenes in Monty Python’s Eric the Viking, where Eric & Co make it to Valhalla and find the gods are all spoiled children with superpowers, always on the brink of temper tantrums of mass destruction. (Sounds more Hellenic than Horse, but hey it’s Monty Python…)
Just like last century’s Communist Party Ideologists!
(And the Communists at least had a philosophical basis in Marx’s economic analysis and historical theory. You want to see a real ad-hoc ideological cult making up its ideology as it went along, look at its rival Political Cult of the 20th, German Fascism.)
Paul K,
‘boundaries’ are often a place where trouble compounds and deepens; when ‘the dignity of the human person’ is replaced by ‘male idolatry’, a boundary is crossed and damaged beyond what might have served to protect the dignity of both males AND females. There is NOTHING dignified about an abusive pastor whose opinion of himself and his ‘vision’ override the royal law of Christ to help bear one another’s burdens. An abusive male spouse is NOT ‘manly’, no. Rather pathetic these bullies who must ‘put down’ some in order to appear ‘authoritative’. What happened to service to others as a leadership model????
I can think of several churches (various theological flavors) in my area where the primary “draw” is a cool charismatic preacher or a talented worship leader. Attendees get treated to feel-good sermonettes and show-biz performances, while Jesus gets lost in all the noise. The Great God Entertainment sits on the throne, where human personality supersedes the person of Christ.
Calvinism (just the soteriology – forget the covenant theology) is such a foundational belief for these churches that to abandon it would be unthinkable. It’s a deep, identity-forming ideology. Also, and here’s where I think the resistance to examination really lies, when a Calvinist looks around and sees how non-Calvinists are treated and talked about he knows that to change his mind about this second-rank doctrine will almost certainly mean the loss of his church and may result in the loss of friends. Who wants that? Better to stick with it or keep a low profile.
I grew up in the charismatic church but eventually became a 98% cessationist (in other words, I could be wrong). There are some churches I could NEVER be a part of because charismaticism is intrinsic and foundational to their identity. To think anything else is simply unheard of – you don’t want to be like those “dead” Christians.
It’s not just a Calvinist or Charismatic problem – go ahead and believe those things if you’d like. It’s a problem when these second-rank doctrines (and others like them) actually become first-rank and nobody realizes it’s happened.
There is a story about a guy who walked into a public outhouse and found a guy emptying the contents of his pockets into the pit. The first guy asked why he was doing that, and the second replied, “I accidentally dropped a quarter in there, and I am certainly not going down there for just a quarter!”
It seems like this is what nearly always happens with secondary issues. They always have a way of becoming primary issues.
“But next time we will get it right!”
The New Calvinists which invaded SBC declared soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) to be a secondary issue which should not separate Calvinists and non-Calvinists within the denomination. To traditional (non-Calvinist) Southern Baptists, God’s plan of salvation is a primary essential issue of belief and practice. For 150 years (before Mohler), they preached whosoever-will-may-come in their worldwide evangelism and mission endeavors … in contrast to reformed theology of a predestined elect.
Todd Wilhelm,
The offender is 73. The numbers he has violated, even via photos, is probably in the hundreds, or even more. Gross offender. “Leader” in churches. Clearly his hunting ground, where there is an acute level of trust and authority endowed to a leader.
LE and the DOJ intervened to end the horror.
Godly leadership:
“Leadership gains authority and respect when the voiceless poor [or voiceless vulnerable] are treated fairly.” Proverbs 29.14. Sounds like empathy as opposed to Piper, Wlson, et al.
This org and “leaders” in no way follow Jesus nor God’s Word, no matter how many affiliations they have.
And you’ve just listed authors for about half the books my husband had hanging around from his seminary days.
He has significantly whittled down his collection, now, after seeing (a) how these theologies have played out in real life in churches we’ve attended and (b) how these theologies have played out in the lives of the men who espouse them.
Unfortunately you are probably correct. I didn’t include in my article that while he was out on bond he violated the conditions of the bond and contacted a 15 year old girl.
“This Time We WILL Achieve True Communism!”
Actually, “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov is a really good book and well worth the read, even though the story of Jesus, as told by Voland (the Satan character) is obviously different from the gospels. Recommended reading about Stalin’s Russia. First read it in the 1970s, and re-read it a couple of years ago – still liked it.
Gus,
Forgot the Wikipedia link:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita
Some have the impression that pedophiles age out of their vice. Absolutely NOT true. Once a pervert, always a pervert, and even more deadly with the grandpa guise. This is researched and documented. Incarcerated senior pedophiles admit to violating thousands over a lifetime. Once old grandpa guy said he sat in a doctor’s waiting room, read stories to a little girl (there with her mom) and covertly stuck a hand down her pants. Evil.
When only prison halts the monster violating children, the monster belongs in prison. Not in church, his hunting ground.
Todd Wilhelm,
This is why, at least for me, I “waste” my time on TWW..
Not just about exposing child molesting perverts, but the “church” not dealing, publically, with ABUSE by its leaders… and subsequent cover-ups….the BIBLE sure did “air its dirty laundry”….
AND, the CHURCH needs to completely transparent about abuse within its ranks, and publically deal with it, if it it ever wants to credibility with a significant fraction of society…
But then, who am I, just some lowly pew peon in the eyes so so many “respected Christian leaders”
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Churches need a cold steely eyed look at social behavior from social behaviorists’ expert evidence, research, and views.
Churches are social orgs with full on social behavior at play.
1 Corinthians 5 addresses this, in cold stark steely eyed terms.
A book, a blog, voices, in 1 Corinthians 5 terms, is a gold mine waiting to happen. The need is desperate, real, and global.
What theologian has taken this seriously? They’re cowards. Just look at the church leadership cohort oozing with vices among them, and with never a touch to the annointed. The “decent ones” are complicit and don’t dare call out their colleagues.
The elephant in churches … criminal predators roam freely while leaders talk talk talk … about nothing. Until this is addressed, IMHO, the leadership is useless.
Proverbs 29.14 “Leadership gains authority and respect when the voiceless poor (vulnerable) are treated fairly.”
Some preached empathy as sin so do “Walk on by those plundered at the side of the road” … the exact opposite of Jesus’ teaching. The rest of the leadership not calling out this utter blasphemy boldly, loudly, are equally complicit. Cowards.
Prison is not too kind on child molestors … dodging other convicts for 20 years who view crimes against children to be sick and wrong should be a deterrent for pedophiles.
You and HUG were in top form yesterday! Next in the playlist after Omnipo-kid was one with William Shatner, which reminded me of the time Captain Kirk met up with the great god Apollo.
Sometimes I’d like to tell people that I don’t believe God is omnipotent, but it sounds heretical and they might start gathering green firewood: I do like to say sometimes “If God is a Calvinist, then…”
So how’s this: God COULD BE omnipotent— if He were a Calvinist, which He cannot be, because, as some Jew from Tarsus wrote, “He cannot deny himself.”
And someone during his tenure in “ministry” didn’t know about his problem?!!
The Magnificent Seven (or so they think).
Yes, I doubt that Elder John was ever interested in such things as theology … his interest in the church was as a hunting ground.
Or the Dirty Dozen?
Oh, there’s at least a Baker’s Dozen in the New Calvinist movement! The Fab Four (aka Al’s Little Play Group) sure made their mark on the new reformation (Mohler, Dever, Duncan, Mahaney). Whew, what a crew!!!
Todd Wilhelm documented in this post how the predator’s present church pastor danced around having a pervert in leadership in his church predator hunting ground, even after LE and the DOJ evidenced predation of children by “grandpa”.
Age 73 predator has at least 50 years of predation in church as his hunting ground with minors silenced and leaders BFFing the predator. Complicit. Church run like the mob. Vice activity protected by a wall of silence. Target: children, the innocence of children.
Perhaps “Done” is in truth Delivered. From violation, extortion, predation, and vice at the highest levels of the patriarchy.
Ava Aaronson,
I was molested age 16 by my sports coach who was in his mid 70s.
Estelle,
Thank you for sharing about this horrendous experience of being assaulted by an old predator who was to be trusted and who took advantage of a young girl who trusted, who was there to be coached not violated.
Like Weinstein, this mid-70s old man would probably say, “But I’m used to this,” after decades of violating hundreds of young women from a position of power in the community.
Clearly a monster not a grandpa, a devil not a coach, a pervert not a civic leader, operating in disguise, in the community. Evil.
Evidence that church leaders had zero discernment … a believer shouldn’t waste time hanging out with them. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. If church leaders can’t detect his work in their midst – to protect the Body of Christ – it’s time to find another church.
Estelle,
I am so sorry you went through that, and hope you have recovered… although recovery can be a lifelong process.
Estelle,
Estelle,
You are the reason TWW exists. You have a community here that you can trust.
… another church, pastor, sports program, coach, internship, job, boss, civic engagement, team, teacher …
When any leadership makes a social org friendly to wolves (sanctions their hunting ground) time to defund, run, and voice loudly, boldly exactly what is going on there.
We were enjoying a tour on the upper deck of a double decker city bus with our kids when I spotted an old gent stealthily reach for a back pocket of a rider. I yelled, “Stop the pickpocket!” He reeled back.
No polite society etiquette for monsters. SAVE THE DAY.
We were dining at a fancy little restaurant on Main Street when a man at another table suddenly, crazily bolted out the front door, grabbing his toddler who was about to step into the busy street. Interrupt, disrupt, and SAVE LIVES.
In the case of vice, SPEAK THE UNSPEAKABLE even about FAMOUS IMPORTANT PEOPLE. SAY IT.
If scared, contact Jeff Anderson Associates for legal advocacy. That man & associates will listen to anyone and they are not
afraid of anyone, even the Pope and the Vatican.
Unfortunately, it’s possible we all have.
Time to go forward and do better.
Each person violated knew.
Were they heard, by leadership? No, they were silenced. Thus, leadership authorized and cultivated their church as a pervert predator’s hunting ground.
Those violated know. Over decades, history, back in the day, and still going on. Thousands. Know. Silenced. Witnesses with evidence.
Women and children are to be seen (and violated) but never heard.
Vs.:
Church. Patriarchy. Theology. Theologians. And cowards. With their BFF predatory perverts. Every man (and the exceptional woman with a platform) who is not loudly, boldly, speaking out against, is complicit.
Max–re the sermonettes and the draw of the music performance, gotta ask, what part of the Ozarks are you in lol?
Too many church leaders silence the abused and protect the abuser. Such places are not sanctuaries in Christ; such leaders are not called by God to fulfill that sacred office. Payday someday for ministers and their minions who allow this to happen.
This is not just characteristic of the Ozarks … it’s nationwide, Linda! I was young and now am old … I’ve never seen the American “church” in such miserable condition. We need an outbreak of prayer, repentance and revival … but I don’t see much movement in that direction. It appears that God’s people prefer church as entertainment, aberrant theology, and swimming in shallow water.
“I do not consider myself to have ‘arrived’ spiritually, nor do I consider myself already perfect. But I keep going on, grasping ever more firmly that purpose for which Christ grasped me. I do not consider myself to have fully grasped it even now. But I do concentrate on this: I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal—my reward the honour of being called by God in Christ.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable! Curse what needs to be cursed! Wake the church up!!
Thank you, Max. Very boldly and clearly stated. Sometimes one wonders from where in the world God called you and other men like Todd Wilhelm. You clearly “get it” and courageously advocate. (Seems to be a remnant, unfortunately.)
I’m old enough to recall when Dear Abby told the downtrodden to seek out their pastor, priest, or rabbi. “Tell him. Get help.”
What a joke. There are many, most, if not ALL pastors, priests, rabbis, who have heard these true stories of predators in their faith community. The leaders buried the truth, over decades.
Even worse, a girlfriend went to her priest about her abusive husband and the priest hit on her for sex. Evil. Predator leader preying upon a vulnerable seeker. My girlfriend left the church, never went back. Hunting ground. Predator’s haven.
Out of darkness and into light … and I’ve never looked back! Constantly testing the spirits to see if they be from God.
Ever grateful, Max. For you, Todd, Dee, and all who boldly advocate for the downtrodden, as Jesus calls us.
Someday we will fellowship together face-to-face in the sweet-bye-&-bye. Looking forward.
See you here, there or in the air!
As it’s been for 2,000 years. I’m convinced that most who go to church are not ‘the’ Church … they just never seem to get it. The 80:20 rule applies well to most churches, I think.
Eenie meenie chili beanie, the spirits are about to speak, as Bullwinkle used to say…
That man in that space and time, fulfilled all the law and the prophets.
They speak often through aberrant theology, steering the hearer down a wrong road of false teaching in belief and practice. To detect the counterfeit, you need to have a good grasp of the genuine. The average American Christian does not pray and read Scripture as they ought … thus, easy targets for false teachers and authoritarian leaders. New Calvinism is but one example.
Menez, Menez, Tekel . . .
“Test” them. Do they speak more about Jesus or Calvin … Christ or Piper … the King of Kings or Pope Mohler … etc. Note: you can use this test on other flavors of religion than New Calvinism. The thing being who gets more air time in sermons: Jesus or religious icons? Is the Holy Spirit mentioned? Or just occasional reference to their version of “God”?
Max,
Would you mind telling me which Bible this quote is from? (From what I remember, you once commented on owning many different Bibles, and the one you quoted from I might want to add to my own (very much smaller) collection.)
Something that just crossed my mind….how many churches speak about (and / or focus on) both Jesus AND the Holy Spirit?
Good question. From my long tenure in the American church – most of it as a non-Calvinist Southern Baptist – I’ve seen the pulpit message drift in many denominations. I would say that in most churches now, the Holy Spirit is seldom mentioned … with the exception of pentecostal/charismatic groups which focus exclusively on the Holy Spirit. But even there, the message has been diluted down to a distant Trinity which doesn’t really interact with believers in the here and now as in former days.
The authority and influence of the living Jesus is waning in the American church. In many places, Christ has been reduced to nothing more than a beloved symbol of the church, with a powerless Holy Spirit relegated to the back pew, while both pulpit and pew talk about a distant God that they don’t really know. Since this has become business as usual in the 21st century church, most churchgoers don’t miss the presence of God … they just do their religious things and go home. This won’t change short of a widespread outbreak of humility, prayer, repentance, and seeking God … but I don’t see much movement in that direction. I’m concerned that my grandsons will face a Christless church where people reflect on the way it used to be without doing the things necessary to get God and His Son back in the house. In the meantime, I endeavor to equip my family with Truth as the organized church crumbles and to ‘be’ the Church to those around us.
J.B. Phillips New Testament
Thank you, Max. 🙂
Max,
Max,
Some of what you wrote is what had crossed my mind….and it’s almost like there are some people who (for some reason(s)) don’t want to acknowledge(?) / can’t acknowledge(?) / are in denial of(?) the existence Jesus Christ and / or the Holy Spirit.
Yet, without the Holy Spirit, Mary wouldn’t have become pregnant with Jesus. And without the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Saviour, we don’t receive the Holy Spirit. And it’s also important for people to understand that the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Saviour and the receiving of the Holy Spirit are not always overt / instantly overtly life-changing / loud / noisy / earth-shattering / “Praise the Lord” (no offence to anyone intended) / the result of altar calls/ etc. events.