We withheld judgment, but he was a lot more straight with his words than what we got from the elders. He raised some good questions, some of which we hadn't considered. Still, I would have preferred things be presented more directly.It has a feeling of sowing doubts with the hope of provider answers to pry people away. I'm sensitive to that.
This statement sent off a lot of alarm bells:
Even if you knew all the truth and all the facts and saw all the emails, there is nothing you could do about it. You can probably not affect change. Two elders tried and where are they now?
Later I understood he wasn't referring to just the emails specific to this event. He had an archive of his history as an elder, and a fair amount of communication to back up a number of his claims as to how the elder board functions. Including what really happened to the first elder. It would be a month before I saw those, though.
Scott also names names, and gives a timeline of events. Right or wrong, this is how the elders should have addressed it. That they didn't was a big red flag. I couldn't help wonder if this was them hiding, while Scott, the apparent defector, wasn't.
Even so much detail was still left out, I found. Horrifically, Tom Leake would take portions of this email and reference them, attempting to counter each, choosing the unfortunate risk of placing obfuscatory language next to straightforward language. The armchair tactician in me understood this to be a dumb move, no matter who was in the right, because it would normally make Scott look more right.
And this side of the story explains Scott's absence, rather than cowardice it was known that he would be out of town until Wednesday. So Tuesday night is then a choice of the elders? The questions are legitimate, why not pick up a phone? These are things normal people do. Unless you're trying to railroad someone out... we keep coming back to that possibility.
And of course, I'm now fairly certain that's what they tried, and they got caught doing it.
Good
Morning Dear Friends,
I have been praying and
thinking about what to say to you all. My heart is broken over the events of
this week but none of this has happened in a vacuum. This is really the
culmination of much turmoil and confusion dating back well over 2 years but
which was significantly accelerated in the last 2-3 weeks.
And, if you attended the
church-wide meeting on Tuesday evening, you may not have heard completely
accurate information so I feel I owe you some truth. Before I clarify some specific
issues that I think were misrepresented Tuesday, I would ask you to simply
ponder the following questions.
Questions
you might want to ponder:
Do you find it odd that Rod
would go to a different place of worship with his family when there is not a
paid ministry position, or even an elder position or even any type of
leadership position?
Do you find it odd that he would uproot his
family from the church that his daughters have grown up in and take them to a
different church when there is likelihood that they might soon turn around and
go to yet another church if he gets hired for a paid position?
Do you find it odd that he left
very suddenly?
Do you find it odd that 2
elders left within days of each other?
If you do find all of this odd,
then don't you have to ask yourself if the reasoning given behind his leaving
is really plausible? That is Rod’s story and not mine to tell. I am just asking
if you find these things odd.
Did you know that HBC has had a
total of 7 elders in 20 years? To date, 3 resigned very suddenly, 1 “retired”
(you will have to ask him why), and 1 is brand new. Do you think that says
anything about HBC leadership or how the
elder board functions? (Some of you may have been at HBC when Charlie Jolly
stepped down as elder.)
Even if you knew all the truth
and all the facts and saw all the emails, there is nothing you could do about
it. You can probably not affect change. Two elders tried and where are they
now?
Some
specific answers to your questions:
Did
I inform the other elders of my decision to step down before informing the
Delta community and the HBC members?
Yes, absolutely and I have the
emails to prove that. I cannot know if every elder saw my email to them before
my other emails went out but the timeline is as I stated. And, I knew that as
soon as I stepped down my HopeBook access would be suspended and my gmail
account would be gone so I did send out the additional 2 emails right on the
heels of informing the elders. As predicted, they were both gone, I was
essentially erased, before noon on Monday.
Is
there a connection between my leaving and Rod’s leaving?
Yes, absolutely. Not for the
exact same reasons but based on how Rod was treated over the past 2-3 weeks and
how I was dealt with on Sunday evening and into Monday by Pastor Leake, after
accusations were made against me by some fellow Delta members, I could see what
I thought was the handwriting on the wall.
Did
2 people from Delta ask to speak to me on Sunday and I refused? Did I refuse to
meet with the elders?
No, absolutely not. Elias came
to me right after church and demanded 15 minutes of my time immediately. Teresa
and I were leaving on a trip right after church so I asked Elias if I could
text him when we arrived at our destination (5 hours away in Bradford, PA) and
set up a time to talk by phone. He agreed, I texted him, but before we could
speak on the phone (he had already told me that he wanted to talk about what
happened in community), I received an email from PL demanding that I attend a
meeting on Tuesday to discuss “The discussion that Scott started in
community”. It was clear that misinformation was already being spread
about me, about what happened in community etc., presumably by Elias and maybe Roger,
although Roger never talked to me, only Elias.
I immediately sent a long, detailed
email to the elders about the facts of how the discussion started in community
(from a question Suzanne Young raised about the future of the communities that
she had heard from PL when, unbeknownst to me, he had visited the Beaudoin
flock). Some of you may not have even heard that question as it was noisy in
the sanctuary and soft-spoken Suzanne was sitting near the very front of the
room, well in front of most of you I think.
I wanted to clarify all that
happened and exactly what was said. I told the elders that we were out of town
through Wednesday and would be unable to meet. I did not “refuse to meet” as has been stated. If you were in
community last Sunday, you know how things progressed from there. One
interesting thing to me is that Roger and Elias both arrived after community
started and could have had no actual idea of how the discussion started. You
probably do recall how Elias aggressively responded to a statement that Ann
made during the discussion. Roger also responded in a more congenial way to
clarify what he saw as the different gifting of the different elders.
My email to the elders with all
the facts and details had no impact and I was told I needed to get to a meeting
where PL was going to present 3 witnesses against me. To me it looked like step
2 of Matthew 18 (PL disagrees with this, says it was a 1 Timothy 5 situation).
Either way, I expressed my feeling of offense and being disrespected as a
fellow elder and asked the question; “Why could you have not picked up the phone
and called me and asked Scott, what in the world went on in your community
today?” before firing off such an email. I felt totally attacked, and disrespected,
and I had had all I could take. I was not going to end up like Rod and after
prayer and discussion with Teresa, decided to submit my resignation. You also
have to know that I did not make this decision without counsel from at least 4
other men. I have many emails establishing a very clear timeline and the full truth
to support everything I am saying to you.
Will
the elder board (or PL) require that if another pastor is hired at HBC, that
that man be a “master’s seminary grad”?
The simplest way to get a true
answer to that question would be to say to the elders; “Please share the job
description with the congregation”.
I know there may be more
questions in your mind about all of this and there is so much more that could
be said. I am heartbroken, deeply grieved, and sorry for how all of this played
out. In my view this has been a long-time coming and the events of the last 3
or so weeks brought things to a head more quickly than anticipated.
I ask for your prayers for me
and my family as we will be praying for you. God knows the future, I don’t.
What I do know is that Teresa and I desire to stay involved in your lives, with
you in ours, and that will not change.
Love and abundant blessings,
Scott
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