Reblogged From: SGM Survivors

Why Sovereign Grace Ministries SGM (CJ Mahaney) Doesn’t Like Victims
By Kris, on September 2nd, 2011

Awhile back, some of us got to talking about what would possibly cause pastors in Sovereign Grace Ministries churches to have responded the way they did in situations like “Noel’s Story,” “Wallace’s Story,” and “Taylor’s Story.” While Dave Harvey would like to think of these situations as a few rare and isolated incidents, the fact that the pastoral responses to victims of child sex abuse were nearly identical would seem to indicate that there is something going on in these men’s belief system and training that has caused them to be more concerned about the rights and well-being of perpetrators rather than victims.

During that discussion, I posted a comment that contained a round-up of some thoughts and observations that I thought laid out a pretty good explanation for why SGM pastors would work so hard to minimize the victim’s response to abuse, keep the situation contained within the church (not involve law enforcement, and in some situations even seem to actively work against supporting the victim in the legal system), and as quickly as possible “restore” the perpetrator.

Here’s the comment. I apologize in advance for its length.

7. Also, SGM believes that another essential part of “biblical fellowship” is a person’s continued oversight from his pastor, who also bears the responsibility to continue to confront the person on his sin. SGMers are taught that pastors, by virtue of their higher calling and “gifting,” possess special abilities to perceive a person’s sins more accurately than the person himself. You can read a transcript of C.J. Mahaney’s Happiest Place On Earth sermon here. C.J. has traveled around the country, delivering that sermon to many SGM churches over the years. While (once again) Dave Harvey would now apparently like people to think that SGM does not teach that pastors have special authority over people, that is simply not true.

Reblogged From: SGM Survivors

Amended Lawsuit
By Kris, on January 14th, 2013

You can read the original lawsuit here.

For those of you who are new to the site and are interested in understanding some of the assumptions and the mindset that could cause leaders to behave in ways described in the lawsuit’s allegations, this post from 2011 does a good job of connecting the dots.

What follows are some of the portions that reflect the changes in Friday’s amended filing.

Upon information and belief, the pedophilia ring’s victims included children who subsequently went on to prey upon other young children.

Reblogged From: Spiritual Sounding Board
January 16th, 2013

CJ Mahaney Scheduled to Speak at TGC Amidst Sovereign Grace Lawsuit

I’m sorry, but I find this completely inappropriate. Here you have a family of churches across the nation coming to the grips of church leaders allegedly overlooking horrific abuse claims about abuses in their church. Now we read that the president of this group, CJ Mahaney, gets to go on with life as if there is no problem, and is speaking at the Gospel Coalition conference. This is such a slap in the face to victims. It tells them their problem is in their heads. I know what this is like. I know what it is like to have pastor after pastor not want to get their hands dirty in what they knew to be true. Finally, five months after winning our defamation lawsuit, we have a pastor who publicly acknowledged that my former pastor lost his minister’s license. Finally.

It’s time for the Gospel Coalition folks to step up to the plate and NOT allow CJ Mahaney to speak until this mess is cleaned up.

Reblogged From: The Gospel Coalition

TGC: Who We Are

We are a [Calvinism – Reformed] fellowship of evangelical churches deeply committed to renewing our faith in the gospel of Christ and to reforming our ministry practices to conform fully to the Scriptures. We have become deeply concerned about some movements within traditional evangelicalism that seem to be diminishing the church’s life and leading us away from our historic beliefs and practices. On the one hand, we are troubled by the idolatry of personal con- sumerism and the politicization of faith; on the other hand, we are distressed by the unchallenged acceptance of theological and moral relativism. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. We not only hear of these influences, we see their effects. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Reblogged From: Ephesians 5:11 blog

Brian Brodersen stating Veritas Seminary is independent of Calvary Chapel

YouTube Audio (18 second) of Brian Brodersen [falsely] stating Veritas Evangelical Seminary is independent of Calvary Chapel — Note: Veritas Seminary is on Calvary Chapel Bible College property in Murrieta CA, it uses the Calvary Chapel address and Brian Brodersen is the Director of the Corporation.

Also Note: Islamic Jihad hoaxer Ergun Caner is employed as a Professor at Veritas Seminary.