The most important thing

"Dad molested me when I was a kid."

Those are hard words for anyone to say, hard words for anyone to hear.

When preacher Jimmy Hinton heard those words, they punched him in the gut.

Because the person who said those words, Alex Howlett, was Jimmy Hinton's sister.

So when Alex said, "Dad molested me," she was saying that it was their father, Church of Christ pastor John Hinton, who'd preached for the Somerset Church of Christ in Pennsylvania for 27 years, who'd done it.

Jimmy Hinton did two things.

First, he told Alex, "I believe you."

Second, he reported his father to the police. 

That report prompted an investigation which resulted in John Hinton pleading guilty to the sexual assault of four girls, ages four to seven.  John Hinton is now in the Rockville State Prison, serving a 30- to 60-year sentence. 

Contrast this with an incident in the Uniontown Church of Christ in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

When a judge sentenced volunteer youth minister Clyde Brothers on charges of "corruption of minors and indecent exposure", part of his ruling was to order Brothers not to attend the church "until and unless there is a signed waiver of this provision . . .by the governing authority of the said Church."

Soon after, the elders met to consider granting that waiver and to allow Brothers to continue worshiping with the congregation.

A mother of one of the victims told the Christian Chronicle, "It's almost like Clyde is more important than the victims are."

(The judge's decision was reversed on appeal due to the fact that the statutes of limitations had run out.)

Les Ferguson, pastor for the Lake Harbor Church of Christ in Mississippi, is tragically familiar with the subject of sexual abuse.  A member of his former congregation, the Orange Grove Church of Christ in Gulfport, Mississippi, offered to babysit Les' son Cole once a week.  Cole was severely disabled, and Les' wife Karen badly needed the break.  

The member used that time to rape Cole, and he threatened Cole with death if he told.  

Cole eventually did tell, and Les and Karen reported the predator to the police.  The man was arrested, released on bail, and while out on bail, he murdered Karen and Cole before committing suicide.

And just last week, a Church of Christ minister in the Sarasota, Florida area -- a registered sex offender -- was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.

I've deliberately picked stories from Churches of Christ because they are my "tribe" of believers.  The news media, over the last several years, has covered the abuse of children by Catholic priests, and more recently, they've covered widespread sexual abuse in Southern Baptist convention churches and in other evangelical churches.  But this is not a problem that exists only in "denominational churches".  Churches of Christ deal with it, also.  We are no different. 

I grow weary of the continual reports of sexual abuse among people who claim to be Christians.  Jimmy Hinton grew up admiring his preacher father, and it was because of him that Jimmy, himself, entered the ministry.  Christians tend to be trusting of other people who claim to be Christians.  We love a good repentance story and we love a good story of forgiveness.  God does forgive.  People do repent and change and stay changed. 

On the other hand, sexual abuse is a crime that stays with the victim for life.  I don't think we appreciate just how shattering the crime of sexual abuse is.  Too many of us treat it as a "sin" and tell the victim, "the Bible says you must forgive," and demand immediate forgiveness.  I don't hear the same emphasis on telling the offender "you must repent and prove your repentance by your deeds".

Jimmy Hinton still preaches.  He also is an advocate for victims of sexual assault and consults with church leaders on the topic of abuse. 

Alex Howlett no longer goes to church.  She said in an interview, "I don't like the idea of God as a fatherly thing.  If that's who He is He wasn't there for me.  If my dad was supposed to be someone who was spreading His word -- that's not the case at all."

None of the victims from the Uniontown Church of Christ remain in church.  One victim is in jail, and two of them have committed suicide.

Les Ferguson has remarried, and he preaches, but he is still without his first wife and his son.

(Snark alert here.)

But go ahead, let's keep arguing about instrumental music, and whether or not women can preach, and whether or not we can have kitchens in a church building, and whether or not it's a sin to turn in your contribution to the church early because you're going to be out of town on Sunday.

Because we all know that we are saved by the five-step plan of salvation in order to perform the five acts of worship -- preaching/teaching, singing, prayer, taking up of a collection, and taking the Lord's Supper -- on Sunday, and only on Sunday.

After all, that's the most important thing.

Isn't it?

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

No, I don't trust them . . .

I no longer trust male leaders in either the evangelical church or conservative politics.  If they don't abuse people, they support those who do.

When I put that statement out on Facebook a while back, I was told that I was "painting with a broad brush".  But it's very hard not to paint with a broad brush when you see the same story over and over and over, with variations on the same theme of sexual sin. 

The Roy Moore story is self-explanatory, and I won't go any further into its sordid details. 

In the evangelical church, you have several prominent leaders who have fallen prey to sexual sin.  I refer you to this link from an excellent blog which covers issues of abuse in the church.

The latest in the bunch?  Andy Savage, a pastor in Memphis, Tennessee, whose sexual assault of a 17-year-old member of his youth group just went public. 

Bloggers Dee Parsons and Wanda (Deb) Martin published this story last week on their blog, The Wartburg Watch.  (Warning:  There is graphic, possible triggering content in this story and a graphic description of sexual activity in my paragraphs below.)

In the early spring of 1998, when Jules Woodson was 17, she was a member of the youth group at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church (now known as StoneBridge Church) in The Woodlands, Texas (a suburb of Houston).  Andy Savage was 23 and her youth minister.

One evening, he offered to drive her home from youth group.  But when he drove past the turnoff he was supposed to take to bring her home, she asked what he was doing and he said something like, "you'll see".

She thought he was taking her for ice cream.

Instead, he drove her to a deserted, heavily wooded area, unzipped his pants, pulled out his penis, and told her to perform oral sex on him.  She was scared and embarrassed, but she did as she was told.  He then asked her to unbutton her shirt.  She did.  He touched her breasts both over and under her bra.

And then he jumped out of the truck, raced over to her side, and started saying, "What I have done?  I'm so sorry.  Jules, you can't tell anyone.  You have to take this to the grave with you."

He took her home after that.

She ended up telling her senior pastor, Larry Cotton. 

The first question he asked was, "So you're telling me you participated?"

Her heart sank to the floor, and she felt a wave of shame and guilt.

Except for confiding in members of her female discipleship group, she told no one until recently, when a friend asked her what had happened back then. 

Andy Savage is now a pastor at Highpoint Church Memphis.  This past Sunday, he publicly admitted to a "sexual incident" that happened 20 years ago. 

The result?

His congregation gave him a standing ovation.

Andy Savage committed a crime.  Because the statute of limitations has run out, he will never be held legally accountable for what he did to Jules Woodson.  This was not a "sexual incident" where both parties were willing participants.  This was a crime, sexual assault, that was committed against a teenage girl.  This was not a "mistake" or just simply a "sin" that deserved a standing ovation for Savages' "repentance".  This was a crime.

For anyone who asks, why didn't she report it?  She did.  She told her senior pastor. 

Why didn't she go to the police?  Well, in many churches, people are encouraged--read "told"--to handle such problems in-house and NOT go to the police.  In fact, several years ago, when a Church of Christ minister and his wife discovered that their son had been raped by a church member, they did go to the police--and some members of their congregation wanted to know why they couldn't "work it out" with a fellow brother in Christ.  (That "fellow brother in Christ" ended up murdering the minister's wife and child.)

Since this story broke, reaction has been swift.  Bethany House Publishers canceled a book that Savage wrote on marriage.  KLOVE, the Christian broadcasting group, dropped him from a cruise he was scheduled to participate in.  And the national news has picked up Jules Woodson's story. 

If this were just an isolated incident of one minister, I wouldn't be so angry.  But this story comes in the midst of #metoo allegations from Hollywood and from politics.  It also comes after reading "same song, second, third, fourth, etc." verse from so many who are considered leaders in evangelical culture. 

So, to those who say that I paint with a broad brush, I'll just give you the same answer I gave at the beginning of this article:

No, I don't trust them.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.