Glaring Inconsistencies

We would just like to take a few moments to draw your attention to some of the most obvious and concerning inconsistencies between what Grace Church has said and what they have done since the Morning Sun articles have been released. The first post they put on their website after the initial Morning Sun article, contained an email which BF had sent to the reporter after his interview but before the article had been published. In it he said,

“Though we do have clear evidence and documented testimony about what is going on, and why, and who is involved, we just don’t sense that now is the time to put this into what is already, for the most part, a very one-sided, public display. We simply don’t believe adding to a public discussion at this time is the way Jesus would have us proceed, and we are willing to suffer wrong perceptions for our lack of putting up a defense, if necessary.”

However, they most certainly DID add to the public discussion by sending that email which was directly quoted in the article along with another Grace Church member named BL who said, “It’s a gut punch. I’m very sorry that was their perceived experience with our congregation… we are perfectly aware we’re not perfect. We want reconciliation.”

They want to appear like they are taking the higher road, when in fact they’re not. You can detect this very clearly when BF says, “…we are willing to suffer wrong perceptions for our lack of putting up a defense, if necessary.”

The interview was on a Monday, BF’s email was sent Tuesday, the article was published Thursday, and this post was put up by the church on Friday. It seems as though they were only willing to suffer wrong perceptions for their “lack of putting up a defense” for less than a day.

It seems that they are trying to strategically control what their members make public, when they make it public, and how they make it public. While they may insist their people are free to say and do whatever they want, in reality most people know that BF would prefer to have them send all their information to him so he or other leaders can help them edit and present the information for maximum effect.

The second post BF authorized to be put on the Grace Church website was an apology which was described as “a response from Grace Church’s pastor, BF, to those interviewed by the Morning Sun.”

Once again BF chooses to send a personal apology letter in the most impersonal manner possible. Instead of writing them individually and giving that information to the reporter to pass along, he writes his apology to the group in a very public fashion after the church has already published its first response in an effort to publicly defend itself by providing “a more balanced narrative.”

Now let’s take a closer look at this apology to see what’s really going on here. First he lists the names of all four individuals, then his opening words are:

“I am sorry to each of you. Regretfully, I do not remember the specific situations you address (from the mid-2000’s) in the Morning Sun interview.”

Something’s not right here. If you didn’t catch it the first time, please take another look. What’s going on with those parenthesis? Does this apology also come with a narrator? Is he concerned that they may have forgotten when these things occurred?

Or perhaps he’s not talking to these four individuals at all. It would seem that the parenthesis are meant for everyone else who will read the apology in the public forum the church has said it would prefer not to engage in. This is really not an apology at all, it’s an attempt to influence public perception.

And why would they want to emphasize, right up front, that this apology is not for anything that has happened recently, but only for things that took place back in the mid-2000’s?

Perhaps it’s because they want everyone to think that these manipulative tactics are a thing of the past. But that is most certainly NOT the case, as these parenthesis and the dates on our Supporters Page make abundantly clear!

They are still using the same manipulative tactics without any true concern for how it affects the people they have harmed. It is so deeply ingrained into their personalities and their leadership culture that they can’t resist doing it even when the whole community is watching.

If these parenthesis are any indication, this apology was not written for SWE, RG, ZC, or CK at all. It was written for everyone but them, in order to make the church leaders appear one way on the outside when their true intentions are really very different.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:25-28)