The Facts on one "ring leader"

"Ringleader" is my own expression.

A harsh critic of the local churches who became a kind of focal point of Internet activity of like-minded critics needed to know the facts of one of that critic's chief allegations.

Steve Cox, Clem Rogers, and Bill Salassi wrote the following explanation on behalf of the church in Huston, target of the allegations.

The church in Houston has issued a statement to correct factual errors and misrepresentations that have recently arisen concerning an event that occurred there:

THE CHURCH IN HOUSTON

September 10, 2019

On behalf of the church in Houston, we are compelled to correct factual errors and misrepresentations in a recent public account that criticized the church’s handling of a complaint against a church member that was made about 15 years ago. We do not desire to embarrass the author of the erroneous account (Author); however, we do have to clear up the false accusations against Mr. Allen Bayes, which are also being used to implicate the eldership in the church and the local churches in the Lord’s recovery. The account alleges that Allen Bayes, an elder in the church, asked the Author to cover up a case of egregious sexual abuse. This is untrue as are many of the account’s details. Following are the facts we can attest to:

1.) A church member in his second or third year of college who had been meeting with the church for about a year came to two of the elders in the church, including Allen, to make a complaint against an older church member.
2.) The older member has been in the church now for over 45 years and has never been the subject of any other complaint before or since.
3.) When the younger member spoke to the elders in the church he did not seem at all distressed.
4.) The younger member alleged inappropriate physical contact, not by the older member, but by one of the older member’s secular colleagues who they encountered while travelling; when introduced to the younger member, this colleague adjusted the younger member’s shirt collar and rubbed his shoulder in a way that the younger member found offensive.
5.) The younger member also claimed that the older member later said something inappropriate to him of a sexual nature; however, the older member denied saying any such thing and there was no third party present to bear witness one way or the other.
6.) Although the younger member’s story was not consistent from one telling to the next, none of his accounts claimed that the older member touched him inappropriately, something the Author alleges.
7.) All of the elders considered the matter and, since there were no witnesses and no corroborating evidence, it was impossible to make a definitive finding concerning whether something inappropriate was said.
8.) The younger member was not a minor, so it was his decision whether to involve the police and whether to seek professional counseling.
9.) The elders asked the older member who, contrary to the recent public account, has never served in the church’s work with college students, young people, or children, not to be involved with those age groups or to attend any of their meetings; he has faithfully honored our request to this day.
10.) When the Author spoke with Allen Bayes about the alleged incident, the elders had already met with the younger member and, separately, with the older member and dealt with the situation based on the constraints described above.
11.) Allen’s advice to not talk about the matter to others was not to “cover up” an offense or to protect an alleged offender, but to protect the younger member from public embarrassment for the sake of his continuing on in the fellowship of the church and to avoid the spread of rumors favoring or accusing either member.
12.) The younger member recently expressed his gratitude for the way the elders handled the matter, saying they handled the matter really well and the whole situation was respectfully kept private.


Allen Bayes is a professional who runs a private school and mental health facility that employs mental health professionals. He is a widely-respected expert and resource in dealing with cases of abuse of minors. He is 100% committed to reporting incidents that involve minors to the appropriate authorities and has consistently done so when abuses of minors have come to light. The Author also claims that the local churches oppose psychological counseling yet, since she previously worked for Allen, she should be aware of his commitment to providing professional mental health services to clients when needed.

As Allen’s fellow elders in the church in Houston, we have on occasion availed ourselves of his expertise to help church members or their families arrange professional care.

To publicly name Allen Bayes based on a distortion of facts is a serious matter. Corrective action on the part of the author of this account would be appropriate.

On behalf of the church in Houston:

https://shepherdingwords.com/category/teaching-and-fellowship/

articles:

1.) Following the Vision or Following a Man

2.) Our Attitude Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help

3.) The Proper Way to Deal with Problems in the Church

4.) Concerning Hierarchy and Organization

5.) Spiritual Authority and Its Misuse

6.) A Specious Claim of Racism

7.) Some Questions and Answers Regarding Deputy Authority

8.) Concerning Having One Publication Work

9.) Concerning the Ministry’s Attitude Toward Sisters

10.) The Minister of the Age, Not Infallibility


Read more - SHEPHERDING WORDS
From the co-workers in the Lord’s recovery in North America

https://shepherdingwords.com/category/teaching-and-fellowship/

@sonship said
A harsh critic of the local churches who became a kind of focal point of Internet activity of like-minded critics needed to know the facts of one of that critic's chief allegations.

Steve Cox, Clem Rogers, and Bill Salassi wrote the following explanation on behalf of the church in Huston, target of the allegations.

@sonship said
"Ringleader" is my own expression.

A harsh critic of the local churches who became a kind of focal point of Internet activity of like-minded critics needed to know the facts of one of that critic's chief allegations.

Steve Cox, Clem Rogers, and Bill Salassi wrote the following explanation on behalf of the church in Huston, target of the allegations.

...[text shortened]... e church in Houston:

https://shepherdingwords.com/a-response-from-the-church-in-houston/

Jesus Christ ... no other names matter!

@BigDoggProblem

That is why we do not found Lutheran Churches or Wesleyan Churches or Methodist Churches or Presbyterian Churches or Baptist Churches or Watchman Nee Churches or Witness Lee Churches or American Churches or White Churches or Black Churches or German, Dutch, Korean, Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Russian, Greek, Canadian churches or assemblies designated by anything else but locality.


This we were shown by faithful servants of God was the way of the New Testament:

For example:
"the church in Corinth" (1 Cor. 1;2)
"the church at Jerusalem" (Acts 8:1)
"the church in Laodicea" (Rev. 3:14; Col. 4:15,16)
"the church of the Thessaloninians" (1 Thess. 1:1)
"the church in Ephesus" (Rev. Rev. 2:1)
"the church in Pergamos" (Rev.2:12)

Other Christians have the freedom of conscience not to meet in this kind of unity. And we exercise our freedom of conscience to do so.

As for the name of Jesus being utmost ?

"And there is salvation in no other, for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

@sonship

I think you should turn to Lee and speak the words of B.J. Daniels (Cowboy's Redemption)

“I thought of you as a god, but now I see that you are nothing but a man with a man’s weaknesses.”

@sonship said:

"Ringleader" is my own expression.

@divegeester

Concerning "ringleader" which I don't mean I invented, but introduced to the discussion.

I think you’ll find that there is already claim to the origin of that word.

This is what the critics of the Lord's recovery don't understand. ALL the servants used by God belong to us, the church. That's what the New Testament says - they ALL belong to us the church universal.

"So then let no one baost in men, for all things are yours.

Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all are yours.

But you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. 3:21-23)

@sonship said
A harsh critic of the local churches who became a kind of focal point of Internet activity of like-minded critics needed to know the facts of one of that critic's chief allegations.

@FMF
Why should I spoon feed you what you can go get for yourself?
It's not my duty to take you by the hand and lead you through a collection of accusations against the Lord's recovery.

@sonship said
@divegeester

Concerning "ringleader" which I don't mean I invented, but introduced to the discussion.

I think you’ll find that there is already claim to the origin of that word.

You really need to win an argument. Don't you?

@sonship said
@FMF
Why should I spoon feed you what you can go get for yourself?
It's not my duty to take you by the hand and lead you through a collection of accusations against the Lord's recovery.

@sonship said
@FMF
Why should I spoon feed you what you can go get for yourself?
It's not my duty to take you by the hand and lead you through a collection of accusations against the Lord's recovery.

@Ghost-of-a-Duke

“I thought of you as a god, but now I see that you are nothing but a man with a man’s weaknesses.”

THE PURPOSE OF THE LIFE-STUDIES
Now let us come to the divine speaking with the Life-studies. In the past some have had the thought that we use the Life-studies in our meetings to replace the bible. But we do not replace the bible by anything, even by using the Life-studies. Rather, I must say honestly, and you have to admit the fact, that no book ushers us into the Bible as the Life-studies do. Anyone can prove and can testify how much we love the Bible, how much we pay our attention to the Bible, and how much we get ourselves into the Bible through the study of the Life-studies.

So the Life-studies are not to replace the bible but to open the Bible and to expound the Bible and to release all the unsearchable riches in the Bible. Quite a few in the past came to me to express how the Life-studies opened the Bible and helped them to know the Bible.

Another way is to pray-read. Sometimes when you have crucial verses, you have to pray-read them. When you read these verses, you realize that they are crucial and that they should be repeated. After one reads, right away you repeat. This is to pray-read. You also need to read with some variation in your voice, just like music. Sometimes the melody goes up and comes down. Sometimes it is faster; sometimes it is slower. Sometimes you have to read loudly, and sometimes you have to read not so loudly. We have to learn this. We are not machines. We are not robots. We are very living. We know how to lift up our voice and how to lower it down. We all have to learn the proper way. We have a sober mind, and we have a spirit. We just exercise our spirit, and we know when it is the time to utter something. We also know how long we should utter it and how much we should say.