And yet, when these issues started being raised about Bill Hybels, the larger church, other than you know, a few people you mentioned the Ortbergs, for example, they came forward and spoke. The church is nondenominational and has woman pastors and elders. "For many of you, he was preacher, pastor, mentor or friend. Not sad or contemplative, but agitated and very irritated. I want to thank Pete too for advocating for women participating fully in leadership and for Libby modeling what it means to be a true helper (ezer kenegdo). Theyre involved in their own issue right now. And yet youre still in a megachurch, multi-site church. Guest Bios Show Transcript Many times, those who have experienced spiritual abuse are retraumatized when they try to speak about whats happened. Hes also the chairman of the elder board and his own church, Bent Tree Fellowship. How do you recommend searching worth while places to donate too? Thank God I have Jesus. And gratitude is where we must go in this time, as Kurt Baxter reminded us on Sunday. Petes leadership at Bent Tree casts a long shadow with a legacy that will endure. We needed to go to the hills and fight as guerillas, you know, what is guerrilla warfare? It manifested even at the IT level at the church. And which really makes me sad because theyve had a change in leadership. Briscoe says that he wants Bent Tree to be a place where people can agree to disagree over this issue. Julie, you may want to review this pointwasnt a problem? Im against too many lawyers, and I think Im in a position to critique this. Yeah, right. I was the senior pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship for nearly 30 years. Lawyers are, by definition, advocates, right? Nobody who is an elder at a church should have any aspect of their identity wrapped up in either the role of being an elder or in the success or failure of the organization. Jill and Stuart came to the States from England. You can choose from more than 60 majors and learn in a Christian environment known for its spiritual values, leadership opportunities, and strong financial aid. Hes just an affectionate kind of guy. Hes like, I wasnt trying to protect the man, who by chance was his brother in law. I have plenty of authentic friends just not at church. I mean, it was a great time. These are people that may be in the cubicle next to you at work, who have an acuity for blending in to normal life. Below is a link to a PDF of the article World Magazine did on a sex abuse scandal involving VOM. If you want to know what grooming looks like in the context of church, every elder at a church of any size should read this book. This is the kind of thing that you would expect from someone whos cruel and not in relationship with Jesus. At the end of the day the aftermath of destruction is felt on so many levels by so many people and we all react differently in our humanness. So I was quite taken aback when this scandal came out. You know, when you have somebody like Bryan Loritts, who when hes talking about why when he was at a former church, he didnt disclose to the church that they had a sexual predator among them for six months. And this is one of the I think exciting things. But it just has not really looked like true repentance in so many ways. How are you? Just what I call a deformed leadership culture at the church where certain things became acceptable that shouldnt. Hmm. So, while I have strong feelings about this, as you can imagine being a lawyer, but at all points, legal advice has to be subservient to Scripture. Everything started to make sense. Bent Tree family and friends of Bent Tree, we invite you to post here (or on social media) your comments of encouragement, gratitude, blessing, remembrance, and tribute to the many long years our brother Pete and sister Libby have poured out their lives for the building up of Christs church. It grows on the vanilla orchid, and it only grows in really exotic places like Tahiti, and there are some places in Mexico it grows too, but what is unique about the vanilla orchid is when it blooms, its got to be pollinated within one day. Lawyer for Bill Hybels Victims Shares Inside Story. WebIt is with heavy hearts that the Elders of Bent Tree announce that Pete Briscoe has submitted his resignation as Senior Pastor. So your pastor, he chose himself to step down, correct? Stuart and Jill Briscoe have always had a passion for teaching God's Word and speaking Truth into people's hearts and moving them toward God. So, Mitch, how is it that a lawyer from Texas ended up representing victims of sexual harassment at a mega church in Chicago? I do. And thats one of the things that I just come back to is that the word hypocrisy in the Greek the word that comes from that means actor. But he had the emotional and spiritual fortitude to say, You know what? He currently leads a multi-faceted media ministry called Telling the Truth which he shares with his parents Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Fortunately, we have not had so much as one complaint about any one of our pastors or staff members. Because it was lawyers advice, you know, and its like, where does the word of God play into our decision making? And Willow just, they got killed because they wouldnt respond and say the truth. And now lets put that in the past. Willow did not want to reckon with the deformed culture that had manifested underneath Bills leadership. We see this is the third article this month youve found worth reading. I think that he lost that. In another area, it might be used to groom someone and use vulnerability as a mechanism to draw people into something that is corrupt. To me, this was one of the beautiful God moves about the entire situation. And the thing about predators, Bill Hybels included, okay, is they start to do more things in public to condition you to behavior that is inappropriate, and they test their boundaries, to see what they can get away with. WebHi friend, I'm Pete Briscoe. Its designed to be fought asymmetrically. Think about the people whove done it historically, you know, the Chuck Swindolls that I mean, we can we can run off a list of names, we can also run off a list of failures. I think youre absolutely right about that. I understand that the desire to have elders dealing with what Ill call Echelon or tier level, theological topics: What does the church think about, you know, for example, racial reconciliation? He even cites a conversation with Darrell Bock, a member who disagrees with the elders but who also says it is not an issue worth dividing over. Today were talking with Pete Briscoe, who served as the senior pastor for nearly three decades at Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, Texas, and now consults with and coaches pastors. 1 talking about this. Mike is a dear friend and Im sad this day has come. I will let you know as soon as I figure it all out. Pete Briscoe was Senior Pastor of Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in Carrollton, TX for nearly 30 years. They made a lot of friends. When I came onto our board, the terms that Pete Briscoe used were, guide, govern and guard. And I think policy governance has the governing part. At the same time. Yet Mitch isnt just the lawyer whos seen megachurches as an outsider bringing accountability. I mean, I Timothy 5:20 says that we should publicly expose elders who are sinning so that others may take warning. And I was sitting in my office one day and Vonda picked up the phone and gave me a call and kind of told me what was coming down the pike in terms of the Chicago Tribune article that basically lit the fuse on that entire situation at Willow. Yes, probably a number of your listeners are aware of the situation where the Ortbergs and Mellados had tried to report to the board an alleged long term affair that Bill Hybels was engaged in and the church hired an outside investigator to investigate the situation. That was my upbringing. That way, youll never miss an episode. And its not something you can control like traditional mainstream media. Its so HARD today to know who to donate to. Bill Hybels and Bill Clinton, you know, developed a friendship over the years that at least what Ive discovered in my research, there was an invitation for Clinton to come and speak at the Global Leadership Summit, and a confrontation with the elder board about that because Clinton was on the heels of an adultery scandal. Now youre a lawyer. How do we deal with claims of sexual abuse? and so I almost feel like the elder boards are there to keep the honest person honest. Hi. ) So, Willows pride did not allow them to see any flaws in their leadership, especially their premier leader. Whats our theology? But its an analog. :), I would strongly urge you to research Voice of the Martyrs. Its How do we protect the entity and the entity as expressed through the person of Bill Hybels? Once you make that decision that youre willing to protect the entity or the person in charge of the entity to the detriment of members of the body or members of the staff, youve made some poor choices that are going to have consequences. Toward that end, the site requires that people use their full name when commenting. Briscoe stepped down as senior pastor at the end of 2000 but remained involved in the church and active in overseas missions. Destroyed by a staff person is my understanding. Like if you go back and you actually read his books line-on-line, there are some things in there in those books where you go, For a pastor, that should be unacceptable. But he was attenuating his church culture and culture at large to him in his behavior. Hi Julie, my name is Teresa and I was wondering if Voice of the Martyr was a good place to donate. Okay. Continue Reading The Upper Room: John 15 Posted by Nate Murray WebPete Briscoe is a podcaster and evangelical pastor. And someone Im extremely glad is serving in church leadership. Because they were required to move by unanimity. With that purpose in mind, they launched theTelling the Truth ministry. WebBriscoe says that he wants Bent Tree to be a place where people can agree to disagree over this issue. The thief knows how to how to get through that lock, right? So thanks again. I mean, that is just huge. For more information just go to JudsonU.edu. I dont agree with a lot of his views, but he said something and it is true, we need to have, you know, church leader needs to have two voices, one for gathering the sheep and one for scaring away wolves. Yeah, without using any names. And sadly, I think they have still. I hear you say that and I believe in accountability really strongly. And today Im excited to be speaking with Mitch Little. So, and youre the chairman of your board. But I have to say that in the middle of dealing with a lot of tall weeds and bugs, God has also given me some flowers and fruit trees to enjoy. Much has been written on establishing criteria for board member selection. Nobody has said they had intercourse with Bill. In our church, we have a no tolerance policy. Jesus said, I call you My friend. And so when I looked at that in the context of James MacDonald going, you know what, thats the type of accountability that man needed and was denied. I Correct? They know there would be swift and sure discipline, if not firing, even with one mistakedepending on the severity of the misbehavior. Thats a bad default state. Theres a lot of church boards that operate that way. And I had a wonderful experience. A person whos not walking in the Spirit is susceptible to that type of behavior, even a senior pastor. Subscribe Sign up for my daily email devotionals and to stay in touch! Glad that Jesus is still our anchor! Okay, how it didnt bring accountability. And this is a huge problem in the Evangelical Church in the southern baptist church, I mean, just absolutely massive problem where so often the predators covered up instead of brought to justice. However, there should be a bubble level of character in Christ that we return to. And they were no friends of ours during the Harvest investigation either. Its M-I-L-G-R-A-M the Milgram experiment, but basically American researchers were trying to figure out after World War II, why so many in German society were willing to go along with the Nazis or go along with their leadership, do incalculably horrible things to people. And while youre at it, wed really appreciate it if you help us spread the word about the podcast by leaving a review and then please share the podcast on social media so more people can hear about this great content. They show up, they sell books. And basically, my understanding is his cavalier attitude was, Well, Ill just pick up and Ill open a new church down the street [if] you dont you dont like me the way I am.. Because we represent their interests. You have to have unity among your vocational staff at the church about, you know, key issues like how do we treat other people? What I saw happen at Willow is, the board as a unit was willing to dissemble in the amount necessary to preserve the organization. Friends are important! He has been married to Jill for more than 59 years and has three children and 13 grandchildren. And what lessons can we learn from Willow Creeks mistakes? At the urging of a friend working in the radio industry, the Briscoes followed God's leading and used the tape sales proceeds to purchase local radio time, which launched Telling the Truth's radio outreach. You have your identity rooted in something other than Christ, the centrality of Christ. 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