I am baffled by this comment from the senior pastor, because it is opposite to his behavior in 2012 when three trustworthy individuals came to him to report their concerns. I joined the church around 2003 and wasn’t aware of a reported case, though that is not to say there wasn’t one prior to 2012. I didn’t find one in my research.

What does he intend by his carefully worded sentence, “And if I received an accusation of sexual misconduct by Brandon or anyone, I would immediately hotline that?” He appears to be speaking in forward-looking terms and not in terms of the past. Otherwise, he would have chosen to say “I would have immediately hotlined that.” I wonder what he meant by “and have done that in the past?” I’m curious to know when he hotlined someone’s behavior in the past.

The statement from the senior minister during the April 8 leaders’ meeting:

“If anybody told me about a sexual crime I would immediately hotline and have done that in the past. And you need to understand that there are laws in the state of Missouri of mandated reporting and I am obedient to the law. And if I received an accusation of sexual misconduct by Brandon or anyone, I would immediately hotline that.”

My reaction to his statement as I compiled the story of FCCF:

“After his Freudian slip and changing ‘hating people’ to ‘hating sin,’ Steve began to establish his power stance as the pastoral authority in order to give what he said next more clout. It seemed to me that he believed his last sentence made up for the fact that he hadn’t reported Brandon in 2012. It didn’t. It didn’t make up for it for me, and it didn’t make up for it to others either, judging by the reactions amongst the crowd.”

(Taylor, Joy S., A View from the Pews — The Inside Story of a Broken Church, 2022, Lily of the Valley Publishing, Santa Claus, IN, pp. 82-83.)

 

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