Tullian Tchividjian

Tullian Tchividjian Follow-Up and Plans for Additional Posts

Julie Anne

Tullian Tchividjian, Clergy Sex Abuse

As you can see in the screenshot above, Tullian Tchividjian continues to make the Christian news headlines; but in the meantime, I wanted to share a few thoughts and give a brief update on what Brad and I’ve got cookin’ on the back burners.

Survivor bloggers don’t always have a good reputation with church leaders. Sometimes we step on toes when we are saying, “Yo, there’s a problem going on here.”  Because of this wall between us and church leaders in general, bloggers are often times dismissed, and consequently, victims’ voices are not heard. I don’t want to speak for other bloggers, but I know that I personally (Julie Anne) would like to build bridges with church leaders so that if I am told multiple survivors’ stories about the same pastor/church and blog about it, other leaders will take note and dig deeper instead of automatically disregarding our articles as from “those whiny complaint bloggers.”

Another stumbling block I face is that people sometimes dismiss me because they have me labeled in a way that does not reflect who they are doctrinally. Church leaders do not have to agree with me doctrinally on issues. That’s not what this blog is about. But I think we can have a common goal of doing what we can do to help the many sheep who have been battered and bruised by their shepherd.

We’ve had some excellent feedback on Rachel’s story. Her story, plus the timeline and real evidence that was provided, has made a real kink in Tullian Tchividjian’s narrative. People close to Tullian were not able to dismiss Rachel’s story along with her timeline. Finally, (and for the first time since I’ve been blogging), leaders have made a public stand for the survivors, based on Rachel’s testimony here at Spiritual Sounding Board. People are realizing that Tullian’s narrative has not been truthful, and his words and actions have not only harmed the ladies involved, but the church at large.

But this situation is not done, as the interconnections among various individuals and organizations keep unraveling. We are working on more posts for next week. I am working on a post with additional survivor information that has not yet been made public. Brad is working on case study that lays out various systems of accountability that were available in this situation, and what happened with them. We’re working on some posts about language usage in talking with/about victims. And some of the women who are survivors in this situation may have messages to share.

We realize that the ongoing unfolding of this situation could easily dissolve into a soap-opera-type story, but our goal is to to look at what went wrong and what went right. There are lessons to be learned, and Brad and I believe that presenting these issues for your discussion will benefit the larger church, so that Tullian’s story does not repeat in other churches with other pastors and other women. We hope you’ll continue reading and learning along with us.

18 thoughts on “Tullian Tchividjian Follow-Up and Plans for Additional Posts”

  3. Thank you, JA and Brad, for taking the precious time to document the TT story. It is my prayer that the information will bring healing and restoration to all involved.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. appreciate the follow up… particularly on how accountability systems were over-ridden in various ways… abuse of power is HUGE in the Church =( in so many ways… and it is so hard to prove as it is usually very subtle, so any patterns of abuse that you can share is always helpful..

    Liked by 2 people

  5. I am so glad you are doing to talk about language. Something I’ve become more and more aware of over the past few years is the misogyny in the church (I am speaking of evangelical/charismatic/Pentecostal churches as that is what I know). I do not consider myself a feminist, at least not as it has come to be defined, but the disrespect and marginalization of women when it comes to stories of abuse, is making it apparent that the church has a serious sin problem in this area. Men and women in the church who continue to minimize and ignore the pleas of abused women and girls need to repent. It is an affront to the character of God.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Thank you so much for your work, JA. The evangelical Christian Church has had a dark, damaging hidden side for far too long. I am truly grateful for everything that you are doing and have done to bring these problems to light.

    Liked by 3 people

  7. JA, when I read “I’d like to build bridges with church leaders” I immediately thought:

    “It’s not going to happen. It can’t happen.”

    Why?

    Because the churches of men are idolatrous kingdoms built to puff up their egos.

    Not one command from Jesus or Paul to build temples for the saints to meet.

    Not one Pastor addressed by name nor any letters addressed to “the Pastor”.

    They hate people like you and us JA because we threaten their man man empires and kingdoms.

    God wants us to follow Him.

    The clergy/laity/temple building wrongly called the Church is idolatry.

    Believers are following men who call themselves ‘Pastor’.

    We have One Bishop of our souls.

    One Shepherd.

    It’s time we all really took a good look at the system of religion.

    You cannot reform something which was rotten from the start.

    Just my thoughts.

    Jesus is my Pastor.

    If I asked all of the readers, “who is your Pastor?”

    What would your response be?

    A man or the Lord?

    Name one Pastor by name in the New Testament?

    (Good luck)

    Liked by 5 people

  8. “But I think we can have a common goal of doing what we can do to help the many sheep who have been battered and bruised by their shepherd.” YES, We can get so much accomplished by working together! Thanks so much for continuing to bring attention to this issue. May God bless you as you continue this important work.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. They hate people like you and us JA because we threaten their man man empires and kingdoms.

    I wanted to say ‘it’s all about the benjamins’ which I do think is a huge part of the problem but there is also a pride issue and a dismissal of women issue that need to be dealt with. Some men can’t hear the truth from women and that’s a problem. Some men can’t hear the truth from anyone, and that’s also a problem.

    And, as mentioned, some can’t hear the truth because it threats their pocketbook.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Salty,

    Kudos to you for keeping your focus on Jesus. Now if we could just inspire the rest of the church to do that! 🙂

    So many people follow a certain Christian leader—never realizing that as humans, we’re going to fall short of whoever we follow but if we follow Christ we’ll get much further than any other way.

    Liked by 3 people

  11. Salty,
    I love you! Thank-you for that affirmation as I just told a friend recently that “Jesus is my pastor.”

    And the funny thing is He’s not just “America’s pastor” as Billy Graham was labeled as such, Jesus is the Savior of the whole entire world/universe.

    I admire your ‘just sayin’ it.

    Liked by 2 people

  15. Brad– I replied to your comment on TWW linking Tony Arsenal’s research on TT’s membership status, but realized you might not see it there. Maybe it’ll be be of some help for your case study:
    So let me get this straight. When they “deposed” TT, they assigned his membership to some unnamed church. It’s unknown whether he ever attended. Then unnamed party or parties requested the membership be transferred to Willow Creek. But they fired him before the (apparently lengthy) process could go through. So the unnamed church was required by policy to reach out to him, but he was long gone (and maybe had never been there) and drop him from the rolls. Eventually, both Arsenal and Labby make impassioned appeals for him to return to his church of membership and face the church discipline music– not realizing he’s long gone (if he was ever there). So the whole male-lead (sic) system is impotent and laughable and TT would be laughing his way to the bank if wimmenfolk hadn’t come forward. A couple verses from Brooks and Dunn are appropriate:
    ‘I keep thinkin’ any minute you’ll be comin’ home honey
    I ain’t seen nothin’ of you in a month of sundays
    Tell me how long gone are you gonna be
    …
    The phone ain’t ringin’, ’cause you still ain’t callin’
    I ain’t been hearin’ your footsteps fallin’
    Tell me how long gone are you gonna be’

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Salty, Lea: Sad to say, I agree with you. Been at it HARDCORE* since 2000 taking it public and over Fifty-years in house (meaning thought church was going to take care of issues in-house=DIDN’T HAPPEN). Again, THANKFUL that Julie Anne/Brad and the many that worked to expose this and appreciate all the time and effort and those who came forward to tell the truth and praying that more will come forward.
    *To think gave over 350 heads of church leadership and Round Table of Church Leadership=hardcore list of Men/Ministry/so-called Christian Magazines (few took out ads in Charisma against Christian leadership and when David Wilkerson was alive he actually took care of things. A lot were not correctable/accountable as we see a lot still in Ministry even what Julie Anne has done=all that work and so many are in denial and still in Ministry and just this site alone were seeing how these evil Ministries/men behave.

    What I want to know is like TT and Todd Bentley how are their wives and children doing that the Good Ol Boy Community threw under the bus; how are they doing in all this (since their is hardly any help to women and their children; single parents and otherwise)?

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