Part #3 of 4, by Brad Sargent
SUMMARY. The public ministry platforms of Tullian Tchividjian — including his books — have become an issue of public concern and debate, in light of his various degrees of involvement with multiple women. Part #1 introduced the third woman reportedly seduced by Tullian Tchividjian into a sexual relationship. Her story extends his womanizing behaviors back into 2013. Part #2 shared an infographic showing what Tullian Tchividjian’s pursuit of multiple women looks like, when it is layered over some of his ministry platform and publication data for Fall 2013 through 2016.
This post provides reference information compiled by Brad Sargent about Tullian Tchividjian’s publishers and his publications, both out-of-print and presently available, from three publishers: Crossway, David C Cook, and Multnomah. It also highlights the “Christian Living” category bestseller status in 2014-2015 for his most recent book, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World (David C Cook, released October 2013), and related character contradictions in light of his self-admitted moral failures plus newly emerging reports of emotional grooming and clergy sexual misconduct. This research writing is part of his due diligence to produce a forthcoming case study on this situation, focusing on systems of accountability and how they succeeded or failed, and possible reasons why. This information on publications is all drawn from publicly posted documents and websites.
This series concludes with Part #4, in which Julie Anne Smith addresses issues with David C Cook specifically, given their reported intention to publish a future book by Tullian Tchividjian.
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The above infographic was provided to Spiritual Sounding Board by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. The preparer based this chart on information that appeared in the Partial Timeline post, which provided details of various women whose connection with Tullian Tchividjian has been made public, and publication information that was likewise available online.
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Research Findings on Publishers of Books
by Tullian Tchividjian
compiled by Brad Sargent (aka brad/futuristguy)
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Table of Contents and Section Summaries
1. Timeline of Books by Tullian Tchividjian. This is a comprehensive list of titles by Tullian Tchividjian from 2007 through 2015, listed in chronological order by release date. Notes at the end of each entry indicate the format(s) being published, and whether it/they are currently in print. Those in print give links to the publisher book catalog pages, as of December 4, 2016. (Screenshots are on file, to provide a base for comparison, should any of the page content be changed.)
2. Notes on Which Books are Currently Still Available. This section groups Tullian Tchividjian’s books by publisher — Crossway, David C Cook, and Multnomah. It copies from the Timeline section the publication data plus notes on whether a title is still in print. It also posts the author biography from each publisher, if available, plus gives analysis of profile elements that are clearly out of date (or, in the case of David C Cook, were corrected, since the public has become aware of his moral failings.) (Screenshots from December 4, 2016, are on file.)
3. Christian Booksellers Association Lists and Notes On Tullian Tchividjian’s Appearances on Top Sales Lists. This section gives general background on the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) bestseller lists and the availability of their lists online. It then notes which months in 2014 and 2015 Tullian Tchividjian’s title, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, appeared on the Top “Christian Living” Bestsellers, or the Top 50 Bestseller book lists.
With timelines of Tullian Tchividjian’s writing career as the backdrop, we note the significant points and periods of overlap that are now known of details from the multiple women whose stories are public, in how they were being groomed and/or were seduced. These constitute “character contradictions” between immoral private actions and public platform persona as an acceptable, “bestselling” author. This section repeats the analysis of apparent character issues in 2014 and 2015 that appeared in Part #2.
4. Is David C Cook Still Poised to Publish a New Book by Tullian Tchividjian? This section brings together some of the main online evidences and publisher statements from David C Cook about a forthcoming book from Tullian Tchividjian. It also lists in chronological order key blog articles and news reports directly related to the question of a future publication.
5. Christian Publishers, “Moral Turpitude” Clauses, and Author Accountability. This gives general background on “moral turpitude” contract clauses in the publishing industry.
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1. Timeline of Books by Tullian Tchividjian
Determinations of whether a particular titles is in print or of print were made December 4, 2016, by searching publisher catalogs on their official websites: Crossway, David C Cook, Multnomah.
August 21, 2007 – Do I Know God?: Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship. Multnomah. (Hardcover, currently out of print.)
April 14, 2009 – Do I Know God?: Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship. Multnomah. (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
April 14, 2009 – Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different. Multnomah. (Hardcover, currently out of print.)
April 23, 2010 – Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. Crossway. (Hardcover, currently out of print.)
January 6, 2011 – Don’t Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day (Gospel Coalition Series). Crossway. (Paperback, currently out of print.)
October 14, 2011 – Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Crossway. (Hardcover, currently out of print.)
June 5, 2012 – Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different. Multnomah (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
October 1, 2012 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
October 1, 2013 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. David C Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
February 28, 2014 – Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. Crossway. (Paperback, currently out of print.)
March 1, 2014 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
May 1, 2014 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. DVD Study. David C Cook. (6 DVD set, currently in print.)
August 1, 2014 – Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man, by David Frost. Note that the foreword is by Tullian Tchividjian. David C Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
January 1, 2015 – Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Crossway. (Paperback, currently out of print.)
January 1, 2015 – It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News (Tullian Tchividjian with Nick Lannon). David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
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2. Notes on Which Books are Currently Still Available
Crossway
There is no author profile page for Tullian Tchividjian, nor are there listings for books by him, on the current Crossway website. I have as yet not found any press release or news article that notes Crossway’s removal of his bio and books. So, at this point, the only clue to what date range that might have been comes from the Wayback Machine (internet archive) and his author profile; the information there states that the author bioography for Tullian Tchividjian was crawled (saved) by the Wayback Machine 12 times from April 10, 2011, through April 4, 2015. (He resigned from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in June 2015.) The screenshot below is Crossway’s author bio from August 30, 2014.
Tullian Tchividjian is also listed as having written the foreword for two books that are still published by Crossway. However, the latest editions have removed the notice of his foreword.
Date Your Wife, by Justin Buzzard (2012).
Below is the Wayback Machine link to the original version (archive crawl March 22, 2015; note the description mentioning Tullian Tchividjian).
Below is the Crossway link to the current version.
The Amazon “Look inside” version no longer lists the Foreword by Tullian Tchividjian in the Table of Contents. However, a PDF sample of Date Your Wife on the Crossway site still includes that Foreword plus lists it in the Table of Contents.
Give Them Grace: Dazzling your Kids with the Love of Jesus, by Elyse Fitzpatrick (2011).
Below is the Wayback Machine link to the original version (archive crawl February 21, 2015; note the cover and description mentioning Tullian Tchividjian).
Below is the Crossway link to the current version.
The Amazon “Look inside” version no longer lists the Foreword by Tullian Tchividjian in the Table of Contents. However, a PDF sample of Give Them Grace on the Crossway site still includes that Foreword in the Table of Contents.
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David C Cook
A press release on July 19, 2011, noted that Tullian Tchividjian had signed a three-book deal with David C Cook. The first book was scheduled for release in Fall 2012, with two books scheduled to follow.
October 1, 2012 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
October 1, 2013 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. David C Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
March 1, 2014 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
May 1, 2014 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. DVD Study. David C Cook. (6 DVD set, currently in print.)
August 1, 2014 – Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man. Note that the foreword is by Tullian Tchividjian. David C Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
January 1, 2015 – It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News (Tullian Tchividjian with Nick Lannon). David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
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David C Cook author profile of Tullian Tchividjian. The biographical profile posted as of December 4 was significantly out of date, as noted in red type [with notes in square brackets], plus items in green still being checked out as to whether they are current. QUOTE OF AUTHOR BIO (retrieved December 4, 2016):
Tullian Tchividjian is the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church [not since July 2015], a visiting professor at Reformed Theological Seminary [still under investigation by SSB] and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham. He is a bestselling author, a contributing editor to Leadership Journal [still under investigation by SSB], and a popular conference speaker. Tullian and his family reside in Fort Lauderdale, Florida [his divorce from first wife, Kim, was finalized March 2016. He remarried, to Stacie Phillips, August 2016. He and his new family reside in Texas].
Between that screen capture on the afternoon of December 4 and two days later on the evening of December 6, David C Cook changed their “About the Author” page for Tullian Tchividjian to the following:
Tullian Tchividjian is bestselling author of Glorious Ruin, One Way Love and numerous other Christian books. He and his new wife Stacie reside in Texas.
In terms of ongoing events, it is important to note that December 4-6 overlaps a period when:
(1) “Spiritual abuse survivor blogger” Dee Parsons tweeted that she was ready to boycott David C Cook over their stance on publishing Tullian Tchividjian.
(2) A group of eight pastors and writers who would consider themselves friends/peers of Tullian Tchividjian (six men, two women) posted a statement asking him to step aside because he had “disqualified himself from any form of public vocational ministry.”
(3) Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian, who had been particular vociferous in his former defense of Tullian Tchividjian, posted that he was removing from his website all sermons, links, podcasts, etc., involving Tullian Tchividjian. Others had posted similar things over the previous two weeks, but Chris Rosebrough was probably the most prominent among them.
This period when the change in the author bio occurred was also several days after Julie Anne Smith contacted representatives of David C Cook regarding their apparent forthcoming book from Tullian Tchividjian, and informed them of game-changing information about reported victims that they may or may not have already known.
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Multnomah
Both of the titles published by Multnomah have acknowledgments “To my wife, Kim,” as noted in the versions with “Look Inside” feature posted on Amazon, as of December 4, 2016. See: Do I Know God? (page 187) and Unfashionable (page 185). The “about the author” pages are also out of date about his ministry position and/or family — Do I Know God? (page 205) and Unfashionable (page 213).
April 14, 2009 – Do I Know God?: Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship. Multnomah. (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
June 5, 2012 – Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different. Multnomah (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
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Multnomah author profile of Tullian Tchividjian. (This page includes author bio plus related links, videos, podcasts, sneek peak/samples, etc.) The biographical profile is significantly out of date, as noted in square brackets. QUOTE OF AUTHOR BIO (retrieved December 4, 2016):
About Tullian Tchividjian
William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida [not since July 2015]. A Florida native, Tullian is also the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a contributing editor to Leadership Journal [both still under investigation by SSB].
A graduate of Columbia International University (philosophy) and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando (M.Div.), Tullian has authored a number of books including Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Crossway). He travels extensively, speaking at conferences throughout the U.S., and his sermons are broadcast daily on the radio program LIBERATE [not since July 2015]. As a respected pastor, author, and speaker, Tullian is singularly and passionately devoted to seeing people set free by the radical, amazing power of God’s grace.
When he is not reading, studying, preaching, or writing, Tullian enjoys being with people and relaxing with his wife, Kim [not since divorce finalized March 2016], and their three children–Gabe, Nate, and Genna. He loves the beach, loves to exercise, and when he has time, he loves to surf.
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3. Christian Booksellers Association Lists and Notes
On Tullian Tchividjian’s Appearances on Top Sales Lists
Background
The Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) keeps statistics on book sales in various categories in books (fiction, non-fiction, children and youth), music, and Bibles. The book categories include “Christian Living,” and “Top Bestsellers” across all book categories. Lists with summaries of sales have been available online in recent years, starting in 2013. Not every category was available monthly at first, but eventually they were. Also, the formats of the lists have been adjusted occasionally, so that sometimes the “Christian Living” bestsellers list was for the top 30, other times for the top 50.
Tullian Tchividjian has had books published from 2007 through 2015. His book with David C Cook, One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World, was first published in 2014. It has appeared on CBA lists a total of seven different months in 2014 and 2015, in the Christian Living and/or Top Bestsellers lists. None of his other books from any of his three publishers (Crossway, David C Cook, Multnomah) have appeared on CBA lists between 2013 and the present.
Here is the timeline of CBA lists, along with details of when his books made the lists, with links to the PDF of the list provided by CBA. Links were accessed December 4, 2016.
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CBA Sales Data from 2012 and Before
CBA bestseller lists not available online at this time.
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CBA Sales Data from 2013
None of Tullian’s books were on CBA bestseller lists for Christian Living Top 30, or Top 50 Best Sellers.
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CBA Sales Data from 2014 ~ And “Character Contradictions”
One Way Love, which was released October 1, 2013, began significantly increasing its sales in 2014.
Christian Living Top 30 – April (#17). *May (#16).
Top 50 Best Sellers – April (#37). *May (#29).
*He was on these Top Seller lists in April and May of 2014. However, from May through June of 2014, Mr. Tchividjian was involved in clergy sexual misconduct with “Woman #1.” This is not some mere allegation or accusation, but a situation of that he eventually at least acknowledged as an “inappropriate relationship” after evidence was brought to light in March 2016. A March 17, 2016, Christian Post article by Leonardo Blair states the following. QUOTE:
Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, confirmed Thursday that they have fired Tullian Tchvidjian, 43, grandson of evangelical icon Billy Graham, after he revealed a previously unconfessed affair he had with another woman.
“When we heard the disclosures he made just a few days ago, the session acted within hours to end his employment at the church,” Willow Creek’s Senior Pastor Kevin Labby told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday morning.
“The disclosures that he made involved the fact that he had a previously unconfessed inappropriate relationship with another woman. He didn’t share specifics with us. He said the person, that’s worth saying … there were no specifics,” Labby continued. “The session did not feel that specifics were necessary for our purposes right now in making a decision about whether to keep him on staff. So they’ve terminated his position but they have not distanced themselves from caring for Tullian and calling him to repentance.”
Mr. Tchividjian had confessed this “affair” privately to his mentor/family friend Steve Brown and to two elders at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) where he had been Senior Pastor; they kept silent about it, and the one elder who was still at CRPC in March 2016 was fired for failure to carry out his duty as a member of the Presbytery to inform them of Mr. Tchividjian’s moral failure. The reported roles of these three men are detailed in a March 18, 2016, Christian Post article by Leonardo Blair.
And, as was just recently revealed in Part #1 of this series, during all of 2014, he was engaged in an ongoing relationship with a woman he began pursuing in October 2013, the same month that David C Cook released One Way Love.
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CBA Sales Data from 2015 ~ And “Character Contradictions”
One Way Love continued its sales in 2015.
Christian Living Top 50 – January (#8). March (#29). **April (#14). ***July (#28). ***September (#11).
Top 50 Best Sellers – **April (#47). ***September (#37).
Also, as noted in Part #1 of this series, during all of 2015, Mr. Tchividjian was continuing his relationship with a woman whom he began pursuing in October 2013, and was still contacting through August 2016.
**He was on one or both Top Seller lists in January, March, April, July, and September of 2015. However, in April, May, and June of 2015, Mr. Tchividjian was involved in clergy sexual misconduct with Rachel (her real name), a congregation member at CRPC who was also married at the time.
This is not some mere allegation or accusation, but a situation of adultery that became known in June 2015 when the IT department at CRPC informed Mr. Tchividjian that the activity of his phone was readable on the church server. In a November 30, 2016, Christian Post article by Leonardo Blair, Mr. Tchividjian addressed both that the IT department exposed the clergy sexual misconduct – a detail that had not been made public before this – and that Rachel was the woman, as she had not previously been identified publicly. QUOTE:
The Christian Post reached out to Tchividjian about Rachel and several claims she made against him in the confessionals. He did not deny that she was the woman that led to his fall and that the IT department at Coral Ridge discovered their affair.
He dismissed the following claims made by Rachel, however, as “absolutely false.”
Rachel claims Tchividjian: Encouraged her husband to divorce her without her knowledge; suggested to her that if Coral Ridge failed as a church and he was able to buy the building he would turn it into a nightclub; borrowed thousands of dollars from her and her husband to hire a private investigator to look into his now ex-wife, and said he does not believe premarital sex is unbiblical.
Although the article states it in the negative – “He did not deny …” these details about Rachel and the IT department – doesn’t it seem more than reasonable to take that as his own confirmation of them?
Also, it is difficult to accept Mr. Tchividjian’s categorical dismissal of Rachel’s claim that he “borrowed thousands of dollars from her and her husband to hire a private investigator to look into his now ex-wife.” He has not as yet offered any explanation for the existence of:
- An invoice for $11,130 for hiring by Rachel of a private investigator. A copy of the invoice is in section #1 in Part #1 of Rachel’s account of what happened between Mr. Tchividjian and herself.
- A check in the matching amount of $11,130 from William (Tullian’s legal first name) Tchividjian, to Rachel, dated March 18, 2016, with a memo note: “Private Investigator.” Photos of the check are in section #5 in Part #2 of Rachel’s account.
Nor has he offered any explanation or theory on why Rachel and her husband would ever hire private investigators to trail Kim Tchividjian for some unknown reason in the first place. Does that not seem odd?
***Also, from approximately June 2015 onward, Mr. Tchividjian was reportedly involved with emotional and sexual grooming of “Lisa” (from June 2015 through March 2016) as reported by Nate Sparks on his Sparking Conversation blog in a November 21 article and Kara (from September 2014 through September 2016) in a November 23 article. He was also involved, according to several sources, with Stacie Phillips, whom he eventually married in August 2016. According to a November 28, 2016, Christian Post article by Leonardo Blair:
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CBA Sales Data from 2016
None of Tullian Tchividjian’s books have appeared on Christian Living Top 50, or Top 50 Best Sellers, from January through October of 2016. (At the time of initial writing this post — December 4, 2016 — the November 2016 stats have not yet been posted online.)
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Conclusion: Questions About Character
So, what can be concluded from the accumulated set of details provided by the overlapping narratives of multiple women Tullian Tchividjian was reportedly pursuing?
What are key ethical implications of his having perpetrated relational grooming, sexual seduction, and sexual misconduct during the months noted from October 2013 through September 2016?
There seem to be just two ways this could have played out:
(1) Tullian Tchividjian informed David C Cook and his other publishers about his moral failures before they became known publicly, and they either did nothing public about it, or took his books out of print.
— or–
(2) Tullian Tchividjian failed to inform his publishers at the time about his moral failure and they found out at the same time everyone else did, and either did nothing public about it, or took his books out of print. Namely:
* When he was caught in his relationship with Rachel by the I.T. department at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in June 2015.
* When the existence of a previous relationship with a woman in 2014 became known and he was therefore fired from Willow Creek (Presbyterian) Church in March 2016.
* When “Lisa” and “Kara” reported their narratives of emotional-relational-sexual grooming by him in blog articles posted November 2016.
* When a woman he was reportedly in a relationship with from October 2013 until August 2016 became known in a blog article posted December 2016.
Either way, it seems more than reasonable to conclude that his personal life belied his public persona and broke any “moral turpitude” clause in any of his contracts during the periods of his book negotiating, contracting, writing, publishing, and/or promoting of at least One Way Love, and potentially others of his books that were still in publication:
- April 14, 2009 – Do I Know God?: Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship. Multnomah. (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
- June 5, 2012 – Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different. Multnomah (Paperback, ebook, currently in print.)
- October 1, 2012 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
- October 1, 2013 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. David C Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
- March 1, 2014 – Glorious Ruin: How Suffering Sets You Free. David C. Cook. (Paperback, currently in print.)
- May 1, 2014 – One Way Love: Inexhaustible Grace for an Exhausted World. DVD Study. David C Cook. (6 DVD set, currently in print.)
- August 1, 2014 – Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man. Note that the foreword is by Tullian Tchividjian. David C Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
- January 1, 2015 – It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News (Tullian Tchividjian with Nick Lannon). David C. Cook. (Hardcover, currently in print.)
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4. Is David C Cook Still Poised to Publish
A New Book by Tullian Tchividjian?
Will David C Cook be publishing another title from Tullian Tchividjian?
What do they mean when they state they are “committed to [Tullian Tchividjian] and his family as a publisher and will continue to be so”?
Have they issued a contract and an advance for said book?
These and related questions have arisen from reports that began with a post from Warren Throckmorton on September 6, 2016, that Mr. Tchividjian had a book contract from David C Cook. The questions were reinforced by the appearance of an article by Tullian Tchividjian on ExPastors.com on September 23. They became even more prominent in light of the posting of highly specific narratives by three women — “Lisa” (November 22), “Kara” (November 23), and Rachel (November 29-December 1) — about Mr. Tchividjian’s reported emotional and sexual grooming, and, in the case of Rachel, sexual seduction.
An update to a Christian Post December 2 post by Leonardo Blair included an update statement directly from Tim McDonald, David C Cook’s Chief Advancement Officer. This was their first official public comment on the situation. QUOTE:
[…] Tchividjian would not comment on whether he was still attending church with his family or say if his book contract with Christian publisher David C Cook had been affected by the latest revelations.
Tim McDonald, chief advancement officer with David C Cook, told CP on Friday however that nothing has changed.
“Our status with him (Tchividjian) hasn’t changed. We’re committed to him and his family as a publisher and will continue to be so,” he said while declining to comment on an expected release date for the book.
A summary of this comment was posted by Mr. Throckmorton later that same day. QUOTE:
Tchividjian recently remarried, has a book contract with David C. Cook Publishing, and spoke at Spring Hills Community Church in California.
UPDATE: According to the Christian Post, David C. Cook Publishing still plans to publish Tchividjian’s next book, saying the publisher is still committed to Tchividjian and his family. The publisher did not respond to my inquiry on the same topic.
Julie Anne will explore this topic more in Part #4 of this series.
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Timeline Source Links: Blog Articles and News Reports
September 6, 2016. Warren Throckmorton posts, Things I Learned Today: The Mark Driscoll, Tullian Tchividjian, and Dustin Boles Edition. “Tullian Tchividjian got remarried sometime over the weekend of 8/26. He has been in Texas and is working on a book.” This is apparently a book to be published by David C Cook, which published five previous titles by Tullian Tchividjian.
September 23, 2016. ExPastor.com posts the article, God is Not Done with You Yet. And Neither Are We, by Bo Lane. Four days later, ExPastor.com posts an article by Tullian Tchividjian himself, The Freedom in Losing it All, in which he states he considered suicide. Online response to this apparent come-back into the public eye is mixed. As far as who contacted whom first, an October 3, 2016, post by ExPastor Executive Director Greg Atkinson on his blog states the following: “When Tullian Tchividjian reached out to us and I talked with him on the phone …” (What Grace Means to Me.) It’s apparently a come-back to the limelight. After Tullian’s ExPastor.com article is posted, Woman #4/“Kara” continues confronting him about the veracity of his statements; she eventually ends contact with him.
September 30, 2016. The woman from 2013 contacts Julie Anne Smith at Spiritual Sounding Board. This is the third woman reportedly seduced by Tullian Tchividjian to contact Julie Anne for support in dealing with what has happened.
November 21, 2016. June 2015 (approximately) through March 2016 – emotional and sexual of Woman #3/”Lisa.” Tullian Tchividjian contacts Woman #3 – who goes by the name “Lisa” in sharing her story in the post “Do Unto Others” by Nate Sparks on November 22, 2016. According to her narrative of the events, this was “in the late Spring of 2015, during the time shortly after he was officially fired from his position at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church” (June 2015, after the revelation of his clergy sexual abuse of Woman #2/Rachel). According to Lisa’s narrative, Tchividjian was grooming her emotionally and making sexual innuendos. Although this relationship did not cross the line into sexual involvement, Lisa was deeply involved in supporting him on social media and in challenging those who didn’t believe in the sincerity of his repentance process. Lisa was married at the time.
Starting November 22, 2016, some former promoters/protectors of Tullian Tchividjian issue apologies for having not believed the victims (or participating in ganging up on doubters on social media), or issue other kinds of statements, such as that they are disposing of his books, removing links/sermons/podcasts from their website, etc. (See Part #2 for examples and links.) As additional women’s stories are made public, the kinds of responses are amplified as those who’ve been leaders respond publicly.
November 23, 2016. On September 2014 – Tullian Tchividjian meets Woman #4/“Kara” face to face for the first time, at a Christian products Exposition he invited her to on September 21-23. He had connected with her previously via social media. They stay connected through September 2016, mostly by social media, although there are periods of time where they were not communicating much. The account of her interactions with Tullian is presented in “Master of Manipulation” by Nate Sparks on November 23, 2016.
November 29-December 1, 2016. April-May 2015 – emotional grooming of Woman #2/Rachel by Tullian Tchividjian. Part of this relationship with Woman #2/Rachel involved Tullian borrowing money from her and her husband to finance hiring a private investigator to find out if Kim Tchividjian was having an affair. If they paid on his behalf, he could prevent Kim from finding out. The couple used their credit card for payments on April 25, May 1, and May 6, 2015. Despite numerous attempts to get Tullian to repay these funds, and his promises to pay, he kept delaying. Finally, his repayment check for $11,130 arrived approximately 10 months later. It was dated March 18, 2016 – just several days after his illicit sexual relationship from May through July 2014 (with Woman #1) was finally made public. Many details of her experiences and reflections are in a comment by “Anonymous” on the November 22, 2016, post “Do Unto Others” by Nate Sparks. She has chosen to make her full story public on Spiritual Sounding Board, in a four-part series. Here is the link to Part 1. End of May through end of June 2015 – Tullian Tchividjian is involved sexually with Woman #2/Rachel. She was married at the time, and also a congregational member at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC).
December 1, 2016. Warren Throckmorton. Statement: Former Church Says Tullian Tchividjian Should Not Be in Ministry, by Warren Throckmorton. Included a December 2 update about the Christian Post article with a quote from an official at David C Cook.
December 2, 2016. The Christian Post. Tullian Tchividjian Says His Family Is ‘Fighting to Breathe’; Book Publisher Remains ‘Committed’, by Leonardo Blair.
December 2, 2016. Julie Anne contacts David C Cook about apparent contradictory information re: a next book by Tullian Tchividjian. (See Part #4.)
December 4, 2016. Dee Parsons of The Wartburg Watch tweets that she is ready to never purchase another David C Cook product again, because of Tullian Tchividjian.
Between December 4 and 6, 2016, David C Cook finally updates their catalog’s author profile for Tullian Tchividjian. It clearly has not been updated since at least June 2015, because it mentioned him being Senior Pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, being married to Kim, and living in Florida. (Note: This change overlaps the few days in which multiple dramatic actions were made by survivor bloggers, former promoters, and the Board of GRACE.)
December 5, 2016. Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian notes that he is pulling all Tullian-related materials off of his website.
December 5, 2016. Pirate Christian. A Call to Repentance is issued by a group of 7 men and 2 women who have been closely associated with Tullian Tchividjian’s ministry in the recent past. (One man, Scotty Smith, later drops out of the signers.) “Inasmuch as Tullian Tchividjian has habitually and impenitently used his public platform, his family’s good name, and the name of Christ for his own selfish ends, we believe that he has disqualified himself from any form of public vocational ministry” (emphasis added).
December 8, 2016. Spiritual Sounding Board. GRACE Releases Statement Regarding Tullian Tchividjian – Supports Victims, Challenges Churches with Constructive Changes. Signers include Tullian Tchividjian’s brother, Boz (founder of GRACE) and their uncle, Emmanuel. Links to GRACE social media sites and their statement: Facebook. Squarespace. Twitter.
* * * * * * *
5. Christian Publishers,
“Moral Turpitude” Clauses, and Author Accountability
A comment from Irene in the Partial Timeline post raised some important points about publishers and accountability. Here are her comment, plus a response from brad/futuristguy. The conclusion is that publishers may not be accountability partners for their authors, but they can still hold their authors accountable. That is what “moral turpitude” clauses are about.
Irene – November 23, 2016 @ 8:23 PM
Everyone needs to understand that Christian publishing is just publishing–no employee there has your back or serves as your accountability partner for what you read. It used to be more obvious that each denomination had its own publishing arm. Name changes has made that less obvious and in addition some major Christian publishers have been purchased as imprints of secular publishers. WaterBrook and Multnomah have been part of Penguin Random House since 2006. Tyndale Thomas Nelson and Zondervan are imprints of HarperCollins Christian. Crossway (formerly Good News Publishers) is nonprofit, but the publisher’s signature accomplishment is the ESV Bible. This guy was a Presbyterian so he wouldn’t have the same publisher as a charismatic like Joyce Meyer.
brad/futuristguy – November 23, 2016 @ 9:00 PM
@Irene. Yes, the industry has shifted hugely in the last 15 years especially. One of my reasons for listing publications was as an indicator of someone having a public platform, i.e., evidence of them being a “limited public figure” in case of defamation lawsuits. (Something we all learned from the lawsuit Julie Anne endured.)
Another reason I listed his books is that many if not most Christian publishers likely still have some kind of “moral turpitude” clause to address situations of moral failure by authors. Tullian Tchividjian seemed to be constantly in the process of working on a next book, from 2009 through January 2015 — even if they were recycled material from his sermons. The illicit sexual relationship with “Woman #1” in May through July of 2014 and the subsequent two years of keeping silent about it publicly until it was revealed in March 2016 overlaps a period when he had two books published, one each by Crossway and David C Cook. We don’t know if he told his publishers about his sexual misconduct. If he did, they apparently did nothing about it. If he didn’t, wouldn’t they have had just cause to do something about it?
So … while a publisher may not be an accountability partner for an author, it certainly could still hold an author accountable — cancel contracts, withdraw books, release notices, etc. Authors’ reputations and those of their publishers are intertwined …
This post by [author/agent] Steve Laube from 2011 has come up a few times from friends of mine in Christian publishing businesses. It may be of interest for more detail, including some of the shifts that happened when Christian publishers got absorbed by secular media companies.
Julie Anne will explore this topic more in Part #4 of this series.
UPDATE 12-21-2016. Regarding the reference to Tyndale House Publishers in Irene’s comment above, an SSB reader alerted us that it is Thomas Nelson, not Tyndale, that is part of HarperCollins, and that this division with Thomas Nelson and Zondervan imprints is now known as HarperCollins Christian Publishing. We are correcting the information here and where it originally appeared in the comment on the Partial Timeline post. To that reader, thank you for letting us know!
Spiritual Sounding Board 
If a Christian publisher is a subsidiary of a mainstream, secular publisher, how easily could they cancel a contract without being sued?
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In other words, some of the publishers could be caught in the middle of a situation they can’t fix.
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Linn, that’s why there are moral turpitude clauses which protect publishers from situations like this.
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It’s my understand that, in general, Christian publishers that are owned by secular media conglomerates — and that has become much more frequent — are run as independent organizations/publishing imprints with their own editorial staff, market, contracts, etc.
Of the three publishers of books by Tullian Tchividjian, two are their own non-profit corporations (Crossway and David C Cook) and one is owned by a conglomerate (Multnomah – Penguin Random House). I think “moral turpitude” clauses may exist in a lot of secular publishing houses as well.
CROSSWAY. The purpose of Crossway has been, from its founding as a not-for-profit ministry in 1938, to publish gospel-centered, Bible-centered content that will honor our Savior and serve his Church.
https://www.crossway.org/who-we-are/
DAVID C COOK. David C Cook is a nonprofit organization dedicated to publishing and distributing leadership and discipleship resources to help Christians all over the world grow in their faith and pass it on to the next generation. We call this “DiscipleShaping”. We were established in 1875 by David Caleb Cook in Chicago, IL.
http://www.davidccook.com/about/about/
MULTNOMAH. WaterBrook and Multnomah are two imprints of Penguin Random House. WaterBrook was launched in September 1996 as an autonomous publishing imprint of Doubleday with the intent to publish books for Christians.
http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/about-us/
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Looking in the usual places (Amazon, Christian Book), I don’t see that a new title is forthcoming. This doesn’t mean there isn’t a contract, it just may mean that if Tullian is writing another book, it’s not far enough in the process to blurb it as forthcoming, put up a link for orders, that sort of thing. And publishers will do it for books coming out a fairly long time in the future. I have a book on order from Amazon, which I ordered in 2015, scheduled for publication in May 2016. The book is now scheduled for publication in November 2017. (Given that it’s about current events, that’s understandable.) But seriously, publishers like to get preorders, so they can judge initial print runs and all that.
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What a piece of garbage the so-called “Christian” publishing industry is anyways. Who is it who thinks they have the right and inspiration to add one jot or tittle to the Bible? I hope they all go down in flames and bankruptcy and that people just start reading the Bible and praying to Jesus and forget every Youtube pseudo-Christian celebrity and just start following Jesus. The world would be better if they all simply ceased to exist.
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Truth Detector.
I couldn’t scream YES loud enough to your comment.
It’s been a few years since I walked away from teachers and books.
It’s amazing I’m actually managing to love God, my neighbour, my children AND even my husband without having to pay for wise counsel from those who suppose themselves to be teachers.
It’s all comes down to choice.
Walk with God (who is Spirit) or do not.
How terrifying to stand before the Lord and account for misleading his sheep.
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Salty.
“Counseling” (ACBC, etc.) is one of the vilest and most unnatural and ungodly things to have come out of NOT walking with God. Big deal, so these special “counselors” are “certified” and have knowledge that you, Salty, will never have because you are not in the loop, or in their special, man-made “club.” Bah! My plumber is also certified, and the guy who comes checking on the gas now and then is too. At least these souls know what they are doing, and I can actually trust them. And they don’t think they are superior because of a silly piece of paper.
Salty, you’re right: Walk with God, or walk with man. These are the two different choices, which, also have two different endings, guaranteed.
Blessings, Salty; rest those knitting hands!
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BL, recently a self professed pastor I know ‘resigned’ from his JOB due to being caught out as a dodgy labourer. Guess what his ‘side gig’ is?
Biblical counselling.
Truly it is a case of the blind leading the blind.
Do you think the elders in that ‘fold’ have notified the BC association which he ‘serves’ on?
My guess is not.
As if God is going to use any man or woman who elevates themselves.
side note: someone bought 15mm circulars today 🙋
Haha
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Truth Detector– as one who has worked with Christian publishing for more than 20 years i take offense at you calling it a piece of garbage.
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