Questions for the Town Hall Meeting

Welcome to De-Commissioned, a place for former members of the Great Commission movement (aka GCM, GCC, GCAC, GCI, the Blitz) to discuss problems they've experienced in the association's practices and theology.

You may read and post, but some features are restricted to registered members. Please consider registering to gain full access! Registration is free and only takes a few moments to complete.

[Linda]

Here are a few questions I would ask at a town hall meeting. What would you ask?

Were any elders ever aware of MD meeting alone with any women?

If yes, which elders and how many women were they aware of?
What were the circumstances in each case?
What at action was taken?

What pastors were aware of the meeting with Suzanne and her counselor?
Did that meeting involve any allegations of improper sexual conduct? You said Kathy was at that meeting. Why was she there?What was decided at that meeting?

In the mid-90’s MD was placed on a leave of absence. Why was this?

Has ECC or its representative ever offered to pay or paid anyone any money in exchange for a signed non disclosure agreement of any kind? If so, why? How much money? How many times?

Question for MD. When I mentioned how loyal the pastors were to each other and said the loyalty was so deep a pastor could have an affair and the congregation would not know about it you told me that you were SURE it had happened. What did you mean by that? Did you ever know of a situation where that happened? Did you ever have an affair?

Did you ever counsel/talk to/be with women alone in your basement? In your car? In the woods? On a trail? Anyplace?
If so, why? Did you ever touch any woman during these meetings? Shoulder, back, knee, leg, other? Did you ever hug any woman while alone with them? Did you ever engage in inappropriate sexual behavior of any kind with any woman while an elder?

For ECC elders. Do you believe these women are lying?

Have you ever heard this type of allegation before? If so when and what did you do?

Why did you wait a month after Suzanne’s first tweet before telling your congregation?

Why was your first response defensive? Are you aware that the first response of a humble church who claimed this was the first time they heard these accusations would be something in the order of: We have become aware of allegations of sexual impropriety on the part of MD. We take all allegations seriously and are reaching out to Suzanne to help her find a safe place where she can tell us her story.” It would not be, you were fully heard in this matter.

Who is on the Board of Trustees? How did they get there? Were they appointed? If so, by whom? The pastors? If so are they really independent of the pastors?

[freisetzen]

These are great questions, Linda. I wish so much I could be a fly on the wall in that meeting. Is anyone who's going willing to live-tweet the townhall for us who can't be there? Or put it on YouTube live or FB live?

[margaret]

Great in theory. It would hinge completely on their being honest.

I highly doubt that they would be.

[UserNumber123]

Because Scout's allegations of sexual abuse towards Mark Darling have been brought up in this thread, it seems relevant to include Jeromy's response:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcue3qxv4bc2upk/The%20Reckoning.pdf?dl=0

[Digital Lynch Mob]

And since Scout stated that she wanted to be there at such a meeting maybe we could ask a couple questions of her.

1. Mark Darling has the infamous letter she and John wrote him 18 years ago. Jeromy D stated that the letter contained no reference whatsoever to sexual abuse or sexual misconduct of any kind. So Scout, did the letter reference sexual abuse?
2. We've also heard that the topic of sexual abuse never came up with her counselor. Is this true and if so, how can that be?
3. Close friends of the van Dykes at the time are on record as saying the topic of sexual abuse never came up. Is this true Suzanne?
4. If these things are true, how is it that 18 years later scout's story has changed so dramatically - completely in fact?
5. Was John complicit in this? If he knew there was sexual abuse of his wife why did he stay in the church? Why wouldn't have have done something to protect his wife?