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Author Topic: A Summary of Suzanne van Dyck's allegations against Mark Darling and Evergreen  (Read 11890 times)
CIPHER
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« on: February 23, 2018, 11:04:57 pm »

Hello,

I feel it has become difficult for many to track the ongoing dispute between Suzanne van Dyck & Mark Darling and Evergreen Church. To address this, I have created a summary of Suzanne van Dyck's allegations against Mark Darling and Evergreen church, as well as public details from the ongoing dispute. I will update this document as frequently as I am able.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TrSJIsI21qvEA1vHuWr0VZU5jDjEIPqYU63XJN5WqfA/edit?usp=sharing

This document:

- Provides a summary of allegations, responses, and claims made by both Suzanne van Dyck & Evergreen Church.
- Offers all information in the order the information was published, with the exception of Evergreen's official statements, which are included after the Introduction.

If you find any errors in this document, please contact me through a private message, or reply to this post, or e-mail me at gcxcipher@gmail.com

- CIPHER

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Linda
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« Reply #1 on: February 24, 2018, 09:26:30 am »

Welcome, Cipher.

Wow, this was a lot of work!

Thank you so much for taking the time to organize all this.
« Last Edit: February 24, 2018, 09:34:43 am by Linda » Logged

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
Rebel in a Good Way
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« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2018, 09:56:08 am »

Cipher, you better be careful or you will be recruited as a paralegal in a law firm, they love work like this!  I haven't checked it over yet, but assuming it is accurate, thanks for the summary.  I have been following from day 1 so I feel I have a good understanding of what has happened, but a succinct summary and timeline will clarify things for others!
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blonde
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« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2018, 09:53:50 pm »

Love the Matrix name, CIPHER!

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Digital Lynch Mob
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« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2018, 10:58:38 am »

That's a lot of work Cipher. Unfortunately it doesn't answer any of these questions.

In light of recent information coming forward, it seems reasonable to ask these questions of the accuser.

1. Mark Darling has the 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?

4. If these things are true, how is it that 18 years later scout's story has changed so dramatically?

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? Why didn't they bring charges against Mark?

6. In one of your somewhat graphic accusations, you say Mark invited you over so you would hear he and Kathy have sex in the basement. Since the basement wasn't where their bedroom is please explain. More importantly, are you saying Kathy was a party to this "abuse?" And do you expect us to believe that quiet Kathy has loud sex with her husband while guests are in the house?

7. Was the $60K you reference as hush money to be paid to you personally or was it a severance package for your husband who was leaving the church after a decade of being a Pastor?
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Soul
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« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2018, 10:53:26 am »

Yeah I don't like the church myself but I have doubts of what she is saying. I first want to see the money trail. Where did all the million dollars go and for what? If this is true where are all the people who are also speaking up about this abuse. The news just made it sound as if all she said was true but didn't even show the churches point of view. I hate biases. I admit it all can be true what she said but I'm not going to just flat out believe it. I know a million dollars can easily change a person and what they want to follow or believe in. Then about the church saying don't talk to this person and family if that is true it's suspicious and not scriptural. It does say to stop talking to one who is in sin and won't turn from their sin(s) but that's after the church has a hand in getting them to repent and their refusal to repent. The pastors wouldn't be hiding anything if this was happening.
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Wrestling
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« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2018, 10:02:09 am »

Hello,

I feel it has become difficult for many to track the ongoing dispute between Suzanne van Dyck & Mark Darling and Evergreen Church. To address this, I have created a summary of Suzanne van Dyck's allegations against Mark Darling and Evergreen church, as well as public details from the ongoing dispute. I will update this document as frequently as I am able.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TrSJIsI21qvEA1vHuWr0VZU5jDjEIPqYU63XJN5WqfA/edit?usp=sharing

This document:

- Provides a summary of allegations, responses, and claims made by both Suzanne van Dyck & Evergreen Church.
- Offers all information in the order the information was published, with the exception of Evergreen's official statements, which are included after the Introduction.

If you find any errors in this document, please contact me through a private message, or reply to this post, or e-mail me at gcxcipher@gmail.com

- CIPHER



Holy cow! This is so helpful! How did this get so buried? I was having trouble just getting straight who had said what and when. Thank you, Cipher!
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DarthVader
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« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2018, 11:58:14 am »

It is good, although events have overtaken it a little.  Since then, the fox9 news story aired, in which Suzanne discussed her allegations and another woman (Natalie) also shared her allegation.  The news story (link below) also indicated that fox9 spoke to another woman off-camera and shared some text of her allegations in the news story.   Another woman posted on Suzanne's FB page that after seeing the article she reached out to ECC leadership and shared her story as well (you can find it on Suzanne's FB page pretty easily). I'm sure I'm not being comprehensive.  Links below to the fox9 story and evergreen's update page (last update May 3):

http://www.fox9.com/news/investigators/churchtoo-women-accuse-minnesota-pastor-of-inappropriate-conduct

http://www.evergreenchurch.com/update/

At this point, the working believe is that 4 women have shared some form of allegation with the ECC investigator - Natalie, interviewed by fox 9, "victim's A&C" (stories shared by Suzanne on her FB page) and the woman who reached out to Suzanne on FB by name.  None of that has been confirmed by Evergreen though so officially we have no idea how many, if any, women have share allegations with the investigator or what evidence has been offered to dispute the allegations.  Suzanne is not 1 of the 4 women as she has chosen not to participate in the investigation - if she ever does chose to participate (doubtful) she would be #5.

The estimate is the investigation will be complete in the next few weeks.  Decisions will then be made by the Evergreen Church Board of Trustees.  The board is composed of Jim Bird (Finance Director) and Lynn Newman (Operations director) who are both full time church staff. in addition to 5 lay persons (1 from each Evergreen location).  

If you want the other side of the story, Mark's son Jeromy posted a document called "The Reckoning" disputing the allegations and numerous folks on here could also give you a list of reasons they think the allegations are untrue.

Some of us are concerned that The Board of Trustees (other than Jim and Lynn, who are on staff) has chosen to remain anonymous. This is an outlier vs. most (all?) other church boards including other boards that have dealt with similar issues (e.g., Willow Creek).  We are also concerned that the 5 lay members of the Board were not elected by each location, but hand picked by the pastors, several of which are the subject of either the coverup or misconduct allegations.  Some would strongly disagree with these concerns, so make up your own mind if this feels like an independent structure or not.

Mark has not commented, but his children have, some of whom are (very) active on this forum.  I would guess the church has asked Mark not to comment given the pending investigation, so I personally draw no negative inferences (and view it as a positive for his character) that he has not commented.  There have also been NUMEROUS expressions of support for Mark's character and positive impact on people's lives, marriages, etc. (none of which is at all disputed that I am aware of)...So that's a quick update to what you see in the summary. I'm sure I've left out much and offended many, so feel free to provide your own perspectives if led to do so.
« Last Edit: May 11, 2018, 12:32:56 pm by DarthVader » Logged
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