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Author Topic: Rock - Ft Collins, Jack - leader convicted of sex assault  (Read 18568 times)
graceforall
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« on: January 09, 2009, 06:33:19 pm »

If anyone was connected to Jack at the Rock in Fort Collins - trying to piece something together but can't remember if this mess happened in 2001 or 2002 or the last name of Jack.  He was a leader who was publically excommunicated and convicted of sexual assault.  Leaders of the Rock told the whole church he was preying on church members.   (I happen to know this was true first hand)   I want to be sensitive to those who were victimized and I'm not sure it is best to post this on public forum.  Please please if you remember or are connected to this at all - please leave out the names of any victims!!!  But if you are connected - do you remember if the public excommunicating of Jack - was that in 2002?  or his last name?  I honestly just can not remember.  I am trying to find a record because of something that has happened in the new town I live in.   
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Grounded
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« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2009, 10:52:57 pm »

 I was there when that happened. I was a small group leader and it definately was a big concern. Jack was not even close to being a leader. Steve Bush told the leadership core what was happening with him. There was no excommunication that took place because he went to jail. In fact he should still be in jail
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G_Prince
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« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2009, 08:12:10 am »

In defense of GCx, this is common to nearly every church/denomination/whathaveyou around...just look at the catholic church. How The Rock handled the situation is probably what counts. Did they protect their members or was there some strain of "GCxness" which made it easier for this man to act as a predator?
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Here's an easy way to find out if you're in a cult. If you find yourself asking the question, "am I in a cult?" the answer is yes. -Stephen Colbert
Grounded
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« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2009, 10:46:38 pm »

Everything was handled well and swiftly once it came to light.
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theresearchpersona
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« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2009, 05:32:26 pm »

Everything was handled well and swiftly once it came to light.

Sure it was: too controversial, too damning and embarrassing, not to be. Now how about the same for all those people GC keeps running over when they're told the leaders are also subject to God's word like everyone else?
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graceforall
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« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2011, 01:22:10 pm »

It was not handled well.

When I, and a small group leader, went to the leadership about Jack, they ignored us.  They were well aware that he was getting underage girls drunk.  They confronted him and he promisted to change.  We tried to say how extreme the drinking was - this was not something someone could usually just quit cold turkey.   We were concerned with his closeness with girls...  Ironic for a church that preached no dating.  The leaders assured us they had "disciplined" Jack, whatever that meant.  The small group leader quit the church, and I soon did as well... but my roommates didn't...  until one of them was date raped by Jack...  They may or may not have known it went further than that - but that should have been enough to do more than just confront him.

She refused to go to the police until weeks later.  In the meantime, I went back to the church with two friends from outside the church, and this time we asked to speak to a different leader.  I told the leader all that had happened and he took swift action, and got the police involved, right as we sat there.   

Soon it was over... for Jack...  And after the police arrested him, the leader got up in front of the Rock and warned people...

That leader that called the police is no longer with that church, due to events that happened in the following year that were not directly connect to anything with Jack, but all the other leaders are still there.  People who routinely kick people out missed this guy big time and the whole mess destroyed lives, hearts, and is a horrible confusing mess that many women are still hurting from. 

Don't tell me it was handled well.  Nothing like THAT handled "swfitly" is being handled well. 

What about my former-roommates?  One is still so horrified...  Because of the drugs he was slipping into the drinks, some things will never be known for sure.  And those leaders covered up well known alcohol abuse, telling the female small group leader, me, and my friends/rommates to submit. 

That is not ok. 

Don't you dare tell me everything is ok with what happened.  Don't you dare.  You have no idea how deep those kinds of wounds go and how those things are very rarely something that happens totally out of the blue. 


He was tossed into jail once they found him raping high school girls in a hotel room with date rape drugs. 

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AgathaL'Orange
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« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2011, 07:15:02 pm »

There are no words!  This brings more to light.  In many ways the GC lesson of submitting to leaders could contribute to victimization.  This is a very extreme example of this, but oh, the pain this must have caused.  Also, it is NOT compassionate or gracious to forgive people so quickly and put them back in leadership.  Sometimes this happens with women dating harmful men.  "I know he was an addict up till three years ago, but he's SAVED now!"  Wisdom tells us to be more discerning!  This is completely inappropriate for ANYONE with accusations of sexual impropriety, or abuse, or the like to be in leadership until it is completely investigated!
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wastedyearsthere
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« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2011, 07:15:34 am »

What is "Jacks" last name?  What happened to him?  I knew of a Jack from Fort Collins and hoping this was NOT him.......
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Primrose
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« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2012, 10:41:39 pm »

Hello I'm new here and saw this post and just had to speak up. I remember Jack. We hung out a bit especially around the time when the rapes and sexual assaults were coming to light. It was an awful thing and an awful time. Honestly I can't tell you how the leadership reacted to the situation since at that time as I was not a leader and privy to their special information. But I do remember my personal experience. I liked Jack, I thought he was funny and fun to be around. It seemed to me that perhaps there was something deeper and perhaps a little dark going on with him but I ignored these feelings because the leadership seemed to trust him, so I did too. I thought he was safe.

I remember the girls (really they were girls, sisters, ages 14 and 17 if I remember correctly). One of them was often a guest in my home and our small group had taken her on as a "special project".  Again I felt something was going but couldn't put my finger on it...then the bombshell. Jack had sexually assaulted my friend and her sister. I can't describe to you the pain and confusion I had. The information that was made public was pretty cryptic with details I won't get into here. But it all seemed to happen quickly and before I knew it Jack was in jail for what seemed to be a really long time. I think perhaps there was more to his history..maybe more rapes, I can't remember.

With that being said Jack was not a leader and never formally ex-communicated from what I remember, he just went straight to jail and we never spoke of him again. There was a brief talk about what had happened with a warning to watch out for predators among our church but it all came too little too late.
I hope this sheds a little light onto the situation.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2012, 10:47:00 pm by Primrose » Logged
araignee19
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« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2012, 10:59:15 am »

Wow. I was a member and leader in Fort Collins for 5 years, from 2006-2011. I never heard anything about this.

Now I wouldn't want any church parading this kind of thing around, by any means. Nor would I want them revealing information about the victims or anything like that. But I can think of multiple times where pastors/other leaders bragged that this church was so godly, and that it didn't suffer from the kinds of sins in leadership you see in other churches (like adultery and such). To point out those flaws in other churches and not even acknowledge that anything had happened is arrogant and ignoring the past. How do they expect to learn from this kind of thing if no one even knows it happened?

Maybe they shouldn't have said anything, but something about the fact that I was a member for 5 years, and leading for 3 of those years, but never heard a peep to indicate they had ever had problems like this bothers me. 
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coolerthanme
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« Reply #10 on: July 23, 2012, 06:42:04 pm »

Was his name Jack Sherwood?
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Grounded
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« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2012, 02:27:44 pm »

No, it was not.
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2xA Ron
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« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2013, 11:09:57 pm »

I was there 2008-early 2012 and I also heard nothing about it, though I wasn't a leader (I was too contentious).  I'm troubled that the whole incident just got buried and forgotten so quickly, but at the same time I'm sadly not surprised.  That church and the Rock especially do not seem to want to learn from their past, nor remember it.  I can't think of one concrete discussion of the church's or the movement's history while I was there, not even in the membership class (yes, they had a class, with a binder full of material you were supposed to know and endorse before you joined).  There were some vague allusions that came up in some people's anecdotes, but no specifics.  I don't even know who started that church or their college ministry or when.

Those who don't learn history are condemned to repeat it...and this is definitely not a part of their history that ever should be repeated, much less have happened in the first place.  Sad
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NatalieV
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« Reply #13 on: September 16, 2015, 08:19:17 pm »

I recently received a friend request from Jack on Facebook. His location is listed as Hong Kong, so I assume he is no longer in jail. I haven't accepted the request, but several friends did.
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