Re: The Living Word Fellowship, The Walk, John Robert Stevens
Date: September 23, 2018 08:39AM
Howmidoing: My heart breaks for you. I would hope your parents would be loving and protective of you no matter where you stood on the status of the TLWF churches and maybe they do. I am glad you felt comfort from them and I hope it continues.
For Gary to correct the problems with the church he would need to go back to 1983 and reverse every action that was taken to line someone's pockets, to shun people who knew too much, to tell lies about doing what JRS wanted, to recover all funds that went to fund little Ricky's playgrounds (party houses, bars at all the churches, studio (building and operating), Xmas truck, wiring in churches and homes for the purpose of listening in/spying, the list is very, very long.
In addition, the people who volunteered their time to work on little Ricky's toys should be reimbursed for lost wages.
The women who were groped, sexually abused, groomed, disrespected, subjected to heinous seduction tactics whether the tactics were successful or not -- they should be given a settlement that would make up for the years of damage done to them. The cost of therapy. The loss of enjoyment of life. And any other message by which to measure the years of life destroyed by a sociopath who earned money from the church stole money from the church (i.e. from peoples' offerings), used any materials, equipment or funds of the church he wanted to create his various Disneyland playgrounds, and again this list should be very, very long.
Add to Rick's list of horribles the failure of the church to train its ministers and teachers regarding the mandatory reporting requirements of California when abuse is shown in a child or suspected. I have heard COL doesn't train its teachers in this area. Schools, publi8c and private, usually have a training class for teachers about spotting and reporting abuse. COL and the other schools (Shiloh, OC, SD, etc.) just told people it wasn't that big a deal and to just move forward. WHAT??!!
Every person in a place of leadership must answer the questions: Why did you participate in this? How do you think it can be fixed? Don't you think you should step down?
Also - Administrative leave is less than a hand slap. It is a paid vacation. It has been done in the past and has always resulted in Rick being restored to his former position of influence and given continued access to money and people.
If you would like more information, please PM me and I will be happy to talk to you more.