Mona's Story Part 2

This blog is for the silenced, the marginalized, and the victims of the many types of abuse that the leadership and members of Liberty Church in O'Fallon Missouri have inflicted on their members and any who opposed their love for control. These are the stories of the witnesses:

Mona's Story Part 2

"So after John and I got married we continued to attend North County Community Church for a couple of years. My oldest son, Matthew, was born while we were members there. During that time David Vaughan went on their paid staff part time (as an elder? I don’t remember his title) and occasionally preached. At the time he preached Jesus. Inspiring sermons. Somewhere I still have notes from his sermons, filled with great quotes. I remember he wanted to be in full time ministry and once from the pulpit he said, “Give me 40 hours and I’ll give you Chuck Swindall.” (Swindall was a popular Christian author at the time.)

John and I struggled in our marriage from the start. We were not a good match. I went through a dark time and did some things that I’m really ashamed of. I confessed and sought counseling from David Vaughan. We only had a couple of sessions and although we did not take steps that would be taken in professional therapy, I truly repented of my behavior and never got involved in those things again. David kept what I had done confidential and I am grateful for that.

The drive from O’Fallon, where we were living, to Berkeley where the church was, became an issue. We found a church closer to home in St Peters that we liked and went there for a while. However, the pastor retired and several of our friends left and it just didn’t seem like the same church anymore. And then we found out that North County Community Church was planting a church in St Peters: Christ Community Church, pastored by David Vaughan and Guy Sargent. One thing that was important in the church structure of CCC was the concept of a plurality of elders (pastor = elder in their belief system) to provide checks and balances – and to share the work load. So David and Guy were co-pastors. But David had an office in the building and Guy did not. David preached most of the time. David was full time, while Guy had a different job. It FELT like David was the Senior or Lead Pastor. I think most people viewed him that way. There were also men from the Moriah days as deacons and the music leader.

John and I quickly joined CCC and the music team. By this time, my second child, Mary had been born. The first day we attended, I ran into an old friend (my dad had baptized him years before) who wanted me to meet someone, the pastor. Something about the way he said it to me indicated that there was this deep admiration and that he had a special relationship with David. Yes, I read a lot into it, but still feel I discerned it correctly. I had seen this before and would see it again. People, including and especially me, often idolized David.

We loved CCC: the people, the preaching, the music. Mindy and Jimmy (child 3 & 4) were both born while we were there. We became friends with the Cummings, the Fisters, the Feils, the Wilsons, the Jaegers, the Kinseys, the Wards, the Kotyks and many others that became a part of Liberty Church later on. We reunited with many old friends from the Moriah days as well. When we went to the leadership with a huge financial crisis, they gave us a substantial sum of money to help.

After being there a few years we started noticing people leaving but no one said anything. It was like Cowslip’s Warren in Watership Down. You just didn’t talk about it – like they had never existed in the first place. It felt weird. I also began to notice that people were feeling let down by the actions of David Vaughan. Sometimes it just seemed their expectations were so high that they were bound to be disappointed. David did not necessarily go to the hospital if you were ill. That went so against the grain of the expectations of a pastor to many. I found myself defending his (lack of) actions to family and friends.

We largely had a 20-30 something demographic and most of us started homeschooling around the same time. There are a lot of great things about homeschooling, but there were/are also some dogmatic – even cultish – things in the movement as well. There is a culture, a belief system, that came along with those of us that homeschool(ed): large families (Quiverfull Movement), a distrust/fear) of the state (public schools and child protective services especially), patriarchy (even though some major influences were women), homesteading, denim jumpers, women with long hair, family business, living off the grid, food co-ops, courtship rather than dating, etc. These things influenced CCC even if they weren’t all fully embraced. I was the leader of the CCC homeschoolers.

David’s sermons became more stern. More reconstructionist. He preached some pro-life sermons which some felt were political and not appropriate. David also began to focus more on writing. He was working on his first book, Give Me Liberty, about Patrick Henry. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but I guess a philosophical divide was developing. There seemed to be an increasing emphasis on authority and hierarchy in the church. What I was aware of was that people were hurting and feeling like their needs were unmet. I remember in my devotion time, being struck by the passage from Ezekial 34 about false shepherds and feeling like it described CCC to chilling perfection.

So, one Sunday I was there, working in the nursery. John had stayed home. I had my baby, Jimmy, with me. The nursery shift was VERY long. Finally, one of the teen girls in the church came to relieve me so that I could be in the service and know what was going on. One of the deacons (maybe an elder by then, not sure) was behind the pulpit moderating a conversation. David was standing up in the front row talking about how they were threatening his career and ability to provide for his family. People were shouting out accusations and defenses. I remember Todd Jaeger yelling, “Let’s get to the part where we can the Pastor.”

There were quite a few things shared that indicated that David had a pattern of being manipulative, dishonest and not respectful of the process when attempting to get things done. The leadership wanted David to have some counseling. They said they were not trying to fire him, just to help him.

At the time, being mostly unaware of what they were talking about, I felt like they were attacking David with petty and trumped up issues. How dare they attack God’s anointed! They said there was a pattern that we needed to see. I wrote them a stinging letter defending David and calling them out for not strictly following the Matthew 18 process. (I’ve since learned that Mt 18 is not the one size fits all solution for everything.) John and I talked to David and Diane, but we really didn’t try to hear the “other side” – some of whom were our closest friends. I guess we didn’t want to be confused with the facts. So we certainly didn’t follow Matthew 18! In fact, I did some impassioned pleading with people that were on the fence and at least a couple of families ended up and Liberty that were initially very unsure of the right course to take.

I wish that I had heeded that pattern the CCC leadership alluded to. A pattern that went unchecked and has now contributed to many broken relationships. I regret that I never made an attempt to listen impartially to everyone involved. I had to compartmentalize the fact that I knew there were deep problems into separate recesses of my mind from my loyalty and unquestioning following of DJV. Something I’ve noticed is that most of DJV’s older friends (except John & I) did not continue the journey with him to Liberty Church.

Many years later, I apologized to several of these people. And for anyone else that I’ve harmed but not asked forgiveness, please know that I am deeply sorry and ask your forgiveness now."

Do you have a story to tell? Has Liberty Church hurt you? Email your story to petertkintz@gmail.com and I will have it posted!