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:
*When I attempted two years ago to let the congregation at Liberty know about the sins of the leadership there, only one person responded. Tom Piper, a deacon, emailed me to say that I better be sure of my case before I brought up a charge against "god's elect". When I said I had witnesses and was sure, he never responded. None of them did. They all had a meeting, to which we were not invited, to declare me insane and in sin though. It has been three weeks, the stories from the witnesses are becoming public because they will not listen, and they have not yet contacted any of us. Liberty, that speaks volumes.
Jo Ann's Story Part 2
"The church prided itself in picketing the local video shop, because the shop had a back room filled with porn films that could be rented. David would preach about this on occasion, and I remember one day in particular. He brought to the pulpit, a pornographic video, preaching against the use of underage girls in the films. Maybe it was just me, but I was confused on several points. The first point is why did he need to bring the film into the church? The second, how would he know about such a practice? The third, did preaching against this practice justify supporting it by renting the film and was that not hypocritical, given the picketing his church supported? Finally, the video within his possession placed him in the precarious position of having watched it. In the name of God, or not, going near pornography in this manner is wrong. He was not exempted from the rules he placed on the rest of the congregation. Yet, his bold preaching that day certainly indicated that he was.
Another interesting characteristic was that David had an invested manner of aligning himself with people of greater statue, such as George Grant, Doug Wilson, Gene Veith, and Marshall Foster, and protecting those relationships for himself. George Grant was a guest speaker for Liberty Classical School. The board worked tirelessly, promoting the event, preparing for a reception afterward, and looking forward with time to speak with Dr. Grant. When the time arrived, David did not arrange ample time for the board to spend alone with George Grant, instead hosting Dr. Grant on his own. It was a confusing moment for some of the members on the board, and one of the first turning points on how my husband viewed his mentor and friend, Dr. David J. Vaughan. Instead of creating time that would promote the school, Dr. Vaughan created time with George Grant that would promote himself.
On two occasions during our membership with Liberty, the Deacons called a meeting to discuss the finances of the church. Liberty Church was dramatically behind in the budget. They called the men of the congregation to rise and help meet the deficit by donating contributions. My husband rose, as did two other men in the congregation, and agreed to donate $3000 each to help meet the gap. Let me share, the request came with such guilt upon the men, I was impressed only three stood up. We donated, but only by using money from an equity line, that then put us in debt. This practice occurred again. This time, I don’t remember anyone from our family standing up. This hit me as off, from a church that preached no debt, and being fiscally responsible.
Slowly, the church was gaining momentum in the community. David was asked to speak at different events, we actively supported local politicians, and were becoming noted for our conservative, unapologetic stand on issues such as abortion, alternative life choices, and pornography. Our position on the outside of the church, began to manifest itself on the operations of the inside of the church. Unwritten rules were beginning to be encouraged. Women were not to show their shoulders, wear short skirts, expose their toes, cut their hair. All of this was explained to me by Diane Vaughan, and role modeled appropriately. None of it was written, but the expectation was if you loved Jesus, you would follow these acts to be closer to God, and protect yourself from men’s wandering eyes to commit a sin by lusting for you. I failed miserably, on purpose, on all of these accounts. The red flags were beginning to rise though my soul, and although I did not give voice to my feelings, my actions spoke my heart. The rumblings had begun, and the allegiance to the Vaughan Dynasty was beginning to crumble. And in their eyes, there was certainly the possibility that my heart toward Jesus was failing.
David Vaughan would pride himself in the story of his own marriage, and how he taught Diane the lesson of submission. He simply asked her to teach on it, so she would immerse herself into the word, under his guidance, to see where she fell short of submission in her own marriage. Certainly, as a godly role model, she would self correct. This, coupled with the following story, seemed to embarrass Diane into the perfect submissive wife. David spoke of a gathering around his dining room table where he asked Diane to get up and get him something. An extended family member challenged David about the request, given that Diane had slaved over the meal. Diane acquiesced upon David’s reaction of embarrassment and hurt from being challenged openly. This act of public embarrassment has been recounted as a reason that a wife should submit to her husband, might I add, regardless of her circumstances. Another man might be sensitive to the activity of his wife, and not make such a request.
At the same time that I was experiencing this new dynamic with my husband, I was watching other families fall before the church. Linda’s story is real. I was there. Unfortunately, it was not the first. J’s story was first. This one has not been written, but many people who are reading this, will know this story all too well. And there were other stories to follow…..too many to name. There is truth in the allegations that we were told to not speak to people. We were not allowed to talk about what was happening amongst ourselves, and definitely not with the people involved. This was categorized as gossip. Furthermore, we were told to never have anything to do with the person who was pushed out of the church, in the case of Linda’s story….Linda. If we were seen speaking to her, we would lose favor, and risk being the next person disciplined for being a gossip or for being disobedient.
Our children began to grow up, and with that, conflict occurred. Teenage drama flung itself amongst the church families, and created adult drama. Specifically, my children and the Vaughan children grew up. Our oldest daughters were best friends. They shared many experiences together, so there was naturally competition amongst them. The Vaughan daughter excelled in one area, my daughter excelled in another. With time, the teenage drama hit our daughters, and conflict occurred. To go into the details now, a decade later, would be pointless, but the event warranted the fathers get involved. When my husband went to David over the issue, events were turned around to point all wrong toward our daughter. My husband confronted David privately on this stand by suggesting he was using his position as Pastor to promote his family. David didn’t respond verbally, but thereafter his relationship and behavior toward my husband changed dramatically. As my husband said, he had suddenly turned radioactive, with the church avoiding him, and David Vaughan treating him as though he were a stranger. Furthermore, David used opportunities to call into his office other families in the church that our daughter was friends with to warn them of her bad influence on their child. You would need to know the individuals and circumstances surrounding this act, which I cannot share openly, to understand the level of manipulation and power playing this act demonstrated. It was justified under the umbrella of “protecting the hearts of the children” (at this time the children were in their late teens, early twenties.)"
*When I attempted two years ago to let the congregation at Liberty know about the sins of the leadership there, only one person responded. Tom Piper, a deacon, emailed me to say that I better be sure of my case before I brought up a charge against "god's elect". When I said I had witnesses and was sure, he never responded. None of them did. They all had a meeting, to which we were not invited, to declare me insane and in sin though. It has been three weeks, the stories from the witnesses are becoming public because they will not listen, and they have not yet contacted any of us. Liberty, that speaks volumes.
Jo Ann's Story Part 2
"The church prided itself in picketing the local video shop, because the shop had a back room filled with porn films that could be rented. David would preach about this on occasion, and I remember one day in particular. He brought to the pulpit, a pornographic video, preaching against the use of underage girls in the films. Maybe it was just me, but I was confused on several points. The first point is why did he need to bring the film into the church? The second, how would he know about such a practice? The third, did preaching against this practice justify supporting it by renting the film and was that not hypocritical, given the picketing his church supported? Finally, the video within his possession placed him in the precarious position of having watched it. In the name of God, or not, going near pornography in this manner is wrong. He was not exempted from the rules he placed on the rest of the congregation. Yet, his bold preaching that day certainly indicated that he was.
Another interesting characteristic was that David had an invested manner of aligning himself with people of greater statue, such as George Grant, Doug Wilson, Gene Veith, and Marshall Foster, and protecting those relationships for himself. George Grant was a guest speaker for Liberty Classical School. The board worked tirelessly, promoting the event, preparing for a reception afterward, and looking forward with time to speak with Dr. Grant. When the time arrived, David did not arrange ample time for the board to spend alone with George Grant, instead hosting Dr. Grant on his own. It was a confusing moment for some of the members on the board, and one of the first turning points on how my husband viewed his mentor and friend, Dr. David J. Vaughan. Instead of creating time that would promote the school, Dr. Vaughan created time with George Grant that would promote himself.
On two occasions during our membership with Liberty, the Deacons called a meeting to discuss the finances of the church. Liberty Church was dramatically behind in the budget. They called the men of the congregation to rise and help meet the deficit by donating contributions. My husband rose, as did two other men in the congregation, and agreed to donate $3000 each to help meet the gap. Let me share, the request came with such guilt upon the men, I was impressed only three stood up. We donated, but only by using money from an equity line, that then put us in debt. This practice occurred again. This time, I don’t remember anyone from our family standing up. This hit me as off, from a church that preached no debt, and being fiscally responsible.
David Vaughan would pride himself in the story of his own marriage, and how he taught Diane the lesson of submission. He simply asked her to teach on it, so she would immerse herself into the word, under his guidance, to see where she fell short of submission in her own marriage. Certainly, as a godly role model, she would self correct. This, coupled with the following story, seemed to embarrass Diane into the perfect submissive wife. David spoke of a gathering around his dining room table where he asked Diane to get up and get him something. An extended family member challenged David about the request, given that Diane had slaved over the meal. Diane acquiesced upon David’s reaction of embarrassment and hurt from being challenged openly. This act of public embarrassment has been recounted as a reason that a wife should submit to her husband, might I add, regardless of her circumstances. Another man might be sensitive to the activity of his wife, and not make such a request.
The signs were always there, but the hurtful evidence took time to manifest. I was already seeing signs of control with David Vaughan imposing his thoughts on us, the books we should read, the way we should dress, the manner in which our marriages should be handled, and people we should (or better said, should not) fellowship. The church sponsored retreats yearly, one for the women, and one for the men. I don’t remember any joint marriage retreats, although they may have occurred. If you were a good Christian, you attended these retreats. It was the expectation, with little option.
As a woman after Christ, I wanted my husband to be a strong faith leader for our family, and I always encouraged his attendance at the men’s retreat. Over the years, I noticed a change within our personal dynamics. I’ll avoid the details here, but let’s just say, my husband drank the Kool-Aid from the male headship teachings. He explained to me recently, “David taught us to keep the women small, in a box. By doing that, we had better control over everything. We were so thankful, we aligned ourselves even more with him.” From my perspective, as a woman at Liberty Christian Church, we were taught to obey and submit to our husbands. Most of our husbands were not wife beaters (although there were a few of these), but this combination of ‘keep your woman small’ and ‘submit to your husband’ changed healthy marriage arrangements into controlling institutions flavored with bitterness, disrespect and paranoia toward one another. At least, this is what happened in my situation. Ten years later, ten years away from the church, and we are only now understanding this imprint into our relationship.
As a woman after Christ, I wanted my husband to be a strong faith leader for our family, and I always encouraged his attendance at the men’s retreat. Over the years, I noticed a change within our personal dynamics. I’ll avoid the details here, but let’s just say, my husband drank the Kool-Aid from the male headship teachings. He explained to me recently, “David taught us to keep the women small, in a box. By doing that, we had better control over everything. We were so thankful, we aligned ourselves even more with him.” From my perspective, as a woman at Liberty Christian Church, we were taught to obey and submit to our husbands. Most of our husbands were not wife beaters (although there were a few of these), but this combination of ‘keep your woman small’ and ‘submit to your husband’ changed healthy marriage arrangements into controlling institutions flavored with bitterness, disrespect and paranoia toward one another. At least, this is what happened in my situation. Ten years later, ten years away from the church, and we are only now understanding this imprint into our relationship.
At the same time that I was experiencing this new dynamic with my husband, I was watching other families fall before the church. Linda’s story is real. I was there. Unfortunately, it was not the first. J’s story was first. This one has not been written, but many people who are reading this, will know this story all too well. And there were other stories to follow…..too many to name. There is truth in the allegations that we were told to not speak to people. We were not allowed to talk about what was happening amongst ourselves, and definitely not with the people involved. This was categorized as gossip. Furthermore, we were told to never have anything to do with the person who was pushed out of the church, in the case of Linda’s story….Linda. If we were seen speaking to her, we would lose favor, and risk being the next person disciplined for being a gossip or for being disobedient.
Our children began to grow up, and with that, conflict occurred. Teenage drama flung itself amongst the church families, and created adult drama. Specifically, my children and the Vaughan children grew up. Our oldest daughters were best friends. They shared many experiences together, so there was naturally competition amongst them. The Vaughan daughter excelled in one area, my daughter excelled in another. With time, the teenage drama hit our daughters, and conflict occurred. To go into the details now, a decade later, would be pointless, but the event warranted the fathers get involved. When my husband went to David over the issue, events were turned around to point all wrong toward our daughter. My husband confronted David privately on this stand by suggesting he was using his position as Pastor to promote his family. David didn’t respond verbally, but thereafter his relationship and behavior toward my husband changed dramatically. As my husband said, he had suddenly turned radioactive, with the church avoiding him, and David Vaughan treating him as though he were a stranger. Furthermore, David used opportunities to call into his office other families in the church that our daughter was friends with to warn them of her bad influence on their child. You would need to know the individuals and circumstances surrounding this act, which I cannot share openly, to understand the level of manipulation and power playing this act demonstrated. It was justified under the umbrella of “protecting the hearts of the children” (at this time the children were in their late teens, early twenties.)"
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!
Geez. What a sick place. :(
ReplyDeleteGeez. What a sick place. :(
ReplyDelete