Pt. 2: Analyst Exposes Deceptive Tactics Used by Bryan Loritts

Transcript

In most crises, there’s a hero, a victim, and a villain. But these roles are often purposefully confused by the leader caught in the crisis, as is stunningly apparent in a videotaped interview by prominent pastor and author, Bryan Loritts.

So says image repair analyst Dr. Julia Dahl in Part 2 of The Roys Report podcast between Dr. Dahl and Julie Roys. In this episode, Dr. Dahl analyzes a video Pastor Loritts recorded after numerous eyewitnesses alleged that Loritts covered up sex crimes at a previous church.

In the video, Loritts admits he failed to report the sexual predator and the predator went on to abuse more victims. Yet as Dr. Dahl explains, Loritts masterfully paints himself not as the villain in this story—but as the victim and hero of a tragedy.

If you want to be equipped to discern truth from error when it comes to these kinds of crises and public statements, you’re not going to want to miss this podcast!

Transcript

SPEAKERS

JULIE ROYS, BRYAN LORITTS, DR JULIA DAHL M.D.

JULIE ROYS  00:03

Christian leaders and megachurch pastors are usually bright and charismatic. They also can be cunning and masters of manipulation. Welcome to The Roys Report a podcast dedicated to reporting the truth and restoring the church. I’m Julie Roys, and today I’m excited to present part two of a podcast recorded with Dr. Julia Dahl. Julia is a medical school professor of pathology at the University of Michigan but she’s also an analyst who studied the image repair tactics that leaders and PR professionals use when they’re caught in a crisis. In part one of my interview with Julia, Julia analyzed a public apology offered by Dr. Thomas White, the president of Cedarville University and she did a masterful job of explaining how Dr. White was able to spin a crisis situation to his own benefit. Well today, Julia is going to analyze another video but a very different one. In this podcast, Julia will analyze an interview with Bryan Loritts that was recorded after I began publishing some damaging information about Bryan. About 10 years ago, Bryan was pastoring a mega church in Memphis when he discovered that his brother in law, who was the worship pastor at his church, had been secretly videotaping people in the church bathroom. But Bryan never reported his brother in law and his brother in law, Rick Trotter, went on to lead worship at another church and then to repeat his crimes. And he actually wasn’t brought to justice ’till six years later. Now, you may think that this would be a career ending mistake for Bryan Loritts, especially if Loritts knowingly covered up his brother in law’s crimes. But Loritts recorded a video explaining himself and apparently it was very effective, because Loritts remains an executive pastor at The Summit Church, a very influential church pastored by J.D. Greear. J.D. Greear is the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. So I’m really looking forward to talking with Julia and analyzing this video by Bryan Loritts. But before we begin, I want to just take a minute to thank the sponsors of this podcast, Judson University and Marquardt of Barrington. If you’re looking for a car I encourage you to visit my friends at Marquardt of Barrington. I bought my last car from Marquardt and I had a great experience and I believe you will too. To shop their entire showroom online just go to BuyACar123.com. Also, I want to let you know that Judson University is planning to resume in-person classes this fall for traditional, transfer and adult students. And they’re still taking applications. You can choose from more than 60 majors and learn in a Christian environment known for its spiritual values, leadership opportunities and strong financial aid. For more information, just go to JudsonU.edu. Well, again, Joining me today is Dr. Julia Dahl, a professor at the University of Michigan medical school and an image repair analyst So Julia, welcome. I’m so glad you could join me again for this podcast.

DR JULI