2020 has been a very difficult year for millions of people, and a lot of people are losing loved ones to various illnesses. There are other losses too--lost jobs, businesses, homes, etc. In this episode, we talk about the pain of loss and how to process the grief.

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

Over the last 9 years, we've received countless questions and pleas for help. Most of those are relating to abuse in the religious community. We took the most asked questions and put them into one episode. We are currently working on condensing the most common questions into video resources, which will be hosted at https://jimmyhinton.org/

If you have questions you'd like to add to the list, please comment and we will see that the questions are added!

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

Churches often either don't call references for preaching candidates or they are asking weak questions that tell them nothing about the possibility of a past of abuse. There are literally thousands of preaching ministers that are abusers. These include ones that we know of. There are thousands more who are abusing victims, and nobody besides the victims know. You might ask how it's possible that so many abusers can make it to the pulpit. But, given the interview process, it should come as no surprise that one of the greatest weaknesses of the church is the ability to properly screen candidates.

A healthy process isn't complicated. Asking the right questions is vital if we are going to have any interest in learning if a potential candidate has a past of abuse. In this episode, we discuss questions that we would ask past churches where the candidate worked, as well as their references.

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

It's clear that many churches do a poor job of screening incoming preachers. Many of them are abusers or they turn a blind eye to abuse and excuse it away, demanding victims forgive and move on. In this episode, we share our questions that we would ask someone in an interview. What questions would you add?

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

During the last two episodes, we interviewed the Benningers about their Baptist abuser database at https://baptistaccountability.org/ During this episode we give examples to show why we need more databases.

We break down how abusers maintain control, stringing church leaders along as they build their web of lies. We urge church leaders not to fall for it. We need to warn people of these harmful sexual predators.

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

When the Benningers found out that their pastor was a convicted child molester who had lost his license to teach in Pennsylvania years ago, they wanted to know more. Why had the church not conducted background checks? Why was this abuser made the superintendent of the Christian school that was meeting in the church? Why was he permitted to substitute teach students when the state revoked his teaching license and deemed him a threat? Any why hadn't the leaders who knew about Don Foose's convictions ever notify other leaders or the congregation?

These questions and the lack of answers ultimately led the Benningers to leave OakWoook Baptist church and to start a database for convicted and credibly accused sexual predators in the Baptist churches. In this episode, they tell their story and what led to them starting a national database earlier this year.

Their database can be found at:
https://baptistaccountability.org/

The Benningers also manage another website about church cultic abuse at:
https://churchtrauma.org/

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

When the Benningers found out that their pastor was a convicted child molester who had lost his license to teach in Pennsylvania years ago, they wanted to know more. Why had the church not conducted background checks? Why was this abuser made the superintendent of the Christian school that was meeting in the church? Why was he permitted to substitute teach students when the state revoked his teaching license and deemed him a threat? Any why hadn't the leaders who knew about Don Foose's convictions ever notify other leaders or the congregation?

These questions and the lack of answers ultimately led the Benningers to leave OakWoook Baptist church and to start a database for convicted and credibly accused sexual predators in the Baptist churches. In this episode, they tell their story and what led to them starting a national database earlier this year.

Their database can be found at:
https://baptistaccountability.org/

The Benningers also manage another website about church cultic abuse at:
https://churchtrauma.org/

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

How well does your church or organization do at responding to allegations of abuse? Maybe you're not sure. In this episode, we unpack a short checklist for quickly assessing how well your church or organization responds to abuse allegations.

Unhealthy organizations will minimize allegations, hide information, and reframe abuse so that abusers are free to move on to the next organization. Find out how well your organization measures up!

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

Do you ever feel that something's "off" about someone? That may be your intuition telling you that something's not right. Dr. Wade Mullen, researcher and abuse advocate, tells us about his new book, Something's Not Right. Wade has been researching abuse techniques, and talks about impression management strategies that organizations use in the wake of an image-threatening event.

Something's not right can be ordered on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Somethings-Not-Right-Decoding-Abuse/dp/1496444701/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=something%27s+not+right&qid=1601467636&sr=8-1

or on Wade's website:
https://wadetmullen.com/

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284

Ravi Zacharias, one of the most influential Christian apologists of our time, died on May 19, 2020. Influential people, such as Vice President Pence and Tim Tebow, spoke at his memorial service. Zacharias' abusive background and falsifying information about his credentials has long been overlooked by his supporters. In this episode, we discuss the damage this does to victims, and how our culture of almost deifying Christian celebrities adds to the problem of abuse survivors ever getting true justice.

Intro--
Film Glitch by Snowflake (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/snowflake/56350 Ft: reusenoise

Outro--
I Have Often Told You Stories (guitar instrumental) by Ivan Chew (c) copyright 2013 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/ramblinglibrarian/41284