Open Letter to Rick: 9.30.24

Hi Rick,

My guess is you probably don't remember me, but Julie probably does. I spent 12 years (age 12 to 24 years old) at MorningStar. I graduated from CSCL, I went to MStar's youth-group, I spoke at your conferences, and was in the Ministry School for a few months. I moved away from Charlotte in 2010 to start my career working for the US Government. I held various roles and was very torn when I left for the private sector last year. I was torn because I loved what I did and had a very promising career ahead of me if I stayed. But a combination of factors, primarily needing more flexibility to manage life with three young daughters prompted me to leave. I'm saying all of this to give you a sense of who I am and where I come from.

I am the primary author of the statement calling for you to resign. I wrote it with inputs from one other former CSCL student. If you haven't read it yourself, you can do so here: www.morningstaraccountabilitynow.com

I'm writing to you to clarify a few things that you seem to have misunderstood, based on your recent sermons, “rants,” and written posts. I would also like to offer my own perspective and motivation for drafting the statement, since my messages thus far to other leaders in your ministry have gone unanswered. 

(1) Those of us who have signed the statement (almost 200!) are not leading a rebellion. We are calling for you to resign. Why? Because we are all direct witnesses of the manner in which you have responded to grave allegations of abuse stemming from negligence at your church. Not only that, the first 100 names (and most of the rest) are also direct witnesses of the way in which MorningStar and its leaders conduct themselves, (mis)manage the organization, and have defended, "restored," and given a mic to sexual predators. And we are publicly saying your response and your leadership is wrong. It is wrong to joke from the stage about all the money you have to address the lawsuits. It is wrong to joke from the stage about needing the seats of the people leaving because of the pain and dysfunction they have witnessed. It is wrong to cherry-pick scriptures to slap demeaning labels on people standing for truth. We are not wolves. We are not flies. We are not the sons of Korah. And god knows you are not Moses. We are public witnesses to your public responses to recent revelations, and we collectively agree that your "leadership" is morally bankrupt and based on outdated ways of viewing and addressing abuse. Therefore, we believe you should not continue to lead.

(2) We do not need a scripture to defend this public stance. Frankly, it's common sense. If the things you've been saying and the overall MorningStar response were happening at any non-church organization, you would have been fired a long time and the entire organizational structure and policies revamped. Or the organization would shut down. Sadly, because of the misuse of spiritual authority by yourself and many other Christian leaders in the charismatic movement, what is common sense to the rest of the world becomes unnecessarily controversial and dramatic in charismatic churches. 

(3) That said, if you'd like to openly discuss and debate the scriptural precedent for all that has transpired at MorningStar and the response that you are leading, I know there are many of us who would take you up on that. But we don't need to cherry-pick a few scriptures, and we don't need to label you as a wolf or a fly or the leader of an ancient rebellion. We can draw from countless scriptures about God's heart for justice (ex. Isaiah 1:17), for defending the oppressed (Psalm 82:3-4), for speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9), for taking care of precious little ones (Matthew 18:6).

(4) I spent more than a decade analyzing authoritarian leaders in the world. I wrote assessments for and briefed many senior US Government officials on authoritarian leaders’ tendencies, motivations, standard practices, etc. So I can say with a great deal of confidence that you display an alarming number of authoritarian tendencies. Here are some concrete examples: your "facts" regarding what has happened at MorningStar with Chris Reed and the horrific cases of abuse have changed multiple times. Your close subordinate A.T. Snoots is censoring and blocking people from posting things that question you or draw attention to other news sources. And now has put out a retroactive censorship policy that is a copy/paste job and exemplar from dictators. You very quickly dismissed the statement we put out and demonized those of us who signed. And perhaps worst of all, you continue to use your claims of special revelation from God and empty promises of some “great thing to come” to distract from the elephant in the room. Information control, disinformation, demonizing the "other" and creating enemies, and claims of divine support and insight are ALL used by authoritarian leaders the world over. 

(5) Finally, I do not presume to know what MorningStar and the current people going there need from leadership right now. But I do know it starts with being heard and opening up discussion to hear a range of viewpoints. Everything I have heard from people still involved there is the opposite. No dissent is allowed, no forums for open discussion are provided, and grass-roots initiatives to try and pulse the congregation for how they're doing and what they need are silenced. And by the way, the boys who were abused sexually - that's just the latest and most extreme example of abuse. I can assure you there are MANY MANY more stories that will be coming out, and they are all awful and wrong in their own ways. On Sunday, you said that "people get hurt in churches because we're all human." That's fair, and true. But we're not talking about hurt feelings and day-to-day offenses. We're talking about various forms of abuse that are not one-offs, but instead longstanding and without accountability or proper response. You preside over a system that has allowed this for decades. 

In my view, good leadership and a legacy you could be proud of looks a lot less like what you're doing (reusing the same old promises of great things to come and falsely creating an us vs. them scenario) and might look something like: 

• You choosing to step down, based on a self-realization that you are not the right person for this job. 

• You pressing pause on all conferences/special events/Rick's Rant videos, and any other public engagements, and instead you humbly speaking to the church both at MorningStar and globally (you yourself claim to have a complex, worldwide ministry) and saying: "Clearly something has gone wrong here. If people at my church can be abused in this way for four years (by the son of my Head of Security!) we have a lot of work to do. I don't have all the answers, but I know that nothing else will be focused on in this ministry until we have fully addressed the root causes and overhauled our policies and leadership practices.”

• We are going to start by holding listening sessions facilitated by outside, neutral experts to provide safe space for people to share how they feel and what needs to change. We are going to begin inviting several members of the congregation to attend and listen at all executive leadership and board meetings, and then we will make the minutes public for the entire congregation. 

• We are hiring the very best third-party, independent investigators and experts to audit EVERYTHING and to provide us recommendations on how to improve. The names of these outside consultants will be published from the beginning, their timeline for delivering answers will be public from the beginning, and their recommendations will be public and reviewed by small groups of longstanding congregation members for input and refinement."

  
  

How about that for leadership??

I conveyed to your censor man A.T. Snoots that I would welcome the opportunity to speak with current leaders at Morningstar. My heart is truly for change that protects innocent people at a place where I spent my most formative years. I am not a wolf or a fly or a son of Korah, and I'm not bitter. I'm a human who has a perspective and voice that's different than yours - something you seem to have totally eliminated such that only your yes-men are left. I grew up terrified to ever challenge authority at MorningStar. But I'm all grown up now, with a career and life that is rich and rewarding. I'm not scared any more--not of you, not of A.T., or any other current or past leader. I'm taking a stand because I care, and because from what I know of Jesus - he would do the same thing. And I’m gonna keep looking for ways to speak truth to power and give space for others to do the same. 

PS- since most of my posts seem to disappear or go unanswered, I plan to post this email on our website so that people can see for themselves what I wrote.

Best,

Emily Elston