Id never visited those homes, but you took at face value that people were doing good things. For further information on their stories, please read the following posts: Bruce Gerencser, 62, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 41 years. The Kosciusko County health inspector documented a formal complaint about the food quality just last month, including that students were "served something resembling dog food" and that they "became ill multiple times from food and was then shamed for being ill". Whichever is true, both will give an account to the Lord. Her letters went unansweredonly one of Roxys replies got past the academys censors. I too am a former Hephzibah student and so appreciate those who are helping get the word out! He also asked for letters to the newspaper and media BUT he asked that they be sent to him first, and then he would submit the letters. Pastor Don Williams graduated from Hyles-Anderson College in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science in Pastoral Theology. Seeking Interesting People Who Play Solitaire Grand Harvest. JavaScript is disabled. By that time, Roxy said, most girls are broken, having been told that their families have abandoned them, and that the world outside is a sinful, dangerous place where girls who leave are murdered or raped. Hephzibah House-Being Forced to Wear Diapers. But are they cultish? You wont want to miss this episode. Yet with so many former Fundamentalists now calling themselves advocates, I find that I am still the only one who documented case afte case, getting down to the specifics of naming child molesters and churches that conspire to protect them. He taught us that when a young girl began menstruating it was God's sign to the papa that she was ready to be married. They also refuted claims that they keep students locked in a basement. She says she was spanked during her five years there. The Cassells offer the listener a front row seat to the enormous conspiracy of lies that only slowly began to unfold in 2005.These interviews are pulled from the podcast, with very little sound added, but they are powerful in their own right, without adornment. Parents need to read these stories before sending their children to be tortured! They wear balanced, simple and modest clothing. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Rider recalled one new girl she was assigned to supervise: Angela was a firebrand whod arrived at New Bethany straight out of a mental institution and became such a target of staff and big sister discipline that she twice attempted suicide. At both the state and federal levels, the troubled teen industryreligious and secularenjoys quiet support from many politicians. We live in very unbiblical times where people do not like certain rules.Our church is considering supporting this ministry and I am supportive of this decision. We have been unable to get that confirmed with DCS. Hopefully the more the word gets out, the fewer girls and families can be devastated by this so-called "ministry.". I'm still going to do my best, and as a group we're going to keep holding each other up. This resulted in many personalities. Police normally returned runaways to the home, but the severity of the boys injuries led state officials to investigate. Would you want us to not do that [give pelvic exams] ? So I dug out my pants and wore them for one entire day. Audio Documentary of the practices and teachings of Ron and Patti Williams of Hephzibah House in Warsaw Indiana, a so-called "Home for Troubled Girls" that makes it a policy to humiliate, degrade, and improperly feed and care for teenage girls, all in the name of making them godly Christian women. But while Williams tours the country speaking to churchgoers about home and family, his son Ben is speaking out against his father's school. She told me how, in her first weeks at the academys Missouri compounda summer-camp setup in remote La Russell, population 145she and other girls snuck letters to their parents between the pages of hymnals in a local church they attended, along with entreaties to congregants to mail them. Again, I believe they realized they would be shut down so that one had to go.Ron Williams is still very interested in who's who in the virginal world of his students, however. Recently Sold . They would have these horrible illnesses or sicknesses and they would be made fun of or treated like garbage, but for things like that we were given forced pelvic exams or forced anal exams and that doesn't make any sense to me.". When another girl snitched, Roxy said, McNamara locked some girls in makeshift isolation cells, tiled closets without furniture or windows. Are you on Social Media? Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. The young women, visitors from a Missouri girls home called New Beginnings Ministries, sang old-time hymns, recited Scripture, and gave tearful testimonies about their journeys out of lives of sin. He said he is stumped by the abuse accusations. I do not mind if I get dirty, which I surely do when I really dig into a project. Learn More Intact Family Services My fingerprints were never on them. But he adds that he fired three staff members shortly before the raid for abusive methods: one for shooting a rifle over the boys heads, one for roughhousing a resident and shoving him into a locker, and one for placing a boy in handcuffs. (Please read Whos to Blame For the Tragic Death of IFB Missionary Charles Wesco?). At Hephzibah House Ron Williams preached from the pulpit that menstruation was called the curse because it was a curse. She becomes either bold or sloppy perhaps slobby. The assistant director of Hephzibah House is speaking out after a two-part series aired on Dr. Phil earlier this month about the boarding school. Have them made mid-length then wear long underwear or tights with boots if you are cold. Thank you for reading this post. Brenda, I just came from that site and thought exactly the same thing!! etc. Dear lady, you are then gross in a bathing suit! These are easy to make or to have made. Hephzibah House operates under the authority of Believers Baptist Church in Warsaw, Indiana. But Dee Rapier confirmed the atmosphere of physical and psychological torment at the facility she ran with her former husband. Jay Kirksey, Circle of Hopes attorney, would not address Donnas claims, but he extended an invitation to come visit. Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95. These fashions included the mini skirt. Anderson Cooper covered a thorough investigation of the boarding school for girls and no one has made any efforts to close down this . Sexual Abuse in the Name of God: New Bethany Home for Girls, Teen Group Homes: Dear IFB Pastor, Its Time for You to Atone for Your Sin, NPR Story on Mack Ford, Sexual Abuse, and New Bethany Home for Girls in Arcadia, Louisiana, Black Collar Crime: Pastor Eddy Noelsaint Accused of Rape, Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Josh Henley Sentenced to Forty-Five Years in Prison for Sex Crimes Against Children, Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Student Ministry Leader Vernon Willis Accused of Inappropriately Touching Church Girls, Evangelicals are an Existential Threat to the United States, Some Atheists Think I was Stupid for not Deconverting Sooner, Black Collar Crime: Catholic School Teacher Verity Beck Accused of Murdering Her Parents, Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Evangelist Chris Brooks Accused of Assaulting His Wife, Why I Write The Black Collar Crime Series and Will Continue to Do So Despite Criticism from Evangelicals, Dr. David Tee Thinks Everyone Who is Not a Christian is an Atheist, Bruce, I Pray You Will Have Your Eyes Opened and the Truth will Guide You, Dont Dress Like a Whore if You Dont Want to Get Sexually Assaulted Says Lori Alexander. Mary Kumar is a survivor of a lockdown reform school for the wayward. Nope she is burning in hell. I so badly want to torture the living crap at of this man. Roxy got the redshirt treatment: For a solid week, 10 hours a day, she had to stand facing a wall, with breaks only for worship or twice-daily bathroom trips. Beginning initially in the suburbs of Chicago, it was not long until the Lord providentially led us to Winona Lake, Indiana, where we have been until this present hour. They do an excellent job of imitating our bad qualities. Then there was the big sister treatmentestablished students, directed by staff, inflicting punishments on the newbies. He and his wife Wenda reside in Warsaw, Indiana, and have 10 children and 10 grandchildren. In April, Montana state Rep. Christy Clark, who campaigned on a faith and family platform, joined 11 other Republicans in scuttling a bill that would have regulated religious teen homes; a mother of three, she cast the homes residents as unreliable witnesses who struggle with truthfulness.), When Jeannie Marie arrived at New Beginnings, she had a tense conversation with the school counselor, who insisted that Roxy wanted to stay. You may say, Well I am too old to make any difference. Terms of Service apply. Or similarly lots of makeup and a bland or unkempt hair style is equally awkward. But Lucinda, another former student, is defending the work she says Pastor Williams has done at Hephzibah House. (A criminal background check came back clean, and the teacher, who denied abusing any children, remains at Amelia.). I just knew that when certain lobbyists would stand up to say, We have a concern about how this affects faith-based institutions, the bill was immediately amendedit was a very Republican legislatureor it would immediately die. Unfortunately, just like there is in the public schools and public sector, there are disgruntled parents, who, instead of looking at their own child and situation, choose to talk about the school, he said. While at Grace Seminary, he was awarded the annual Glenn Russell Fink Award in expository preaching (1978).In 1987, Brother Williams was honored by the Great Plains Baptist College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where they conferred upon him an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree. The combination does not really go together. For several years, Brother Halyaman worked in the broadcasting industry as an announcer, television anchor, and News Director of several small market radio and television stations. Expand. Get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy the peacefulness. Most references were to his dad but he seems to have very little good to say about his mom. You are using an out of date browser. thank you for sharing. I am going to use myself as the prime example. Stopping a curse can be accomplished by obeying Gods Word. Oh how I pray some will stand for Jesus! This five part audio documentary explores the teachings and practices of Chuck Shifflett, former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Culpeper Virginia and a devoted, indeed fanatical, follower of the late Jack Hyles. [MORE: See photos of life at New Bethany. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You will stand alone but then so has every earnest Christian since the first century. Do not be a schizophrenic woman but a virtuous woman! Perhaps you live a decent Chrlstian life, but why are you allowing your daughter to live like a strange woman? In 1989, Fairhaven Baptist College, Chesterton, Indiana, presented the Fighting Fundamentalist of the Year award to Pastor Williams. If he does not desire to speak out then do not speak out either but pray the Lord protect your child. Founded in 1971, the school operates under the authority of Believers Baptist Church, one of the hundreds of small churches that ascribe to the religious teachings of the independent fundamental Baptist movement. Translated from the original Hebrew, Hephzibah literally means, "My delight is in her.". Windows nailed shut in sleeping quarters is a fire code violation. In 2020, the median property value in Hephzibah, GA was $120,200, and the homeownership rate was 69.6%. But Kumar says other medical problems were given too much focus. But the thing that makes my stomach churn is that these horrible ideas of how girls and women should behave, the ideas about how to raise and discipline a child, and the banality of the infractions that got the girls sent to the place in some casesthese are all celebrated by some versions of Christianity. A woman has an inner desire to attract men. This is yet another example of why I hate fundamentalism. Thread starter ALAYMAN; Start date Dec 1, 2020; ALAYMAN Well-known member. 4020 EDENFIELD, Hephzibah, GA 30815 $348,077 Redfin Estimate 5 Beds 3 Baths Sq Ft Off Market This home last sold for $355,000 on Aug 5, 2022. I found it very odd that the so called testimonies of the complimenting parents and former students and staff all sounded to me overly flowery and sooooo similar in content and that not one testimony given so much as included even a first name! they substitute mind control for spanking! A good society does not teach children that might makes right. It was not easy and I am still running the race striving to be like Jesus. Help these children now The healing and long journey of recovery begins the moment a child comes through our doors. You must log in or register to reply here. The wife of Hezekiah and mother of king Manasseh ( 2 Kings 21:1 ). Rountree, who bluntly calls Patterson evil, says he and his staff traveled extensively to gather testimony from former Reclamation Ranch kids, but found little usable evidence. We had pants, shorts, bathing suits, immodest clothing, television, movies, dancing lessons, circuses etc. I at one time attended a church that supported this ". I began documenting clergy sex abuse of children in Christian Fundamentalism in 2001. They asked Roxy if she wanted to come home. Oh to be like Him! Listen on Apple Podcasts. A good society limits the behaviors of its members only as much as is necessary for the health and well-being of the group.