An open letter to ozarkbreeze

[ragpicker]

Steve has never been willing to publicly address the rather serious allegations that he has mishandled abuse cases.

How should he have addressed it?

[Judas Maccabeus]

Steve does indeed work with some pretty broken people. That’s what concerns me. Steve has never been willing to publicly address the rather serious allegations that he has mishandled abuse cases. I’m sorry if that sounds like character assassination.

Steve's response from the from the article in the Mennonite World Review.

" He said he and his parent ministry, Strait Paths Foundation, “have not responded to these assertions publicly, and believe these types of incidents should be handled more in keeping with Scriptural principle and precedent.”

As I said before, there are always two sides to a story, and yes Steve's side of the story probably should have been heard. However he probably didn't make a statement because he didn't feel it was handled in a scriptural manner.

And Could it be he didn't make public statements concerning the matter because he knew he would be fodder for lengthy, continuing blogs.

I find pulling the Matthew 18 card a bit distasteful here. The context of that is brothers in a local assembly. When someone gets on the national stage, and starts selling seminars, then this is a different context entirely. Same goes when people start writing and selling books. How would one take them before the church? Which church and how?

Sorry, claiming that open criticism when you have set yourself on a national stage just does not wash. It is a misuse of the passage entirely.

J.M.

[Judas Maccabeus]

Steve has never been willing to publicly address the rather serious allegations that he has mishandled abuse cases.

How should he have addressed it?

Same way as CAM did.

J.M.

[ragpicker]

Steve has never been willing to publicly address the rather serious allegations that he has mishandled abuse cases.

How should he have addressed it?

Same way as CAM did.

J.M.

Specifically how?

[Judas Maccabeus]

How should he have addressed it?

Same way as CAM did.

J.M.

Specifically how?

An open letter admitting what you have done, indicating you have repented of it.

J.M.

[Josh]

When I was dealing with a very ugly situation about a year ago involving an abuse case and subsequent cover-up, things got very ugly once I spoke up.

I was in instruction class in my church at the time and close to being baptised as a new member. Once I publicly questioned anything, I received a lot of threatening communication accusing me of being anti-Steve Stutzman, telling me to be quiet, and to know my place. One of the threats was to contact me church's leadership, asking me to be disciplined / block my church membership & baptism. Another threat was to involve my ex-wife, claiming that she had alleged abuse from me.

None of this was effective because:

1. I was already upfront and honest with my own church's leadership about everything that had gone on.

2. My ex-wife hasn't alleged any abuse. I did contact her and explain the situation. She said she would be more than happy to tell anyone who wanted to listen exactly how she feels about local Mennonites covering up abuse situations, and also to vouch for my character.

3. When I became a Christian, I made a decision to submit to church leadership, and to avoid sticking my nose in gossip and made a general decision to be quiet about things. I also made a decision that the one thing I will never be quite about is abuse. Little did I know where that decision would lead me!

There's plenty more I could say, but for now I think I will limit it to publicly declaring that I've received threatening communications for over a year now, complaining that I am anti-Steve Stutzman, and that I need to shut up. I think someone needs to take a good, hard look at why so many people do this.

[QuietObserver]

Steve has never been willing to publicly address the rather serious allegations that he has mishandled abuse cases.

How should he have addressed it?

I don’t remember all the details and I’m not Steve’s judge. I do have a few thoughts.

Steve was removed from the ASAA board. This gives the appearance that he was guilty of the allegations, unless this was just a PR move to shut down distractions. If these are false allegations, Steve should deny them and set the record straight. If they are true, Steve need to apologize and make amends.

Before the incident a year ago, I was interested in what Steve had to say. At this point, I don’t trust him. Steve needs to do something to rebuild trust.

[ragpicker]

Same way as CAM did.

J.M.

Specifically how?

An open letter admitting what you have done, indicating you have repented of it.

J.M.

I'm a bit confused.
It's admitted Steve did not respond, but you want an admission of guilt and an apology.
How did you determine his guilt without hearing his side of the story?

[steve-in-kville]

Can someone give me some background on this? I never heard of the guy. Link perhaps?

[ragpicker]

Can someone give me some background on this? I never heard of the guy. Link perhaps?

Most of the blogs about it have been deleted. Maybe someone has them saved somewhere.