Waco Texas religious commune accused of masking abuse in 2012

[billiefan2000]

Waco religious commune accused of masking abuse . by BRETT SHIPP
WFAA
Posted on April 26, 2012 at 11:33 PM


WACO, Texas - Homestead Heritage, just outside of Waco, has been revered as a model of Christian values. But is it a Utopian commune, or as some suggest, a extreme group of believers putting children at risk?

Videos posted on the Homestead Heritage web site present to the public the wholesome image, bolstering its perception as a beloved staple of the community for two decades. The estimated 1,000 members, crafting a pristine portrait of communal bliss.

But many who have left the church and its 500-acre, gated compound, paint a much different picture. One of a secretive and tightly-controlled religious environment.

The general public is not allowed inside. The commune is led by a group of elders, directed by the church founder and leader, Blair Adams.

News 8 obtained rare audio of an Adams sermon, which former members say often lasted for hours.

"He was to be feared," said former member Isaac Alexander. "You didn't talk to him, you didn't even look at him."

Others say it is that fear which allows Adams to control those devoted to his strict doctrine.

Katherine and Bob Beechner left Homestead after 15 years when Bob challenged Adams, whom he says professes to a messenger of God.

"The doctrine is that the leadership is put in place by God himself and speaks authoritatively, as speaking the very word of God," Beechner said.

Before gaining acceptance, adults go through several months of screening and ultimately must sign a covenant of silence.

According to Homestead’s membership contract, the aspiring members agree "to never bring before the public outside our church... any accusations or wrongdoing or any charge, lawsuit or court action." Agreeing "that all disputes be settled within the confines of the church."... and in return... "the church agrees to never expose a member's shortcomings and sins to any outside it's covenant."

The greatest sins, some former members say, are committed against children and teens. From emotional to physical, even sexual abuse.

News 8 has learned that in the past seven years, five individuals, either members of, or with close ties to Homestead, have been convicted of sexually abusing a child within the Homestead community.

Not included in that group, one former member whose identity we agreed to protect. She said she was molested by her stepfather when she was 15 years old.

"He would come into my room at night and in the morning,” said the abuse victim. “At the time, it seemed quite often - it was very often - and sexually assault me."

She said when church elders learned of the abuse, they asked her to forgive her step-father. She said elders ministered to him, but never counseled her. The step-father was never reported to law enforcement, despite state law requiring church officials to report child abuse within 24 hours.

“They should have reported it,” the victim said. “They should have called the police. To my knowledge, it was never discussed. It is absolutely disgusting that they didn't do anything about him."

Church officials allegedly waited months before reporting another member, Billy Ray Delong, after he admitted molesting one of his children.

"And I went to one of the pastors and I told them what happened, and they ministered to me for about a year and a half," Delong told News 8 in a prison interview.

And during that time, Delong says he continued to live with his family while church elders ministered to him.

"They tried to remedy the situation,” Delong said. “I think, within the church first because that's scriptural - that's what's in the Bible, that's what God says to do."

Homestead officials have declined to comment on camera about their handling Delong's case. In a statement posted on their web site, they say only one group leader knew of the abuse.

“It was a good faith effort to honor the confidential confession of a sin that no one before that time had ever encountered in our previous thirty years of ministry," the statement read.

Church leaders say they urged Delong to turn himself in as soon as they learned of the abuse. Delong tells News 8 others in the group did know about the abuse.

"A group of the men, the elders there, the brothers, they began to really find out what the best course was, and I know they make everything a matter of prayer,” Delong said. “It wasn't like they were trying to break the law. They were really trying to find out what to do within the church first, to keep everything covered."

Delong's victim said she was kicked out of church but allowed to return home, where the abuse continued.

"It stopped for about two-and-a-half, maybe three months, and then it started up again," she said.

She said no one from the church came to her and tried to comfort or counsel with her. She said nobody from the church said anything to her after the abuse was revealed.

Becky Crow, a former pastor's wife who left the church ten years ago, tells News 8 the abuse was common.

“Many heartbreaking stories of broken lives have been shared with me,” Crow said. “Some have not only been raped, they have been sold for other's sexual perversion by the ones who should have protected them."

Attorney Greg Love has represented abuse victims across the country, and said the stories of abuse at Homestead fit a pattern.

“When you get these closed communities and part of the fabric of that community is, information stays on the inside, behavior stays on the inside, how we do things stays on the inside,” Love said.


“Even if those behaviors are injurious to a child, and you are discouraged from bringing in the outside, you really find children at risk."



Homestead officials claim of the five convicted pedophiles, only two were members of the church.


Three were from the Delong family. They say all turned themselves in at the insistence of church officials, who fully cooperated with police.

Homestead Heritage officials label those now speaking out as "embittered former members."



Waco religious commune accused of masking abuse | wfaa.com Dallas - Fort Worth

[billiefan2000]

FBC Jax Watchdogs: Brett Shipp and WFAA Expose Abuse at Waco Church - And Watchdog's View of Shipp's Work Versus Ed Young's View



Brett Shipp and WFAA Expose Abuse at Waco Church - And Watchdog's View of Shipp's Work Versus Ed Young's View




Brett Shipp of WFAA in Dallas has spent months investigating a church compound just outside of Waco, TX, known as "Homestead Heritage".


He has documented the physical and sexual abuse of people at the church, including the sexual abuse of children that was not reported to authorities in a timely manner as required by law. Last night the first of a two-part series on Heritage aired on WFAA:






Video | News | Weather | Sports
Thu Apr 26 14:28:04 PDT 2012

Waco religious commune accused of masking abuse
INVESTIGATES Homestead Heritage just outside of Waco has been revered as a model of Christian values. But is it a utopian commune or as some suggest, a extreme group of believers putting children at risk? view full article


As you watch this video, you will see the common threads that are observed over and over again in abusive Christian environments: authoritarian pastors and church leaders who tell their church members that they are appointed and anointed as messengers from God, church covenants prohibiting believers from having disputes settled outside of the church, labeling of church members who challenge leaders as being bitter, and a failure to adequately protect children and putting the concern of adult male members as being a primary concern.

Readers, as you watch this video, look for similar abusive traits in your own church. Does your church display these traits, or have a history of any of these traits? If they have had abuse problems in the past, have adequate corrective steps been taken AND has the church leadership been open and honest with members about past problems and explained the steps taken to correct it? Or do the current church leaders deny or downplay the severity of the past problems?

An expose like this is not just important in warning others about that particular abusive system in the story. It is important to getting people to awaken to the possibility that they're current church might be capable of the same acts. Brett makes the point early in the video that Homestead Heritage portrays itself as a bastion of old-fashioned, wholesome values, while behind the scenes they are actually worse than the outside world they rail against. Church members beware - especially if you are part of a church system that has had an authoritarian leader in the past and where sexual sins have been covered up in the past yet leaders to this day are still denying or downplaying the severity of past sins.We have several of these kinds of churches right here in Jacksonville, Florida that have been featured on this blog.

Lastly, I want to say a word about Brett Shipp and WFAA. This expose reminds me so much of the work that Jeannie Blaylock of WTLV-Jacksonville did back in 2005 and 2006 in exposing the deeds of Bob Gray and the cover-up at Trinity Baptist Church here in Jacksonville. It takes guts for reporters and news agencies to tear off the pious masks of churches in their own communities and expose the ugliness of churches and pastors that are revered by the faithful. Today it is mostly up to bloggers like the Wartburg Watch and Christa Brown who are shining a bright spotlight on abusive pastors and church systems, but Brett Shipp is one member of the media who is not afraid to do the dirty work in Christianity.

Brett Shipp is the most courageous news reporter I know in this regard. He and WFAA were not afraid of taking on Ed Young and Fellowship Church to expose the lavish spending and fund raising tactics of Ed Young. Brett even dared to do an expose on Ergun Caner last year when Caner moved to Arlington Baptist College from Liberty University. Brett's piece on the "Caner Mystique" as he called it, was absolutely the finest work done by a prominent news outlet in concisely showing the truth about Ergun Caner's decade of deception.

Sadly, while Brett is doing God's work in exposing the ugliness in modern Christianity, there are those people like Ed Young who actually portray WFAA and Brett Shipp as being "haters", as trying to thwart the work of God and being anti-church.


In a recent video posted by Ed Young, Young blasted WFAA by saying the following:

"When you're doing great, people hate...there's always some [in the news media] who are negative

. And I think about WFAA - a station here in Dallas that CONTINUES to attack the local church, and CONTINUES to be negative...WFAA continues to exaggerate, to falsify, to deal in fiction rather than fact....it's time for the church to stand and say 'you know what, we're not going to take it anymore, you guys aren't telling the truth'.."




Sorry, Ed. You can rail all you want against WFAA, but they are doing God's work in exposing corruption and abuse in the modern church.


How ironic that Young claims WFAA deals in "fiction rather than fact" when Young is the one who stands up and misuses scripture to get people to fork over 10% of their income to his church.


Shipp deals with facts and eyewitness accounts to warn people of abusive churches - while Young deals with fiction and fairy tales to get people to fork over large sums of money.


Way to go Brett Shipp and WFAA. Keep standing for the truth, keep doing the work of God even in the face of angry, bitter pastors who can't stand to have a light shone on their church and ministries.

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." Eph 4:25




FBC Jax Watchdogs: Brett Shipp and WFAA Expose Abuse at Waco Church - And Watchdog's View of Shipp's Work Versus Ed Young's View