1. Going back a few years, after losing my church and most of my friendships & mentorships due to my advocacy for racial justice, I began being approached by many large ministries. Those relationships dried up overnight the day I began raising awareness abt spiritual abuse.

2. Things were great when I was just another black guy in a trans-cultural marriage who was speaking abt ethnic reconciliation & Biblical Justice in the social realm. My phone was blowing up with invites to various events & prominent people wanting to meet & get to know me.

3. However, once I healed personally enough to begin expanded my soul care work to those who had been spiritually abused within their evangelical church (often very prominent church) and I began to publicly speak out abt this issue; all those relationships dried up overnight.

4. I don’t have much to lose at this point, & so I’d like to share some of my thoughts regarding Ravi Zacharius. I want to share these thoughts while he is still alive & so I’ve decided to share now.

First off, I truly mourn w/ those who mourn at this time.

5. Ravi Zacharius’ legacy is deeply mixed for me. Here on Twitter, I have seen numerous people, many prominent within evangelicalism, champion his life, ministry, & character while there are many in the survivor community who are receiving each praise as a dagger to the heart.

6. Ravi was influential to me. I learned a great deal from him abt how to most faithfully engage public square.

However, Ravi is also a near perfect example of how the church will often overlook a gifted individual’s flaws/sins at the expense of sheep, for the sake of mission.

7. Ravi has had numerous scandals from misrepresentation of credentials to immorality & abuse of power. All of these scandals, have been swept under the rug & it has amazed & disappointed me how willing most have been to ignore them b/c of Raci’s giftedness & influence.

8. As someone who loves Ravi, I’ve long held out hope that eventually he & his ministry would bring the skeletons out of the closest and be honest & transparent abt where they have sinned. It’s not too late, tho I think those who truly love him should’ve called for this sooner.

9. Regarding Ravi, I weep due to his current condition and I pray for him as well as for his family. To those close to Ravi, it’s not too late for him to finish well, there are things left on the table that still need to be discussed. It’s not too late.

10. To those wounded by all the praise of Ravi at this time without any meaningful engagement with the wrongdoings that have been seemingly covered up, I’m sorry for what you are having to go thru. You are seen, known, & valued. If not by the church, by your covenant God.

*to clarify, I would still say these things even if I was in the “in crowd”, it’s why I’m not. My point wasn’t that I wouldn’t say anything if I was, but that I’ve already suffered the loss of speaking these things & so I speak now not having to experience it again.

Side note: Evangelicalism is political. Young leaders & influencers are courted by more prominent figures. The courting/vetting process is extended as “friendship” but it is really about testing how “safe” you are to the machine. Non-political people either become so or fall off.