I’m struggling today with trying to understand why much of the segment of Christian Twitter that was so vocal during Willow Creek and Andy Savage is now deafeningly silent about Menlo Church & the Ortbergs.

I don’t want to be cynical, but as a survivor of sexual assault that my church covered up for a long time, this feels too familiar. It appears as though some ppls willingness to stand against this stuff is limited when someome they know turns out to be one of the players.

It’s disheartening to see so many of the same people that pointed fingered at Willow Creek for closing ranks, or called out Andy Savage’s church for the standing ovation and public shows of support, are now both privately (& some even publicly) coming alongside the Ortbergs.

Survivors have long tried to point out this phenomena & the ways it harms us: people may be willing to cry #churchtoo when it’s someone else church, but when it’s THEIR pastor, friend, or even family member.... the rules change. The culture of silence & wagon-circling takes hold.

I’m so grateful for @daniel_m_lavery and his wife @graceelavery for their bravery and their sacrifice in all this. I wish I had someone that brave going to bat for me when I was a victim who wasn’t likes me enough or “believeable enough” to take on a beloved member of the church.

And if you’re one of those who spoke publicly about Willow Creek & Andy Stanley, but you are silent now on the a Ortbergs? Please know that survivors see that. Thats not staying neutral. You’re not refusing to take a side. You’re standing on the side of silence & secrecy.

When the truth started to come out back in NOVEMBER I had hopes there would be a real investigation and that John would step down from his position. He was back within weeks as of allowing a disclosed pedophile access to children & keeping that secret was a minor issue.

But now that it’s been revealed that volunteer is in fact his own son? I cannot understand why there is not a strong public pressure for him to immediately & permanently resign from Menlo Church.

Yet this eerily echoes much of the details of Willow Creek: A popular “modern” church, a celeb pastor w/ ties to all the right people, even a daughter that’s beloved in the Christian author community, causing many to weigh the risk of speaking up vs losing that connection to her.

I’m disappointed to see how many people, many of who I love and respect and even consider friends, are currently choosing the side of silence in this case when they spoke up for #churchtoo elsewhere. It tells me as a survivor that I’m not actually safe with those people.

That in the end they will only support exposing *those* people over *there,* but will be reluctant to expose the ones they like, the ones related to ones they like, the ones they have important networking connections with, the ones they feel attached to...

Thank you @daniel_m_lavery & @graceelavery for choosing to speak up at such enormous costs. I hope that more will follow your example.

You’re proving to me that there *are* ppl who will do what’s right even when it means standing against ppl they love. I needed to know that.

*In one of these tweets I accidentally wrote Andy *Stanley* instead of repeating it correctly as Andy *Savage.* My apologies. That was a typo and not an accusation.