"Bradley" to VBC leadership

March 1, 2022

Pastoral Staff and Deacons of Vision Baptist Church,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I thought it necessary to include a letter to you as both previous letters you may have received for review were not directly addressed to you.

• Purpose
• My involvement in the situation
• Specific Details and Concerns
• Potential Impact
• Proposed Solution Attached Exhibits

Purpose

You may have noticed that I purposely did not include many specific names of people in the previous letters as I have been seeking to handle things on an organizational level and not on a personal level between individuals nor at a church level until now. Also, considering how easily documents can be shared or unintentionally posted online, I thought it best to try to be sensitive to who might read them.

It was not my intent to confront or involve the church in this manner, but after my draft of letter to VBM was reviewed I realized that a meeting with you all would be most expedient. I am not bringing these concerns to you on the grounds of a Christian brother wronging another brother or calls for church-discipline. I am bringing my concerns to the church in regards to the relationship the church has with an organization that they partner with in regards to their church members.

My involvement in the situation

I have been in the VBM team for nearly 9-years and have specific insider information and perspective reaching to the innermost circles of VBM leadership since end of 2019 until October 2021. This has been covered extensively in both my previous letters.

• Letter to the Pastoral Advisory Committee [PAC] dated January 27, 2022
• Rough Draft Letter to VBM

Specific Details and Concerns

I will reiterate them here in statement form from some of my personal answers to the posed questions included in the VBM draft letter (which had the intent to provoke people to ask/answer and come to their own conclusions). This will be, in my personal opinion, the clearest and most comprehensive specific list that I have written down of what I believe to be unhealthy and ultimately dangerous sinful tendencies within VBM as an organization. I understand that no person or organization is perfect except our Lord Jesus Christ. I, however, generally find VBM to be a very unhealthy and unsafe organization for my family and other Christian families.

1. Manipulation and gaslighting
2. “No talk” rule
3. Silencing constructive criticism that disagrees with leadership
4. Ad hominem arguments being used to discourage people from searching for the truth and honest evaluation and introspection as an organization
5. Deception and dishonesty with missionaries and staff regarding how/why missionaries previously left and issues of sin (hiding, covering up, and minimizing sinful behaviors)
6. Eye-service, man-pleasing default tendencies
7. Patterns of behavior of that of a scorner and brutish person hating reproof
8. Denial, blame shifting, blind to, explaining away, and ignoring sinful tendencies
9. Toxic, cultish, narcissistic, manipulative, and spiritually abusive culture (this term “abusive” needs much more explanation since the word itself carries with it baggage and inherent cultural meaning and generally lacks the appropriate explanation for people to understand its usage)
10. Legalistic

Here are 3 questions I’d like to preemptively answer:

1. Do I continue to observe the same patterns and tendencies in VBM leadership since after August 2021? - yes, until present
2. Do I believe that I was a part of or at least personally not addressing previous problems that I should have? - yes
3. How did I come to my current perspective when I was 100% for the organization previously? - After internally observing the handling and continued handling of situations over the past 7 months, I have seriously considered, analyzed, reviewed, and examined the health, tendencies, and patterns of our organization as a whole. I understand that while many are well-intentioned, not all individuals in the organization do these things nor do they do them all the time; however the tendencies and patterns brought to my attention and highlighted since my discovering previous resignation letters and missionary testimonies who have since left VBM have increasingly alarmed me since I had previously viewed the handling of the situations from the inside of VBM.

Potential Impact

As a current member of VBC and VBM, I am affirming that I believe that I continue to observe VBM leadership displaying tendencies and patterns which are sinful and ultimately destructive to Vision Baptist Church members and their families who remain with the organization.

In my opinion, if left to continue unacknowledged or properly addressed, I believe that many Christian families both members of VBC and those who are not members of VBC will continue to suffer. I also believe that the already tenuous and strained fractures within VBM will continue to tear at the seams until implosion and more families will be hurt and traumatized.

If VBM leadership continues to not clearly and specifically address (at the very least internally to all VBM missionaries) the offcial VBM leadership position regarding Bro Gardner and its relation with and support (or lack thereof) of VBC will ultimately tear VBC, VBM, and the OGTC further apart.

I also believe that the board might split and members of VBM will either leave VBM to go their own way or possibly add more support to Advancing Global Missions Inc. which has the potential to be a mission board haven for those who continue to support Bro Gardner and his teaching and preaching ministry.

Proposed Solution

I believe it would be beneficial for the church leadership to seriously consider these questions:

1. How can other VBC members who are also VBM members safely ask for help if they feel they are (or truly are) in a toxic, cultish, manipulative, spiritually abusive culture/organization if there is currently no ombudsman or Board of Directors over the executive directors for accountability? How can people voice their concerns or escape “the family” safely if they feel trapped in an environment that strongly discourages perceived threats or disagreements? How can they get help for their family if they feel like they are the only ones struggling or are not brave enough to challenge leadership?
2. Have you already been made aware of concerns from other people that state that they believe others in VBM leadership continue to display similar sinful tendencies/patterns for which Bro Gardner was disqualified from ministry?
3. What will the church do if VBM leadership continues in the unhealthy culture, patterns, and tendencies that Bro Gardner displayed and created?
4. What is the criteria or measurable way to determine that a termination of this partnership would be definitively necessary? At what point would the church sever partnership with VBM?
5. Assuming that identifying specifically the problems and areas of concern (also admitting or confessing) is the first step in real change or purposeful intent to change, other than the founder and previous president personally, has VBM leadership expressed to you their agreement or at the very least the specific identification of any tendencies or patterns that existed at the leadership or organization level? - I do not believe that any such specific list or honest introspection or evaluation has occurred, but I have observed the opposite (ignoring, dismissing, and discouraging these questions or line of thinking) thus continuing the pattern and tendencies which remain unacknowledged and unidentified.
6. I propose that Vision Baptist Church should seriously consider breaking off their ministry partnership with Vision Baptist Missions at this time.

Attached Exhibits

• “Letter to VBM” draft
• Letter to Pastoral Advisory Committee and future Board of Directors
• Includes:
• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rNSagUquBvRk9XZncBbmN03J_kgL241O?usp=sharing

Google drive link includes:

• "End of year letter update” to supporters which was not allowed to be sent through VBM
• VBM General Policies as of 4/3/21
• VBM General Policies as of 10/13/21
• “TBC to VBM” - Tucson Baptist Church’s letter to VBM
• Gmail thread “Question for the Exec Board”
• 1st Gmail thread regarding “Special mail out to the…”
• 2nd Gmail thread regarding “Wung Special Letter mail out”
• Some discussion regarding Advancing Global Missions Inc.
• Gmail - Fwd/ China! ! November 2021 Prayer Letter
• *Excerpts from Philip’s concerns posted on his website, previous missionary with VBM - https://projectthailand.net/2021/09/06/myresignation-from-vision-baptist-missions-amidst-their-mishandling-ofsexual-abuse/ and https://projectthailand.net/2021/09/06/exposing-visionbaptist-missions-response-to-allegations-against-austin-gardner/
• “Austin-Gardner-Statement-Updated” - Letter of concern from 17 missionaries and interns formally associated with VBM
• Personal notes from October 5, 2021
• August5statement
• August7statement
• August24statement
• 2021-09-12-Vision-Baptist-Missions-Letter
• 2021-10-08-Letter-to-VBM-Churches
• “VBM Organisational Structure” (including org chart) as of October 2021
• Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 2021-8-12
• Directors Meeting Minutes 2021-10-07
• VBM Organizational Culture

Please feel free to reach me anytime at xxxxxxxx@gmail.com or (xxx)xxx-xxxx.

Your friend and brother-in-Christ,

"Bradley"