Email footer adjustments and families secretly kicked out of the VBM email ring

This most recent email footer was added in January 2023, a whole year after the Confidential Notice email footers which were originally added in August 2021 during the investigation of Austin Gardner and subsequently shortened and eventually removed completely in January 2022.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are for the exclusive and confidential use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, distribute or take action in reliance upon this message. If you have received this in error, please notify us immediately by return email and promptly delete this message and its attachments from your computer system.

The VBM Executive Directors knew there was a mole(s) feeding true and revealing information about the steps or lack thereof being taken.

The following email footer was added to all internal VBM emails by the Executive Directors during the investigation of Austin Gardner in response to info being leaked to the victims who were calling on VBM/VBC to investigate and keep everyone accountable.

Previously there was no such email footer for the VBM email ring. The VBM email ring included VBM missionaries as well as a few other missionary families who were not with VBM but were loyal Austin Gardner supporters.

During this same time period, Jeff had the non-VBM missionaries removed in order to clean out the email ring from other potential leaks who were not officially with VBM. Several families were subsequently removed without having the opportunity to say "goodbye" to the many longtime friends they had for years. These families were on the original OG email ring which dated back over a decade. The VBM missionaries were also not notified nor provided any reason why the non-VBM missionary families were even removed at all.

For context regarding the OG email ring and the VBM email ring:

After Austin Gardner left Macedonia World Baptist Mission [MWBM] and started VBM, he used the private and exclusive Our Generation (OG) email ring that included VBM missionaries, MWBM missionaries, and others loyal to him. After some missionaries tried to confront Austin about his sin problems, the OG email ring was shut down, missionaries were secretly removed, and the VBM email ring was created. Until the August 2021 allegations came out, the new email ring also included MWBM missionaries as well as VBM missionaries loyal to Austin. After Austin’s departure from VBM, it seems he has been using newer email rings with his Society of Mentors and Alignment Ministries, which include some VBM missionaries and VBC church members along with others who remain loyal to him

This email footer was later shortened and the ultimate desire was to have it removed completely to "get back to normal" and so "we can be a family again" per Jeff Bush's stated desire.

This is the footer that was set up in August 2021, the same month allegations of abuse came out about Austin Gardner.

THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY TO WHICH IT IS ADDRESSED AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.  If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, forwarding, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail or telephone, and delete the original message immediately.  Thank you.

The email footer changed in December 2021 to this:

NOTE: THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED FOR VISION BAPTIST MISSIONS INTERNAL COMMUNICATION ONLY. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender, and delete the original message. Thank you.

The VBM email footer was completely removed from the VBM email ring by January 2022, after things had "settled down" per Jeff Bush's suggestion to the Executive Directors.