10+ Supporters / Parents, etc.

Other supporters, parents, etc.

• "I have watched virtually every service online since 2017 and have written down troubling statements by Austin Gardner. I have serious doubts about his true connection to the same Living God that I serve."

• "Thank you for taking a stand."

• "As an aged woman, I’ve seen and heard of toxic situations in churches over the last 70 years I’ve been active in them. Some work their way through, others cease to exist. I regret it is necessary for you to go through this. I am also grateful for the clarity of your letter, for your awareness, your logic, and your scriptures used. I can see biblical steps followed."

• " I have also observed much of what you described (in my brief encounters with him and the missionary group he leads) and been concerned. I am sickened for the victims. I am heartbroken for you and your family. Praying for you all as you take a stand for truth, for godly discipleship, and for Biblical missions work. Thank you for your honestly and vulnerability."

• "thanks for what you took the time to say. A week before ... in 2012, I was at Friday class. After class I remember Austin saying to me “I hope you have a great trip. I still feel like you’re wasting your life not being a missionary” that was that. End of conversation. Never sat right with me but I just figured oh well. I struggled watching all my friends go to the mission field and some reason I never felt called to a foreign field. I always heard the stat about 90 something percent of churches in the world are in the US… or whatever that stat is. I was always “guilted” to be a foreign missionary.

  A couple years later it clicked in my head… kind of like what you said in your post about when it clicked for you that we aren’t called to make disciples of 1 person, but of Jesus. Jesus decides what we are to do. Not 1 person. Ever since then I just kind of distanced myself from vision apart from being in church and seeing all you guys come in from meetings.

  It’s just funny cause I feel like I’m where God has me. And I still feel that “pressure” from time to time from some of the “new age” young missionaries out of Vision as I like to call them. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and family and a great job where we give back to the church and missions. It’s just different now cause I see how so many people are talking about what I’ve felt for so long. It’s never really affected me just apart from the fact that it annoyed me and ticked me off.

  Anyways, just wanted to share that and thanks for standing up when so many seem to just have an alliance or allegiance to an individual. Just reading through Facebook comments on videos blows my mind when people say things like “we believe you and stand with you” and they don’t even know any part of the stories. I will definitely be praying for you and your wife and kids as y’all go into this next unknown phase of your lives. "

• "Thank you SO much for speaking up!! Praying for you!"

• "Thank you for YOUR STAND! It’s not easy but it’s worth it! I don’t regret my decision to stand for survivors of church abuse."

• "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For coming out against Austin Gardner. You went into detail about what I already knew but you're from the inside."

• "sadly the narcissistic environment you described has been in every ministry of the many I have been a part of, which is why we left many years ago. I agree with your position and thank you for your courage to stand up. "

• "I am proud of you two for taking a stand. My husband and i have left **** due to this type of "ministry abuse" with narcisisitic type leaders and in both cases we were young and scared so we just quietly left without causing a stir. Sometimes i wish we would have spoken up, but it is so hard because as you all have done, it could mean losing everything and losing support/friends etc. We were young and eager to help out at ** ministry but started to notice our pastor wasnt doing things the Biblical way, too many incidences to count but it gave us a bad feeling. The pastor used the fact that they newly saved converts would believe anything he said and made them serve him and he would publicly shame people from the pulpit and throw fits when he didnt get his way or get 100 percent compliance. He wouldnt show a report of what money came in, how money was spent, didnt have deacons etc. He was also legalistic and made up rules constantly that were extra biblical. I could go on and on...but you get the idea of it. The aha moment came when one day we saw a video on Youtube about ministry abuse and how to spot it and one of the things on the list was pulpit shaming/shunning or telling people not to talk to other people/blacklisting people who leave. We suddenly realized that although some good things were happening at that ministry and we had many good friends there, it was time to leave. They bad mouthed us and made up stories after we left about how we were having "ministry burnout" and leaving Gods will. But because of our bravery to walk away in spring of 201#, God has made our ministry, that love we had for _ and foreign people groups grow and expand like no other. We went from a slavery type situation to a preacher who set up things to be worshipped and never questioned, to our own ministry..."

• "First off we want to thank you for speaking up! I can’t imagine how hard it has been. After the first month of [our daughter] being down at Vision we had MAJOR red flags and concerns that we constantly tried to bring up and were shot down. [My husband] once tried to call and talk to Austin and his words to [him] were “if you ever want to see you daughter or grandkids again you will keep your mouth shut” We were so thankful when [they] moved back home and we were able to slowly start showing her things of how toxic the place was!" [We] say all the time that we wish somebody would’ve talk to us before we sent [our daughter] there. I know we can’t go back and change it now and we can’t play the what if game but there are many days especially recently when ... I so wish we could’ve done things differently. We quickly noticed after [our daughter] being there and especially once she married, how family up here was being cut off. We couldn’t understand why they [had] to be in Alpharetta and at Vision all the time. We were so heartbroken when we learned that our grandkids would go to Robert and Kelli if something happened to [them] even though they are the same age as we are but now we look back and see it was the control and the brainwashing.