"Tim"

To Whom It May Concern:

This is my, "Tim", testimony and personal account of instances in which I observed spiritual and emotional abuse in the life and ministry of W. Austin Gardner. I have listed several of his most common tactics for easy reference below, and I expound upon them throughout the body of this letter.

Austin’s actions include but are not limited to the following:

• Deconstruction and recoding (i.e. simultaneously demoralizing and flattering victims)
• Exploitation - using people to benefit himself and promote his goals
• Slander (Pastors, Missionaries, Deacons, and Vision Baptist Church Members)
• Manipulation - using guilt, shame, and fear to control others
• Bullying - threats and verbal assaults towards people who threaten to expose the inner circle
• Violation of confidentiality
• Obsession with sex and women’s bodies
• Weaponizing Scripture

My first encounter with the abusive tactics of W. Austin Gardner took place in Arequipa, Peru during the summer of 2003. I was preparing to enter my junior year at __ University of __ and the ____ Bible Institute. Throughout that six week trip, I was told (sometimes directly, sometime indirectly) that I was wasting my life and tangled up in the cares of this world. We were encouraged to ask Austin questions about missions, but whenever I did he would talk about how I wasn’t going to do anything for God because I cared too much about getting a degree.

He worked hard at convincing me that everything and everyone that I valued at that time were tools of Satan keeping me from following Christ. When I told Austin that I believed God wanted me to be a missionary, he again asked about my plans to finish college. He said that if I went back to school, then I would end up like all the others who walked away and would never make an impact on the world.

Being convinced that I needed to focus on training for the mission field, I dropped out of __ University, believing that it was a necessary spiritual sacrifice. I was still enrolled at the ___ Bible Institute, in _. An agreement was made for me to receive all of the remaining credits I needed to graduate by spending six months studying and training under Austin.

During my last week of the internship, Austin sat me down in his living room and told me that my pastor actually sent me to South America so that he could “fix” me. He told me that I was an embarrassment to my church, but he could help me be restored to a place of honor. Austin said that I needed to write a full report denouncing several personal beliefs, otherwise I would not receive a single credit from my six months in Peru. Having dropped out of a legitimate university in order to pursue missions, I felt extreme pressure to write the report regardless of what I actually believed.

Dishonesty and exploitation were (and are still) key characteristics of Austin’s missionary training. Twisting the truth and evading direct questions were skills that he taught his disciples. He often explained how he could make people think that he agreed with them without actually saying that he agreed. He taught us how to use people to get what we needed from them whether it was money from a church or help from veteran missionaries on the field. He was known for saying things like, “pastors have poop for brains” and “you would do the world a favor if you shot 90% of all missionaries.” The only exceptions were those who promoted his teachings or contributed enough money to further his ministry.

His words and his actions have consistently demonstrated a blatant disrespect for other people, especially towards those whom he perceives as a threat to his own power or reputation. As long as someone helped promote his name or his projects he would praise them in front of others. But as soon as those individuals stopped promoting or funding him, they would be slandered and called “losers” for not caring about world evangelism. I and many others heard this type of double talk frequently about pastors, missionaries, deacons, and laity.

The most blatant example of this occurred during Vision Baptist Church’s 2017 mission conference. Among many controversial and unethical statements made during a private meeting with several missionary families, Austin began berating his own church members in front of the entire group. He went off on a tangent stating that the members of his own church were all out of the will of God. He continued to explain his conclusion by stating that if they really loved God, then they would become missionaries or they would start giving more to Faith Promise. He talked specifically about the man who was the church’s treasurer and a deacon at that time. Apparently, he had become Austin’s “thorn in the flesh” due to some disagreement about this subject. We were told not to preach the Bible that week, but instead he wanted us to tell inspiring stories to get the people to give more money.

Austin’s duplicity confused and harmed many missionaries who attempted to faithfully follow his teaching. One missionary was praised for quickly raising more support than any other missionary on the team. That same missionary generously gave money to as many VBM projects as Austin suggested. Later when he was facing financial difficulties, Austin berated him and said that he was being greedy and accused him of mishandling his money.

The missionary was heartbroken and asked me to look over his budget to see where he might be guilty of this. I talked to Austin personally after that and told him that the missionary seemed to be doing well at managing his money. The only place where he was overspending was in the category of VBM giving. I told him that it was unreasonable to ask the missionary to raise the amount he did, pressure him into giving to so many projects, and then ridicule him for being greedy and not managing his money better. Austin assured me that I didn’t know the whole story and said nothing else. A few months later, Austin convinced that same missionary to leave the mission field and begin raising money full time for Vision Baptist Missions.

Grooming and Gifting

Grooming and gifting were common tactics used by Austin. The most obvious example of that was the inner ring of leaders. As long as I have known Austin, he has enticed disciples into conformity and competition by creating an "elite" group of leaders. The missionaries who showed the most loyalty and could improve the image of VBM and Austin Gardner were promoted and praised openly. Others were shunned or belittled in front of the group to serve as examples.

The desire for approval, acceptance into the inner ring, or simply praise from Austin was used as a motivator to perform and produce results. Frequently when someone left the group, they were asked to leave quietly and before any details of their departure could be known, Austin initiated some type of grand display of generosity (typically a gift). This often made him look gracious and generous while portraying the person who left as ungrateful or bitter, especially if they ever talked about the real reasons for walking away.

Guilt, Fear, Shame

Austin regularly used guilt, shame, and fear to keep people in submission. He shamelessly used Scripture to justify his own actions and condemn others. Using the Great Commission as a pretext, he frequently made people feel like they did not love God, if they did not follow his definition of church planting and disciple making. In group meetings, if one of his statements or practices were challenged by someone, he would typically mock them and tell everybody in the group that people like them obviously “don’t know how to read their Bibles.”

Slander

When a pastor or theologian would become popular with members of VBM, it was almost guaranteed that slander would soon follow. For example, when we started Vision Baptist Church, we were encouraged to read books by John Piper and other reformed theologians. As soon as his books and teaching became influential in the lives of students, Austin reacted by “proving” that he was a heretic. Anybody who attempted to have a logical conversation about the subject would be accosted by Austin or left to verbal attacks from loyal WAG sycophants.

If a matter discussed on the VBM email ring became public, the guilty party would be called out and bullied. Two years ago, I read an angry message sent to the group asking who told a member of Vision Baptist Church that we were not KJV only, but rather that we preferred the King James Bible to other versions. Knowing that was true, I asked Austin why this was a problem and if Vision decided to become KJV only. His response was, “I live in the world I live in... I deal with the people I deal with. The new people - the ‘Josh Teises’ - don’t support missions.” The bottom line was that he didn’t actually have a conviction about this issue, but he had to pretend like he did so that VBM could continue to solicit money from KJV only churches. There was always plausible deniability, but if anyone on the inside exposed the truth (intentionally or unintentionally), they would be shamed or branded as trouble-making gossipers.

Ironically, Austin has frequently been known to carelessly violate the confidentiality of others. The most recent and disturbing example of this was when a young missionary wife was caught in adultery. Her husband was immediately removed from all group messaging lists, and in a Marco Polo video message Austin explained in excessive detail how the husband caught his pregnant wife in the act. The conversation went on with the entire group about how terrible it would be if her baby was born with black hair and didn’t look like the dad. Of course Austin gave us a play by play on how he planned to restore the couple and bring them back as missionaries again. He did this under the guise of “leadership training” and used it as an example of what would happen when missionaries didn’t listen to him or follow his teaching.

"Rebellious" Wives

Comments about rebellious wives who ruin their husband’s ministry were also common. Extreme statements like, “Some of these wives are clipping their husband’s wings. You men need to punch them in the nose,” or “If my wife talked to me like that, I’d punch her in the face,” were excused by many as simply being hyperbole. People would just shrug their shoulders and reply, “That’s just the way he is.” Inappropriate conversations about sex and descriptions of how women dressed to seduce men were other common monologues that would take place in large missionary gatherings. Those who would object to it or attempt to change the subject would be mocked by Austin’s trademark reply, “Oh, get your panties out of a wad!” Sometimes he would actually accuse us of being perverts because we didn’t want to respond to his comments. I never understood the logic behind that reaction.

Using Scripture to Attack

Austin is skilled at using Scripture to attack people and defend himself. Being quick to condemn other Christians as wolves, he would quickly remind someone who called him out that they needed to remove the beam in their eye before pointing out the mote in his. Often times he used others to do this on his behalf by misapplying 1 Timothy 5:19, “Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.” Coincidentally, the witnesses to Austin’s actions were quickly isolated and silenced. VBM leadership controlled the narrative after cutting the individual off from the others, and people were afraid to listen to the victims knowing that they would be marked as gossipers if they did.

A favorite passage to manipulate was the process of church discipline according to Matthew 18:15-20. Many of us have attempted to to talk to Austin personally about these problems. Often he would ignore it or offer an insincere apology. When I and others took the complaints to the leadership of VBM and VBC, they were quick to defend Austin and deny that there was a problem. This was the case for me after I talked to him personally about the reasons why I could no longer be a part of VBM. His only response to me was, “Okay, Doc. Just tell us when you want to resign and we’ll do what we can on our end.” A few minutes later I got a call from Jeff Bush. He said, “Bro. Austin just told me that you decided to resign because we are too strong on the King James. I don’t need to know anything else... All I ask is that you don’t kick us in the balls when you leave.”

Realizing that nobody at Vision would ever hear the real reasons I left VBM, I decided to write a letter and send it to the leaders of both the board and the church. Only two people responded. They said that they did not believe these things were true or a sin problem. They said that they knew they weren’t perfect and that they had areas in which to grow. Others attempted to follow the biblical pattern only to have it end with Austin manipulating the meetings, dominating the topic, intimidating deacons, and then pressuring everybody to say that they forgave him. No genuine acknowledgment of sin, remorse, or repentance followed.

Many have walked away without hope of ever being heard or believed. Even though Vision Baptist Missions is a ministry of Vision Baptist Church, Austin has convinced leadership that somehow they cannot be held accountable for what happens to these victims. Again appealing to an unbiblical copout that most were not members of the church, many have declared their hands clean. I am submitting this testimony in accordance with others who have experienced the spiritual and emotional abuse of Austin Gardner. He has created a culture of abuse, and if this continues to go unchecked more people will be abused, and worse yet others will be trained to become abusers themselves.

Thank you for taking time to read my testimony. If you have any questions or if I can help clarify anything in this letter, please contact me. My email address is _ and my cell number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

Sincerely, "Tim"