Reports from this story are making their way around the Internet this week. Honestly, I’d like very much to say that I’m not shocked, but I really am. I am totally shocked by the unchecked perpetuation of what seems to be a systemic culture of violence, intimidation, vulgarity, and hate that exists in the senior leadership and staff of Perry Noble’s NewSpring Church. This is a truly disturbing story. The excerpt below is only one small part of a very large and long series of events for which someone should be held accountable.
Family attacks
Maxwell repeatedly mentioned my family in his twitter posts in a way that felt like we were being aggressively stalked. He identified by wife and son by name, and even correctly revealed my son’s age and the location of his school. He also correctly described the make and model of our cars, and described journeys my wife took in our minivan.
The tweets include vile descriptions of my wife’s sexual behaviors and anatomy (you’ll excuse me, I hope, if I don’t quote those ones). When Steven Furtick preached a series on cow tipping, Maxwell invited him to come and tip my wife over. Maxwell repeatedly described my son as abused and someone who wore women’s underwear around the house. He seemed to enjoy threatening me, warning me that I could “only shelter a child for so long.” One post seemed to promise vandalism against my home:
and yep. theres a big bag of poop in my mail box. looks like human turds instead of dog… sick individuals
I had very real fears that something awful was about to happen, so it was at this point that I went to the police.
No family member seemed exempt from his anger. After posting an account of having the privilege to have preached at the same church in New Zealand that my father and grandfather had pastored, and showing a photo of them in the church’s gallery of pastors, Maxwell responded:
my dad and my grandpa look retarded
did i ever tell u that my dad beat me as a child? and he calls himself a pastor… maybe this is where my rage comes from
The most distressing series of messages came in August, when Maxwell started talking about my son’s backyard play equipment. Earlier this year, I built my son a 140-foot zip line in our back yard. It was really something, and my son enjoyed being able to share it with kids who lived on our street, including quite a few kids who filtered into our back yard from the subdivision behind us. Because it was behind our house, you couldn’t really see it from the street, though you could see the platform from which the kids took off. Unless you actually saw kids playing on it, there would be no way to know just by looking at my house that there was a zip line in the back.
So it was a surprise when on August 2 and 3, Maxwell left comments like this:
it would thrill me to see a hundred kids zipping back and forth in my backyard
feel free to come by the house and use my zip line!
It puzzled me how he knew about that. He had also mentioned a trampoline of ours, offering it for sale on Twitter, though it is possible that he saw that from the street (not a terribly comforting idea, but not as threatening as the zip line reference).
Remember that I said that Maxwell’s friend, Jason Moorehead, had followed the fake Twitter account? This particular NewSpring pastor lives just three houses away (500 feet) in the subdivision behind ours. Might he have passed the information about the zip line to Maxwell? You be the judge, but note Maxwell’s message from August 2:
what would you the reader like to see? i know there are alot of you that just read and don’t follow. tell me. what would u like to see?
On August 2, Maxwell asks his NewSpring readers if anyone has any ideas to further harass me. Jason Moorehead, a NewSpring pastor, lives just a few houses behind mine, in the neighborhood from which we had welcomed kids into our yard. It was Moorehead who was receiving Maxwell’s messages in his Twitter feeds. The very next day, Maxwell is chirping about kids playing on my zip line. More than just reading, did NewSpring’s pastor feed content to Maxwell? I don’t know for sure, but the only other way that Maxwell knew about kids playing on my zip line was for him to have parked outside our house to watch my son play, or to enter my property to see what was back there. Perversely, the Moorehead theory is the most comforting.
Even so, once we connected those dots, all those possibilities were rather terrifying for my wife. She, quite reasonably, feels violated and unsafe in our own home.
The above excerpt is actually very, very mild when compared to the other disgusting threats sent to Dr. James Duncan. I will refrain from excerpting the worst of it here, for edification’s sake. You’ll have to read the entire account at Dr. Duncan’s site, but I warn you now it is very graphic. I honestly can’t believe this sort of thing came from senior leadership at New Spring Church.
The entire account is just devastating. Is this really the right way to handle criticism? I think not! Seriously, read the entire account. Perry Noble and NewSpring Church should spend a Sunday morning addressing these issues openly and honestly. What we have here is an incredible case study that not only teaches us all how not to handle our critics, but also shows us that a big, fat church can be built by leaders who have little or nothing to do with God. Some may say that charge is harsh, but to them I’d simply say: Read the story, if you can.
NewSpring also commented on the issue, though I must say, it appears that Dr. Duncan does have the evidence he needs to substantiate his claims that Perry Noble knew it was happening. It is also disappointing to see how NewSpring attempts to make this about money when they should have instead at least tried to bring real healing to a situation for which they – like it or not – are ultimately responsible.
So, why would I write about such a terrible story? Four words: It’s a justice issue.
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That’s just incredibly disturbing. Is this church accountable to a wider body at all?
I don’t know for sure, Matt. I’d bet you they are not though. I think Mr. Noble is the center of all things there.
I also would suggest that people interested in this story read the other posts on Dr. Duncan’s blog. They offer a broader insight to the situation. Especially interesting is Duncan’s suggestion that Perry Noble knew full well what was going on the whole time because he was part of the Twitter conversations thanks to the inclusion of the “@perrynoble” Twitter handle in many of the most damning “tweets” directed at Dr. Duncan. See this post: http://www.pajamapages.com/?p=3848