Thank you Sharon & Paul for sharing your story w/ Julie & the rest of us to hear & to feel love & compassion for the both of you. To you for all that you went thru & for you Paul for the love & compassion you were ready to give to Sharon. I trust this story will help others, more than we know!
It’s sad that Sharon went through this, and I feel especially sorry for the good man beside her. However, I felt she downplayed her role in the affair. No doubt there was ACA involved. Pastors are notorious for that. But as an adult she also had a part in what took place between them. I listened until around 41 minutes. If she admitted her fault later, then I was not around to hear that bit. I simply could not continue. Julie is a great investigative reporter, but she must also ask her interviewees about any role they may have had in things of this nature.
I believe every word Sharon stated! I attended the church where this occurred but was certainly not part of the inner circle. It was so frustrating and confusing as I watched from the “outside”. I often left church so frustrated. I was frustrated with the church and I was frustrated with myself for being frustrated with the church! On the one hand, I “despised” the way staff elevated Pete Hise. I watched as they made a very regular practice of expressing their extreme, very unhealthy “admiration” of him, taking the focus from Jesus. Only one staff member who spoke from the pulpit did not do this, Helen Musik. (From what I recall she always placed the focus on Jesus and only gave glory to Him!). However, on the other hand, even with all the frustration I loved Sharon’s gift for leading worship and appreciated Pete’s preaching. I did however, want him to stick to preaching. His desire to spend far too much time on story telling, often sharing too many details and putting his kids on the screen was irritating, at best. I recall thinking he should put a stop to this but quickly decided he surely must endorse their behavior or it would not be such common practice. Someone close to me suggested I e-mail the church to share my concerns. but it was evident to me that staff was so “far gone”, enamored with Pete that my words would fall on deaf ears. So as it turned out. God stepped in and fully handled the situation. I had no idea exactly how Sharon ended up so manipulated by Pete until listening today. I have however always believed in her sincere heart and desire to please the Lord. I just knew something wasn’t right. Thank God Sharon was rescued and has been restored. God knows her heart and I have no doubt it’s pure and she’s been washed white as snow. She’s a brave woman and so blessed to have a husband who loves and supports her so. I believe she will help/is already helping so many others and her suffering has not been in vain. Thank you for this story!
Thank you Shannon and Paul... The "grace message" was key in my experience too; the message being that grace covered any and every thing, that we are human and can't possibly live a righteous life... 3 years of grooming and 12 years of secrecy and living hidden... it was soul shattering!
Hallelujah!!! I’m blessed and favored with $60,000 every week! Now I can afford anything and support the work of God and the church. For Your glory, LORD! HALLELUJAH!
Absolutely! I have heard stories of people who started with little or no knowledge but managed to emerge victorious thanks to Ana Graciela Blackwelder.
Oh the grace thing that reminds me of that quote from Doug Wilson “Grace is wild. Grace unsettles everything. Grace overflows the banks. Grace messes up your hair. Grace is not tame.” And ohhh the irony I also heard Tullian Tchividjian also use that one at least a few times in sermons a few years before his deeds were exposed.(and he did it without attribution in my recollection because I had to go looking for it to find out who said it).
Totally understand this sister, but in this society we tend sign up for “contracts or agreements “ don’t depend on pastors to explain the fine print in the Bible. Verify and validate for yourself because there is so much false doctrines in the land and pastors have “No FEAR OF The LORD “ . Shalom Shalom.
I am praying that the Lord softens my heart on this one. She is an adult women, not a baby Christian, knowledgeable in the word. Also having her husband there is just so uncomfortable to watch. He is the victim here too. Being naive should have sent up huge red flags that what was happening was not correct.
It is uncomfortable, but what helps me is to remember that members of the church are vulnerable when dealing with a pastor because he/she is considered 100% trustworthy. If you add to that childhood wounds, trauma, and insecurity, a pastor who sees that and instead of protecting them because of that vulnerability, chooses to take advantage of it instead makes it a huge abuse of his position. It is natural for church members or say, an adult client in therapy to have hurts and struggles. It is *not* natural for a pastor or therapist to take advantage. That’s why you find these people often repeat offenses with multiple people, because it’s not about love (which the word affair implies) but feeding some kind of power high within the person.
That seeker sensitive thing sounds really good until you actually see how it works because it always ends up elevating the Pastor… the vision caster … like even minor course corrections that are suggested end up as “who are you to speak against the pastor when he has heard from God,” etc. It’s terrible.
I’m sorry but I can’t accept her definition of “consent”. Adults have to be able to take responsibility for their actions. She had an affair. It was consensual
I wrote something erased it thought and came back. If you cheated emotionally, physically apologize to your mate, if they take you back wonderful get counseling. But to sit here with that poor man by your side talking about how you were manipulated? No way!! You are a grown Christian Women.To embarrass that poor man any further is cruel. Forgive me if I sound harsh,but you are 100 💯 percent at fault.
I agree. But I’m not so sure it’s Sharon’s fault in that she’s just part of a toxic system where clergy abuse isn’t a topic of concern. It’s the “Church People” as Julie said. I think the fact that Julie and others are having to interview the VICTIMS to get this message out is very telling how sick the church is. Where are the Pastors and Leaders? The repentant Spiritually Abusive Pastor? When we see them coming forward on these programs then I think the church will be on the road to recovery. Meanwhile should we take a page out of the worlds play book and teach Adult Christians about grooming and inappropriate touching? Maybe I should write a children’s/adult book to pass out to churches. Put it in the new member packets? Jesus help us. I feel sorry for Sharon and her husband and that this is the only way this message is getting out. Take another beating for Christ…. This is where most victims got used and abused in the first place.. If Christians were really walking in power and truth they wouldn’t be fooled by the Perverts among us. We all need to grow up and stop the over spiritualizing, and get some Education and Street Smarts.. Naive doesn’t look good on Adult Men and Women. Not to mention the children in these groups. They must be wide open for abuse if the adults aren’t even aware of it.
