This article is not an attack on Stephen. Still, I extract common themes from this situation at FSM to explain my history and opinions about ex-gay leadership's inability to truly "lead."
I'm not surprised either Randy! I learned a long time ago that some that scream the loudest about their "holiness" are hiding who they really are. And from personal experience, Stephen screamed pretty damn loud! I pray that this breaks the arrogance I always saw in him; he wore it like a banner. I don't mean that in a judging way as we all struggle with that at one time or another. BUT, when you are hurting others with that kind of arrogance, God will find a way to humble you! I don't keep up with who from our former Exodus days is still going down that road, but I pray it is becoming fewer as time goes on.
These "ministries" are all about evasion -- from accountability, professional oversight, liability, and non-profit metrics. They claim religious exemption from professional counseling licensing and state board oversight, so their self-taught, personally-invested counselors can spout pseudo-science psychobabble without bothering to learn the science, train with real professionals, or be held accountable to a professional oversight board.
And yet they also exempt themselves from typical church structure and nonprofit metrics. They don't have a church membership to elect a governing board. The board members are typically just fans of the ministry leader -- or worse the ministry leader themself.
And yet they're not typical nonprofits either - there's no quantifiable service or goods they can claim to provide (e.g. meals, beds, etc.). They could tout the number of hours of counseling or people they have counseled, but that veers into success rate. If a ministry counseled a 100 participants in the local community each year, then shouldn't there be hundreds of 'ex-gays' and 'detransitioners' who tout the success?? If accounting for media-averse people, these ministries can barely tout one or two success stories - often someone new who is at their spiritual peak or is looking to go into the pray-away-the-gay ministry professionally.
I'm not surprised either Randy! I learned a long time ago that some that scream the loudest about their "holiness" are hiding who they really are. And from personal experience, Stephen screamed pretty damn loud! I pray that this breaks the arrogance I always saw in him; he wore it like a banner. I don't mean that in a judging way as we all struggle with that at one time or another. BUT, when you are hurting others with that kind of arrogance, God will find a way to humble you! I don't keep up with who from our former Exodus days is still going down that road, but I pray it is becoming fewer as time goes on.
These "ministries" are all about evasion -- from accountability, professional oversight, liability, and non-profit metrics. They claim religious exemption from professional counseling licensing and state board oversight, so their self-taught, personally-invested counselors can spout pseudo-science psychobabble without bothering to learn the science, train with real professionals, or be held accountable to a professional oversight board.
And yet they also exempt themselves from typical church structure and nonprofit metrics. They don't have a church membership to elect a governing board. The board members are typically just fans of the ministry leader -- or worse the ministry leader themself.
And yet they're not typical nonprofits either - there's no quantifiable service or goods they can claim to provide (e.g. meals, beds, etc.). They could tout the number of hours of counseling or people they have counseled, but that veers into success rate. If a ministry counseled a 100 participants in the local community each year, then shouldn't there be hundreds of 'ex-gays' and 'detransitioners' who tout the success?? If accounting for media-averse people, these ministries can barely tout one or two success stories - often someone new who is at their spiritual peak or is looking to go into the pray-away-the-gay ministry professionally.