Late payments on church credit cards resulted in charges of more than $7,500 in penalties, interest and late fees between April 2013 and March 2015. E.g. Find top employees, contact details and business statistics at RocketReach. Shannon uses her divine knowledge of Scripture to put the story back together again. Add to your calendar iCal Google Please refer your friends and family to this site if you find it useful or informative. Toxic pastors rise to power because they are often among the few people in church leadership educated in ministry, and the volunteers around them dont feel confident to challenge the pastors decisions, Diederich wrote. Invalid password or account does not exist. Its immediately evident she has a passion to see people know how much God loves them and a desire to see that reality change their livesbecause it has changed hers. Food. Despite the widespread concerns, several sources indicated that many families just left Valleybrook when they felt things were getting strange later in Lebsacks roughly 10 years at the church. Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Without further ado, here's a PDF of the Valleybrook Church Report. The developments, which led to the resignations of Valleybrooks entire pastoral team as well as three of its overseers, prompted many church members to leave and left transitional leaders with the daunting challenge of regaining the trust of remaining members and the community. Valleybrook Church, based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is under fire for what a former leader is calling abusive practices [that] were inappropriate and pushing the church away from God.. employees. When you eventually accepted that, youd just think he must be right, Mitchell said, recalling that Lebsack used to tell him his life would become more peaceful once he stopped rebelling and questioning things. If youre on a mobile device, the site menu is at the very top of the page, indicated by three horizontal bars. The church received several notices about unpaid taxes from the Internal Revenue Service, including a notice of intent to levy $12,977 for unpaid employment withholding taxes. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. Some of the pastors, including head of the church Rev. To assist in bringing justice to the abusive, and healing by clarification to the abused. The church also has contracted with an outside bookkeeper to process payroll and payables, Solberg said. Mitchell also reported that current leaders indicated that several bags of cash (some labeled Kids Offering) were found in former assistant pastor Mary Clarks office, six staff members rang up $6,000 in charges on their Valleybrook credit cards for dining out, and Lebsack, believed to now be leading a church in Grapevine, Texas, received an annual salary of $113,000. Previously on a personal blog, I ran a series of posts sharing stories from my time in this cult. Valleybrook is located in the heart of downtown Eau Claire. An investigation early this year by a crisis intervention team from Converge Great Lakes, a denomination with evangelical Baptist roots that helped start Valleybrook 21 years ago in the former Hollywood movie theater building in downtown Eau Claire, generated a report highly critical of practices at the church. All the symptoms appear to have been present at Valleybrook, Diederich said, noting that he regularly reminds his congregation that his words represent his opinions and that he isnt claiming to be speaking for God. The address is 411 S Barstow St. Help us spread the word about Aspire. Reader's Choice Awards - Voting has ended. Before you know it there is an unintentional conspiracy of silence, he said. Valleybrook Church 412 S. Barstow St. Eau Claire, WI 54701 Call 480-812-1100 for information Pricing General Admission $25 (plus fee) General Admission ($30 at the door) BUY TICKETS VIP $35 (plus fee) Early Admission for preferred seating Q&A with the speakers and artists BUY TICKETS Group Tickets $20 for group of 10+ Valleybrook Church Eau Claire, Wisconsin REGISTER Join us for two days of growing, learning, and building your ministry toolkit while being inspired and motivated to lead like never before. Boston St Patricks Day Pub Crawl & Block Party! Between 2008 and 2014, $6,488 in church money was used to pay parking tickets. Select a subscription and get started today. Create a password that only you will remember. I went and checked, said Solberg, who immediately negotiated an 87 percent reduction in the bill, down to $136 a month, after joining the transitional team. Solberg said average attendance at services, while still down by more than 50 percent from the beginning of the year before the upheaval, has begun to creep back up, recently reaching about 225. 189 (Granville Road) 860.844.0001. office@valleybrook.cc. Call our office to order group tickets with no processing fee at 480-812-1100. It is my hope that with enough web presence, a Google search will highlight the names of these individuals in an effort to prevent abuse from happening elsewhere. Coach Indianhead Sport Parachute Club // Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin May 2019 - Oct 2021 2 years 6 months . Itll take a while to say the least. Subscribed to personalized events updates! No, this site is dedicated only to preserving information. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. There is nothing more perverse and distorted than a toxic pastor, he wrote. Jack is first name and Mandanka is last name. 5:30 pm. If We Applied Anti-Vaxxer "Logic" to Other Areas, It Might Sound Like This, "The way republican politics are going these days, that means the winner is worse than ", "It would have been more convincing if he used then rather than than. Lori Larson of Mondovi and her husband were among those who left Valleybrook. Pastor Kendall Anderson of Valleybrook Church, Eau Claire, officiated with music provided by organist, Barbara Sandford and soloist, Peter Lea. The Employer Identification Number (EIN) is #391805767. Bethesda Lutheran Church: 123 W. Hamilton Ave. Eau Claire, WI Tuesdays at 9:00 am Jan 17, 2023 - Apr 11, 2023 Saving Grace Lutheran Church: Saving Grace Lutheran Church (New Location) . LeaderTelegram 374 subscribers Jody and Bob Hagedorn watched as their son Nate, a married 32-year-old with 4 children, became involved at Valleybrook Church in Eau Claire and rose to a. Valleybrook Church, based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is under fire for what a former leader is calling "abusive practices [that] were inappropriate and pushing the church away from God." DSAW-Chippewa Valley WDSD Celebration at Action City. Valleybrook Church . Humans can be so susceptible to peer pressure and group think, Burns said. The teams final report alleges that Valleybrooks pastoral staff used their positions and authority to cultivate dysfunctional trust, manipulate people and violate the code of ministerial ethics. (715) 559-6943. Get directions on Google Maps. A downtown Eau Claire church is picking up the pieces after a scandal that tested the faith of the congregation and led to the resignations of the entire pastoral team amid allegations of spiritual abuse.. Lighthouse Youth Center And Ministries, Inc. 310 E. Madison St., Eau Claire, WI 54703. Valleybrook Church. Much of our heritage is learned through the passing down of stories. You have permission to edit this article. Get Directions. Jaime came to know the Lord at 21 while studying music at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Valleybrook Church is a Christian organization in Eau Claire, WI, which was founded in 1974 and has an unknown amount of revenue and number of employees. In addition, the shift to more extreme ideas was gradual enough that many people in the church didnt see it, Mitchell said. Interment followed the service at Forest Hill. Transitional leaders understand recovery will take time, and they have been reaching out to former members who left in an attempt at reconciliation. This site has several goals, but in order to accomplish them, some conditions must constantly be met, namely: With those conditions out of the way, let me now introduce the purpose of this website. Tales from the Cult is a free effort to bring stories of abuse into the light so they may be prevented from happening again. Stay tuned for details, Northwood grad credits active shooter training preparing him for Michigan ordeal. Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Some folks tried to object through the years, but gave up and found a new church when their voices werent heard, leaving fewer and fewer people willing to stand up and say something, said Remy Diederich, lead pastor at Cedarbrook Church in Menomonie. We see something wrong, but we think everyone else seems to think its OK, so it must be me.. 2023 Nonprofit Metrics LLCTerms of Service and Privacy Policy. Consider this, then, a history book of a time not long gone, and a warning to any organization that employs or affiliates with the former lead pastor of the church. Just look for the old movie theater marquee, and you will find us. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Valleybrook was/is affiliated through Great Lakes Baptist Conference, which was renamed to Converge. Tales from the Cult is a website dedicated to preserving important artifacts from a church in Eau Claire where horrific spiritual abuse took place over several years. Who wants to question Jesus?. This is what Shannon does! We are solidly into the post-Christian world, and so the pressure for pastors to bind their congregations to themselves in steadily increasing. 07/15/2022 And they didnt miss a thing. Former Valleybrook employee Matthew Mitchell, who attended the meeting and reported on it in his Tales from the Cult blog, said parishioners were informed that the church paid Verizon Wireless nearly $30,000, including upgrade fees and data charges, from January 2014 to March 2015 for 16 lines of cellphone service for former church leaders and their families. Please consider distributing fliers to your bible study or small group. A downtown Eau Claire church is picking up the pieces after a scandal that tested the faith of the congregation and led to the resignations of the entire pastoral team amid allegations of "spiritual abuse." . The Lighthouse Youth Center offers children a safe, supervised and nurturing environment to interact with other children, parents and adults. Call480-812-1100to have a packet sent to you. According to our database, there are approximately 88 churches in Eau Claire, with 9 Catholic churches, 8 Baptist churches, 1 Pentecostal churches, 4 Methodist churches, and 66 other denomination churches. Plenty of Halloween fun for both wizards and muggles alike. She was voted at top of the Floridas Funniest Competition for 3 years and has been featured on Nickmoms Night Out, Dr. OZ, and on the New Comedy Revolution DVD. The Bridge Church, Eau Claire 1210 E. Clairemont Ave. Salem Baptist Eau Claire 2514 Golf Road . If you prefer not to share links and just want to read, thank you very much for reading, and I hope it brings some clarity to a very confusing and wounding situation. 0:57. Whose morality rules at Valleybrook Church? Who spends all day every day with a co-worker? Though they were sad to leave after thinking theyd found their church home, Larson said, they observed several things that sent up red flags, including constant drama and crying in sermons. In fact, Burns said, interdenominational churches such as Valleybrook often follow a theology in which humans are viewed as weak and unable to do anything without God, making them more likely than other churches to put ministers on a pedestal. You can park in the metered lot by the bus station on Farwell St. You can park behind Valleybrook in the parking ramp on Graham Ave. But that was easier said than done at a place where several former members stressed that Lebsack cultivated a climate that discouraged dissent. 412 South Barstow St The letter indicated Schultz resigned when it became clear to him that the abusive practices were inappropriate and pushing the church away from God. The church is under new leadership for the time being, but how do you undo years of damage affecting an entire congregation? Website: The churchs standard monthly trash hauling bill totaled $1,053 under the former leaders. We are located in the historic Hollywood Movie Theater. Share with friends Discover More Events in Eau Claire Sat Jan 28 2023 at 11:00 am Divine Guidance with Kim 501(c)(3) Num. Parking In addition, the regular mentions by Lebsack and Nate Hagedorn during their co-sermons of all the time they spent together outside of church made Larson uncomfortable. All of that makes these churches more susceptible to this kind of thing, she said of spiritual abuse allegations at Valleybrook. Valleybrook Church412 S Barstow StEau Claire, WI 54701. Mitchells Tales from the Cult blog series has exploded in popularity since the allegations emerged. The Haven Christian Church 1231 Menomonie St. . It was during that time in Seattle that Jaime signed with Centricity Records and went on to record 3 albums with them. Find Best Western Hotels & Resorts nearby Sponsored. Again, more on Converge later. #WELOVe - We are a Worshipping, Equipping, Loving, Outreach and Visionary. The answer, according to people familiar with the situation, revolves around the masterful way former Valleybrook lead pastor Doug Lebsack asserted his moral authority to justify his behavior and manipulated any checks and balances that might have stopped the abuse. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. VIP Doors OpenJoin us for a Q&Awith all speakers and artists. Get directions, reviews and information for Valleybrook Church in Eau Claire, WI. The offices are located across the street from the Hollywood Theater. She has an amazing way of connecting the pieces while sharing some of the funniest yet applicable personal stories you have ever heard. Founding pastor Valleybrook Church Oct 1993 - Jan 200511 years 4 months Eau Claire, Wisconsin Area Youth Pastor Salem Baptist Church Jun 1986 - Oct 19937 years 5 months Eau Claire,. There is a clear and widespread pattern of spiritual abuse led by the former lead pastor, embraced by the former co-lead pastor, the former teaching pastor and the current executive pastor, the report says. IRS 501(c) type. Our children's and student ministries are solid. Event StartsJoin us for 3hours full of laughter, learning, stories, and music. Headquarters: 412 S Barstow St, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 54701, United States. As painful as this all has been, Haugen said,I think that in many ways the church structurally is so much better situated right now than it was before.. Support Local Journalism! Winners to be announced at later date. This Converge Worldwide Baptist General Conference church serves Eau Claire County WI - Pastor Doug Lebsack. Recognizing that families inside and outside Valleybrook were adversely affected by the spiritual abuse scandal, the church said in its statement that it has paid for professional counseling for individuals who requested it. St. Patrick's Day - HHI to Savannah Ferry. The Converge report indicated a number of those interviewed reported that Lebsack would rail against anyone who questioned him, outbursts usually followed by telling them how much he loved them and how nobody believed in them as much as him. There is not now, and will never be, a fee to access this site. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. This is where you will meet with a pastor, go to Imitate Middle School & High School, find The Living Room, find The Loft, and pick up Imitate Kids after the Sunday service. Four Valleybrook Church pastors left after widespread claims surfaced about them pushing members and staff to reject their families, matching unrelated pairs of parishioners into knit-together relationships to replace biological family, sharing personal information gained in confidence, and abusing their authority by demeaning and shaming others. And when you hear about how he acted, you can understand why: Lebsack turned Valleybrook into a fringe church with an isolationist mindset and coached the pastoral team into believing it was the only valid church in the area, possibly in the world, [former pastor Grant] Schultzs letter said. (715) 834-9993. Contributing author identities will always be verified by myself, but if they wish to remain anonymous, they will be given a. Friendly Atheist. Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in. If you havent read the About This Site page, please do so before reading any article here. The congregation lost that route.. Still, Diederich, who recently blogged about what he called toxic pastors, said he was shocked so many people could allow the tactics to go on for so long. Likewise, the pastors inner circle typically is muted, and those on the outer circle notice questionable behavior but dont have enough evidence or proximity to the pastor to say anything. 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