Essays
Remember Jason Miller.
I’m not going to pull any punches here. The story I’m about to tell you today strikes into my very heart. This story is the reason I was ridiculous during my college years, the reason I grew cold to God and anyone who claimed to be affiliated with his name. This story is the reason for my first novel, being the catalyst to all the subsequent events that happened in the book. This story is the reason I hurt for so frigging long. The reason for my intolerance of hypocrisy, the reason for my ultimate embrace of the Emergent church. This story is the sinking sand from which God so mercifully saved me.
This is the story of Cornerstone Church, Springfield, MO.
Why Talk About This Now?
According to these news articles, Cornerstone Church is being sued for $10 million dollars in a civil suit involving Angela Hurt, (a 32 year old youth leader according to Cornerstone, an associate youth pastor according to KY3 News), who was caught having sex with a 15 year old boy (a member of the youth group). This wasn’t a one-time occurrence, but happened quite frequently over the span of three months or more.
According to the lawyers for the boy’s family, it is alleged that Pastor Gibson (and other church staff, including his stepson, Jeff Wells) knew about the situation between Angela Hurt and the boy, yet did nothing about it. However, as expected, the church and its lawyers are denying these charges.
This Isn’t The First Time
Now, for the antecedent of Angela Hurt. About ten years ago, when I was playing guitar for Cornerstone’s youth group (called “The Rock,” when I was there it was “The Rockhouse”), we had a worship leader by the name of Jason Miller. Jason was a weird sort of soul in the fact that he never seemed to hold down a steady job. I was 18, young and stupid and way too trusting. I had just moved to Springfield, and Cornerstone was the first church I picked to attend. I wish for the love of God that I had chosen somewhere else.
Though he never violated me personally, I knew of countless other people that he did violate during the two years I was there. Maybe God protected me, I don’t know, but I tried to never be alone with him because my gut instinct would never allow me to. I took my suspicions to the church, only to have them say that “Pastor Gibson believes in restoration,” implying that no matter what sin this man may have been guilty of, no matter what the rumors were, they were going to keep him on as a worship leader. I never had the evidence to prove anything. And even now, people are scared to come forward.
About a year later, they discovered that Jason had a rap sheet, (why they never ran a background check on him, I’ll never understand), and when more and more smoke was warning of fire, Jason, in an unprecedented move, married his best friend. A girl with two kids who had also been attending the church for quite some time. He married her because he was removed from singing until the rumors got sorted out, because like I said before, Jess Gibson believed in restoration. Well, time goes on, and Jason ends up fondling his wife’s kids. Needless to say, I quit the church. No one, it seemed, looked into the situation hard enough to have the evidence they needed to turn Jason in. Either that, or they sat on whatever evidence they may have had. I never went to church consistently after that, not until I moved to Austin. I abhorred it for about 7 years.
Whether they knew what was going on this time or not, according to the news reports, church staff had suspicions. They should have, based on experience, shut this thing down immediately. Call the authorities, call the parents, call whoever and get it squashed. But that didn’t happen. How was this relationship discovered? By police in a public cemetery. I can’t help but think that Cornerstone was going to bury it, again. It worked once before.
I Hate Pedophiles
I don’t know what to say here. I feel like I lack intelligent words because I’m regurgitating something that has weighed on me for ten years now. My point is that history has repeated itself in this church once again. And considering my personal history with the church leadership, I find it hard to believe that Cornerstone didn’t know what was going on. Pastor Gibson, in my experience with him, never tolerated questioning of his leadership. He was a proud man, who preached nothing but prosperity. He owns the church buildings, the land the buildings are on, and if you ever attend his services, you’ll notice that he plays obvious favorites with members that have a lot of money to give.
Now, I’m all about tithing. I see it work. I know people who don’t attend church, but still send in their tithe because it works. The concept sent my father from raising three kids on $6.25/hr to owning two businesses. But what Jess Gibson preached was fundamentally different. It was, in a word, bullshit. A con job. Nothing short of Benny Hinn tactics. For example, if you give all your money to the church blindly and nothing happens…well, you just didn’t have enough faith. But no, the church can’t give you the money back. Have faith, brother. Hope you can feed your kid tonight.
And when I didn’t question Jess before, now I am questioning. And like the prophet Nathan, I’m calling him out. He used to stand from his pulpit and publicly condemn anyone that questioned him or his doctrine, because he was supposedly a man of God. Well, man of God. What do you have to say for yourself now? Man of God, there is a horrible atrocity in your church. Again. Not even king David was above God’s punishment. Why is it that you think you’re any better?
Never once, has Gibson apologized for what happened then. And even now, when this horrible situation has reared its ugly head another time, ten years later, he still stands like he is blameless in these matters. I’m not saying that he touched the boy with his own fingers, but twice now, on Gibson’s watch, this atrocity has happened. Did he ever turn Jason Miller in for crimes done to members of his church? No. He buried it. Like a bone to be hidden away and never thought of again. But this bone was a seed, Pastor. And now the crop is coming up.
Cornerstone Church and its leadership have sins to answer for. For those of you reading about this situation on the news, I will say again: this isn’t the first time it’s happened.
I pray for the boy and his family. I pray for the members of the church. You’re going to wonder why this happened. You’re going to cry for answers and never receive them.
I don’t know what to say except, “I’m sorry.”
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This woman, Angela Hurt, has personally affected my life. After her relationship with the boy, she moved to a new city and slept with my husband. She now works as a Starbucks manager in Rogers, AR. I am so sorry to hear about the church’s negligence. I just also wanted to share my story and implore that Angela Hurt stop spreading misery around the country.
Concerned, I don’t know what to say in response to that.
I am so sorry…
Two horrible stories that have negatively affected masses of people. Sin is sick….
Mark Driscoll has some pretty good sermons on Church Discipline that you may be interested in. Pretty sure its called “Church Discipline”. He also had some very good advice for orgs like churches.
“Gain trust slowly and lose it quickly”
[…] above from this church website. I visited the website linked in an article because I heard about some bad things(for lack of better words) happening there. When I read this excerpt above my heart and mind just […]
Angela here…(I think I’m more surprised that I am writing this than you are) Wow. I am continually humbled by all of the people who seem to know more about my life than I do, most of which I was not even aware of.
Of the above mentioned ariticle, I am truly sorry for your hurt and commend you on your courage to come forward. In truth, healing begins, and I hope that by sharing your story it will no longer continue to torment you. It pains me to no end that any amount of hypocrisy from any church at all has caused you to lose faith and I hope that you can recognize God’s faithfulness, even when men are flawed. It is for the cause of sin that we actually need a Savior, yet its always somehow a shock when we’re reminded that we do.
As much as I would LOVE to comment and share about the cirrcumstances, due to the proceedings, at this time I cannot, and due to the respect I have for everyone still involved, I will not.
I’m really only responding for the sake of “Concerned” who wrote about her husband. I am truly sorry for your hurt and know the pain first hand caused by a wandering spouse, but I believe there has been a misunderstanding, the only husband I have ever slept with is my own. I hope the truth in your relationship with your husband comes out between the two of you and you are able to restore what you started with. Truly, I am sorry for your situation, but I was not involved.
To Salazar, thank you again for your courage to speak from your pain and from your heart. I hope you continue to challenge injustice and stand up for what the truth of the word should be and I hope you continue to help others grow through what you’ve witnessed.
I’m not sure how many people will even read this, considering it was written several months ago and I haven’t googled my name in a while, it’s probably old news. If its not and I have stirred anyone to respond… I’m reading it all… and watching all the reports… I will not be able to respond to much, but you can try or, track me down on Myspace under the name Angela Brook.
-g’night.
I was a youth leader when Mr. Miller had begun all his corrupting. But Jason is not fully to blame, neither is Angela. Shocking to hear this comming from me because like my friend the author of this site I too was devasted by the effects of Jason. To a point that he is still not a welcome pressence in my site. But after spending 17yrs at Cornerstone and 12 yrs away from it I have learned a few things about people like Angela and Jason. That is Cornerstone breads corruption and deciet. Angela you were also probably involved with other couples in the church, the younger hip second generation couples that are swingers, partiers, and down right hypocrites. But because thier families are decons, ushers and even the pastor you got caught up in it. What i have learned is that Cornerstone looks for people that are sharks and trains them to be even more ferocious. Cornerstone is not a church but a business only out for itself. To say that there are not good people on the staff of Cornerstone would be incorrect but for the most part the staff is all corrupt because the leadership is corrupt. I mean for someone to be offered a job just because thier dad needed a tax write off and donated the money to the church to pay that persons salary is in itself corrupt. But for the church to help with this money laundring is down right pathetic. So for all the other victims of Jason and Angela and the other predators of Cornerstone I am sorry, but understand that it wasnt all their faults that they were simply just small sharks in a pool of much larger scarrier sharks. I will check back often, but for now may God have mercy on the souls of the sharks.
Incase Angela, you are still out there reading this site. Let me remind you of your lying, decietfullness, and well down right one way ticket to hell. Below is the article of you pleading guilty. Like I said earlier in a previous post may God have mercy on the souls of the sharks. But in all honesty don’t forget to pack sunscreen, and water for when you are burning in HELL.
SPRINGFIELD — A former church youth program director received five years of probation on Tuesday for having a sexual relationship with a teenager in the program. Angela Hurt of Rogers, Ark., pleaded guilty in May for second-degree statutory rape and second-degree statutory sodomy.
Before moving to Rogers, Hurt, 33, worked at Cornerstone Church in Springfield, where her husband, Robert, was a member of the pastoral staff. Prosecutors charged her in November 2006 with having sex with a 15-year-old boy in early 2005. Investigators think the relationship between Hurt and the boy lasted two years and included multiple sexual encounters.
A probable cause statement filed with the criminal charges says police found out about the relationship after finding Hurt and the 15-year-old boy in Maple Park Cemetery engaged in sexual activity.
Hurt could have received a prison sentence up to seven years and/or a fine up to $5,000 for each crime. As part of her probation, Hurt has to register as a sex offender for life, successfully complete the Missouri sex offender program, have no contact with the teenager, and follow all conditions and recommendations of her probation officer.
“We reached an agreement to enter a guilty plea and hopefully that puts the matter to rest and everyone can get back to living their life now,” said defense attorney Tom Carver.
“Five years is normally what we get in a second-degree statutory rape case and, based on these facts in this case, that was proper for the case,” said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Russ Dempsey.
In March 2005, the boy’s mother asked a judge for, and was granted, an order of protection for her son against Hurt, restricting Hurt from any legal contact with the boy. In October 2005, 13 months before filing the rape and sodomy charges, prosecutors charged Hurt with violating the order of protection.
In August 2006, Associate Circuit Judge Mark Powell convicted Hurt of a misdemeanor for violating the order and ordered her to serve two years of unsupervised probation, to do 100 hours of community service within six months, and to have no contact with the teenager or his mother. If Hurt would have violated that probation, she might have had to serve a six-month jail sentence. Court records show Hurt completed the community service by February 2007.
The boy’s family sued Hurt, Cornerstone Church, its pastor and three other members of the pastoral staff, including Robert Hurt, in August 2005. The lawsuit sought $10 million in damages. The boy’s family believed the pastors knew about the affair but did nothing about it.
Online court records show Associate Circuit Judge Jason Brown dismissed the lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be refiled on the same grounds. One attorney involved in the lawsuit says the family and the defendants reached an out-of-court settlement but all the parties signed a confidentiality agreement, so no one can say publicly what that the settlement is.
Because of the confidentiality agreement in the civil case, the teenager’s mother told a reporter that she believes she can’t comment about the criminal case but she is clearly disappointed that Hurt received no jail or prison sentence. The mother made a victim impact statement before the sentencing.
The mother told the judge that, before the crime took place, her son was involved in football, and played guitar in the church youth group. She says, after it happened, the teen stopped being involved altogether.
The mother also told the judge that Hurt should be happy she’s not going to prison, and is getting a suspended sentence to get her life back together, something that she says is nearly impossible for her son.
“She (Hurt) is very sorry that all of this occurred and it was an extraordinary set of circumstances that led to these events and she is in a much better situation now, so hopefully this will be the last of it, and I’m sure it will be,” said Carver.
When a reporter called the office of the mother’s attorney, Scott Montgomery, to ask about the civil lawsuit, a representative of his office said Montgomery would have no comment and abruptly hung up the telephone.
“The victim has not sought publicity from the media,” said a statement from Montgomery last year. “The lawsuit was filed on the victim’s behalf to make Cornerstone Church and Angela Hurt accept responsibility for the sexual abuse of a minor child by a youth director over the course of several months. Despite eyewitness testimony about the church’s knowledge of the abuse, Cornerstone and its former youth director continue to deny all responsibility.”
Dee Wampler, an attorney for the church and the pastors, said last year that “they had no knowledge of any illegal activities of a former youth leader . . . Any claim that Cornerstone Church was negligent in any way is without merit.” The church and the pastors changed attorneys before Judge Brown dismissed the case.
Also Miss Hurt or Brook depending on what you are going by today. Hope your music career goes good and maybe just maybe you will get your life back on track.