Robert Frost (1874–1963).
The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
On January 29, 2019, Hope Reformed Baptist Church unanimously voted to resign from ARBCA. Those who have been following the case of Thomas Chantry, now convicted on two felony counts of assault of children and awaiting trials on numerous counts of sexual abuse of children, will recall that Richard Jensen, pastor of Hope Reformed Baptist Church, served on the ARBCA three-man investigative team which traveled to Miller Valley Baptist Church in Prescott, AZ in December 2000 to investigate charges made by members of the Miller Valley church against their former pastor, Tom Chantry. (Chantry resigned from the pastorate in November, 2000.)
Citing “Events that have transpired over the last few years have caused us to reelvaluate our membership in the association,” one can only assume Jensen is referring to the events surrounding Thomas Chantry’s former church in Hales Corners, WI becoming members of ARBCA, as well as the trial of Chantry in the summer of 2018.
In my opinion Jensen’s letter shows a lack of courage, but then so did his work in December 2000. As a former homicide detective in Suffolk County, NY, Jensen surely had to know that the information he and fellow members of the ARBCA investigative team (Tedd Tripp and Mike McKnight) received concerning the brutal beatings administered to young children at the hands of Thomas Chantry was criminal child abuse and needed to be reported to Prescott Law Enforcement. None of the men did so.
Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, Jensen raised no protest when Chantry’s church applied for membership in ARBCA. While it is good to see another church resign from ARBCA, it would have been nice to see Jensen write a stronger letter of resignation. Jensen must be aware of the corrupt individuals who remain in power in ARBCA, yet he is apparently content to let them continue unopposed. There have been precious few men in ARBCA who I would consider “watchmen on the wall” -men willing to speak up, to sound the alarm. Jensen could have been one of them, but once again he chose not to be. Undoubtedly this is the reason the association is so corrupt.
2-1-2019 Hope Reformed Bapt… by on Scribd
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