“Often the leaders do not want their followers to even consider information. Attacking the motives and credibility of a critic is an effective way to accomplish this. When members are conditioned by leaders to believe that information is credible only if the source of that information is acceptable, it is unlikely followers will seriously consider anything said by those ridiculed by the leaders. These victims become putty in the hands of these leaders.”
-Mary Alice Chrnalogar, “Twisted Scriptures: Breaking Free from Churches That Abuse” page 144
The word is getting out – ARBCA members around the country are beginning to realize that their “pastors” have not been honest with them concerning convicted child molester, Tom Chantry. Members are disregarding pastoral pleas and exhortations urging them not to read media reports and blogs, but rather, trust their pastor! They are doing what I advise everyone to do – read all the information you can on convicted felon Tom Chantry and ARBCA’s nineteen year coverup and decide for yourself who is telling the truth.
I do not hide the fact that I am biased – I believe the victims. I am a truth lover. I have done my best to document this case with both court records and my own notes from sitting through the two trials of Tom Chantry.
Larry Vincent is also biased – he supports convicted child molester, Tom Chantry.
In fact, I would not be surprised if Larry Vincent is one of the anonymous notable Chantry supporters “who still believe in his [Tom Chantry] innocence regarding molestation accusations.” (Chantry has, in fact been convicted on 4 counts of sexual molestation of a child under the age of 15!)
I submit that the other side – Tom Chantry, his family members and ARBCA pastors, have done their best to obfuscate the facts and keep people from availing themselves of the available information.
Common sense should tell you that if one side continually attempts to persuade you to trust them and not read anything that contradicts their views, they likely do not have truth on their side.
You may also wish to consider the possible motives of the Chantry supporters. I would submit that, in the case of ARBCA pastors, they have a vested interest in keeping their positions of power and authority in their little fiefdom. If church members discover that their pastor and his ARBCA cronies have known about Chantry’s criminal behavior for years and covered it up, they will lose trust in their pastor, ask some hard questions which the pastor will not have credible answers for, and ultimately quit the church. Every family that quits an ARBCA church (and it appears the ranks of former ARBCA members is growing) results in the direct loss of revenue for both the local church and ARBCA at large. If enough members withdraw their memberships from ARBCA churches men like Larry Vincent may be forced to actually get a job and earn an honest living.
My blog partner has made an interesting observation. She asks why it is that ARBCA pastors like Larry Vincent only seem to find people directly or indirectly involved with the criminal cover-up credible.
With that, let me get to an email Larry Vincent recently sent to members of his church.
From: Heritage Baptist Church <hbcmansfield@gmail.com>
Date: May 16, 2019
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: ARBCA GA Statement
Dear HBC family,
As many of you know, the former pastor of Christ RBC (an ARBCA member church), Hales Corner, WI, Tom Chantry, was recently on trial for molesting a child in the 1990s. He was convicted of all the criminal charges in that trial. The ARBCA General Assembly of churches, May 7-9, has issued a statement concerning this matter, with which your elders fully agree. You may read the statement on the ARBCA website: http://arbca.com/blog/post/statement-of-2019-arbca-ga
If you have any questions about this matter, please talk with your pastors. Above all, we desire to honor our Lord and obey His commandments. We once again exhort you to not give credence to those who have written about this matter who are not directly involved with it.
In behalf of our elders,
Pastor Larry Vincent
This letter is in line with similar communications I have been made aware of by ARBCA officials. (If any members of ARBCA churches have received similar emails from their pastor I would be happy to publish them without your names listed. My email can be found in the “About Todd and his team” tab at the top of the page.)
You may recall that on April 24, 2018, I wrote an article titled “ARBCA Pastors Once Again in the Middle of a Sexual Abuse Cover-Up.”
Guess what church I was writing about? If you guessed Larry Vincent’s Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, TX, you would be correct.
In that article I mentioned that Vincent’s son-in-law, Price Jones, also receives a paycheck from the family corporation. Jones is one of the “pastors” or “elders” of the church. You will note that in Vincent’s recent email urging church members not to read blogs like this, he signed it “In behalf of our elders.” So Price Jones is one of those elders urging you to not acquaint yourselves with factual evidence of the case of convicted felon, Thomas Chantry.
Price Jones also claimed that the sexually abused women who formerly attended Heritage Baptist Church were “hurling false accusations against us and against our leadership” and said the detractors are demon possessed!
The same Price Jones had an affair with a much younger woman who attended the church. The matter was handled secretly, as so many ARBCA scandals are, and the woman and her family were forced to leave the church.
Two days after I published my article, Price Jones wrote the letter below and emailed it to the members of Heritage Baptist Church. He quotes numerous verses from the bible, but one notable one he neglected to mention was 1 Peter 2:20
“For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.”
A favorite technique the leaders of Heritage Baptist Church employ in an attempt to get the members to rally around them is to claim their church is being persecuted.
I have two points of contention with this claim. First, I don’t accept that pointing out the fact that Price Jones had sex with a younger woman who was not his wife, dealt with it in less than a candid manner and then forced the woman and her family to leave the church qualifies as persecution, nor was it in any manner denigrating or persecuting the good members of the church. Rather, I would submit that Price Jones was being treated as described in the first sentence of 1 Peter 2:20.
“The church is suffering greatly – by her own hands. Self-injury, whether by individuals or institutions, invariably involves faulty thinking that is born out of self-deception. Many of us are grieved at the wreckage in the church that occurs when victims are silenced, abusers are protected, power is abused and “truth” is disseminated to the less powerful. The body of our Lord is sick.”
-Diane Langberg, Ph.D. “Dear Church: Hear the Word of the Lord”
The same goes for the way the leaders of Heritage Baptist Church handled the case of the two women I wrote about in the article “ARBCA Pastors Once Again in the Middle of a Sexual Abuse Cover-Up.”
From: Heritage Baptist Church <hbcmansfield@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 11:39 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Recent Persecutions
Brothers and sisters of Heritage,
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but in light of the recent persecutions I just want to remind you that Jesus Christ sits exalted on his throne at the Father’s right hand. He is sovereign. If every hair on your heads is numbered (Luke 12:7), so is every word published by our persecutors. Not one comment has been posted apart from God’s rule and oversight in this matter. If it had been for the good of our church for our persecutors to have been silenced, then the Lord of hosts would have sent his angels to stop them in our defense. As it stands, he has ordained otherwise. Shall we complain? Shall we be discouraged? I think not.
This is exactly what Christ said would happen. The cost of discipleship would be high (Luke 14:25-33). His Apostle speaking specifically to Timothy said “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Christ said we would be reviled, and hated, and slandered, and all kinds of evil would be spoken against us for his name’s sake, and that the world would hate us because it hated him (John 15:18-25). He reminded us not to marvel or be amazed when these things happened, but to expect them (1 Thessalonians 3:3). He also instructed us to rejoice and be very glad (“leap for joy” were his words exactly) when it happened, because it is a sure sign that your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:22-23). The Apostles counted it an honor to suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 5:41).
And you are suffering for his sake. It is his for his sake that you come to Prayer Meeting… it is for his sake that you faithfully attend Sunday Morning worship… it is for his sake you seek to serve one another in love and good works… it is for his sake that you struggle against sin and strive for repentance… it is for his sake that you endure and stand together in love as Heritage Baptist Church. All this despite the fact in some corners our reputation is being tarnished and false accusations made against some of our leadership.
Why do you do it? Because you are convinced the gospel is preached from your pulpit. You believe the message preached here is not the word of men, but it is the very Word of God—a message that preaches repentance and forgiveness to sinners. Grace and peace to sinners. Grace and mercy for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, but wrath and fury to those who do not repent.
So in all of this, brothers and sisters, do not forget that Christ is not only seated as a merciful and providential King ruling over all of these matters for our welfare and his own glory (1689 5:7), but he is seated as the Judge with whom we all “have to do” (Hebrews 4:13), before whom we will all give an account – including our persecutors! May the Lord, the righteous Judge, grant them repentance! May he open their eyes and give them understanding of the danger they are in – and the magnitude of his grace and love which is a refuge to all seek him! May they come to know that the LORD is God and a Savior (2 Chronicles 33:13). But if the Lord wills it not, then may their own wickedness come back on their own heads. May they be like Haman who plotted Mordecai’s demise, but he was hung on his own gallows! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But brothers, you should be comforted.
And what will be the outcome of all of this? Worst case-scenario? A spotlight will be placed on the truth? Attention will be given to one of Christ’s true churches? We will have opportunity to bless our enemies and pour hot coals on their heads? We will have opportunity to preach the truth to a host of lost “victimized” millennials? We will have the chance to spread the news that there is a Righteous Judge who shows mercy to sinners who repent, but turns the evil intentions the unrepentant have against quiet and righteous men back upon them? We will have the chance to call them into Christ’s liberating grace and away from the oppressive tyranny of the world?
But whatever the case may be, brothers and sisters, this is what we know: they mean it all for evil, but God intends it all for good (Genesis 50:20). He is able to take these false accusations and turn them into your spiritual blessing and eternal weight of glory.
I for one have been eager for heaven, but brothers and sisters, I long for it more than ever now. You know why? Because I can’t wait to get to heaven and see the heaps and heaps of heavenly treasures that will be yours as Christ repays you so much more than you deserve for this “light” affliction (2 Corinthians 4:17), which is your destiny.
And not only I, but all the saints of all time and all the holy angels will cheer on that day, because of the overwhelming and unmerited grace of Christ directed toward you all!
For your encouragement: Psalm 10, 35, 37, Romans 12:17-21, 2 Thessalonians 1:4-12 (especially v12), 2 Timothy 4:8, Hebrews 10:32-11:1, 2 Peter 1:11.
Stand Firm (Philippians 4:1),
Price
I’d now like to persecute the Heritage Baptist Church by publicizing another shameful letter written by their leader.
Do you notice anything missing in Larry Vincent’s letter?
If you said there was no mention of the victims you would be correct.
As a member of the 2000-2001 ARBCA Administrative Council, and then as a member of the church membership committee of 2015-2016, Vincent was certainly aware of the cruel, sadistic beatings Chantry inflicted on the young children from Miller Valley Baptist Church. He would have known that it was likely Chantry was inflicting these beatings for his own pleasure. Yet Vincent does not ask his church members to pray for the victims or their families. He found a lot to pray about for Tom Chantry though, and I am glad to see his prayers were at least partially answered – truth and justice has prevailed. Chantry has now been convicted of six felonies, two counts of assault and four counts of molestation of a child.
From: Heritage Baptist Church <hbcmansfield@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2018 10:18 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Fwd: TC Trial
HBC Family:
As you know, we have been praying for former pastor Tom Chantry. His trial in AZ began last week and the prosecution rested its case yesterday. The defense case began and will continue through today and tomorrow, at least. Likely the jury will begin deliberation next week. The Chantry’s request is for truth and justice to prevail, as much as can be achieved in this age. Please pray for Tom and Karen, their three children being cared for in Illinois, and Tom’s parents, Walt and Joie Chantry.
Pastor Larry
In a recent letter Brent Detwiler wrote to Larry Vincent, he said the following:
“Larry,
Why do you continue to deceive the people in your church? Have you no fear of God or integrity before God? When are you going to tell your members that you were on the AC in 2000-2001 and knew all about Tom’s abuse of children? When are you going to humble yourself and tell your church you have covered up for Tom all these years? You never reported or stopped him. He went on to Christian Liberty Academy and continued to batter children. Of course, he is a threat. You are the one with no credence. Your attempts to control and manipulate people are failing. The Lord be praised. He has been faithful to expose you.
You have been lying for a long time. For example, below. The rate at which the case went forward had nothing to do with the fact he was “no threat or danger (quite the contrary).” You exonerated a sociopathic and sadistic sex abuser. Are you going to ask forgiveness of your church and FB friends for defending him? I can’t imagine given your arrogance and obsession with your reputation.
Furthermore, the statement by the GA is a sham. People around the nation know it. You are like Tom in your mania to lie and deceive. You are reaping what you have sown because the Holy One is not mocked by your pretensions and disregard for the victims you have oppressed.”
Larry Vincent – Facebook post
November 2, 2017
“I’ve been told that this matter regarding my friend Tom is blowing up again. Now is the time for waiting for the court system to work. Waiting calls for quiet and prayer for alleged victims and the accused; there has been *no* conviction. The case is working its way through the court system very slowly, in part because it is obvious that he is no threat or danger (quite the contrary).”
Additionally, Brent Detwiler wrote Larry:
“You recommended Christ Reformed Baptist Church for membership in ARBCA even though you knew Chantry had been under investigation for the previous eight months for aggravated assault and molestation. And then you and Administrative Council concealed this information from the General Assembly two months later when they approved his membership in ignorance. What unbelievable deception!
2015-2016 Membership Committee
1. Steve Marquedant (Chairman)
2. Larry Vincent
3. Dave Dykstra
4. Jason Water
5. Jeff Massey (Secretary)
It is all documented in this article:
That Larry Vincent is a good friend of Tom Chantry is not in doubt. I believe it’s also clear Vincent has a vested interest in keeping the truth of the ARBCA coverup of Chantry’s known crimes from his church members. I hope all members of Vincent’s church examine the evidence and reach their own conclusions.
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