I’ve had an unusually high amount of people who wish to stay anonymous feeding me information on the Anthony Moore/Thomas White/Cedarville University scandal. I tip my hat to all of you for the excellent work you have done.  Shortly after publishing this article, I received some additional evidence that Dr. Thomas White, President of Cedarville University, has not been truthful in the statement he published on April 24, 2020.

Here are some items mentioned by Thomas White in his statement:

“To the best of our ability, we attempted to establish that in the beginning of this plan, Anthony would be a staff member performing administrative responsibilities and doing whatever was needed to allow for more time between his sinful action and meaningful ministry.

That letter included the following statements:

• He would begin as staff, and not faculty, to build a track record of continued faithfulness before engaging with our students.

Going into the second year, I checked with his pastor and Dr. Lee to see if they had any concerns, since those two had worked most closely with Anthony. Neither expressed concerns. We proceeded with our stated plan for year two. At this point, it was 18 months from when I first learned of this incident before Anthony served as a professor in a classroom.

On October 3, 2018, our Trustees interviewed Anthony, just as they would any other potential faculty member at Cedarville University. On October 4, 2018, Trustees voted to approve granting Anthony a faculty title and allowing him to teach in our School of Biblical and Theological Studies.”

The documentation below seems to prove that White is a prevaricator. But perhaps he can offer a plausible explanation.

Less than 2 months after Moore was hired by Thomas White it appears he was on a Biblical Apologetics panel. It would sure seem that Dean Jason Lee – a good friend of Moore, has him on the panel as a Bible professor.

Next, are two screenshots showing that Anthony Moore was teaching classes in the Spring Semester of 2018. This would have been six months after he was hired and about ten months prior to the Board of Trustees approved Anthony Moore becoming a professor! As Ricky Ricardo would say, “Lucy, I thin you got some splainin to do.

On April 24, 2020, I published a guest post by Lee Enochs. Mr. Enochs is an intelligent man who provided me with some crucial information in the case of Anthony Moore. However, it needs to be noted that Mr. Enochs was not my only source of information for this story.

In Mr. Enochs post he stated:

“I also have no personal animosity towards Dr. Thomas White who I count as a long time brother and friend. I take him at his word that he did not know the full extent of Anthony Moore’s surveillance activities before he hired Dr. Moore at Cedarville University in 2018.”

Additionally, Mr Enochs stated:

“I spoke to Dr. White yesterday and he told me he did not know the full extent of Dr. Moore’s unwarranted surveillance of another individual when Moore was a pastor at the Village Church in Fort Worth.”

I don’t fault Mr. Enochs for taking his friend, Thomas White, at his word; he has known White for a long time and known him to be honest. But I would submit that at times when we are emotionally involved in a situation it’s hard to objectively analyze what is shared by a close friend. Below are three points for consideration:

• A different source who has proven reliable told me that, “All Cedarville staff from bottom up, all who needed to know, were fully aware of what happened.” Additionally, my source said  TVC advised Cedarville staff that hiring Moore could potentially be putting others at risk.
• Thomas White’s statement must be evaluated in light of the fact that he is fighting to keep his job.
• Thomas White, in his statement of April 24, 2020 stated: “On April 22, 2020, I learned that I did not have all the information about the original incident. Instead of at most two videos, I heard there were at least five videos. Instead of this being over a short period of time, I heard that these were taken over a period of at least five months.” Whether White knew of two videos or five videos is irrelevant. One video should have been enough to prevent White from hiring his friend, Anthony Moore.

Additionally, Julie Roys, in her article published on April 24, 2020, said: “The elders at TVC Fort Worth said in a statement to me this week that they “thoroughly informed Dr. White and Cedarville University about the details of Anthony’s dismissal and our belief that Anthony was not fit for ministry of any kind.”

Quoting again from White’s April 24, 2020 statement, he said:  “I also heard details of an unhealthy friendship. I confirmed that the two people who counseled with Anthony at Cedarville did not know this information either. If I had known these items at the beginning, I would not have attempted the plan for restoration.”

So, again, White is asking us to believe that if he had known Anthony Moore had taken five secret videos of his good friend and subordinate while he was nude in the shower instead of two secret videos he would not have hired Moore. What if it had been three videos, Dr. White? What if it had been four videos, Dr. White? I’m simply attempting to discern what White’s acceptable level of videos of a nude man in the shower is. I mean, we obviously know two videos or fewer places you within the acceptable level for White to hire you as a reclamation project, while five videos of a nude man in the shower would disqualify you as a Thomas White reclamation project, so I just need to know if a man who has recorded three or four videos is salvageable.

White stretches the limits of credibility when he asks us to believe that he had not heard of the unhealthy friendship between Moore and the victim. By “unhealthy” White is certainly referring to a relationship with homosexual undertones. But allow me to point out an interesting fact White mentioned in his report: “During the week of June 19-23 [2017], Anthony reached out to me to discuss the possibility of a plan for restoration at Cedarville. He told me that this idea came from a nationally recognized expert on same-sex attraction, who was also a friend, and some of the elders at the Village Church: Fort Worth.” 

Further, if White would have taken the hiring process of Anthony White seriously he would have done “due diligence.”  Why didn’t White call the victim to get his side of the story? According to Julie Roys, who interviewed White, “White said that after his discussion with me Wednesday, he spoke with Moore’s victim about Moore’s abuse for the first time.” In Roys’ interview with the victim, he told her that,  “Moore also told him that he struggled with same-sex attraction.” 

Additionally, Roy stated:

“The victim said he and Moore became close friends when they both were at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, from around 2009—2014. Moore was working as director of Southwestern’s Recreation and Aerobics Center (RAC) when the two first met. And the victim was working at the RAC under Moore, and studying at Southwestern’s college.

Dr. White was also working at Southwestern at the time. White was the vice president of communications and student life at Southwestern and Moore’s direct supervisor. White described his relationship with Moore as close. White added that he knew the victim, but not well.”

That White never placed a call to the victim during the hiring process of Anthony Moore is an unmitigated dereliction of duty, not to mention a case of clear unconcern for the welfare of the victim –  something we repeatedly notice among “Christian” leaders.

And then, like a grade-schooler telling an unbelievable tale to his teacher pleads, “If you don’t believe me, ask Jimmy and Johnny,” White states he has two friends who will back him up on his lack of knowledge.  My guess is one of these counselors is the Dean of the Theology, Dr. Jason Lee. I don’t have a guess as to who the other individual is. Jason Lee is a longtime friend of both Thomas White and Anthony Moore. He attended Redeemer Church in the Dallas area with Moore for several years. Lee was also Moore’s advisor in his doctoral program at SWBTS. It is my opinion that Jason Lee is also under intense scrutiny right now (If he isn’t he should be.), it’s hard to imagine Lee didn’t play a key role in the hiring of Moore. Additionally, White stated that he, “Talked with Anthony several times with Dr. Jason Lee, Dean of the School of Biblical and Theological Studies at Cedarville, and others about the situation and about the need for ongoing counseling and accountability in order to proceed with restoration.”  Further, White stated that “He [Anthony Moore] would maintain a close accountability with Dr. Lee and do whatever was asked of him to provide appropriate and healthy accountability and to demonstrate the spiritual growth expected of those in ministry.”

My suggestion to the CU Board of Trustees is to ask White, Lee, Moore, and whomever else they deem has played a role in the Moore hiring and cover-up to submit to a lie detector test as well as have an attorney depose them.

This from White’s statement of April 24, 2020: “On July 3, 2017, I sent a long email to the full Board of Trustees at Cedarville University, requesting feedback on moving forward with a five-year plan of restoration. I told them about Anthony, about some details of his past, and about his sinful actions that resulted in the end of his ministry at the Village Church. The Board of Trustees supported moving forward with the plan and the hope for restoration.”

For the record, I note that in the “long email to the full Board of Trustees at Cedarville University” White only told them about “some of the details” of Moore’s past. The fact that White didn’t share all the details with the Board of Trustees is troubling. White should publicize this letter.

It’s interesting to note that after White had successfully hired his friend, Anthony Moore “told his story to the entire faculty in the School of Biblical and Theological Studies during a meeting and entertained questions. He then met with some of them regularly for accountability.”  Was that story the entire story, or “just some of the details?” If the entire story, I would find it queer that Moore’s entire story could be shared with the Biblical and Theology Studies, but not with the Board of Trustees.

Additionally, need I remind my readers that Paige Patterson was a member of the CU Board of Trustees at the time of Moore’s hiring? Patterson spent a career strong-arming his colleagues to further his agenda. It should be noted that Patterson is no paragon of virtue.

Patterson was close with his “sweet son Anthony.” Patterson was also very tight with his protege, Thomas White. After Moore had been fired from The Village Church, Patterson reportedly got Anthony Moore and his family settled in a house on the campus of SWBTS, either for free or at a substantially reduced rate. Then Patterson and White likely consulted on how to get Moore a job at Cedarville.

White placed numerous restrictions on his friend Anthony Moore; these restrictions were to aid in a five-year restoration project implemented by White and agreed to by Moore. White stated that Moore had complied with everything. Did he really?

Here is one of the restrictions:

[Moore] “Agreed voluntarily not to use Cedarville’s locker rooms to avoid any appearance or possibility of misconduct. He has been in the locker room for basketball purposes, accompanied by other coaches who knew his story.”

Yesterday I received the comment below from a Cedarville University student.

Compliance? I think not.

When you analyze the locker room restriction that White placed on Moore, it makes no sense.  Moore has admittedly struggled with homosexual desires, further, Moore is arguably a paraphiliac, attested to by the fact of filming his good friend nude in the shower on numerous occasions.  I don’t think you have to be a genius to realize it isn’t a good idea to allow  Moore access to a locker room whether he is accompanied by a coach who is aware of his past criminal behavior or not. The man gets aroused by seeing nude men,  The presence of a coach is irrelevant.  White’s restriction is akin to telling an alcoholic that he is prohibited from entering a tavern and ordering a drink unless he is accompanied by a teetotaller who is aware that his charge is an alcoholic.

Next, I would like you to read a lengthy excerpt from the address White gave to the staff of CU on their first day back to school.

Friday, August 11, 2017, marked the beginning of the fall semester at Cedarville University with our annual faculty and staff all-day session. With the goal of a transparent restoration, in that session, I made the following announcement to all of our faculty and staff who were present:

I am thankful that we serve a God of grace — a God of second chances, third chances, and more. We serve a God that didn’t give up on us in our most sinister days. He also did not give up on Noah, the drunk; on Abraham, who said his wife was his sister; on Sarah, who doubted; on Jacob, who deceived; on Moses, who murdered; on Rahab, the harlot; on Barak, who wasn’t brave at first; on Samson, who violated his vow; on David, who slept with Bathsheba and had her husband killed; on Peter, who denied Him three times before morning; and those are our heroes in the faith … the list goes on and on. As much as possible, we want to have this same culture of grace at Cedarville University.

Now, we all understand that the reality is we can’t do this is every situation, and we must not minimize sin or its consequences, yet we must balance that with the recognition that we all desperately need grace. Our community must desire to extend grace where possible. We dare not presume upon the grace of God or make peace with our sin, but knowing that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and but for the grace of God, we all may fall, the Cedarville community must extend care, compassion, and concern to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This year we have a new staff member. His name is Anthony Moore. In January, Anthony was serving as pastor of the Village Church’s Fort Worth campus. He sinned. His mistake resulted in him stepping down from that ministry. Through consultation with others, we believe his sin, while serious, does not permanently disqualify him from ministry. I have been working this summer with the elders at the Village Church, two counselors who have been working with Anthony closely, our Trustees, Jason Lee, Tom Mach, Scott Van Loo, and others on a multiyear plan where we will walk with Anthony through his continued restoration and reentry into ministry. After this year goes well, with appropriate accountability while serving in a staff capacity, he will transition to teach in the School of Biblical and Theological Studies.

While I am talking about grace and redemption, let me speak to you from my heart for just a moment. Every year that I have been at Cedarville, we have lost at least one employee due to a moral failure. As you heard me preach last year from the end of the book of James, our desire is to rescue those who may be starting to wander. Listen, we cannot be a self-righteous community of pharisaical deceivers. God will not bless such hypocrisy. We must be humble, servants of King Jesus who recognize that we are our own worst enemy, that our sin nature is strong and that without the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Gospel we are all doomed. If you are struggling with something, please, please seek help before you act in ways that mandate consequences. We want, we need, we are called to come alongside each other and to lock arms in unity, marching together in service to Jesus. My heart’s desire is that we will be a grace-filled, authentic community of Christ followers and not a fake community of rule followers … that we will be a place struggling through life’s hard times to serve God together, supporting one another through prayer rather than pointing fingers or spreading rumors. My prayer is that if we, the faculty and staff of this place, get our hearts right with God, humble ourselves, repent of our sins, that God may then decide to send a revival to our campus, the likes of which we have only read about in the history books. That God will change our lives, take away our apathy, remove our cynicism, and give us a heart to see lives changed with the power of the Gospel. My prayer is that this will not just be a place of granting degrees. That we will not see what we do as jobs. That we will not think of ourselves as simply working in higher education, but that we see our service to God as a stewardship at a place where lives are changed for all eternity and where people encounter a Holy God with such reverence and awe that we live our lives truly sold out for Him.

So, today, would you examine where you are in your walk with God? Would you repent of areas where you may have been slipping? Would you seek help if you need to do so? Would you join me in trying to create a community of compassion that shows grace to another with humility as we seek to serve? And would you join me in welcoming with open arms of fellowship and the grace of the Gospel our brother in Christ, Anthony Moore, to the Cedarville family?

Does anyone other than me note the hypocrisy in this statement?

Hint: notice White’s statement: “Every year that I have been at Cedarville, we have lost at least one employee due to a moral failure…. Listen, we cannot be a self-righteous community of pharisaical deceivers. God will not bless such hypocrisy… If you are struggling with something, please, please seek help before you act in ways that mandate consequences.”

So I am thinking to myself, why didn’t White select one of these former Cedarville employees  “to extend grace where possible” to? As White said, “the Cedarville community must extend care, compassion, and concern to our brothers and sisters in Christ.” 

The answer is clear to me. White wasn’t best buddies with any of the former employees he routinely and regularly fired.  White’s behavior mirrors that of the top pig in “Animal Farm,” written by George Orwell: “ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.”

To drive home the reality of White’s mindset, read the comment below. I received it this morning. The observation by the man tossed out on his ear by White is spot on. I bet President White was already hard at work on the speech he delivered to his staff and faculty a few weeks later. Yes sir, a shining example of the pious Dr. White “extending grace!” So I wonder what will all the commenters attacking me for stating that Moore should never have been hired have to say about the hypocrisy exhibited by “Dear Leader?”

Regarding Moore’s housing arrangements,  Dr. White stated that Moore:

“Would agree to live in town in campus housing (Harriman House), which is a very public house on Main Street in Cedarville.”

“Lived in a University-owned home where his internet usage was monitored by Human Resources, with a report issued monthly to me and Dr. Lee.”

“During the 2018-19 school year, Anthony did everything that we asked him to do. In early 2019, the Moores moved into their own house and out of campus housing.”

I was told that male students who qualify for off-campus housing can live in the Harriman House. It is assumed male students were not living there at the same time Anthony Moore, his wife, and three children were occupying the home, which, according to White was from August 2017 until early 2019.

The home is located in downtown Cedarville University in a residential area. Faculty who live next door of and in the vicinity of the Harriman House are reportedly quite upset CU housed him there–right next to their kids.

Of interest, according to my research, Zach Bowden occupies the home right next door to where the Moores were living.  Moore lived at 10 East Chillicothe St, the Bowdens live at 12 East Chillicothe St.

Bowden is a curious fellow. He arrived at CU in 2013 with Thomas White as White’s assistant.  Faculty joked among themselves, labeling Bowden as “Zach, the P.A.” Indeed, Bowden acted as White’s P.A.  chauffeuring him around and taking notes for White at meetings. Bowden obtained his Ph.D. in Church History and Historical Theology at SWBTS and has now taken on additional duties as an Assistant Professor teaching Church History.

One last thing, I have been told that there are some understandably irate parents who attend Grace Baptist in Cedarville.  They have adolescent children who were not only taught by Moore but also had an “overnight” with him! While Moore was not guilty of pedophilia, I understand the concern expressed by the parents.

Fire Cedarville University President Thomas White NOW