Bishop Wm. H. Willimon
North Alabama Conference
898 Arkadelphia Rd, Birmingham, AL 35204-5011 4/12/12
My statements below constitute the formal submission of my complaints
against Rev. Greg Reynolds, of ministerial sexual misconduct and employment
harassment.
This complaint will substantiate the following :
1. That Greg
Reynolds propositioned and engaged my young-adult daughter, J-------- for sexual purposes in a strip dancing club,
2. that Greg Reynolds, repeatedly compromised my
professional and spiritual position as an employee and a parishioner by
enlisting me for almost three years, to provide him comfort as an unwilling
sounding board for his personal pastoral care, rather than providing
appropriate leadership and pastoral care to me,
3. that Greg
Reynolds improperly used his ministerial position to
a. cover-up his
sexual misconduct,
b. avoid proper
spiritual accountability and restoration, and
c. ultimately used
his powerful position in an attempt to coerce and manipulate me into accepting
severance pay (pertinent to my resignation effective April 2,2012) dependent upon
my signing a gag order which he personally initiated and provided for such a
questionable purpose.
The details of the above complaints follow:
1. Greg Reynolds propositioned and engaged my young-adult daughter,
J------- for sexual purposes in a strip dancing club
§
My name is S----------. Since September of 2000, I have served as a
paid-staff, lay worship leader in several UMC churches in the Florence, Alabama
district. I met Greg Reynolds in the summer of 2008, at St James UMC, Florence,
Alabama, where he was an interim preacher and I was leading worship. I have
been serving as worship leader at Brandon New Vision UMC since late January,
2009. I have over 25 years of professional ministry experience as a
congregational worship leader.
My daughter, is a single mother who has battled mental
illness in her younger life. She has periodically been unable to maintain any
employment other than secretly working as a strip dancer. She has attempted
several times in the past 8 years to establish herself in a different job only
to have periodic setbacks and return to strip dancing to survive financially
with and for her child.
§ In early June of 2009,she related to me that Greg Reynolds, had walked into her strip club and
propositioned her. (Her exact eyewitness report of that incident is attached—she
is currently out of town but has agreed to sign a notarized copy of her report,
upon request).
§ [My husband], accompanied me within 1-2 days to confront our
pastor, to offer forgiveness, to engage him in our desire to see him under
accountability and in a process of restoration. This meeting occurred in Greg
Reynold’s office and while he never specifically admitted to us directly, his sexual
misconduct, he wept and said he was “sorry” while going into a protracted
monologue about “how much pressure he was under” and how he had been in his
“dark place” on the day he was in the strip club. He did not express any concern
for our daughter or ourselves in this situation.
§ With Greg’s permission, we contacted a mature and wise pastor friend of
ours (Rev. R-------- has agreed to be available to corroborate these facts) who
was outside of the UMC denomination, thinking that this would be the best
initial course with least damage to our pastor, while--
1. we supported him in getting counsel,
2. we supported his initiating private
contact within the UMC denomination to address his obvious needs for
pastoral/spiritual care in light of this sinful behavior,
3. we continued to maintain his anonymity
with the understanding that he was pursuing godly restoration which would
include accountability under his ministerial leadership, and
4. we expected that the fruitful results of
the above agreed upon expectations would result in needed restoration for
ourselves and our daughter, the initial victim in this scenario.
Greg contacted our pastor friend only once, never following up with him again; he attended less than a handful of Christian twelve-step recovery meetings when [my husband] initially accompanied him, and he never again mentioned the incident of his sexual misconduct or any attempt to make amends to us or our daughter.
2. Greg
Reynolds, repeatedly compromised my professional and spiritual position as an
employee and a parishioner by enlisting me for almost three years, to provide
him comfort as an unwilling sounding board for his personal pastoral care,
rather than providing appropriate leadership and pastoral care to me
--The pastor demonstrably
and on countless occasions would compel me to listen to lengthy monologues in
which he would sometimes lay his head on my shoulder, frequently make heavy
sighing noises while telling me about his pastoral, parenting, marital and
personal problems. These
encounters were always initiated by him, rarely in appropriate private office
settings, and never requesting my time or allowing me permission to say “no,
I’m busy”; rather it was clear to me that I had no choice but to listen to his
complaints. Many of these incidents were in front of others who witnessed the
pastor’s physical demeanor toward me. One glaring example stands out in my
memory:
--On or about
mid-September of 2011, while my husband and I were in bible study, Greg
Reynolds walked into my office, bolted toward me, bent down and grabbed my
hand, heaved a sigh while placing the back of my hand to his forehead (!)
telling me how “overwhelmed” he felt, then plopped down in a seat next to my
husband while engaging in a 10+ minute monologue about his “problems” and how
overwhelmed he felt “in being responsible” for all that was going on in the
church.
--The above transactions
made it nearly impossible to me to conduct spiritual conversations with him
about my job, worship leadership, Sunday services, etc., so I often chose to do
my work at home or at my church office in the evenings, in order to avoid these
encounters.
3. Greg Reynolds improperly used his ministerial position to
a. cover-up his sexual misconduct,
b. avoid proper spiritual accountability and restoration, and
c. ultimately used his powerful position in an attempt to coerce and
manipulate me into accepting severance pay (pertinent to my resignation
effective April 2,2012) dependent upon my signing a gag order which he personally
initiated and provided for such a questionable purpose.
In October of 2011, I
attempted one last time to secure supportive and accountable oversight for Greg
by contacting retired Florence DS, H-------- by phone. He agreed to drive up to
Florence the next day—I expressed concern to him that Greg seemed like he was
going to have a complete breakdown, and I sincerely wanted to see him get help
and deal with his problems.
In addition to reporting the sexual misconduct and personal boundary issues with the pastor, I informed V--- of the numerous times I had been present when Greg would roll his eyes in front of several employees/church members and myself, anytime his wife’s ring tone would be ringing his phone. He would laugh mockingly and say, “Uh-oh, I’d better get that or she’s gonna be mad at me”, and other similar comments.
As recently as the week of April 2, 2012, he did this same gender-bashing behavior in front of my husband and another member, B--- S----. This time Greg had his wife on speakerphone, pushed the mute button and then, ignoring her, he turned to the men in the room stating (while his wife was talking) “well you know I love her but, oh man , she can just talk…she just can talk and talk and you can’t get her to stop.”
I have lost count of the number of times I have felt slighted and embarrassed by this obvious misogyny in which I was usually the only woman standing in the church office to hear these statements. These statements never happened earlier in the workday when Greg’s sister, the church secretary was present, only later in the day when I happened to be in the office area when other men were also present.
I advised V--- that I had no goal of harming Greg or his vocational calling, but that my concern was now heightened for the health of the entire congregation in observing the pastor’s out of control behaviors.
I prayed and researched for procedural and advocacy information on the internet during the Christmas 2011 holiday and I found the GCSRW website which was very encouraging to me. I suddenly realized what I’d really been dealing with and how inappropriate my employment relations dynamics were. I contacted GCSRW on January 3 2012, not having yet been informed by V------- that he would report the pastor’s sexual misconduct incident to the DS.
While the awareness of the timing of his reporting to the DS was an apparent misunderstanding between myself and the SPRC chairman, it unwittingly caused me further harm and distress during the months long period in which I had no knowledge of how to proceed to resolve my valid concerns and no awareness that the DS had already been informed and was expecting me to provide documentation.
§ --I submitted my resignation
on March 2, 2012. In it I offered a 90 day notice to allow a gracious period of
transition to find and hire my replacement. I made several demands of the
pastor,
1. that he
cease using his Sunday worship platform and pulpit to make unnecessarily
inflammatory public statements regarding conflicts he’d had in the prior week
with other leaders, [editorial note- this often included publicly derisive and inflammatory diatribes about DS, Mike Stonbraker]
2. that he
restrict the public ministry outbursts and odd demonstrations of a particular
lay person in the congregation, due to concerns that many members had addressed
to both the pastor and to myself as worship leader,
3. that if
the pastor could not or would not agree to address my sincere and heartfelt
concerns that I would then be paid a severance of my weekly pay multiplied by
the number of weeks remaining in my 90 day notice.
The pastor stated that he could not be muzzled or restrained by such a demand from me, and that “he felt, as pastor, that his experiences had shown him that a 30 day notice would be best for all concerned”.
V-----------, agreed that SPRC committee would immediately convene to take a vote on accepting my resignation and my request for severance for the two months I would not be able to work, due to the pastor’s demand to shorten my notice.
At the end of the meeting I asked that we pray, and afterward Greg Reynolds followed me into the main hall of the church and began to ‘share’ another burden with me about his checkered past. I was frankly in shock as he launched into a fuzzy collection of the following statements:
“I was engaged back when I first entered ministry, and I (teary-eyed, sniffling) got my fiancé pregnant and she had an abortion. I’ve always felt so bad about that—she broke up with me after that, too. But I know God can get glory out of this in my life—I don’t’ feel comfortable enough to share about it publicly yet, but God can use me now to understand other’s pain and to minister to them out of what I’ve gone through.”
I was so shocked I can’t recall what I
said—I know I did not affirm him for sharing this—thankfully, someone walked up
and interrupted the ‘private’ nature of his sharing and I got out of the
building.
I was stymied by this for several days until
I puzzled through what his implied intentions were—I came to realize that he
was implying that one day, since he was assuming I would remain quiet (in
perpetuity) about his sexual misconduct with MY daughter, that he was sure God
would get glory out of that too! I got the message loud and clear—‘covering up
was the way to go in this scenario, and the way he wanted it.’
Even on that stress filled day of loss as I
tendered my resignation, Greg Reynolds was resolutely demanding that I provide
him pastoral care and the stunning reality was that he still gave NO THOUGHT to
my needs in my role as an employee, fellow ministry professional or a
parishioner. This transaction galvanized my awareness of
how Greg had compromised me in trying to ‘help’ him. There was clearly no
respect in this relationship and no way I could ever help him.
--SPRC met on March 4, 2012 and the following information was directly
recounted to me by V-------, SPRC chair:
1. that after
discussion severance was approved, but
2. that the
pastor had interjected into the process, the necessity for a “severance
release” which he “would take responsibility for obtaining from his
father-in-law”, an attorney,
3. that there
were discussion questions about the need for and comments about never having
heard of a severance release being required in the resignation of a church
staff person, (there is no written contract regarding my employment—it was a
Christian covenant with the leadership council)
4. then,
finally the vote was taken approving both my being paid severance in the amount
of the weeks I would not work due to the pastor’s shortening of my notice as
offered, and would include a demand for a release to be signed in order to
receive any severance pay.
That severance
release was provided to me on or about March 15, 2012. (copy attached) I
instantly recognized it as an extremely litigious and crafty document, which
specifically stated Greg Reynolds by name, to be released both pastorally and
personally, for all time. I had no other option than to accurately assess this
as a clear attempt by the pastor to intentionally misuse his ministerial
position to silence me, using the unwitting accomplices of the SPRC voting
committee members who had no knowledge of his sexual misconduct, or his
possibly malevolent motivations in suggesting a release, vis a vis, a gag order
to coerce me into continued cover-up for his wrongful acts.
--After prayerful
consideration of the dire implications to my family’s security, [my husband] and I met
with V------[SPRC chair]to inform him, respectfully, that I could in no way, honor by my
signature, such a covertly manipulative and coercive document, no matter how
badly I needed the security of severance. V-------agreed that he’d felt very
uncomfortable with the document as well and that he did not disagree with my
concerns about the personal benefits to the pastor, in light of his misconduct.
--V---- offered to obtain
an independently prepared release, stating to me that he didn’t think that he
could now go back to the SPRC committee and ask them to reverse their voted
position on severance with a release. He stated, “it’s really not possible to hit the rewind
button once people in committee have gotten a particular concept in their
heads.” I didn’t agree but I understood his point. [editorial note-- this looks like cover-up to me. If the SPRC chair had divulged the pastor's sexual misconduct which I'd reported and Greg Reynolds' suspect motivations in developing such a tactic and document without prior committee discussion, I feel confident the committee could've likely moved to free myself and themselves as a voting body, from such manipulations].
I informed
V---- I would objectively consider any reasonable release, but that I would need
it no later than April 4th which would only give me a 5-day rescission period
until my pay cycle due date of April 9, 2012 when the severance check would be
tendered to me. I also stated emphatically that I could not accept the
severance in weekly installments, forcing me to come to the building ostensibly
to beg for my check to be located (which had been an ongoing problem happening
as recently as the week prior). V--- agreed to the timeline, the lump sum
disbursement and I agreed, upon his disclosure in our meeting that he’d already
reported the sexual misconduct to the DS, that I would go ahead and re-contact
GCSRW about helping me complete the documentation process for the DS. My
receipt of the committee-approved severance was not contingent on anyone’s
receipt of this document.
To date, I have
not received a copy of the new release, I have not received the severance
check, my family is now destitute with only pennies in our pockets, the SPRC
chair texted me on Saturday April 7, over the Easter holiday to inform me that
he’d not been able to get to the attorney, but would be doing that on Monday
April 9, 2012. I took his text to clearly mean that he recalled the dates and
deadlines we had agreed to.
I have heard no
word since. In effect, thus far, I have experienced at the pastor’s will and
through his hands, what I can only surmise as financial retaliation.
[editorial note- the decision to file the formal complaint to Bishop Willimon, was made in the context of discussions with the GCSRW, considering the merits of each approach. I decided to report my complaint directly to the Bishop, in light of the many criticisms and complaints that Greg Reynolds had exposed me to, regarding his opinion of the DS, and his now apparent, paranoia about his overseer. My confidence in the DS was understandably tenuous, given the reports of screaming, tantrums, cursing which reportedly were a regular feature of his in-office behaviors. I did NOT want to expose myself to that behavior, in that, I was already a compromised and vulnerable female employee, having gone through so much loss for such a long period].
[editorial note- the decision to file the formal complaint to Bishop Willimon, was made in the context of discussions with the GCSRW, considering the merits of each approach. I decided to report my complaint directly to the Bishop, in light of the many criticisms and complaints that Greg Reynolds had exposed me to, regarding his opinion of the DS, and his now apparent, paranoia about his overseer. My confidence in the DS was understandably tenuous, given the reports of screaming, tantrums, cursing which reportedly were a regular feature of his in-office behaviors. I did NOT want to expose myself to that behavior, in that, I was already a compromised and vulnerable female employee, having gone through so much loss for such a long period].
--My last Sunday was Palm
Sunday as the worship leader serving with our pastor at New Vision; he refused
to look me in the eye throughout the service.
Although several members who knew about my resignation asked me why I
was leaving, it was clear that most of the church had no idea I had
resigned. Some members who are close
friends commented about the ‘surreal’ behavior of Greg failing to state and
acknowledge our family’s departure after serving there for over three years .
Greg uncharacteristically got out of the building quickly right after the
service and never even said goodbye to my husband or myself.
I affirm that my statements herein are to the best of my ability, both
honest and accurate, and constitute a true recounting of the facts of my
complaint. By no means exhaustive in their inclusion, these incidents represent
only a short presentation drawn from numerous similar incidents.
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