By Rick Hiebert. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission

On Friday, February 5, as Todd Bentley was starting to collect an offering at the Morningstar sanctuary in Fort Mill S.C., men who have a serious disagreement with the evangelist and his theology started to cry out from the crowd. Not only were Bentley’s own security involved, the police were called to deal with and remove the protestors.

Over the past couple days, although there has been apparent silence from Todd Bentley and the local media on this, enough has come out on the Internet that we can now safely say that Bentley, or one of his friends, or admirers, summoned police to ensure that the protestors, who were apparently peaceful, were taken away.

Instead of the “dumanis power” of the Holy Spirit, Bentley has apparently resorted to the power of the truncheon. This seeming sheep has bared some wolf fangs.

I’ll try to summarize and report on what Bene D has kindly noted while I was away from the computer yesterday, add what I can, and then offer some commentary.

I am flying on instruments here, but I will try to be careful and fair.

Kathi Sharpe, who I understand was a Christian apologist at one time, was the first source that tipped me off that something was amiss. She is now a great fan of Bentley’s and as such, we can assume that her post on the events at Morningstar does not overstate things to make Bentley look bad. She is such a fan of Bentley’s, moreover, that she is apparently convinced that the gentlemen that publicly differed with Bentley are not Christians at all. She noted (em[phasis mine):

Security helped them all find the door. All but one went peacefully.

Janet went to the ladies room shortly after that and said the place was swarming with police. I’m not sure if the guys got arrested, or if the cops just gave them a stern talking to.

Evidently whoever called for the police may have implied that these protestors were quite dangerous. Instead of a deputy, which is all that was needed, a "swarming" was produced.

Why did the Fort Mill police respond in this way? Why so many police? Is the local police chief that eager to get involved in what is essentially a loud argument at a church? Why not send one policeman to assess the situation and then call for back-up if necessary?

The response seems odd in another way too.

The local newspaper, the Fort Mill Times, has just updated its newspaper website through this past weekend, when the Todd Bentley "incident" took place. Although the newspaper is running online a story about a local policeman being shot, whatever happened at Morningstar was apparently not even newsworthy enough to make the paper's Police Blotter section yet.

Is this perhaps evidence that "swarming" is overreacting on the police's part?

Fort Mill is located in York County in South Carolinia, so it is possible that the local Sheriff's Office might have been asked to deal with it. There are no public statements to that effect on the department website.

There's nothing in Google News yet about this either. But there is apparently more information circulating in blogs.

Three people who say they participated in the protest have commented online.

A "Daniel Courtney" added his comments to Kathi Sharpe's blog post, writing that as he had been blessed the times he had gone to Morningstar in the past, participating in the protest was difficult for him to do:

I am one of those that spoke out on Friday night at Morningstar. I want you to understand why we did what we did. We are not pharisees and it really grieves my heart that any time someone speaks out against sin and stands up for holiness they are called pharisees. Todd Bentley has not only committed adultery but continues in it unrepentant. Repentance is not just saying you are sorry but there must be action to back it up (Matt3:8).....Our hearts were broken and have been broken before God since the whole Todd Bentley scandal. We prayed before we went to Morningstar that night and searched our hearts. We asked the Lord for a spirit of meekness like He has. With so many young people, who we know love the Lord, looking up to Rick Joyner and the leaders at Morningstar we can't let the dismissal of Todd Bentley's sin go unanswered. Going to Morningstar and publicly rebuking Todd Bentley was a last resort. It was not a thing that we did just for fun or because we have a chip on our shoulders. We did what we did because there is grievous error, concerning Todd Bentley's restoration, in the Morningstar leadership that has gone unchecked for many months.

It is interesting that "Daniel" notes that officers from the Sheriff's office--of York County, perhaps--were there. Perhaps the Morningstar compound is a rural area of Fort Mill, where Sherriff's deputies would be the first responders. [Unlike most Western movies that you have seen, I fear that the Sheriff's men actually helped the guys with the black hats this time.]

This is how Daniel saw the police involvement:

We were not all graciously shown the door. Some of the ushers were rather gracious considering the circumstances, but some where very forceful. Not really sure why the Sheriff’s office was called but most of them were pretty gracious.

“Some of [Bentley's security] were very forceful”. “Most of the Sheriff’s office” were pretty gracious. “Most” does not mean “all”. Did one of the police deputies go a bit far? How? If, God forbid, we guess that the Sherriff’s deputies could have been a little abusive, that demonstrates why police shouldn’t be called to church meetings ever.

A statement by the Sheriff or Police Chief on this affair would be very helpful. Is he comfortable with sending his deputies into a church? Is he going to police annual church meetings to make sure that arguments over how to paint the church do not get out of hand?

Kathi Sharpe, not a friend of Daniel’s, comments in turn that she believes she saw this happen:

….Also, I don’t know where you and your brother were in the room, nor do I know what happened after people were escorted from the room – but several of your bunch did NOT go quietly. In fact one of you had to be picked up and carried out of the room….

Parenthetically, it’s interesting that Sharpe has such a desire for accuracy. It seems, Christian internet apologist Bud Press would say, that this desire to get things right comes and goes. At the bottom of her original post, she writes: “I’m pretty sure that one of hte guys was Bud Press. Sounded like his voice”. She includes a smiley face which may indicate that she might be joking. But to even joke that Press would be the sort of person to get dragged out of a church by cops is underhanded.

Press mentions, in a public statement, that he was dog-sitting that night. If only Sharpe had a fully operational Biblical gift of tongues and intepretation…

Bud Press to dog: “Okay now, was I babysitting you?”

Dog: “Arf!” *wags tail*

Kathi Sharpe: “My mistake. I apologize…”

Being serious again…

A second protestor, “Michael” commented on the last post:

As I was present for this event, being one of those demonic aura giver-offers, I may be able to shed some light on our reasons for what we did. Just to clear things up, no it was not staged by Bentley, no we did not know beforehand Oprah’s crew would be there, and no we aren’t demonic. We are Bible-believing Christians who, according to 1 Corinthians 5, are supposed to confront Christians who are in sin….

….We also handed out some pamphlets while we were there, explaining why we were there. I’ll get that to you soon (found this blog before going to bed).

Michael points to a lengthy statement from a third protestor, Ante Pavkovic. Pavkovic is involved with Operation Rescue/Operation Save America, a very conservative evangelical group. I myself find some things to admire in Operation Rescue (which is best known for staging blockades at abortion clinics in the U.S).. But, I do understand and acknowledge that more liberal Christians find fault with what they teach and do, as well as their connections to other groups and I make note of that.

I’ve linked to the entire statement above. He has perhaps strongly conservative point of view on many questions about Mr. Bentley. To summarize, Pavkovic believes Bentley to be a heretic, an “impentient liar and drunkard”. Moreover, Joyner and Morningstar, he argues, are morally lax and theologically unsound.

One particular section alludes to something that Daniel and Michael are also very concerned about, so I quote Pantkovic’a arguments on Bentley’s adultery and eventual marriage to his former intern:

“….And Bentley has REFUSED TO OBEY God’s Word and be reconciled to his wife, but instead has married the YOUNG WOMAN he was in adultery with, and this with Rick Joyner’s sanction!….True prophets preach against sin and bring men to repentance. But false prophets strengthen men in their evil doings, as MorningStar and Joyner have done on many levels and now especially with Bentley. Instead of bringing the man to repentance or dealing with him as Scripture would dictate, Bentley has been strengthened in his evil doing, as will many others by this horrible, yet bold example. Adultery, lying, and then marrying a much younger and prettier woman is OK and you can still be in the ministry! Forget that Paul said a minister must be the husband of one wife, above reproach and BLAMELESS! (1Tim. 3:1-13).”

Bentley’s friends might say that I am about to go on and “blame the victim”, but I believe that even if you don’t agree with the protestors’ tactics, their indigation with the evangelist is justified. Perhaps even righteous in some ways, if you agree with their views on divorce and remarriage.

Todd Bentley operates as if he believes that he has a sound theology of divorce and remarriage. He has married again to the woman that–let’s be frank–caused his divorce.

But we have never seen his theology or divorce and remarriage, even though he has been working on it for over a year. The last hold-up was allegedly due to Rick Joyner having to review it…but that was weeks if not months ago now.

The various restoration videos with the Bentleys and Joyner dance around the question and say that they are going to give frank answers, but they do not.

This theological package allowing Bentley to remarry is so profound that it has allowed Joyner to give his okay to what is happening. But it is top secret. Why not publicize it…unless it would collapse like a house of cards?

If the reasons allowing Bentley to remarry are so strong, why couldn’t Bentley have used them to refute the protestors at the meeting last week? He rattles off hour long-sermons at the drop of a hat–why not put the protestors in their place with a few well chosen words? Is he not able to?

Bentley’s charismatic audience is strongly conservative. “A man should marry only once” would probably be the default position on this matter for most of them. But Bentley refuses to speak to the question.

Is is any wonder that some are frustrated with his lack of candor?

Is it any wonder that some feel that confronting Todd Bentley in public is the only way to get some straight answers and straight talk?

And let’s look at Bentley’s actions. Where is the “gentle answer that turns away wrath”? Did Bentley offer one of them some time to make their case, in a peaceful manner? Is he so fearful of contradiction that anyone who wants to confront him, in a responsible way, has to be driven out of the church? Was he brave enough to offer them the mike? You would figure that he should be confident enough that the protestor’s arguments would fall apart to not be worried about what they say, right? But at least one of them was, reportedly, bodily hauled out of the service.

Bentley, it would seem, had little confidence in the Holy Spirit’s ability to convince and convict the protestors? Was the “anointing” at Morningstar not powerful enough to sway the intruders? If people are being allegedly healed again, wouldn’t this be an simple afterthought on the Holy Sprit’s list of things to do in the service? Assuming the protestors were in the wrong, of course.

One of Bentley’s statements in one of his webinars comes to mind. I quoted it in a post, and I would like to do so again. Emphasis is added:

“I did get remarried. Because I believe that it is better to get remarried than to burn. I said ‘God, I’m in love. This woman [Jessa] is in love with me. God I want to honour you…I’m going through a season of restoration. I want the love of my life to stand with me and support me and it’s gonna happen anyways. I’m gonna get married now.” That may not have been the best decision at the time for all of you, but today I’m very happy. I’ve never been this happy. Sorry for you to hear that. I am happy. Very happy. And I’m glad that I have the lady of my life today that I have today and that doesn’t mean that I dishonour Shonnah. I love her…we’re moving on and I ask you to move on with me.”

I think this is the real answer that Bentley wants to give to those who feel he is an adulterer–I’m happy now. Deal with it. I have.

Is he brave enough to say it as his formal statement on this matter? I suspect that he wants to, but realizes that it would deal a death blow to his hopes of being a famous evangelist.

What happened at Morningstar last week was Bentley with the mask off, and it is a bit scary.

I fear that Todd Bentley wants to do whatever he wants to, and the end will justify the means. If you corner him, he will be blunt. Either rhetorically or literally. And nothing is blunter than a policeman’s nightstick.

A palindrome is a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction. This is a submission by a 20 year old to u @ 50″ for AARP.
Update: I took palindrome out of the title because as readers point out I erred. Technically this ad is not one.
This would be a palindrome: “Madam, I’m Adam.” My apology.

Watch and listen and you’ll understand why the audience was on their feet cheering and clapping. It will haunt and inspire you all day.

Lost Generation

via: The Galloping Beaver

Well?

This is the pre-game ad, the goal is the same as it is for any company product – getting viewers to click over to Fotf where company president Jim Daly invites users to browse their site and buy what they are selling. (product and p.o.v.)

The Superbowl ad

By Rick Hiebert. All Rights reserved. Used by Permission.

As I mentioned this morning, last night evangelist Todd Bentley had a surprise in his service. Several men, after (or as)the offering was taken, got up to publicly, and loudly, confront Bentley. Not only did Bentley’s security ask them to leave, according to this blog entry, by a witness who is a Bentley admirer the local police were called as well to quell any possible disturbance.

Thanks to a friend who tips me off about this Twitter “tweet” by “writer and director” Roy Petersen today.

some protestors infiltrated the todd bentley meeting last night. just so happens i knew a few of them so got some interesting interviews.
about 5 hours ago from web

So, according to this tweet, it seems to be apparently a genuine effort by some to publicly disagree with Todd Bentley and call him to account. Hopefully Mr. Petersen will share at least some of what he has before Bentley’s minions control the spin on this. Thus far, it is Bentley’s friends and the evangelist himself (adopting his best martyr face) who are talking and it would be interesting to know why the men in the service felt the need to do as they did and hear their account of what actually happened.

I myself would think it a bit much to call the police to get the protestors to leave when Bentley already has a security team. One sad result of this is that it may probably be harder for those who want to keep a peaceful, and jaundiced, eye on the evangelist, as Bentley will probably insist on keeping a tighter screen on his audience. Extra security might be in full force.

3. Average book sales are shockingly small, and falling fast.
Combine the explosion of new books with the declining total sales and you get shrinking sales of each new title. “Here’s the reality of the book industry: in 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. The average book in America sells about 500 copies” (Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2006). And average sales have since fallen much more. According to BookScan, which tracks most bookstore, online, and other retail sales of books, only 299 million books were sold in 2008 in the U.S. in all adult nonfiction categories combined. The average U.S. book is now selling less than 250 copies per year and less than 3,000 copies over its lifetime.

4. A book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore.
For every available bookstore shelf space, there are 100 to 1,000 or more titles competing for that shelf space. For example, the number of business titles stocked ranges from less than 100 (smaller bookstores) to approximately 1,500 (superstores). Yet there are 250,000-plus business books in print that are fighting for that limited shelf space.

more here

By Rick Hiebert. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.

Some Todd Bentley “stop press” items for your information.
Be sure to scroll down to the end where Todd Bentley calls the cops on his “critics”, if nothing else. Yes, apparently so.

One

The evangelist’s return to the public eye continues apace, with a new TV interview. He notes on his Twitter feed…

IamToddBentley: School is going well. Just finished doing some filming with Lisa ling for a new tv series on opray Winfrey telvision network on healing.
about 16 hours ago from Twitterrific

Speaking ironically, it would seem that Oprah’s new TV network is off to a great news start. As you may remember from the ABC News Nightline segment that helped scupper the Lakeland Revival, Todd seemed unable to provide accounts of healings that could be confirmed by doctors.

Part 1

and Part 2

Or perhaps we could also look at the World magazine article which found not only a lack of healing, but that people declared to be healed by Todd Bentley’s ministry had since died.

Or perhaps we could look at this account from a fellow with TV experience who noticed that at Lakeland people who were gravely ill or severely disabled were kept out of the range of the GOD TV cameras.

We can hope that the Oprah Winfrey network crew spots some of these things, but, alas, the quote attributed to G.K. Chesterton to the effect that a lie is halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots comes to mind.

Two

Todd Bentley also “tweeted” yesterday (February 5) on Twitter:

IamToddBentley: Thanks for the Love. God is blessing his people. Tonite the presence was so sweet and God bless those who persecute us
about 7 hours ago from Twitterrific

Hmm. “God bless those who persecute us.” Well, what’s happening that he defines as persecution? All that I have seen on the Internet recently are blog posts and comments that question his theology or whether he is fully repentant of his past actions. As Bentley has been, and certainly intends to remain, a public figure, these are fair comments, surely?

What is a little chilling is that we are not talking about some things that would perhaps be libelous, say. We are merely seeing public differences of opinion. (And the voices in favour of Bentley are better organized, have more resources, and are much “louder” in a getting the attention of the public sense than those who differ with him.) Most Christians don’t have a problem with respectful give-and-take…but Bentley seems to.

Disagreeing is “persecution”? I’d hate to be someone in Todd’s new ministry or at Morningstar who wants to constructively critique what Bentley is doing. I fear I would be shunned, fired or purged.

Define “persecute us” please, Mr. Bentley. I’ll wait. A long time, I expect. But I am patient.

Three

Jessa, Todd Bentley’s new wife, is jumping into his ministry with both feet.

When Todd’s “starter wife” Shonnah appeared at Ignited Church during the Lakeland revival, she was recorded on CD. Listening to the CD later, I got the impression that Shonnah is very much a “stay-at-home” type who only very reluctantly took the public stage. Months and years passed with her and the kids in the background.

Not so with Jessa, Todd’s “trophy wife”. You may recall that in the repentance video that she did with Todd with Rick Joyner, she explained her background and how she came to Abbotsford to attend the Fresh Fire school because she wanted a ministry of her own.

As you might infer from her dream in which she talked to Oral Roberts after his death, she wants to be involved in Todd’s ministry in a big way. We have video evidence of this now thanks to Phil Naessens putting this onto You Tube:

“Todd Bentley commissions His disciples” is the title given to the video. And halfway through, we see Jessa doing the shake-and-bake as Todd prays for her.

It looks like Jessa plans to keep a close eye on her husband. Which, given what happened, may be a wise idea.

[I hope that "Todd Bentley commissions his disciples" is a name that Naessens himself gives the clip. Todd Bentley himself thinking that he has "disciples" that he can commission would be kind of obnoxious, even for Bentley.]

UPDATE:

Re: “persecute us”

Okay, one Google search later…here’s an account of what happened last night from a blogger who is a big Bentley fan:

Ken and I both perceived, at different points during worship, a strong demonic presence in the room. It felt like it was brooding. Or festering. That might be a better word.

So worship ended and Todd Bentley took the stage and started to take up the evening offering. From the balcony a voice rang out – screeching about adultery and repentance. Security came and got him.

Then, in turn from all around the room other men did the same thing. I think there were five in all who spoke up. There were two more who hung out the rest of service and didn’t say anything.

It was ugly. As each man began to speak you could actually feel the demonic presence coming from them. It was like… it was on their voices. Not something I’ve experienced quite like that before.

Todd was gracious. I was impressed. I don’t believe I would have been that nice under those circumstances.

Security helped them all find the door. All but one went peacefully.

Janet went to the ladies room shortly after that and said the place was swarming with police. I’m not sure if the guys got arrested, or if the cops just gave them a stern talking to.

It wouldn’t be my own cup of tea, but I could understand why someone would feel that the only way that they would confront Todd Bentley about his past would be to do so by yelling out during his meetings.

Several things, if this is accurate, strike me as odd…

You’ll notice that a “demonic presence” leads to the interruption. That’s fighting unfairly as a blogger…

As you already have security there, why call the police? It’s an intimidation tactic on Bentley’s part.

Why wouldn’t the group wait until he is starting his actual message to ensure that they made it onto the broadcast? I myself would assume that the internet broadcast could start after the worship and offering and Todd Bentley could easily get rid of the interruption later.

It’s not like they ran on stage and made their presence impossible to ignore, say.

Which leads me to wonder if this is a “black bag” job and something that Bentley himself staged. Bad enough to get him sympathy, but not bad enough to seriously hinder him.

SECOND UPDATE: I’m glad to hear that Bentley is not machiavellian enough to pull this off himself. Apparently this was a genuine protest by some Bentley critics.

In May 2009, business news carried a story out of the US about an alleged ponzi scheme which mentioned that a couple of hosts of a Canadian religious show were alleged to be part of.

It took a story in the ‘local’ newspaper (The Hamilton Spectator) mid-May to get people to start to notice all was not well at the Burlington broadcast behemoth.  One of the many things that fascinated me was how slow the Canadian religious broadcaster was to respond. For awhile this  blog was busier than normal, as a few thousand people who cared wanted the news, gossip, facts, speculation, details. You know, stuff. People want to talk back now, not be talked to, and blogs are good for that.  Crossroads isn’t suffering from scandal and economic downturn as much as indifference, as a few boomer fans hang on.  Millennials and the rest of us moved on a long time ago.

By June 2009 Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. flagship show 100 Huntley Street responded with a very dramatic black outfit, black background announcement that Ron and Ann Mainse and Reynold and Kathy Mainse had er, stepped aside to deal with personal issues. The dramatic hype have been funny if so many good people hadn’t been so badly burned. The appropriate board announcement went up on the appropriate corporate web page. Those announcements have disappeared now.  Broadcasting is a business first, ministry second, and when it comes to image and bottom line, marching on matters.  
As with most events, this one played itself out and it has been painful to watch the good ship Crossroads attempt to right itself.  David Mainse stepped in to help guest host his TV show; (he supposedly retired after heart surgery in 2003) not one but two fundraisers were run, and Canadian religious media gave the story gracious space. Interestingly enough as who did what, lost what, and what was going on got sorted out, sister ship CTS found itself floundering with a non-existent charity. Revenue Canada meant what it said last summer when it told Canadians the Charity division was clamping down and clearing away the trough feeders. Media didn’t even bother touching the CTS piece of news. Even industry blogs haven’t bothered. 
Re-runs are still being re-run, it’s taken months for this once dominant flag show staff to do simple things like update web pages.

I have no idea how much money Crossroads lost when the  founders sons finally admitted they had been finders in what viewers realize was not an ‘alleged’ ponzi scheme. During the second fall donor drive I think it was mentioned the budget was about 30% short.  The public eventually learned the brother hosts were both victims and victimizers, sincere promises were made of restitution, and that was that. We’ll never know because in a top down medium such as TV, in a mentality stuck in the glory days, it’s none of our business. It’s just not Christian to talk about these sorts of things. None of the Imagine Adoption or Earl Jones response for the 100 Huntley Street fan base and the scalded.

The glossy media magazine Compass, once popular for 100 Huntley is still getting pumped out for faithful donators, and hosts get to preach in print.

During the summer Crossroads began scrubbing tidying up it’s web presence, but whoever was in charge of that has been oddly reluctant to let go of the familiar. Perhaps given the potential upset, decisions were made to bridge the world of who gave while making desperate moves to find new givers. While Ann Mainse showed up to the studio to help ask for money, Ron’s grand TV re-entrance was more carefully staged. He swallowed hard and put a brave face on his demotion to spiritual director/executive producer. It was not public business whether salary was drawn during personal time off.  Upon the two day return fanfare, faithful viewers were told his brother and his wife had not been on staff at Crossroads for about a year and a half and wouldn’t be coming back.  A sentence toss-off, and the show went on. 

Viewers are still asking where Reynold and Kathy are on the 100 Huntley Facebook page. But hey, the broadcaster has a Facebook page, and they are trying to Twitter.  The feed reads like a long lonely commercial, a Twitterer without re-tweets. The 100 Huntley You Tube channel is faithfully chopping up the show into YouTube sized pieces for the mobile crowd, and the good ship Crossroads got around to announcing in December they had a new CEO who had been on the job since the end of October. “New” media (the internet) is being introduced on 100 Huntley Street set with the predictable sputters and epic fails. I did mention it is painful to watch, didn’t I?

When the catastrophic earthquake hit Haiti, 100 Huntley managed to snag Canada’s outstanding World Vision President and CEO Dave Toycen, who was on his way to the airport to get to the devastated country. It was an excellent interview, almost as good as his soundbite on Hope Haiti. If 100 Huntley had not solicited funds that day for their Haiti help they may have upped my respect. If they had just directed viewers to give to the outstanding work World Vision Canada does and is doing, they may have won some brownie point with unsure viewers.

Knowing how far behind 100 Huntley is in responding to world wide catastrophes,  a Haiti special aired January 23. I give them credit for attempting to showcase lesser known Canadian ministries, but as common with live shows, static formats feeds from Haiti understandably broke down and most pictures used had been splashed around world media and absorbed by compassion weary viewers. Sincere but dated,  the asking for funds for Crossroad Haiti relief seemed tacky as the quick scoring the interview with  Dave Toycen was a coup for Crossroads.

Use teh google, type in 100 Huntley Street and this blog is still on the first page. I don’t think this aside will surprise my readers, but that saddens me. The posts about what really has been a long demise accelerated by a ponzi scheme are…I don’t know what they are really. Posts, almost ghost posts, on a group of people running a show ministry which is as stuck as the 1993 CRTC religious broadcasting regulations, I guess. 
The broadcaster is starting to push their way back to the top of the search engines. This week 100 Huntley finally got around to updating it’s front web page to match reality.

This simple change ( a picture sans brother Reynolds and Kathy) took almost a year from the time the public began to learn Gordon Driver and Axcess Funds boot stomped his way through the bubble with the brothers trotting behind.

Life changing media.

For Crossroads the past 10 months has been.
Haven’t they?

I’m heading out the door, but  given the interest in the Idaho Southern Baptist do-gooders who headed down to Haiti to help children and wound up arrested, I want to post this update.

A Haitian attorney says 10 Americans detained in Haiti for trying to take 33 children out of the country after the Jan. 12 earthquake have been charged with child kidnapping.

Edwin Coq says the Americans also are charged with criminal association.

Idaho Statesman

It appears the leader of the group, Laura Silsby (I cannot use the term missionaries) was to be in an Idaho court next week.

The group will be tried in Haiti and if convicted will face lengthy jail terms. They were arrested January 31 at the Dominican Republic border with a busload of children. BBC

Jean Sainvil, a Baptist minister who helped the group take children is back in Georgia.