By Rick Hiebert All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
Earlier today, I bought a used copy of the fairly new book To Be Perfectly Honest. On the way back to my office, I started to read.
You might see it in your local Christian bookstore. It’s by the noted Western Canadian speaker and writer Phil Callaway, who recently took a vow to try to speak and act only truthfully for a year. This book is the result.
In the introduction, Mr. Callaway writes that he comes from a family of (perhaps rhetorical) horse traders and that while he would love to read a book by someone else who had made the I-will-be-honest-to-a-fault pledge for a year, he balked at making the pledge himself.
The end of the introduction–where I’ve stopped reading for now–has a note that made me go “Hmmm…”
It reads like this:
“This book is a work of fact. I have, however, taken two liberties. First, I engaged in minor chronological adjustments. Second, a handful of names and minor details were changed so that I may continue to live in peace and go out in public without incident in the small community I call home. I suppose a nomadic lifstyle would be ideal for an author. You could breeze into town, point out people’s inconsistencies and hypocrisies, then hightail it out of there before they discover how inconsistent and hypocritical you are. The first draft of To Be Perfectly Honest contained all the actual names and places, and it was really quite fun. But I realized it’s like a Wal-Mart greeter pointing people to Target. Not all that smart.”
I don’t want to be too hard on Mr. Callaway, but I found it deliciously ironic that four pages into his “I was honest for a year!” book, he has an “I have noticed the year is now over!” sort of note. 
Of course, as someone who at least used to write for a living, I totally understand the “Names have been changed to protect my behind!’ sort of disclaimer. Would we have seen it in a Christian book on honesty 50 or 100 years ago?
There’s lots of chew on. if you think about it. Can Christians make with-the-bark-off honesty work? Have Christians always had a “go along to get along” attitude, and should we be concerned about this? Are there valid reasons to “fudge”? Intriguing questions. Some editor at a publishing house should get an author to wrestle with the subject as the results would certainly be thought provoking.
As for me, I know myself well enough to not make the same sort of promise that Mr. Callaway did. Unless, of course, I made it easier on myself by also taking a contract–at the same time–to live among the Bedouins and teach sheep how to blog. [Typing sheep: "The flock has decided to beat up the human tonight as he just won't stop snoring..."]
As should come across in my tone, I mean merely to tease and not condemn Mr. Callaway. Hopefully his book will have some good insights…
The only way to be absolutely honest by taking a vow of silence.
This clown is a joke, and worst yet, he has sold us out. He served his masters well, whether it be Jon Old Ohlhuser, the previous president of Prairie Bible Institute. In his tenure, everyone got fired, forced resigned, and Callaway is fine. Hmm….let me see, he is good collaborator, and he perhaps sold a few people to stay afloat during the Ohlhauser period. Then we have seen him collaborate with Mark Maxwell during the sexual abuse scandal. If you go to see him at Prairie’s Youtube, anyone can see why he is a clown. He has made a fool out of the gospel, and jesus and his own community. O, I don’t have to spend the money to see why he is a joke. He says so himself. Wish he would come and make a comment here.
For the uninitiated, I was on the Board of the said bible college where this clown has been for the last few decades.
I might look at it if I absolutely had nothing to read, and even then it would be a quick breeze through.
Sounds like one of those books primarily written to make a fast dollar from people who buy books with a ‘catchy’ title and a few smarmy words on the dust jacket!
Try a new book, “The Callaway Delusion”
He may need to write this book if it was his name that I saw on an E&Y insolvency creditors list of Foundation Capital.
Foundation is one of the several companies currently in bancrupcy protection. These companies were formed by a couple of former Pastors. Lots of good people have lost their life savings. Speculation is that it is just one more case of affinity fraud.
Speaking of being perfectly honest…I blew the whistle on PBI today. Mark Maxwell has been harboring a child molester on his staff. Check it out… http://pbisurvivors.com/index.php/blog/i-am-blowing-the-whistle-on-prairie-bible-institute/
Linda, as a mandatory reporter, at least in the state where I’ve worked, we are to report “suspected child abuse” to the recognized authorities. That made reporting easier – it was a crime not to report.
When the abused is no longer legally a child in chronological time, one of the hardest things to do is to remain silent about abuse of which we’ve learned. So I was glad to read in your account, “In the end, she understood my decision and told me she would support me in the background but did not wish to be in the forefront.” This was the permission you needed in order to unburden yourself of this secret.
You must feel sometimes like you are slogging through a sewer, in the leadership role you’ve taken on to expose the filth that has accumulated behind the curtains of piety… not only filth, the tragedy and the travesty is that while the guilty move on, the victims are left wounded.
To stay with the theme of this thread, Rick Hiebert says, “Can Christians make with-the-bark-off honesty work? Have Christians always had a ‘go along to get along’ attitude, and should we be concerned about this? Are there valid reasons to ‘fudge’? Intriguing questions.”
Thank you, Linda, for your “with-the-bark-off honesty.” I’m not sure what that means, but it seems to suit. Thank you for NOT “going along to get along,” and YES Christians should be concerned about this. Are there valid reasons to “fudge”? Not when it means turning out the wounded lambs in the flock. (SHE was told to leave till it “blows over”???)
Maybe it IS time for the flock to decide to “beat up” the human(s) who won’t stop snoring – who won’t wake up and protect the most vulnerable under their care, who refuse to support justice for the crimes committed against the vulnerable.
Thank you, Linda, for standing at the edge of this abyss. May you have the strength and support you need to continue.
Just one???
Linda,,,I looked at your website.
What is so very disturbing to me is the list of people in leadership positions at PBI who were allegedly told about this.
If this is indeed true, do these folks have hearts of stone or are they so transfixed on protecting PBI, and their own standing within that comunity, that they would not act to protect other potential victims?
I share your concern fjc and sent an email to each of them with this comment: “I am bringing to your attention that I have blown the whistle on the cover up and collusion at Prairie Bible Institute of a child molester who is currently on staff. It is now a matter of public record that you were also informed of this abuse and did not respond to the survivor. Your inaction and lack of response is totally unacceptable. In light of the abuse scandal at Penn State, it should be crystal clear to all of you that you must respond to allegations of abuse. You did not.”
I have known about this story since November and have watched as Mark Maxwell has feigned being open and transparent all the while completely ignoring this survivor’s emails. It is despicable.
Thank you Angelyn for your kind words…yes, I feel like I am wading in a cesspool…but I cannot let these survivors down. They have captured my heart and soul.
It will be interesting to see what-if anything comes of this.
Also, it will be interesting to see the enrollment numbers for this coming semester and then, after the financials are released, how the support numbers this year compare with prior years.
Who can predict if people will vote with their feet ? Who can predict if prior years financial supporters will refrain from providing financial support this year?