The Unlovely Truth Lori Morrison

This Is Why I Have Trust Issues
 
I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 
 
Highlights from this episode include:
 
Church daycare faces lawsuit alleging abuse
Poor communication damages a church’s reputation
Multiple lawsuits against church for coverup
 
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my coaching services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovley Truth:
 
Share the episode (w/link)
 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn 
 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
 
More info on the church daycare lawsuit
 
FBI investigates children's pastor
 
Did church cover up abuse?

Christa Brown is a self-described Baptist clergy sex abuse survivor.  But she's so much more. Christa has devoted years of her life to shining a light on the widespread systemic problem of clergy sex abuse and church coverups in what she calls "Baptistland". That's the title of her new book, which was released earlier this week. Christa also wrote "This Little Light", and I had the honor of speaking with her so that we could let more people find ways to make their churches safer physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 
"According to Child USA, a leading think tank for the rights of children, fifty-two is theaverage age of a person bringing forward a report of childhood sexual abuse. Iwas fifty-one. The mental hurdles are huge. Many child sex abuse victims wait until after the perpetrator has died, and many never disclose their childhood abuse. Manynever even recognize that what they experienced was abuse." - Christa Brown
Highlights from this episode include:
Exploding the myth that "that doesn't happen in MY church"
Why churches should not try to handle child sexual abuse issues "in-house"
Should forgiveness always lead to restoration
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovely Truth:
Share the episode 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
Christa's Substack site: https://christabrown.substack.com/
 
Christa's webpage with links to columns she's published about clergy sex abuse: https://christabrown.me/columns/
 
Child USA's webpage on statute of limitations reform: https://childusa.org/sol/
 
Christa's handle on X (formerly Twitter) is: @ChristaBrown777
 
Buy Christa's new book
 
 

I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 
 
Highlights from this episode include:
 
Church lawn worker robbed and beaten 
Pastor caught in murder-for-hire scheme
Food ministry has delivery van stolen
 
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovley Truth:
 
Share the episode 
 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn 
 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
 
Church lawn worker robbed and beaten 
 
Pastor caught in murder-for-hire scheme
 
Food ministry has delivery van stolen

I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 
 
Highlights from this episode include:
 
A female volunteer who abused a minor
Pastors who abuse staff, volunteers, and congregants
A staff member’s financial abuse of an entire church
 
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my safety consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovley Truth:
 
Share the episode 
 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (add pinterest when done)
 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
 
Read more about Reagan Gray
 
Read more about Scott Sauls
 
Read More about Lisa Noble here and here 

I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 
 
Highlights from this episode include:
 
Trust should be given based on character - not titles
How NOT to respond to a crisis
Crimes in church are bad enough - the coverup is always worse
 
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovely Truth:
 
Share the episode 
 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn 
 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
 
Car scam pastor 
 
Social Security con pastor
 
Christian school teacher tries to kill husband
 
Priest tries to kill reporter

I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 
 
Highlights from this episode include:
 
A church treasurer and a pastor managed to embezzle tens of thousands of dollars from their respective churches due to lack of proper checks and balances in financial management. Learn how your church can avoid a similar tragedy.
You’ll discover a little thought about cyber-security threat and how you can protect your church from more than the loss of sensitive data. Hint: it’s your public Wifi.
Are controvertial comments from the pulpit a risk to half of your congregation’s emotional safety - and could they even border on spiritual abuse?
 
James 3:9-12 speak directly to this type of communicating. I’m going to read from the International Children’s Bible to make it as simple as possible so you can share it with anyone who thinks this behavior is ok.
 
We use our tongues to praise our Lord and Father, but then we curse people. And God made them like himself. Praises and curses come from the same mouth! My brothers, this should not happen. Do good and bad water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree make olives? Can a grapevine make figs? No! And a well full of salty water cannot give good water.
 
Just a few verses prior to this, in James 3:1, James says “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
I’d say that we can extend that logic to pastors as well. Any pastor that would say such degrading things about half of the world’s population has no place in leadership. Do you think that’s too harsh? Would you think that if rather than being of a sermon, these words had been spoken directly to your daughter or some other woman you care deeply about? If that would be seen as abusive, then saying it from the stage should be looked at as being much, much worse
 
Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 
 
Ways you can support the work of The Unlovley Truth:
 
Share the episode (w/link)
 
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn (add pinterest when done)
 
Check out my Amazon Author Page to find resources on personal safety, and safety training for churches. 
 
Read about the pastor who embezzled from his church
 
Article about church treasurer turned embezzler
 
This is why you need to be careful with your church Wifi
 
The Roys Report
 
Read about Pastor Bobby