This is part two of a longer than average post. To make it as readable as possible, I have divided it -in a Tolkienesque fashion - into a trilogy. It’s a response of sorts to both questions I’ve been asked by other pastors and friends and former friends in my denomination and statements that have been made about me and some of my posts that have focused on ongoing events in my denomination.
You can read part one HERE.
All three parts involve email exchanges that have been cut and pasted into this document. In part two, I have redacted some names a disputed phrase but otherwise they have not been edited.
Links to PDFs of the original correspondence are available on request but will similarly have some names redacted.
For readability – successfully or unsuccessfully – email correspondence is italicized so readers can more easily distinguish them.
My tale continues with part two: The Two Powers
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As part two begins, about six months have passed since the last email correspondence and the next email between me and denominational leadership about the tragic events at the Duluth Vineyard. The conversations revolve around long-time Vineyard USA employees and platformed leaders and allegations of abuse and cover-up and the crisis of leadership that followed. These events have all been documented, extensively, by the Duluth Vineyard and by Vineyard USA and in reports from Guideposts and GRACE. They are also increasingly appearing on websites like the Roys Report and the Wartburg Watch.
I offer these email exchanges as examples of the conversation I have attempted to have with Vineyard USA about the situation in Duluth.
On Tuesday, March 14, 2024, I emailed John Elmer, my Super Regional Leader, after being told the Gatlins (former Senior Pastor, VUSA Trustee and VUSA Super Regional leader, and on March 14, 2024, resigned and moved away from Duluth) were not only attending Mile High Vineyard (home of our National Director) but doing ministry there:
Hi John,
Can you shed any light on the situation with Duluth and our National Director choosing to ignore the approach our local sister church is taking to discipline the Gatlins?
Brian
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John initially replied:
Hey Brian,
Thank you for asking a question directly. I am not sure exactly what you mean by “ignoring” the approach that Duluth Vineyard has taken. We have been very engaged with them in this process and are working hard to walk this through together. Let me try to bring clarity of what the situation is.
First it is worth noting that Robb Morgan and I are running point on this situation not Jay. Duluth as a local church has a right and responsibility to disciple someone in their church. And we have sought to be supportive as they process this very painful situation with time, money and energy. They do not have the right as a local church to demand that every local church close fellowship from them. We are working to support Duluth’s desire to not allow the Gatlins to have any ministry opportunities or stage time. This is a season to sit and receive. We have had many discussions with the leadership of Duluth concerning what this means. We are also working to help the Gatlins to process and engage the accusations which is one of the key elements that the Duluth Vineyard desires.
I hope this clears things up for you. Duluth will be releasing a statement any day and we will also be releasing one soon after which may bring more clarity for you.
John
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This is an important reply as it feels like, to me, that it epitomizes how the larger conversation has gone. This reply seems to say that VUSA is on top of this and there’s really nothing to see here. By “ignoring,” I meant the very direct request from the Duluth Vineyard that other Vineyard churches would help them fulfill their attempt at church discipline with the Gatlins by not accepting them into fellowship, sharing the eucharist with them or platforming them in any way until there was resolution and reconciliation with the congregation devastated by their actions and inactions. John says, “We are working to support Duluth’s desire to not allow the Gatlins to have any ministry opportunities or stage time.” How hard Vineyard USA was “working” on this becomes the question.
Then I replied to John:
Duluth already released their statement. That was what I was referring to. What I meant by "ignoring" is what they detail in their update.
"Michael and Brenda’s path to restoration continues to include participating in additional fact-finding to supplement the GRACE report, including being interviewed by GRACE or another independent investigator working on the Duluth Vineyard’s behalf.
None of the Gatlins have demonstrated meaningful repentance. Similarly, they have not expressed any remorse for their actions or admitted any sin against our church or its people.
The Church Council has received reports that Michael and Brenda are violating Duluth Vineyard’s church discipline by attending services at a Vineyard church in Colorado.
The Church Council has also heard concerns that Michael and Brenda are praying for people at such church in Colorado. The Church Council has directed those raising such concerns to voice them to the leadership of that church. This local church in Colorado is also under the leadership of the National Director of Vineyard USA.
As is their right, the Vineyard church in Colorado that Michael and Brenda are attending has chosen not to support Duluth Vineyard’s church discipline. Similarly, Vineyard USA is not supporting the particulars of Duluth Vineyard’s church discipline plan."
That's what I was referencing with my email. Almost every piece of communication I get from my RL and the Home Office emphasizes what a family we are. And the material I just received yesterday from ***** about ordination emphasizes the need for cooperation between local churches and VUSA. The situation in Duluth sounds like the opposite of that. The GRACE report seems very clear that Duluth has not overreacted and their ask seems incredibly reasonable given the devastation caused by the Gatlin family.
Before I wrote something up I was hoping for some clarity.
Brian
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To which, John replied, on March 15:
We were just informed of the possibility that the Gatlins may have done prayer ministry and I have reached out to the Gatlins to confirm and once again make a clear line. Both the local church and Vineyard USA are supporting Duluth s discipline except for the part that they are not allowed to attend a Vineyard church. I have met with John and talked about what they were doing at Mile High early in the process. Our goal was to keep communication open and healthy. In December they asked us not to contact them till March and we honored this. Their statement was the first we heard from them ( they sent it to us 2 days ago)
We have supported them financially, prayerfully and emotionally. We are for their recovery as a church from the awful stuff that happened as well as the healing discipline of the Gatlins.
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This kind of gatekeeping of information and presenting details depending on what you think the other person already knows but not any more than you think the person already knows is exactly why conversations with Vineyard USA have ultimately felt fruitless to me. I’m a senior pastor, a contributor, I am a part of Vineyard USA but communicated with in a way that seems decidedly not transparent or forthright. I acknowledge that I understand that Vineyard USA and others can read the above and not see a problem – which is an illustration (from my perspective) of the problem with our communication. The repeated self-claim is that Vineyard USA is being “transparent” but providing as little information as possible until they find out how much you already know is not the definition of transparent.
You can contrast this with the pdf of the synchronous email posted by Vineyard USA on their “official timeline” from John Elmer to Michael and Brenda Gatlin. At the same time John was replying to me, he was emailing Michael and Brenda and saying, “We would also like to put on the table a consideration that we have yet to fully discuss. With all that the MHV staff is managing, I would like to ask you to be open to attending a non-Vineyard church. The current strain on the MHV system, size of the other MHV churches, scrutiny of the Arvada campus and enmeshed relational dynamics make it challenging for everyone. As a way to care for you, we would ask that you be open to attending a non-Vineyard church in the area for this season. With the many connections in the city, we would refer you to places you could receive ministry and not have the added pressures noted above. The leaders at MHV could then be more free to interact as friends, free from the roles they play at the church. We would ask that you prayerfully hold this before the Lord as we move forward.” (dated March 14, 2024) It’s clear that both tone and content between the email exchange I had with John Elmer was quite different from what John was communicating to the Gatlins at the very same time. Vineyard USA was not defining how the Gatlins would interact with MHV, they were asking them take some pressure off by attending elsewhere so they were free to hang as friends without the scrutiny.
On May 22, 2024, I emailed Robb, and copied that email all the way up the levels from AL to ND. In that email, I expressed solidarity for a request from Duluth Vineyard sent to the leadership, including the Trustees, of Vineyard USA asking for accountability and support.
I wrote the following:
Dear Robb Morgan and John Elmer,
I’m writing to express my solidarity with Duluth Vineyard and their recent requests of VUSA for the kind of support they feel they most need and that they feel is most appropriate following everything that has happened with the Gatlins and VUSA. My intent in writing is not to be hurtful but to be an additional voice asking for the requests from the Duluth Vineyard to be honored by VUSA.
I love the Vineyard. It’s my theological and relational home. It is a group of churches and pastors with whom I feel I have the most in common and, by and large, with whom I’m working towards the same ends. Within the Vineyard I found my people. Locally, the Vineyard pastors here are some of the dearest people I know, and they have been a consistent encouragement to me in ministry. ***** and ****** are stars. We’ve had hard confrontational conversations and remained friends. We’ve had encouraging, empathetic conversations and their hopefulness inspires me.
Like any message, this email comes with some context, and I want to acknowledge that context. This is the story I’m in, it’s not everyone’s story with VUSA, I acknowledge that. The things that have happened to me have informed how I see things and how I feel about things. But I know that I am not alone in my story.
Our church is an early adopter into the Vineyard movement. Our adoption was led by **** ****** when he was pastoring in Virginia Beach. We have officially been a Vineyard church since 1993.
Our time in the Vineyard has been, for us, both the best of times and the worst of times. The struggles and lack of care for our congregation before, during and after the tumultuous and hurtful relationship with the previous senior pastor hurt our relationship with VUSA. According to the stories told to me by the leadership team that hired me, contact with the RL during that time only added to our trouble. The lack of support from the National office felt like abandonment. The feeling that VUSA had their thumb on the scale on behalf of our former senior pastor left marks on the heart of our leadership. It was confusing for our elders that the former senior pastor, after being let go from Raleigh Vineyard, was immediately released to begin planting another Vineyard church, a short distance away from our location. Our board understood they were required, by VUSA, to pay a substantial severance package to the former senior pastor and not hire a new senior pastor for several months. This left the key leaders here considering separation from VUSA when I first arrived.
When Donna and I started here, new regions had just been formed and we were told that our church would relate as part of an area with the churches in Virginia Beach (3 hours away) rather than the Vineyard churches of the greater Raleigh area. While I had literally no stake in the previous troubles and had never met any of the pastors of our greater Raleigh area, the approach to concern for the relational discomfort of the previous senior pastor at Raleigh Vineyard was to separate us relationally from the other Vineyard pastors in our own city. This was a unilateral decision that had been made for us, without our input, and it was quite a shock for us, new to the region and to VUSA.
All this combined to get my experience of VUSA started on the wrong foot.
Years after that, I found out about the troubles in the Ann Arbor Vineyard when I dropped my daughter off to intern with **************. He took us out to lunch and explained the situation to us and gave us the details on how VUSA had dismissed the church there without anyone going there in person and meeting with the people involved. Had ********** not appealed to VUSA, had he not opened the mail instead of ******, that would have been that and a lot of people who thought of themselves as Vineyard would have been kicked out of the “family.”
My daughter, as part of her internship there, saw, read and heard for herself the nature of the communication happening in the church and between the church and VUSA. What ************ shared with me and what my daughter shared with me compelled me to call Phil Strout to have a conversation about how things had been handled in Ann Arbor. While I appreciated Phil returning my call, it felt very much like I was talking to an authoritarian leader who unilaterally was deciding what would and wouldn’t happen in the Vineyard “under his watch.” I was as shocked then as I am now that representatives from VUSA did not simply go to Ann Arbor and meet around meals to talk with those involved and seek resolution.
Coming from the Canadian Vineyard and the leadership of *********, I found the approach to governance in VUSA distressing, confusing and, by my previous understanding of what a Vineyard pastor should be, know and do, broken.
I can go over the things that happened as Josh and Leah tried to close out the story of Triangle Vineyard and tell you how shocking and hurtful those things were to watch as a fellow Vineyard pastor. I can tell you about a horrendous meeting at my Regional Leader’s home with ****** *******. Several of us had assembled for a Q&A at the ********’s and I was deeply disappointed and discouraged with the way ***** responded and with his answers themselves. We can talk about the retributive removals of area and regional leaders just before Phil ceded leadership to Jay.
I can go over the lies that have been told over and over again without a blush from the people saying things that were not true. I can talk about Jay’s coronation that **************** published on Twitter at the same time we were being told to be in a month-long period of discernment if Jay was the right person or not. And then when everyone realized the video was all over the place, Phil shortened the discernment to mere days if we wanted our “response” to count.
Or the National Conference when Jay was inaugurated, and we were told twice from the stage that Bert’s absence was because he was ill. He wasn’t. And though I’ve pointed this out to both of our current SRLs, I’ve never heard this lie corrected, owned or explained.
When incidents of sexual abuse in a Vineyard church in Ohio led to a GRACE report being written, my concern for the victim and for their receiving reimbursement or financial assistance for their personal therapy as recommended by the GRACE report was dismissed. Robb met with me on a Zoom and he took exception with a statement I never even made in my letter to him and VUSA about information regarding the situation in Duluth with the Gatlins. Even though I pointed out my letter did not say what he was reacting to, it nevertheless became the point by which it felt like all my concerns were invalidated.
Robb said in an email on March 18, 2023 that he was going to circle back in 6 weeks (following our Zoom) and get back to me to continue the conversation. That never happened.
At the National Conference in July 2023, I met with Joel Seymour because of emails we exchanged about the situation with ********* and ************ and ************** and the ************ Vineyard. Joel published things to the region that were demonstrably untrue, which I pointed out to him at the time, but I’ve never seen a retraction or correction. As we talked over coffee with ***************, my AL (present at my request), he (Joel) asked for examples of lies that had been told and when I started to list some of them, he scolded me for keeping a record of things. To his credit, he corrected himself when I pointed out he asked for a list, I didn’t come with a list, and he did listen to what he asked for. But that first knee-jerk reaction of DARVO has come up over and over again in my conversations with VUSA representatives.
I will say here that Caleb has been the exception to this.
Recently, when I wrote again to John, in response to a new statement from Duluth, he first expressed ignorance about what I was talking about. When I explained, in a follow up email, that I was talking about the statement that had just been released by Duluth, then John offered that he had some knowledge of what I was talking about and, much to my shock and surprise, said he would follow up with the Gatlins, not Arvada Vineyard or the Duluth Vineyard but the Gatlins themselves to verify information being shared by Duluth.
Later, Robb offered to have a Zoom conversation with me about the situation with Duluth, the Gatlins and Arvada. I declined the offer unless it could be recorded. Robb declined that offer but kindly agreed to exchange emails. Subsequently, in response to my questions and concerns, Robb emailed me a confidential timeline of events regarding the Gatlins to which I replied and pointed out a conflict between his version and John’s version of events in his email to me.
I have not had a reply to that email.
The above is intended to explain my own context and acknowledge that I am sensitive to how local churches and local church pastors are sometimes treated by VUSA. It’s not exhaustive or meant to be comprehensive; rather it’s a collection of a few snapshots to describe my context which may be very different from your own.
I’m writing today simply to say that I stand in solidarity with the people who are the Duluth Vineyard and their pastors and leaders and their requests as articulated in a letter to you that was dated April 14, 2024. These requests seem good and right and the minimal kinds of things a family would do in response to such a terrible tragedy and the destructive behavior of two people previously on the VUSA payroll who had even been tasked with disciplining other pastors and discernment of the validity of accusations made by a Vineyard pastor against the National Director.
I’m writing to let you know that we are here, and we stand with Duluth.
Since you have the full content of their requests, I will only include the main points and not the subpoints. However, let me be clear that as a VUSA senior pastor, I support the full content of the request on each point and subpoint. As you know, they have requested the following:
A. Provide Moral Leadership for the Vineyard Movement Related to Abuse
B. Pursue Cultural Change for the Vineyard Movement related to Abuse
C. Confess, Apologize and Repent for Vineyard USAʼs Role in Abuse and Cover Up
D. Support Duluth Vineyardʼs Church Discipline for the Gatlins
E. Receive Training and Develop Competency to promote a trauma-informed culture at Vineyard USA
F. Refrain from Weaponizing Faithwalking and/or Family Systems Principles
G. Structural Accountability for the National Director
H. Reports of Abuse Delivered to Independent Trustees
I. Remove Phil Strout from the Vineyard USA Board of Trustees
J. Provide Leadership for the Vineyard Movement Related to Nepotism
K. Visit Duluth in Pursuit of Interpersonal Reconciliation Between Leaders
I know that Robb has suggested that all of this takes a great deal of time and it is a slow process. May I remind you how swiftly you all moved to investigate and make very specific demands and ultimatums with **************** and the situation in ************** without the benefit of an independent third party being involved? Can I remind you of the strong language you used to their former region about your perception of what they had done, and who they are – some statements which are verifiably false?
Perhaps the point is that you have learned from that and are unwilling to be in such a rush now. I can’t say. But I do know that the eleven points above are fair and reasonable and seem very much like the kinds of things Jesus and the Holy Spirit would call us to do.
I’m deeply troubled, as a regular contributor of 3% of our local offerings to VUSA for about 30 years, that money that we’ve sent in good faith, has been used to pay approximately 3 months salary each to Michael and Brenda Gatlin by VUSA (r e d a c t e d). I believe information about this payout and (r e d a c t e d) should be shared with all VUSA churches. I hope you will consider doing so as a tangible example of your practice of transparency and forthrightness.
As this story continues to unfold, there are many of us watching and many of us judging what the consequences of the ReOrg are going to be as we see the choices that the current leadership of VUSA makes in this situation, how they make them and how the local church and local church pastors and the discernment of the local church is handled and related to by you who are VUSA.
Finally, I stand in solidarity with all the words in this final paragraph from Duluth’s reasonable request as if they were my own about myself and our church:
“Thank you for considering our requests for support from Vineyard USA. I pray that the clarity of this list is a kindness to you. I apologize for any lack of kindness in our past communications and I regret any harm this may have caused you. In the heat of this crisis, I believe that I’ve both failed to adequately consider your feelings and made unhelpful assumptions about how you would respond. And I would welcome your perspective on my communication to help me further clean up any messes. Also, please remember that our requests are simply requests. Obviously, Vineyard USA does not have to support us in these ways. Either way, we want to be in relationship with you. You can disagree with us and we’re curious to learn why. We would also welcome a list of ways that the Duluth Vineyard could support Vineyard USA. Above all, I will continue to pray that God is with you.”
We will be praying for the Duluth Vineyard and for VUSA in our service on Sunday, hopeful prayers for better days ahead.
In Solidarity,
Brian Metzger
Lead Pastor, Raleigh Vineyard
CC: **************, Area Leader **************, Regional Leader **************, VUSA Trustee
Jay Pathak, National Director, John Kliewer, Interim Senior Pastor, Duluth Vineyard
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And this was Robb’s reply:
Brian,
Thanks for your email and your ongoing support for the Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard movement as a whole. I wanted to acknowledge receipt and Reply All to ensure that those you cc:d saw our reply. I believe our last correspondence a few weeks ago concluded with acknowledging that we will see each other in Cincinnati. I hope that remains true and will make sure I look for you. I would be happy to make sure that John Elmer and I are available to meet while we are all in the same place for a few short days this summer.
As it relates to Duluth Vineyard, our plan at this time is to communicate with them directly and to work with their board, interim lead pastor and senior leadership team. We will reserve responding to your email, hoping to avoid a triangle of communication that may further complicate the process. It appears that you've received information that was initially sent to the Trustees of VUSA and was copied to the SLT and Council of Duluth Vineyard. A timely reply was offered back to Duluth on behalf of the Trustees with a commitment to ongoing responses.
We are in communication with their leadership team, actively supporting the church and are presently awaiting a response from their leadership about future meetings. The focus of our efforts will continue to be with those directly involved in caring for victims, attending to relationships and responding to communication received from church leaders, reporting victims, congregation members and translocal leaders in the Region. We hope you can appreciate our efforts directed in that way at this time.
Again, thanks for your support and we do covet your prayers for our local pastors and national leadership.
Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!
Robb
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I communicated so many things in that email that Robb did not acknowledge or directly respond to. In fact, no one who received that email followed up with me on any of the items listed in that email other than Robb’s reply above. It felt profoundly dismissive. It did not feel like I was taken seriously, or my experiences or observations mattered to anyone that email went to.
I hope you can appreciate from these examples that I have attempted to correspond and communicate and get answers and actively participate in this situation that affects all of us who are a part of Vineyard USA. Most importantly, I have tried to be an advocate for victims of abuse and a sister church in crisis. I also hope they illustrate the challenge I have found in bringing things up to Vineyard USA in the hopes of engaging in constructive conversations. I would describe most of my interactions as “catch and manage” conversations. Vineyard USA receives my communication, but it feels like acknowledging that email or taking time for that Zoom is the only resolution they care to offer me. “Leave it with us.” It feels like Vineyard USA wants me to be satisfied that there’s a suggestion box out and they’ve promised to read every suggestion we put in the box. It seems like that is all our system has to offer us as local church pastors and constituent churches. After many attempts from me to communicate with Vineyard USA it feels to me like I’m not viewed as a partner or contributor in Vineyard USA, just a means to an end.
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And thus ends part two of my tale: The Two Powers. My next post is the final part of the trilogy and hopefully my final words on this situation.
“And that's the way of a real tale. Take any one that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know. And you don't want them to.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
I’m curious about what else VUSA does with the 3% of local offerings that the churches send? Perhaps consulting with lawyers who are advising them to downplay/not admit to what has happened?
The trenches have been dug, so it seems.