39% of employees would recommend working at Hephzibah Children's Association to a friend and 23% have a positive outlook for the business. In 2008, Susan Grotte, a Hephzibah House alum, led some 60 survivors in campaigning for its closure; they wrote to newspapers and picketed outside the county courthouse in Warsaw, Indiana, near . But because deputies neglected to seize Pattersons computer, which the escapee claimed contained files of videotaped beatings, Patterson was able to plead his felony charges down to a verbal harassment misdemeanor carrying a $500 fine. I am going to use myself as the prime example. As for the shackles and weapons, I never knew how they got there, he told me. How can you be a keeper at home rearing your children loving your children, and your husband and at the same time leading a movement across the nation? While those who run the school say it wasn't their choice or desire to close, former students, like Mary Kumar, tell us they're overjoyed. Hephzibah House told supporters the facility that once housed troubled teen girls will now be a Christian Camp for those suffering with PTSD. I knew what I was doing, I was not innocent. They are softer, sweeter and submissive. Our humble work began in 1971, when the Lord called my wife and me to begin this unique ministry. We noticed you have an ad blocker on. This video is unavailable because we were unable to load a message from our sponsors. I do not mind if I get dirty, which I surely do when I really dig into a project. I was left speechless after that comment. I look back on it and see how irresponsible that was., In September 2008, Clark Word began doing some research on New Bethany. Since then, the landscape of "victim advocacy" has changed a lot. Sheriff Dukes has an open invitation anytime he wants, they dont need a warrant, and same to Winona Lake police. Our only authority is through the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, which would include concerns like false advertising, she says. Theyre [the accusations made on Dr. Phil] either blatant lies or complete distortions. Hephzibah House is a small private boarding school in Winona Lake, Indiana, a small town about an hour west from Fort Wayne. I'm still going to do my best, and as a group we're going to keep holding each other up. Thats still true. (Missouri isnt alone. These dictionary topics are from M.G. One day last November, a group of teenage girls dressed in long khaki skirts and modest blouses stepped onto the stage at an Independent Fundamental Baptist church in Maryland where Jeannie Marie (a military spouse who asked that her last name not be used) attended services with her family. He says he wants the community to know about the physical and emotional abuse he both saw and endured growing up at Hephzibah House. I genuinely desire to be like my precious Saviour. I abhorred the fact that they would do children like they were doing them.. That same year I tried something else. Because if their parents who sent them there still have control over the girl she will not speak freely. Hephzibah House documentary. She will be the person you molded her to be and Dad will glow. Im trying to be kind here. According to Assistant Director Pastor Dave Halyaman, the boarding school at 2277 E. Pierceton Road, right outside of Winona Lake, is closed. Once Gerencser reached the pulpit, he saw teen-home directors showing up at pastors fellowship meetings to peddle their services; Hephzibah House director Ron Williamswho now hosts a show on the Bob Jones University radio stationvisited Gerencsers own church with a girls chorus. [MORE: See photos of life at New Bethany. Shoddy work by both agencies. A Christian Mother Has A Heavy Responsibility. This resulted In many years of heartache for our lives. The Williamses and their lackeys have engaged in criminal behavior for decades. One of the most haunting and disturbing testaments to the imbecilic brutality that continues to be sheltered and protected in Christian Fundamentalism. Know a Teen Girl or Young Adult Coached By Mom on How to Lose Weight? I reached him at home on three occasions, and he hung up on me twice. Interviews with a half-dozen former students indicate that most of the girls were merely rebellious teenslike Frye, who at age 14 began resisting her strict Baptist parents. Anderson Cooper covered a thorough investigation of the boarding school for girls and no one has made any efforts to close down this . If your Christianity is about following the instructions of Christ in how you treat your fellow humans, you have at least a chance of building a good society. Copyright 2023 Mother Jones and the Foundation for National Progress. There is so much wrong with what this woman wrote, beginning with the assertion that little girls are purposefully sexual temptresses. [MORE: See photos of life at New Bethany. Women: no skills, need to marry & have kids This is false. Donna told me that she has approached at least seven state and federal officesincluding the Missouri AGseeking action against Circle of Hope for stating falsely on its website that it was state-registered, a claim she says gave her the confidence to send Kelsey there. Like you, I came to Christ as a young adult and had no experience at all with extremism until then. There was no way before. For example some women have hairdos with no makeup. Then they wanted to talk to the girls. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and In 1984, police were tipped off by escapees about a rope chain gang working the gardens, and beatings with PVC pipewhich, the boys darkly joked, stood for pound victims cruelly., Officers raided the compound and discovered Doug Word bound, in his underwear, on the floor of a dark and padlocked isolation cell. Religious reform school closes after former students allege abuse & neglect, At least 5 sent to hospital in downtown Elkhart house fire. Hephzibah House operates under the authority of Believers Baptist Church in Warsaw, Indiana. Then you say women have been bound for thousands of years and they ought to be allowed more freedom. I want to please the Lord not man. In 2020, the median property value in Hephzibah, GA was $120,200, and the homeownership rate was 69.6%. Repentance means to turn around, change, be different. Years ago, Patti Williams wrote a pamphlet titled Schizophrenic Women. For more than 40 years, the ministry has been helping teenage girls receive a Christian education as well as being taught how to improve their relationships with parents and Pastors. He found Riders online community, which included Dee Rapier, the wife of his old nemesis. Can you pitch in a few bucks to help fund Mother Jones' investigative journalism? they substitute mind control for spanking! There may be more. Which is crazy, just insane, because there's 300 of us out here that have PTSD, says Mary. But we really couldn't have done it without you guys, without the media, without family and friends helping us I mean we spoke up, but everyone else was basically holding us on their shoulders. But the thing that makes my stomach churn is that these horrible ideas of how girls and women should behave, the ideas about how to raise and discipline a child, and the banality of the infractions that got the girls sent to the place in some casesthese are all celebrated by some versions of Christianity. And if you can't drive yourself to the research site, ask about transportation options. Elect. If a mans eyes are filled with lust (Matthew 5:28 Proverbs 27:20), then how can we justify the wearing of swimming apparel in mixed swimming? Vaginal exam -- [This] did not happen to me, luckily. TELL DR. PHIL YOUR STORY: Outrageous news story in your town? But you Christian mothers, why are you allowing your daughter to be a strange woman, a schizophrenic woman? Parents need to read these stories before sending their children to be tortured! Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist. When they stopped at a restaurant on the way home, she robotically asked for permission to speak or to use the bathroom. My pets? They could have said anything, they could have maligned us and bashed us, and all they did was praise us. Deuteronomy 22:5 says you are an abomination to God if you wear the clothing of a man. That some of these Evangelical churches have even the barest shreds of a good society within them is happening in spite of, rather than because of, the teachings of the religion; and those teachings have a terrible effect on young people, on women, and on the rest of us when those people get political power in our government. Geez, the cop and CPS should have known this. "I had an accident and they were like, 'Oh! When another girl snitched, Roxy said, McNamara locked some girls in makeshift isolation cells, tiled closets without furniture or windows. Her letters went unansweredonly one of Roxys replies got past the academys censors. Just because they closed the door is not going to give a prisoner afraid of retaliation any comfort talking about the abuse. One last pointmany of the former HH girls have been asked to write statements in support of Ron Williams & HH he actually gave examples of what to write (and guess whatit sounded just like the stories he has on his page now). I see it as an attack on Christianity. The school was founded by Dr. Ron Williams in the seventies, but his son says he's glad to see it all come to an end. I too was there and I too was beaten by them. They also endured exhaustive corporal punishment. Dr. Williams served in the United States Marine Corps Reserves from 1960 to 1966.He was educated at the State University of South Dakota at Vermillion and Augustana College (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), earning the Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History with a minor in Russian in 1964. 2016 Hephzibah House Contact Usvar _rwObsfuscatedHref0 = "mai";var _rwObsfuscatedHref1 = "lto";var _rwObsfuscatedHref2 = ":he";var _rwObsfuscatedHref3 = "phz";var _rwObsfuscatedHref4 = "iba";var _rwObsfuscatedHref5 = "hpi";var _rwObsfuscatedHref6 = "ctu";var _rwObsfuscatedHref7 = "res";var _rwObsfuscatedHref8 = "@gm";var _rwObsfuscatedHref9 = "ail";var _rwObsfuscatedHref10 = ".co";var _rwObsfuscatedHref11 = "m";var _rwObsfuscatedHref = _rwObsfuscatedHref0+_rwObsfuscatedHref1+_rwObsfuscatedHref2+_rwObsfuscatedHref3+_rwObsfuscatedHref4+_rwObsfuscatedHref5+_rwObsfuscatedHref6+_rwObsfuscatedHref7+_rwObsfuscatedHref8+_rwObsfuscatedHref9+_rwObsfuscatedHref10+_rwObsfuscatedHref11; document.getElementById('rw_email_contact').href = _rwObsfuscatedHref; is the Founder and Director of Hephzibah House, Inc., a Christian Boarding School for troubled girls. The Lord has shown me the role of the woman in the home. Thats sick. It was relatively easy to take the girl out of the IFBX, but taking the IFBX out of the girl is another matter. I would control his! He also studied at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. That is true. He and his wife Wenda reside in Warsaw, Indiana, and have 10 children and 10 grandchildren. This is a link to the article I mentioned, where Ron Williams explains how to "beat" an infant. NEW BETHANY FINALLY shut down its remaining Louisiana compound after years of police raids and legal battles. Its good to know that someone isn't actively being abused right now, she explains. Then-prosecutor Tommy Rountree said deputies raided the ranch after an escapee alerted them to beatings, isolation cells, and armed staffers who would go hunting for runaways.. There are accusations of abuse dating back to the 1980s. Standing Strong against ignorance, preconceptions, labels and excessive housework. Sometimes, it seems like because they portray themselves so well, people just believe them without really checking into the place, hopefully more and more will truly investigate and realize the truth. Patti Williams, along with her husband Ron, founded Hephzibah House, an unlicensed Baptist girls group home in Winona Lake, Indiana. I wept with joy because I know now that no more parents, who don't have the ability to be the parents they should have been, can just dump their girls to somewhere where that girl is locked up for 1, 2, 3, 4 5 years at a time! Thank you both so much for taking time to read this and comment. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist. Neither characteristic is a Godly one. [MORE: See photos of life at New Bethany. there is a difference. "At night you had a 10:30 bathroom break and a 2 a.m. bathroom break, and there will be times where they take the 10:30 and they miss the 2 a.m. bathroom break. Movoto has access to the latest real estate data including single family homes, condos/townhouses, open houses, new listings and more in Hephzibah GA. One of the critics who was on the Dr. Phil show, after she graduated and she left us, she invited all of us the whole staff, months later to her graduation party. If a religion supports these things, then it is f****** EVIL. Through the years, the ministry has changed locations a few times and altered its outreach programs to meet the needs of the day, at various times publishing periodicals and . She becomes either bold or sloppy perhaps slobby. Let the fire marshall in for an inspection, then do surprise inspections frequently after that. It has been a journey. Hephzibah House, which still operates today and was championed to the end by WMUU, the radio station started by Bob Jones University, has been investigated in the past for child abuse. AS THE USUAL, the food was rather poor and not always cooked very well. He earned the certificate in Biblical Studies in May, 1977, and the Master of Divinity (cum laude) from Grace in 1979. The wife of Hezekiah and mother of king Manasseh ( 2 Kings 21:1 ). Patterson insists that the abuse allegations were bogus and denies using any corporal punishment or isolation tactics. Search one of the largest collections of foreclosure, bank-owned, 2nd Chance Foreclosure, Short Sale, and luxury properties available online. If you have any information please send it to prettykitty1964@live.com, This is a great ministry and the Williams are very kind people. I remember thinking that it was funny that we had a great relationship with all the other missionaries we supported, but never once in the 13 years we attended there ever saw Ron Williams or had his ministry presented or shared with our congregation. Perhaps you are wondering how you can have freedom of movement in a dress. There's girls there right now and my heart hurts for them every day," she said. He also pioneered girls singing groups as a way to promote Rebekah Homethe Honeybee Quartet was featured in his daily revivalist radio broadcasts. CPS with Winona Lakes police officer Joe Bumbaugh. Roxy, who suffered from urinary tract infections and menstrual complications, told me she was frequently put on redshirt, sometimes dripping blood as she stood. These girls are just letting go and finding freedom because they started discussing this. I said, Roxy, dont wait that long.'. Still, without proof of a crime, law enforcement officials say little can be done. Better a pink bottom than a black soul, Roloff famously declared at a 1973 court hearing after he was prosecuted by the state of Texas on behalf of 16 Rebekah girls. This beautifully constructed 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, all brick ranch style home is the Plainview 17 by Bill Beazley Homes. After Word had been there for almost seven months, his watch escaped. What follows is an excerpt from the pamphlet: One of the hottest issues today among women is the pants issue and other areas of clothing. I at one time attended a church that supported this ". ERA has definitely won a battle among Christian women. His preaching, itinerary and deputation work has taken him into many fundamental churches, colleges, universities, Bible schools, Christian high schools, missions conferences, educators conferences and pastors conferences.He is the speaker/teacher on the weekly 15-minute radio broadcast The Voice of Hephzibah House. He has written several booklets and tracts on home and family-related themes. 16 News Now requested an interview with him, and he agreed to send us prerecorded responses to our questions. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Copyright 2023 The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser Powered by Flywheel. Copyright 2014 - All Rights Reserved - jeriwho.net. That is an absolute contradiction of standards and another aspect of a feminine schizophrenic personality. Oh to be like Him! Hephzibah Children's Association has an overall rating of 3.2 out of 5, based on over 22 reviews left anonymously by employees. That includes issues he says the school has with the quality of food being served. My dear Sister in Christ, look around our daughters are no longer pure. They knew they would all be severely punished if they did. Founded in 1971, the school operates under the authority of Believers Baptist Church, one of the hundreds of small churches that ascribe to the religious teachings of the independent fundamental Baptist movement. Subscribe today and get a full year of Mother Jones for just $14.95. If God tells me pants are sin (and He does) then my children are not wearing them whether they do at Christian Camp Youth Group Church or Christian School. The result was House Resolution 911 (PDF), which proposed giving residents access to child-abuse hotlines and creating a national database of programs that would document reports of abuse and keep tabs on abusive staff members. It feels great, says Mary. Brenda in FL, Brenda, thank you for your comment. I have done all I can do. This beautiful home has a nice rocking chair front porch. Sick. No, I do not know how it is! The girls could have said anything. "The number of victims that have come forward is about 300," Kumar said. On his second day, he recalls, he watched administrator Larry Rapier punch a boy of 10 or so in the mouth for wetting his pants on the bus to Sunday worship. (A criminal background check came back clean, and the teacher, who denied abusing any children, remains at Amelia.). This resulted in many personalities. In an open letter, Williams argued that it would effectively close all Christian ministries helping troubled youth because of its onerous provisions. They were joined by a group called the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs, which opposed HR 911 on the grounds that statesdespite all evidence to the contraryare best situated to oversee the homes. My own theory is the horrors of daily life among Puritans and Pilgrims who brought those Midieval ethics to this hemisphere. We ought to balance out what we wear. The home was originally at 508 School Street in Winona Lake. Audio Documentary of the practices and teachings of Ron and Patti Williams of Hephzibah House in Warsaw Indiana, a so-called "Home for Troubled Girls" that makes it a policy to humiliate, degrade, and improperly feed and care for teenage girls, all in the name of making them godly Christian women. At Circle of Hope, Kelsey was allegedly ordered to do pushups in horse manure, restrained and sat upon by staff members, and pushed to make false confessions about promiscuity. I gotta learn not to read stuff like this right after dinner. Its board of directors reportedly voted for closure in 2001, but rumors abound that New Bethany boarded girls as late as 2004. I saw that with a lot of other students. But Williams and her ilk are destroyers, packs of velociraptors in human disguise. While jogging earlier that year, the 17-year-old (whom Ill call Roxy) had been pulled into a vehicle and assaulted by a group of men.
hephzibah house documentary