Things have been very
hot in Fullerton and Placentia lately! It is time I filled you all in on recent events.
Placentia Concert in the Park I kept hearing rumors of the Placentia assembly planning to host a "Concert in the Dark (oops, I meant Park)" outreach in September. One person I talked to suggested that I call someone who is still in fellowship in Placentia to find out the exact truth. (BTW, there are only five families left in Placentia, although I hear that there are a lot of young people.)
So I called a family whose name I will not reveal here. The wife answered the phone. I said, "Say, is Placentia having a 'Concert in the Park' outreach?" Her answer: "Why do you want to know?" I said, "I was just curious." Again, she said, "Why do you want to know?" Eventually I got hold of her husband, who also asked why I wanted to know, and then proceeded to tell me that I had a reputation as a person who was trying to stop the Placentia assembly. I asked him three questions:
Do you tell new people and visitors the history of your assembly, and of your involvement with George Geftakys? His answer: "Inappropriate question!"
Do you all have meetings where you openly discuss what happens with the finances you collect? His answer: "Inappropriate question!"
Does each member of your assembly have a say in deciding the direction of the assembly? Again, his answer: "Inappropriate question!"
I told him that he had just answered all my questions and hung up. He then called Ron Womack, who is one of the leaders in Placentia. Ron called me and asked if we could get together sometime. We decided tentatively to get together on Labor Day. But I wanted Tom Maddux to join us, and Tom was willing to come along. When I told Ron that Tom would be there, Ron said, "Oh, no, I just want to talk to you. I don't see what Tom has to do with Placentia...and I don't want to get ganged-up-on." (The actual expression he used was more graphic.) I told him he could bring Jack Hanson or Sterling Bennett if he wanted to (they are the other leaders in Placentia), but he declined. I proceeded to tell him what my concerns were with Placentia trying to recruit new people into a dysfunctional and abusive gathering, and I asked him the same three questions I mentioned earlier. His response: "Who are you to tell us how to gather? Get a life!" In summary, he refused to meet with both me and Tom Maddux.
My response to all this When Brent's website first became known to all of us, I was quite glad that we were finally getting to see the truth about the Geftakys assembly system. I was glad that people in high places were finally being exposed as the corrupt individuals they were. But I kept wondering when Placentia would show up on the radar, and when Jack Hanson in particular would be exposed. I must now confess that because I didn't speak up when the time was ripe, a major chance for justice was missed.
As I thought about what was happening in Placentia and what to do about it, I was led to post a warning about existing assemblies on the Rick Ross website. But I probably would have stopped at that had it not been for the conversations described above which I had with Ron Womack and the other family in Placentia. These conversations pushed me over the edge into more drastic action. So I typed a "Warning concerning the Assemblies of George Geftakys", which reads, "The Assemblies of George Geftakys are a dangerous cultic religious group. To find out about their current status, please log on to
www.rickross.com, and type 'geftakys' in the search box. Or, please read the attached advisory." The advisory I attached is the same one I posted on this thread at the beginning of August, with additional information about the Geftakys campus ministry.
I left these advisories in post offices, laundromat bulletin boards, libraries, and Internet cafe's in both Fullerton and Placentia. I left some of these advisories at church offices with church staffs at churches in Placentia (including the church right next to the Placentia Round Table, where the assembly meets). And today I left advisories at the offices of the faculty advisors for Campus Crusade for Christ at Fullerton College and Cal State Fullerton.
This has been a major step for me - necessary, but very stressful. This is moreover probably the last step of this kind that I will take, unless someone from Fullerton or Placentia comes to me for advice about leaving these groups.
How to look at Placentia I can't tell anyone else what to think, but I can give my opinion, based on what I know so far:
1. The Placentia leaders, headed by Jack Hanson, have clearly been dishonest in their handling of the excommunication of George Geftakys. In particular, they have withheld as much information as possible from their "flock", in order to prevent the sort of necessary fresh look at things and re-evaluation which has led many to leave the Geftakys assemblies over the last seven months.
2. The Placentia assembly is a controlling, abusive, unhealthy place where the controlling, manipulative ways of Geftakysism are still deeply at home. Jack Hanson in particular is a man who will tolerate no peers. In my opinion, he does not feel successful unless he dominates all who are around him. And he does not feel like a success as a parent unless his kids dominate all their peers. Jack has been the source of much abuse and heavy-handed treatment of people in Placentia. One sister who lived in his home for years mentioned to me some of the abuse she suffered there. And since she knew I had been in Jack's band New Song (which is now defunct
) she said to me, "I can't figure how you lasted so long in New Song. It must have been
hell for you!" Believe me, it was!
3. How to pray for Placentia: I think we need to pray that God bring that assembly to a swift end. We need to pray that the people there would be led to find healthy churches where they may be recovered. And we need to pray even for the leaders, for Jack and Ron and Sterling, that God would recover them. Why do I say this? Jack and his wife Linda have been very abusive toward me, and if I needed it, I could find good reason to hate them. But I read the last chapter of "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" recently. That chapter is addressed to the perpetrators of abuse. Instead of being full of woe and damnation, it is a very gracious appeal to them to find healing also. And in "Churches that Abuse," there is the story of a man who found after he escaped from a cult that the road to healing for him lay in forgiving those who had hurt him.
Note: This in no way invalidates the guilt of these men or the need on our part to warn others of them, unless they repent.Lastly, please pray for me as I will surely pray for all of you, that the Lord would grant us grace and health to "drive off into the sunset" and begin to enjoy the rest of our lives. May your drive be pleasant!
Clarence Thompson
aka mithrandir
