[Vision2020] Not my Savior

Sat May 19 17:58:40 PDT 2018

I considered this Toby Sumpter piece on the MeToo issue might be a satire
or parody, so did a quick Internet search and found the following
information on a Toby Sumpter having some connection to Christ Church of
Moscow or related entities.  I have no clue if this information is
accurate, nor who is behind this "The Truth About Moscow" whatever you want
to call it...
----------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

http://www.moscowid.net/2018/01/19/internal-communique-trc-cans-toby-sumpter-christ-church-hires-him/

Internal Communiqué: TRC Cans Toby Sumpter, Christ Church Hires Him

[image: Toby Sumpter]
<http://www.moscowid.net/2017/08/10/it-is-effeminate-for-men/>This may
confuse readers, so let me explain. In the early 2000s, perhaps 2002,
Douglas Wilson feared he had lost control of Christ Church, thinking it
might split. About half the congregation (aka “the fellowship of the
grievance”) had had enough of him and was ready to bolt. So he remedied the
problem by starting another church — Trinity Reformed Church (TRC) — which
met every Sunday a block away from where the Kirk met. They called it a
“church plant” but it was really a Kirk relief valve — a place where
kirkers could *think* they were not in the cult even as they were in the
cult. (Christ Church was a “cult” long before Doug Wilson conceded this fact
<https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hR77vgD6MWgJ:https://dougwils.com/the-church/church-membership-disloyalty.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk>
).

Doug Wilson appointed loyal Kirk elders to manage TRC, which meant he
pulled the strings. But the illusion was real enough. TRC kirkers bought
it. On the one hand, they thought they assembled as an independent body,
but on the other they submitted to Wilson puppets. TRC was really Christ
Church Lite.

Doug Wilson appointed Dr. Peter Leithart as TRC’s first pastor. Dr.
Leithart left Moscow in 2013 and Mr. Wilson appointed Toby Sumpter his
successor. This explains the following emails. It’s a lateral move: Toby
Sumpter transferred from the Kirk Lite to the Kirk Dark. But he was always
in the Kirk.

Here are two emails that went out yesterday:

**   *   **

TRC Events & News Announcement of change in TRC pastoral staffing

Dear TRC Saints,

At the session meeting on January 18th Pastor Sumpter notified TRC session
that in response to an invitation and call to serve as a pastor on staff at
Christ Church, he desired his call as a pastor of TRC to be terminated.
Session passed a motion to accept that notice, stressing that it was with
gratitude for his service as a pastor at TRC for many years, and with
commendation and blessing on his future role as a pastor at Christ Church.

We are expecting this transition to take place formally on March 1, with
some aspects of the transition extending over the following months. The TRC
session will develop plans for the transition and for the future of TRC and
we will be talking about these things at the next scheduled TRC head of
household meeting on January 30th. Over the past year or so, differences
have developed between Pastor Sumpter and the TRC session regarding the
effectiveness of certain aspects of his cultural engagement and pastoral
care (e.g. blogging and social media). While these differences have created
tensions and hard conversations at various times, that is against the
backdrop of unity and fellowship that persisted throughout our work
together. We expect this fellowship to continue at a personal and
ecclesiastical level, with Christ Church and TRC both members of the CREC,
sharing similar convictions on almost everything and co-laboring in many
works. We pray that this transition, significant though it is, is part of
God’s plan for the advance of the gospel in our town and beyond (cf Acts
15:36–41). We urge you to join us in striving for the peace and purity of
the church both here at TRC, in our town and in our denomination. Continue
to be in the Word, to fight sin, to love Jesus that God might be glorified
in everything.

It is our understanding that the Christ Church session will be issuing a
statement within a day or so that will describe the work they will be
asking Pastor Sumpter to do.

If you have questions please reach out to any of the members of the TRC
session (Toby Sumpter, Joshua Appel, Chris Schlect, Patch Blakey and
Timothy van den Broek).

With love in Christ,
Timothy
Moderator of TRC session

**   *   **

A warm welcome to the Sumpters

The Christ Church elders recently issued an invitation and call to Pastor
Toby Sumpter of Trinity Reformed Church to join our staff here at Christ
Church. As our congregation continues to grow, and we are engaged in the
important work of growing the kingdom here in Moscow, there are a number of
areas where we believe he will be able to contribute significantly. Toby’s
responsibilities will include pulpit supply, laying groundwork for a future
Christ Church plant, writing, teaching, and picking up some of the
counseling load.

The way our polity works means that Pastor Toby will be part of our staff
immediately (starting March 1), and the session will then begin the process
of presenting him to the congregation for election as a minister. He will
be attending our session meetings until then, but will not be a voting
member of our session until he is elected by you all and installed.

The session of Christ Church would also like to thank the session of our
sister church, Trinity Reformed, for their amiable and cooperative spirit
in all of this. As the letter from the session of TRC indicated, there have
been some differences that have developed between Pastor Toby and their
session regarding cultural engagement and pastoral care, and we believed
that his gifts and tactics would be a better fit at Christ Church. At the
same time, we do want everyone to be assured that everyone involved in this
is in fellowship, intending to keep it that way.

Cordially in Christ,
Douglas Wilson, on behalf of the elders

On Sat, May 19, 2018 at 3:26 AM, Moscow Cares <moscowcares at moscow.com>
wrote:

> Courtesy of today’s (May 19, 2018) *Moscow-Pullman Daily News* with
> thanks to Lorna Bickerdyke.
>
> ———————————————
>
> Letter: Not my Savior
>
> I recently read with horror and disbelief from the blog "Having Two Legs,"
> subtitled "#MeToo & Our American Guilt Crack," posted by Toby J. Sumpter,
> who calls himself the pastor at Christ Church here in Moscow. After reading
> his blog, I am not sure he is a pastor, as he claims, but instead I think
> he is the devil incarnate, spewing forth filth that he claims is in line
> with the gospel of the Savior. Have you ever heard the Savior use these
> words?
>
> I quote directly from his blog: "The #MeToo movement is a complete scam, a
> complete con-job, a full-throated cheat. #MeToo is a diseased pig wearing a
> dinner gown and a ludicrous smear of lipstick. #MeToo is a hag with hairy
> legs shuffling around in a pink tutu. #MeToo is an obese butch with a
> smoker's voice trying to sing a lullaby. #MeToo is a parasitic farce that
> sucks the blood of a charade that picks fleas from a travesty of a lie that
> was so lame they gave it a Nobel Peace Prize. It's a sham, a speckled
> corpse, a black tooth, a fraud."
>
> I believe in freedom of speech and have no problem with him expressing his
> feelings toward the #MeToo movement as well as the other subjects he spews
> vomit about in his blog.
>
> However, I strongly object to someone using the Savior as his "fall boy,"
> the one he purports to be supportive of his hatred and prejudice toward
> others different from him. I know the scriptures well, and never once has
> the Savior taught anything else but love for each other, to love your
> neighbor as yourself, love one another as I have loved you ... all loving,
> all compassionately caring. This pseudo-pastor needs help. I hope he can
> find a good therapist to cure him of his illusions of being a Christian.
>
> Lorna Bickerdyke
> Moscow
>
> ———————————————
>
> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares"
> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
>
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