Statement from BJU’s President on the GRACE Report
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I totally agree w/your “nasty comment” The question, “did you feel pleasure?’ to one sexually sinned against should never be asked. Period.
Jim Berg is a little older than I am, so I would say he is between 62-64; but not positive. Not sure how he got the Dr.
[Jim Welch]Jim Berg is a little older than I am, so I would say he is between 62-64; but not positive. Not sure how he got the Dr.
Here’s from his Wikipedia page:
Born in 1952.
“He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Tabernacle Baptist Theological Seminary (Virginia Beach, Virginia).”
Yes, Berg has an honorary doctor from Rod Bell, who was a crony of the university for many years.
As for Jim Berg and Bob Jones III being great men of God … Well, I’ll just say that I strongly disagree. The things reported about them in the GRACE report are just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended).
My question would be what criteria GRACE is using to measure counseling standards. Would they accept NANC certification for instance. Donn Arms posts here at SI. I would be interested in his perception of the GRACE report as it pertains to counseling and to Berg’s published works from a nouthetic viewpoint.
Why is it that my voice always seems to be loudest when I am saying the dumbest things?
The story made today’s Washington Post. They picked up on the first thing I noticed in the report: the incident that started it all.
. The Lynchburg, Va.-based Godly Response to Abuse in Christian Environments(GRACE) began looking at the school’s policies and procedures at the university’s request in November 2012, in part as a result of allegations that a former university board member had covered up child sexual abuse at his church.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
[stephen]Yes, Berg has an honorary doctor from Rod Bell, who was a crony of the university for many years.
As for Jim Berg and Bob Jones III being great men of God … Well, I’ll just say that I strongly disagree. The things reported about them in the GRACE report are just the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended).
Stephen, I believe that your opinion of these men may be different from mine and I will give you that right. What you do not have right to do is misquote or misrepresent what I wrote about them. If you will look at my comments about Dr. Bob and Jim Berg, I said that they were godly men & faithful although imperfect servants of our Lord. Each of us will have to answer to God for our ministries. I do not have to answer for Dr. Bob’s or Jim Berg’s.
For full disclosure, God has used Jim Berg twice in my life. He was my counselor after a Sunday morning service at BJU when Dr. Jim Bellis had preached on Blind Bartimaeus. Under deep conviction of my own sin and my need of a Savior, Jim led me to faith in Christ. (I was what we called in those days a Hall Monitor now called a RA). The other time in my life was at an adult retreat in Arkansas when God used Jim to confront me w/my sinful views on God’s goodness. (Long story)
Stephen, I have no clue what interaction you have had w/these men. I know they have feet of clay and are clay pots. If they are guilty of disqualifying from ministry sin, they should be held accountable before the larger body of Christ. But for now, not knowing of any sustainable charge of sin against them, I will continue to be appreciative of their personal ministry to me and the larger Body of Christ.
I grew up on campus at BJU. For the first 6 years of my life, Jim Berg was my next door neighbor and we played with his kids in “Faculty Court” where faculty once lived on campus (now a parking lot). One day as a toddler, I slept 17 hours straight. My mom, literally fearing I was dead, had Pat Berg go with her in the room to wake me up. Fortunately for you all I was just sleeping!
I think the world of Jim Berg, or as I still call him “Uncle Jim.” I also think he made mistakes, and if you read the report he admits them repeatedly. He was asked to do an impossible, stressful job. The University believed in the principle “in loco parentis:” that the school to some extent stood at least partially in the place of the parent while the student was at school. Whether you believe in that principle or not, imagine answering for tens of thousands of students over the years. You would absolutely screw up repeatedly.
The best thing the University can do is to take the report and learn from it. It looks like they are. I’m disappointed at the conclusion of the report that BJU should essentially disown Jim Berg. Sure: pull or edit a few books, but to not allow someone to learn from mistakes doesn’t strike me as “grace.”
One great suggestion from the report: separate discipline conversations from counseling ones.
One thing that the report hints at which I think was also true: there seems to have been a pervasive naivety because of seclusion from the outside world (and even other schools). Leaders should know what’s going on in the world around them. I think social media and the internet helps solve that partially.
I think it’s easy to judge the past by the standards of the present. In one passage, the investigators ask Berg about what he knew about South Carolina law. He says he could have looked it up in the Library but didn’t. Do you guys remember that before Google if you had a question that popped into your head, you’d have to take 30 minutes or more out of your day to answer it? All while you have a million other things to do? There is so much that we can know instantaneously that the previous generation didn’t have. Wise people will not judge too harshly.
I read the report last night and here are my bullet points for whatever they are worth.
Positive:
- They are right about Fremont. His book is probably the dumbest thing I have ever read re Christian Counseling. It has been an embarrassment for the current faculty. For years I have held up my copy and quoted it to illustrate the kinds of things taught in the name of Christian Counseling. It always led to amusement and hilarity among students.
- I don’t know anything about Bob Wood other than the fact that he wrote a glowing Foreword for the Fremont book. Indicates a gross lack of discernment.
- Yes, BJU generally and Jim Berg specifically failed many who came for counseling. I’m just glad no one is doing an investigation of the times I messed up and wish I had done a better job with a counseling situation. Is there a good counselor anywhere for whom this is not true? Jay Adams once wrote a book about a counseling situation in which he failed miserably.
- If the report lights a fire under BJU to rid themselves of the demerit system it will be a blessing.
Negative:
- I found the tone to be smug and condescending.
- Jim Berg. First a disclaimer—Jim is a friend but I don’t know him well. Years will go by between conversations we have with each other. GRACE made much of his lack of training in counseling but when Berg began studying counseling where did one go to get any kind of degree in biblical counseling, let alone a PhD? Berg (and Mazak as well) did the same thing I did and everyone at NANC did—we studied Jay Adams’ books on our own and began learning as we did counseling.
- For GRACE, training means secular psychological training and their “experts” work in secular organizations such as the Valentine center here in Greenville with which they were especially enamored. One recommendation they had: outsource ALL sexual abuse counseling to a secular organization.
- Firing GRACE made both ABWE and BJU look like they were covering something but after reading this, I would have fired them as well.
- If this was an impartial investigation why not just investigate and report the facts? Why was it necessary to move from the descriptive to the prescriptive? Many of their recommendations are a stretch from facts that are presented. Do they believe the powers that be at BJU are too obtuse to draw their own conclusions and act accordingly?
- Jim Berg should never be allowed to counsel or teach anywhere, on or off campus? Because of what Berg has learned through all this I am confident he is now a much better and humbler counselor and I would not hesitate to refer counselees to him.
- Report was full of pop psychological bromides and clichés: “a zone of psychological safety,” “psychological pain,” build a memorial, host an “awareness” week, “journey of repentance,” etc.
- Would GRACE have viewed NANC certification as sufficient? Probably not. After all, what is NANC other than a group of self-appointed men with no psychological training?
Donn R Arms
Just as a sort of test of the mimesis at work in all this, how many here who have sat for any length of time under a BJU pastor or teacher or professor have heard the theory(?) that “dreams are the mind’s method of taking out the trash”?
(I’ve heard it from two different and independent BJUtrained sources in different ministries in different states.)
[DavidO]Just as a sort of test of the mimesis at work in all this, how many here who have sat for any length of time under a BJU pastor or teacher or professor have heard the … theory(?) that “dreams are the mind’s method of taking out the trash”?
That is an example of Fremont’s nonsense. No one else believed or taught such a thing.
Donn R Arms
Perhaps, Donn, but I suspect many people believe and teach it subsequent to taking Fremont’s class. I thought a “hand-raise test” might be interesting, even instructive as to the far reach of BJU’s teaching influence.
to not worry about “subconscious desires” in my dreams!
As for Fremont someone recommended his counseling book to me. I opened it up and started reading. There was a section about a teenage daughter not tempting their father by showering when mom wasn’t home…Needless to say I put the book down and never looked back!
I don’t think BJU needs to disown The Third & Berg, but I don’t know if letting them remain status quo is the right thing either. The entire world now knows how they affected many people even if it was unintentional. Right now the topic of sexual abuse is very much in the spotlight. Like it or not, The Third and Berg now have a negative stigma that won’t go away quickly. Think about it, when will it be that when you hear the name Jim Berg or Dr. Bob III your mind won’t quickly think of the GRACE report? Not anytime soon, that’s for sure. Not to sound cynical about it, but seriously, even The Third’s most ardent supporters will easily link him with this GRACE report. It is simple human nature, the way our minds work. This doesn’t mean they are bad people or intentionally meant to do harm, but the fact of this negative association is not good. To leave both of these people alone and allowed to continue, at least for the time being, in their current roles will harm any goodwill achieved from Pettit’s apology. It would look like BJU is protecting its own and will continue to be a distraction.
A comment was made above about GRACE and their prescriptive recommendations. This is the job of an ombudsman and if it was within the scope of the contract between GRACE and BJU then their recommendations are perfectly OK. According to Wikipedia regarding an ombudsman, “The typical duties of an ombudsman are to investigate complaints and attempt to resolve them, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation.” In the early pages of GRACE’s report they state that BJU asked them to be this role, that of an ombudsman.
Also, while I obviously don’t know the specific details of BJU’s contract with GRACE, I would fully expect BJU to have had some sort of review period before the report was made public. If BJU was disappointed in anyway by the GRACE report they did not appear to be so with this week’s apology.
As I stated above, Pettit is now in a tough spot politically because The Third and Berg have many supporters and a long history at BJU. I don’t think BJU will fire those men, but I do think there will be some changes regarding them. I don’t see how there can’t be.
The whole world is watching how BJU will respond and as Pettit said himself this week, actions speak louder than words.
The Third and Berg - what will happen: Retirement
Donn said:
- Jim Berg should never be allowed to counsel or teach anywhere, on or off campus? Because of what Berg has learned through all this I am confident he is now a much better and humbler counselor and I would not hesitate to refer counselees to him.
Would you send your sexually abused daughter to him for counseling? What has he learned from this? From what I’ve read, he still admittedly has no formal training in the difficult mental health cases like sex abuse, PTSD, etc. I’ve yet to see any victim confess their sin, pray some prayers, and meditate on scripture and this kind of trauma magically goes away.
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