An Open Letter to Molly Fitch (Formerly of Calvary Temple in Sterling, Virginia)

This is an open letter to Molly Fitch in New York. Molly is the mother of Jonathan, Joshua, Sarah and Christina Fitch. Molly was involved in Star Scott’s Calvary Temple in Sterling, Virginia in the D.C. area. Star Scott turned her flesh and blood – her 4 children – against her and they have cut her off. Its the modus operandi of Calvary Temple and one of the many devastating stories coming out of that entity. This is my letter, and my commitment to Molly to stand with her until her family is united, and she is with her children again.

“Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.”

Pliny the Elder

“There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.”

Orison Swett Marden

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

Dear Molly-

I want to take this time to write you a letter and speak my mind on the situation at Calvary Temple and what your family is going through. Before I continue I never thought that I would cross paths with people from CT. I never imagined it would be the case. I remember back in 2008 reading an article on the front page of the Washington Post about this horrific church situation in Sterling called Calvary Temple. I was bothered by what I read. But as time moved on life happened and other things captured my attention. Dee Parsons told my story at The Wartburg Watch. My story dealt with a prolonged faith crisis, and being unsuccessfully recruited into a Sovereign Grace church in Arlington, Virginia. I endured a horrific false accusation, when a friend sent me into the darkest season of my life. I don’t know how I got to where I am at today. I am still in a great amount of pain and rethinking and exploring what I endured.

Earlier this year in the March time frame I checked The Wartburg Watch and I saw Dee had highlighted a new blog called “Against Calvary Temple” I was curious and on my lunch break googled Calvary Temple and I stumbled across your blog, “Dear Calvary Temple.” I didn’t know what I was about to read and how much it would disturb me. When I read that a church turned your children against you I was horrified.  With that I read your letters to your children – Jonathan, Josh, Sarah and Christina. I read your pleas, the times you cried and of a family that was shattered by a diabolical man named Star Scott. What I read on my lunch break consumed and greatly bothered me. It troubled me so much that I struggled to get work done that afternoon because your story so weighed on me.  Dee Parsons and I are close, as she helped me with my situation from Sovereign Grace. Dee was beginning to learn about Calvary Temple and I took your blog and a couple of others and emailed her, grabbed her ear and said, “you need to read this…” Dee Parsons read and was disturbed by what she encountered. I knew I couldn’t stay silent on such an issue. With that I started to email Brandon and Naomi and encouraged them to contact Dee and they did. They put together a couple of posts and that led to this, and this and its still being written about in stories like this one. I’m glad the ball is rolling and more attention is being drawn to this nightmare in Sterling, Virginia.

I don’t know what you know about Dee. She was a Sunday School teacher in the Southern Baptist Convention who is a diamond shaped by fire in a church called Providence Baptist in Raleigh. That organization which is led by David Horner had a child sex abuse situation that was horrific. She witnessed and was caught up in it, they left and the church tried to impose church discipline on Dee and her husband Bill after the fact. It took a threat of a lawyer to get Providence to back down. That incident is what drives her today. In her time in blogging she has been key in many situations. Her blog is a platform for those hurt by Sovereign Grace in which she directly challenged CJ Mahaney. Susan Burke, who has been involved in the litigation against Sovereign Grace has also released a statement through Dee’s blog.  She wrote so much about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Seattle that she has been credited in being one of the influences in that situation. She also broke the story about Karen Hinkley’s discipline for annulling her marriage to a pedophile addicted to child pornography at Matt Chandler’s The Village Church and clashed with Chandler personally on Twitter. She is sitting on another story that will break shortly that deals with yet another 9 Marks church. I’m sure that Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever are having indigestion knowing what she is writing about. So with that I think she’s perfect for taking on Star Scott and using her blog to help resolve the situation at Calvary Temple.

Your story Molly has weighed on me since hearing about it. I’ve had times in my condo where I’ve cried for your family and have been deeply disturbed by what has transpired at Calvary Temple. Your story is uncalled for, horrific, and the behavior of Star Scott is evil. This entity crawled out of a pit of hell, and it’s to hell where it needs to return.  People need to be returned to their family and the separation and division need to end. Molly I want you to know that one day it will end. Every dictatorship has to control a totalitarian state with  fear, intimidation and force. Joseph Stalin did that in the Soviet Union, Nicole Ceausescu also did that in Romania and Saddam Hussein mastered it in Iraq. Fear and control is the only way they can keep order, however it cannot continually indefinitely.  There is a day when it will come to an end. Every dictatorship fears a revolt or upheaval. But one day that collapse will come. I want to tell you a story without getting into specifics that will give you hope in this current stage of life. Recently in the last year I heard of something remarkable and its something that every person involved in a split craves and hopes will happen.  It involved someone in a Sovereign Grace church which I want to remain anonymous. When 2 people left this particular Sovereign Grace church they were treated as dead and disowned. One part of the family cut off another part of the family and refused to even acknowledge them. Time passed and that included the birth of children, and the growth of a family and the estrangement dragged on. After a prolonged period of time maybe 7 or 8 years I think…the last part of the family in this Sovereign Grace church left and reached out to their family after 8 years or so of not even acknowledging them. The phone call came out of the blue, and they started to reconcile and work things out. So it is possible and I believe that your children will be with you again one day. One day Molly you will introduce me to Jonathan Fitch and I’ll get to know him. One day you will get text messages and phone calls from your children again. That day is coming and will happen at some point. I want to give you that hope to hold on and to cling to it during this time.

There is another thing I want you to know. You will not walk through this period of life alone and by yourself. There are a lot of people who care and love you Molly. During this time I want you to know that I love and care for your family. Your family situation is why I give up church occasionally and stand outside Calvary Temple and protest that abomination. We are all here for you and you can lean on us for support and rest on our shoulder. We will carry you and help you walk forward one day at a time. Step by step…moment by moment we will walk forward together. If I were there in New York I’d give you a hug and we’d cry together in a room for an hour over what you’ve gone through. I want you to know how many people do care for your situation. It’s beyond the former Calvary Temple members. Dee Parsons is upset over your family situation. I also believe Pam Palmer who was the face of the Soveriegn Grace lawsuit and who  stood outside and protested Calvary Temple is upset over your situation. Any person with a soul or a conscious would be rightfully upset. I’ve had a hard time resting when I think of what your family endured. But we are here for you in the long haul and will walk and hold you through this separation. We are also here for Gretel and she as well will one day see her brothers and sisters again. Its important that she has hope as well.

There is one thing that bothers me and one recommendation I have for you Molly. First let me say that I have lived in the D.C. area for 10 years now. I traveled through Sterling on a regular basis on my way to and from Leesburg. I know Leesburg Pike intimately given how much I have driven it. For years I have driven by Calvary Temple not knowing the horror that was transpiring in that entity. In that context I want to let you know that I am sorry that I didn’t know all that transpired. For the times I was silent about what was happening there, as a member of the body of Christ let me ask for your forgiveness. I can’t rest or ignore this situation knowing the trauma its inflicting on you and the other individuals who used to be involved in CT. So with that I will protest from time to time outside for your family. Your situation is what compels me to act. You can’t be indifferent to evil, to be silent on evil is to embrace it. Martin Luther King once said. “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” So I can’t be silent on the evil coming out of Calvary Temple. I will stand in the gap and protest from time to time and at Star Scott’s car shows until your family is united again. What also bothers me and what I have to ask is the following. Where is the Christian community in the Northern Virginia area on this horrific situation? From churches in Leesburg, to Reston, to Sterling, to Tysons Corner. There are a lot of churches within a stones throw of Calvary Temple. Why aren’t churches speaking out and raising their voices or asking questions? Correct me if I am wrong…isn’t that the take away of the parable of the Good Samaritan? To not leave a person wounded alongside the road and attend to the “temple” and ignore the pain in the midst? How can a pastor or other Christians be aware of the situation and go about their life and stay silent on this problem? I don’t get that at all Molly.  So on behalf of the Christian community here in the Northern Virginia area let me say I am sorry. Too many churches, and ministries are silent on this issue and that needs to come to an end. I don’t know how to tackle this issue I’ve talked about it with Ellen and Michelle as well as Dee Parsons. We’ll have to come up with some new ideas. What I would recommend is if you started to tell your story to media outlets and draw even more negative publicity to Calvary Temple and Star Scott. Whoever that might be..ABC News, the New York Times or beyond. Your story needs to be told and people need to hear about how a deviant pastor turned 4 children against their own flesh and blood because he is drunk on control and a narcissist who greedily reaches for more Kool Aid. Your story is disturbing and it needs to be told. Please don’t hold back but speak your mind. Speaking about what happened I think will increase the likelihood of your family being reunited one day. You see Molly Fitch,  Star Scot doesn’t want your story to be told because he knows how damning it is on him. That’s why you need to speak up and start telling it. To tell your story on The Wartburg Watch is courageous. You are one of the most courageous people I have known.

I also want to let you know that I love all of the people outside who protest and who I have gotten to know. Michelle Freeman is a gem, and I love her energy, passion and commitment to the cause against Calvary Temple. To protest and work against the church while holding two jobs amazes me. (I think she’s down to one now) I love her dedication. I love and care for Ellen Kusar as well. Her heart is gold, tender and loving. I know how close you are to Ellen and I can see why you love her so much. I love her as well! The others I am slowly starting to learn and know. The next time Dee Parson comes down to DC she wants to protest and see the operation and how the church reacts. But I want you to know that I love the former members and my heart grieves with them. Well Molly I have said all I can think of but there is one final thought I want to impart on you. One of these days I will meet you and your family when they are one. One of these days you’ll introduce Jonathan, Josh, Christina, and Sarah to me and I’ll get to know them. When that day comes it will be one of the most joyous days in my life. To know your family is one, and whole again will be one of the highlights of my life. I’m looking forward to seeing that day when you are with your children again. When that happens I will be able to sleep better at night and know that this nightmare is over.  This will come to an end one day Molly, and I look forward to that day coming. Stand strong, we’re all here for you.

Molly you are loved, and you are precious. You need your children and they need you. And that day will come. Until that time hold on, please. Your children need you.

With deepest respect.

Eagle