Brent Armstrong

September 10, 2021 Dear Vision Baptist Missionaries:

Please bear with me as I know this letter will be lengthy. The purpose of this correspondence is to discuss in the clearest manner I know the lack of forthrightness and transparency regarding Austin Gardner and the leadership of Vision Baptist Church and Vision Baptist Mission. It is with much sadness that I inform you that we are severing all ties with Vision Baptist.

I am not your normal American pastor that just invites a missionary to present at church, begins sending monthly support and occasionally reads the missionary’s letters. For context, I have visited 53 countries. I have been to China exactly 50 times, Myanmar 34 times, Mexico 21 times, the Philippines 10 times, and over 5 times to Israel, Peru, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Thailand, Uganda, Germany, England, Iceland, plus Morocco and Cape Verde 3 times. I have personally travelled 1.2 million miles on United Airlines, 750 thousand miles on Delta and just over 500 thousand on American. I have had the great honor to speak more than 700 times in multiple foreign fields during the last twenty-five years of ministry. In other words, I am an experienced traveler.

I am a prolific journalist in that I have kept meticulous notes of my travels referencing purchases, travel expenses, ministry opportunities, messages preached, interesting conversations, extraordinary people, and so many other details you couldn’t even imagine. I have even been asked to write my stories in a book as I have had so many unusual experiences. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my ministry to take 1,457 people to the mission field for every kind of trip in which one could participate (building, evangelistic, VBS, basketball camps, teen camps, conferences, etc.).

I do not write this letter as an inexperienced pastor or a novice when it comes to missions. In the two churches I have been privileged to pastor, I have passionately spearheaded the raising of over four million dollars for worldwide missions. In fact, I am fairly confident that I would be in a very small, unique category of pastors who have such experience when it comes to missions as a pastor.

With this as a backdrop, I wish to directly address the alleged abusive leadership of Austin Gardner that has been brought to public light in the last couple of months. I personally implored the leadership of Vision Baptist to open an independent investigation regarding Austin’s failures. To appease many, a secular, Atlanta-based law firm was ultimately selected and given a very narrow scope of investigation by the Vision Baptist leadership in that only the Becky Earnhardt story will be investigated.

As always, there is more to the story than just the Atlanta-based law firm. Just so you know, another Christian organization was contacted to conduct an outside, independent third-party investigation.

However, the Vision Baptist leadership rejected this avenue based on the defined parameters that were set forth by the Christian organization. Vision Baptist Church believes that an internal investigation will suffice to appease everyone and then only after the secular, Atlanta-based firm has completed its private investigation.

Again, these actions can only be viewed as another attempt by the Vision Baptist leadership to minimize the known abuses that extend beyond just Becky. It has become increasingly apparent to the vast majority of those outside the Vision Baptist bubble that there is a deliberate effort to minimize damage while attempting to control the public narrative. With the release of Austin’s video last week that declares he will be back in ministry when the investigation has been completed, there is no other choice but to make this decision to sever ties with Vision Baptist. Even the current leadership of Vision Baptist acknowledges that Austin has shown a repeated pattern of being rude, callous and obnoxious behavior to them through their many years of service to him.

I find it illogical when Christian leaders recognize the damage done to victims of physical and sexual abuse while intentionally turning a blind eye to the harm inflicted on victims of emotional, spiritual or mental abuse. Just because an abuse does not rise to the level of physical beatings or sexual rape does not eliminate the fact that real people were victimized by the abuse they were forced to endure. As supporting church pastors, we have the right to demand zero tolerance for all types of abuse in ministry. Looking the other way has occurred way too often and for way too long at Vision Baptist.

So much is at stake! You might rightly ask, Brent why is this important to you? I will share multiple reasons why this is important to me and to other pastors. A systemic pattern of abuse has slowly been unveiled that involves verbal, physical, emotional, spiritual, mental and financial areas of Vision Baptist. My own experiences only add to what is being revealed by others.

1. Now we are going to get very personal. I have sought counsel before I put this in writing. It is still a source of contention and a vexation in my very soul. My son, upon high school graduation, had the opportunity to go to Peru to do an “internship” at Peru Bible College. We were excited for him. In September of 2007 (yes, fourteen years ago this month), he was kidnapped. The details are still readily available if you Google it. He was choked to unconsciousness three times. He was beaten and his nose broken. His kidnappers spoke of killing Benjamin before he was able to escape with his hands still tied behind his back.
   In the immediate aftermath, there was an outpouring like none other from other pastors and churches. US Congressman Gresham Barrett personally called me. US Senator Lindsey Graham personally called me. Their staffers did not call me; Congressman Barrett and Senator Graham called me. NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates all brought satellite trucks and did live news reports from the church parking lot. It was a zoo of craziness. The newspaper ran articles about his kidnapping. Magazines reached out to us to write a story.

As Benjamin was growing up, he would often watch the television show The Unit. It was during an episode of this show that one of the members was kidnapped. Benjamin even shared with a news reporter how he had used what he remembered from that episode to escape his captors. Eric Haney, the author of Inside Delta Force, called Benjamin in Peru to hear his story after a FOX news reporter told him about Benjamin.

I could write a small book about all that happened during this entire process, but there is one thing that did NOT happen. Austin Gardner NEVER called me nor my son. My son was living with his daughter and son-in-law in Peru. My son was there as a result of his ministry. My son was brutally beaten. My son almost died.

Unsaved politicians called me. So many other pastors called that I could not keep track of them. But no, Austin never reached out to me or my son. I was told very directly that, “Austin was terrified that what happened to Benjamin would hinder others from coming to Vision Baptist and hurt support coming into his ministry.”
It was I who reached out to Austin after my wife and I made an emergency trip to Peru to see our son. After all that Benjamin had experienced I can still hear Austin’s callous, if not obnoxious, words, “I’m glad he’s OK.”

2. I interview every single missionary that we take on for support. There are ten specific questions that I weave into conversations, whether in my office or when eating a meal. I also always include a staff member in these interviews to aid them in their growth and to help me afterwards to determine if we should financially support this missionary.

I have had some interesting conversations with numerous missionaries from many different backgrounds. Perhaps one of the most stunning answers that I received from a Vision Baptist missionary resulted from my pursuing, in greater detail, his support numbers. Here is the direct quote as it was immediately written down in my journal: “Austin has taught us to say whatever the pastor needs to hear in order to get support.” Why would I include this example? It describes Austin’s ethics.

While interviewing a Vision Baptist missionary during a different missions conference, I invited the missionary to go out with me for a couple of visits. The missionary graciously declined and said he needed to be making phone calls. At first, I thought this was awesome and impressive; however, as the day wore on, it began to bother me, for he was at my church and had not yet secured our support. I confronted the missionary that evening and asked him about not going visiting with me. He said, “We have been taught that it is not our job to do work in your church. When you said you were going to visit church members that I don’t know, I knew I could make phone calls instead.” The great irony of this story is that his wife “told” on him. They actually went shopping at Walmart that morning!

3. I recently completed the book When Narcissism Comes to Church by Chuck DeGroat. If you have not read this book, I encourage you to do so. It is uncanny how Mr. DeGroat nails the alleged narcissistic behavior of Austin Gardner and those who he placed in leadership around him.
4. I know factually that Austin Gardner has called me an “idiot pastor” and it was in front of multiple people. No one had the courage to confront him in that moment. Some of you have heard this language, or worse, used by Austin. He called me an idiot because I did not do missions like he thought it should be done. Even if you have been desensitized to this type of language, it does not change the fact that this is abhorrent. There is ample evidence of similar comments from many people who have heard Austin use this type of language and references about other pastors.

Although I can give many more examples, it is not my desire to write a novel. However, I also know that each one of the illustrations will be met with an explanation, denial or excuses. I am extremely concerned that many Vision Baptist missionaries are blind loyalists to a man who has manipulated most into thinking that they are betraying the team, the organization or the inner-circle if they actually “think outside the box.” Men, Austin has a problem and sadly he has manipulated dozens with his twisted sense of loyalty and alleged narcissistic leadership ideals.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that not only are we severing our ties with Vision Baptist but also to ask you to earnestly consider the serious and credible accusations against Austin Gardner. The Word of God commands us to “be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). You belong to an organization whose silence and inaction concerning Austin Gardner is casting a cloud of darkness over your efforts to shine the light of Jesus in your respective fields. If you remain silent you will be viewed as either guilty or complicit by association. Such inaction on your part will have a significant, negative impact on your ministries well beyond just losing the support of Tucson Baptist Church.

I recently read Facebook posts by Vision Baptist missionaries fiercely defending Austin (who is supposedly no longer affiliated with Vision Baptist) using a warped logic that he is a good man because he has started so many churches or because he cried watching a movie. This is embarrassingly illogical as this insinuates Austin’s good outweighs his documented and alleged emotional, mental and spiritual abuses. This type of thinking and subsequent social media posting directly marginalizes the alleged abuses. It is as if some really try to believe “This never happened to me, so it’s impossible that it could happen to someone else. They must have an axe to grind.”

Millions of dollars now flow through the coffers of Vision Baptist. Innocent, sweet people in hundreds of churches give to missions with an expectation that their financial support will be utilized to reach people with integrity and ethics. THIS IS NOT A GAME! I know that the leadership of Vision Baptist is “hoping” that the dust will settle and everything can get back to normal. NOT THIS TIME! You deserve answers, and pastors who send your monthly support and pray for you deserve answers. We cannot continue to ignore the present reality that your organization is now deemed suspect in its handling of abusive leadership, finances and accountability.

Next week I will mail a hard copy of this letter, along with a personal cover letter with additional details, to every pastor who supports a Vision Baptist missionary! There are many pastors who are disconnected from this ongoing situation. I pray that they will become informed and then make a wise decision concerning their future involvement with Vision Baptist.

Last week I filtered this letter through five pastors who currently support Vision Baptist missionaries. THREE pastors thanked me for writing this letter and will also discontinue support of all Vision Baptist missionaries. The two reasons they gave to me are the failure of the Vision Baptist leadership to act responsibly and the discovery of multiple Vision Baptist missionaries who are writing letters as if they are on the field but are actually here in the United States. Integrity and ethics matter to us!

In light of everything we have learned and continue to learn about Vision Baptist, I cannot help but think of these two quotes from Chuck DeGroat’s book. They are powerful, convicting and worthy of self-examination.

These three factors - structure, shame, and control - are key aspects of narcissistic systems.

And while many ecclesial systems are structured for accountability, those in power often find ways to avoid it. Feedback is not given honestly in a narcissistic system. If it is given, it is tempered, qualified by a long list of strengths and gifts. Loyalty to the narcissistic leader and the system’s perpetuation is demanded. It might be said, “This is how we do things” or “This is how we’ve grown so large.” To question this is to express disloyalty and to experience shame and disconnection from the system.

Moreover, when the narcissistic leader is under attack, his response is defensiveness and a victim complex. Narcissistic leaders experience a victim-martyr-hero identity that postures them when narcissism comes to church as the inevitable targets of frustrated subordinates. Their persecution complex actually enhances their status among some who view them as a hero for standing tall amid the battle. The system comes to the rescue of the leader at the expense of his victims. The lack of feedback, fear of disloyalty, and victim complex make it hard to engage, let alone change, this system. Chuck DeGroat Narcissistic systems exist for themselves, even though their mission statements and theological beliefs may be filled with the language of service, selflessness, justice, and care. Those within the system find this contradiction exhausting. This is why many who get close to the epicenter of leadership either forfeit their integrity or resign.

Chuck DeGroat

The aforementioned quotes clearly illustrate what hundreds have now read by many different Vision Baptist missionaries and leadership who have posted their defenses of Austin on Facebook and other social media platforms. I have read your email exchanges and did not find any concern for the alleged victims, only a fierce determination to rescue the leader!

I have spoken with Pastor Trent Cornwell, Jeff Bush and numerous other men associated with this process. I have not and do not plan to post my thoughts on social media. If you need to talk through these issues or ever leave Vision Baptist and desire support, please do not hesitate to contact me. I can be reached on my cell phone at ---------.

With kindest regards, Brent D Armstrong Senior Pastor