The Cover-up of Buckley’s Cover-up of Mahaney Is Underway

I recently wrote two blog posts regarding Paul Buckley, Chairman of the Board for Sovereign Grace Ministries.  

Paul Buckley, Chairman of the SGM Board & Other Top Level Leaders Secretly Plotted C.J. Mahaney's Removal as President (Aug 2, 2014) 

More Evidence Surrounding the Request for Mahaney’s Resignation & Its Cover Up (Aug 7, 2014)   

As a result of these disclosures, I wrote a post to all the leaders in SGM. 

An Open Letter to the Leaders & Pastors of SGM Regarding Their Cowardice & Corruption (Aug 8, 2014)

This post is a follow-up based on a letter I received from Dan Roca.

From: Dan Roca
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 8:17 AM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: Re: An Open Letter to the Leaders & Pastors of SGM Regarding Their Cowardice & Corruption

Hi Brent,

You don’t know me and I don’t really know you that well.  I don’t have personal knowledge of a lot of this stuff, but I would appreciate that you not slander my friend Paul Buckley.  He is a friend of mine and I know for a “fact” that what you have accused him of is utterly false.  I therefore will not listen to anything else you have to say and I would call you to cease from your slander and gossip.

If you would like to meet personally with me or my pastoral team or with any of the leadership of Sovereign Grace Churches, we would be happy to.  So far you have refused to meet, even when a number of individuals went to your house or called you.  Your site is full of gossip and it is clear that you are not walking with the Lord in this, not seeking anyone’s good, but only to destroy something beautiful that God has made.

Dan Roca is a pastor along with Bauer Evans and Dave Magoon at Crossway Church in Franklin, Massachusetts which is southwest of Boston.  It is one of two SGM churches in MA.  The other church is King of Grace Church where Paul Buckley is the lead pastor.  That church is located north of Boston in Haverhill. 

Roca claims I slandered his friend Buckley in the posts referenced above.  He emphatically states that he knows “for a fact” that what I “accused him of is utterly false.”  Therefore, he won’t listen to anything else I have to say because it is gossip and slander.  He goes on to say I am an apostate whose only goal is “to destroy something beautiful (i.e., SGM) that God has made.”  I am “not seeking anyone’s good.” 

This is par for the course.  These attacks on my character and the veracity of my writings by the leaders and pastors of SGM have continued since I sent out The Documents in July 2011.  He also says I “have refused to meet” with SGM leaders but states that he, his fellow pastors and the leadership of Sovereign Grace Churches “would be happy to” meet with me.  

What follows is our email exchange.  It is so helpful because it is so revealing!  Roca is the norm, not the exception, among SGM pastors.  I’ve received many letters like this one from SGM pastors.  These pastors have been misled by the SGM leaders over them.  In turn, they mislead the people in their churches.  It is a perpetual cycle of evil that has only worsened. 

Here’s my initial response to Roca.  I also sent it to his fellow pastors, Bauer Evans and Dave Magoon.

From: Brent Detwiler 
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 11:42 AM
To: Bauer Evans; Dave Magoon; Dan Roca
Subject: RE: An Open Letter to the Leaders & Pastors of SGM Regarding Their Cowardice & Corruption 

Dan, 

You are correct, you “don’t have personal knowledge of a lot of this stuff.”  I would love to meet with “the leadership of Sovereign Grace Churches”!  Set it up.  I have not “refused to meet.”  Just the opposite.  I have begged to meet.  And it is not at all true that “a number of individuals went to your house or called you.”  One person came to my house, Mickey Connolly, and proposed a corrupt process that violated all the promises made to me about a just hearing of my charges.  I confronted him for his deceit.  As a matter of conscience, I turned it down.  Later, I changed my mind and agreed to meet under most any circumstances.  I’ve repeatedly appealed to meet and I’ve repeatedly been turned down.  In fact, no one has ever responded to my ongoing appeals to meet.  That is the truth and Paul [Buckley] knows it. 

On your next point, no one ever called me.  Not once!  You don’t realize it but these are the kind of lies Paul and others have used to deceive you.  You are following them like a member of a cult.  This email from you is just one more piece of evidence.  Paul is blatantly lying to you if he told you, “So far you have refused to meet, even when a number of individuals went to your house or called you.”  If you are interested in the truth, read the following for starters.  

The Right of Tyrants (Oct 13, 2011)

SGM Council of Elders Commends C.J. Mahaney & Condemns Brent Detwiler (Aug 8, 2013)

It’s Been a Good Week (Aug 14, 2013)

You are the one who “is full of gossip.”   You have no idea what you are talking about because you have not studied the carefully documented evidence.  Furthermore, I have destroyed nothing but the One who is Holy has brought you low.  It is Christ who has opposed SGM because he hates the lying, deceit, hypocrisy, cowardice, abuse and selfish ambition that has characterized your leaders.  People like you blame me but that is foolhardy.  If you had discernment, you’d be calling your leaders to account.  Only when they repent will the hand of God’s opposition lift. 

Yesterday, Aron Osborne, recommended Metro Life Church leave SGM.  It will be official in a few weeks.  Things will also worsen for SGM on other fronts.  For example, the criminal conspiracy to cover up sex abuse is real and Paul has done nothing but disparage the victims and fight against the lawsuit.  He should have removed C.J. from ministry long ago!  Instead, he has covered up for him.   

Dan, the discipline of God has filled every nook and cranny of SGM and yet you continue to justify yourself in self-righteousness.  If the emails below are authentic (and they are), then what I have said about Paul is true, not false.  Did you even read “Paul Buckley, Chairman of the SGM Board & Other Top Level Leaders Secretly Plotted C.J. Mahaney’s Removal as President”? 

Please go through this blog post and report back to me with the evidence that shows what I have written is “utterly false.”

From: Paul Buckley
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2012 12:18 PM
To: office@kingofgrace.org
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL

Guys, 

Thanks for taking time to talk with me this week. 

As is probably your assumption, I wanted to appeal that our discussions of CJ’s possible resignation be kept extremely and completely confidential. 

In my opinion it will be best for everyone, if CJ agrees, that he be the initiator in this and not the board or anyone else.  If our discussion falls into the wrong hands it could be twisted and used for great harm. 

It seems that this idea is gaining some key traction. 

Let me know if you have any questions. 

From: Paul Buckley
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 11:08 AM
To: Dave Harvey
Subject: Confidential 

Dave,

Any update on where CJ is regarding remaining president?

Paul

From: Dave Harvey 
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 11:26 AM
To: Paul Buckley
Subject: RE: Confidential 

No.  But we had our meeting with me, John [Loftness], Mickey [Connolly], Jeff [Purswell] and CJ this past week.  It went well from the standpoint of me putting forward my thoughts and them raising their perspective, questions and concerns.  Emails are flying right now and I’m also flying to Louisville on Thursday to meet with CJ.  So, we are engaged.  But I wasn’t able to get all the way to the presidency question because I’m needing to answer the questions and concerns about my perspective in other areas first while trying to use the opportunity to establish my position on certain things for them.

When do you talk to Pete [Greasley]?

From: Paul Buckley
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2012 12:31 PM
To: Dave Harvey
Subject: RE: Confidential

I talked to him [Pete Greasley] this morning.  It was a good conversation and very helpful.

I asked him to press his call for CJ’s resignation/repositioning to the board.

Thoughts?

And again, set up a meeting with the Executive Committee, Leadership Team and Council of Elders!!!  I am glad to make my case in Nashville, TN in October during the Council of Elders Meeting and Pastors Conference.  And they are welcome to make their case against me.

Dan, your response to me is a perfect example of what is wrong in SGM.  I pray the Lord kindly opens your eyes and leads you to repentance so you can help others do the same. 

Brent

Dan begins to bail water at this point.  

From: Dan Roca
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 12:55 PM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: Re: An Open Letter to the Leaders & Pastors of SGM Regarding Their Cowardice & Corruption 

Come up to Massachusetts and I will certainly meet with you if you’re really serious.  I’m fairly certain I could convince the other pastors of my church to meet with you as well.

I asked Dan to “set up a meeting with the Executive Committee, [SGM] Leadership Team and [national] Council of Elders” in Nashville because he said in his initial email, “If you would like to meet personally with me or my pastoral team or with any of the leadership of Sovereign Grace Churches, we would be happy to.”  He claimed to be speaking on behalf of Bauer Evans and Dave Magoon and the leadership of SG churches.  In reality, he did not have anyone’s support in making the bogus offer.  Now he says, “I’m fairly certain I could convince the other pastors of my church to meet with you as well.”  He leaves out any reference to SGM leadership.

Instead he says, “Come up to Massachusetts and I will certainly meet with you if you’re “really serious.”  I live near Charlotte, North Carolina.  It is a 13 hour non-stop drive to Franklin, Massachusetts.  If I make the long trip and I’m “really serious” Dan will meet with me.  I love southern hospitality.  This is northern hospitality. 

From: Brent Detwiler 
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2014 1:49 PM
To: Dan Roca
Cc: Bauer Evans; Dave Magoon
Subject: RE: An Open Letter to the Leaders & Pastors of SGM Regarding Their Cowardice & Corruption

I am glad to meet with the leadership of SGM.  Meeting with you accomplishes nothing.  Talk to Bauer and Dave and ask them to help you set up a meeting in Nashville.  That’s what needs to happen because there has never been a just or open hearing of the evidence.  The Three Panel Review was utterly corrupt.     

If you want to interact via email or by phone that is fine.  I’m glad to help you on one condition.  You must read and study the evidence I have already put in print.  It is a waste of time to interact unless you are willing to do so.  Once you are informed, we can converse.  Start with Response Regarding Friendship & Doctrine, A Final Appeal, Concluding Remarks and The Untold Story.  Those are the original documents.  They lay a foundation.  When complete, let’s talk about them. 

I’m also willing to interact regarding the material below concerning Paul and your accusations against me; but first you must study what I have written and provide a written response that proves with supporting evidence that it is “utterly false.” 

My goal has always been to meet in a just setting where I could present my allegations against C.J. Mahaney and SGM.  That objective has always been denied me and to that end, meeting with Dan in person “accomplishes nothing.”  Nevertheless, I was glad to interact with him by email or by phone if he was willing to examine the evidence and show how my charge against Buckley that he covered up attempts to remove Mahaney as President was “utterly false.”  There was no response.  

From: Brent Detwiler 
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 12:06 PM
To: Dan Roca
Subject: Getting Back to Me? 

I haven’t heard back from you.  Are you interested in interacting over the evidence?  Are you going to try and set up a meeting in October in Nashville or any other time or place for that matter?  

Honestly, Dan’s unwillingness to respond and engage me came as no surprise.  It was predictable.  SGM leaders and pastors don’t respond when I call them to account, supply evidence, and ask them to interact.  

Having been put on the spot, his next response was also typical and predictable. 

From: Dan Roca [mailto:dan@crosswayma.org]
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2014 12:18 PM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: Re: Getting Back to Me? 

I have since come to find out that you have met with a number of pastors, so even your claims about how no one is willing to meet is false.

I’m not interested in gossip. But if you are willing to repent for your actions, I would consider trying to set up a meeting with more elders than just my local church.

The hypocrisy of SGM leaders and pastors never ceases to amaze me.  He confronts me with an unsubstantiated charge based on faulty information he was provided in the last 24 hours and effectively calls me a liar.  He goes on to say he is unwilling to discuss the evidence which he again calls “gossip.”  Finally, he refuses to meet unless I am first “willing to repent” for my “actions.”  There is so much to learn from Dan’s response.  This illustration perfectly exemplifies the abusive leadership culture in SGM. 

From: Brent Detwiler 
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2014 5:30 PM
To: Dan Roca
Subject: RE: Getting Back to Me?

You are making another false accusation for which you furnish no proof because you have no proof.  What pastors did I meet with?  When did I meet with them?  Don’t bring an accusation against me unless you are willing to tell me who and when those meetings occurred.  I’ll get on the phone right now with you and whoever is telling you these lies.  Let’s set up a conference call.  Include Paul Buckley.  Here’s my number. …  I’m serious. 

But here’s what I’ve experienced time after time after time.  No one will talk to me or meet with me or provide a shred of evidence against me.  Why?  Because they don’t have anything to back up their malicious slander.  That is exactly what you are doing!  It is cowardice and corruption of the highest order to not engage me or present me with any proof! 

I participated in one of the three Panel Reviews in December 2011.  That is the only time I met with anyone and it turned out to be the worse experience of my life.  It was a premeditated ambush led by Mark Prater.  The panel never intended to deal with any of my charges.  

I’ve already provided you the links with the evidence but obviously you have no interest in the evidence which once again you label “gossip.”  Moreover, I asked to participate in the other two Panel Reviews but was forbidden.  This was part of the plan to make sure I was not heard.  All this is indisputable.  See also “Promises Were Meant to be Broken” and “All Is Lost!” 

Dan, you must back up your charges.  Where is your evidence that I met “with a number of pastors.”  There is none.  Who is lying to you?  Who is deceiving you?  Your charge is outrageous. 

Whenever I bring a charge against anyone, I always provide the evidence like I did with Paul’s cover up of his attempt to remove C.J. as the President.  Not you.  You are being a hypocrite.  You accuse me of gossip even though I provide overwhelming evidence you won’t read.  On the other hand, you believe gossip against me for which you have no proof.  That is cultic.  That is corrupt.  That is cowardly.

Let me be clear.  I have NEVER met with a number of pastors.  Prove me wrong.  Give me their names.  Tell me when we met.  If you are correct, and I am lying as you charge, that is very easy information to provide.  Guess what?  It will never happen because such meetings never happened.  You have been completely deceived by Paul and others who furnish you with no proof.  They can’t provide anything in support of their false accusations.

I am glad to hear evidence against me if you think it exists.  For example, where have I been “utterly false” in my charges against Paul.  You don’t even venture an attempt to prove my falsity after such a remarkable statement. 

You are afraid of the light because it will expose your darkness.  You won’t even read The Documents or the links to evidentiary facts.  That’s nothing new!  SGM has been on the run for a long time.  You are carrying on its ungodly abuse!  You and those around you are the false witnesses not me.

In your first email you said, “If you would like to meet personally with me or my pastoral team or with any of the leadership of Sovereign Grace Churches, we would be happy to.”  Now you say, “I’m not interested in gossip.  But if you are willing to repent for your actions, I would consider trying to set up a meeting with more elders than just my local church.”  Why the change?  Here’s why.  Confronted with the reality of the evidence you must avoid meeting with me.  Therefore, you lay down a one sided, heavy-handed condtion.  I must first repent for my actions rather than repent after we meet and you prove your charges.    

This is so typical of SGM.  You won’t meet to hear my evidence against Paul and SGM.  You won’t meet and let me defend against your accusations.  You will only meet if I repent.  You see no need for repentance and have no interest in repentance.  That says it all.  Such is the arrogance and self-righteousness of SGM. 

Dan, your correspondence is a gift from God.  It demonstrates ever so clearly the abusive practices of SGM leaders and pastors.  When confronted with overwhelming evidence against Paul and SGM, you respond in this cowardly and unaccountable fashion.  You have no interest in the truth.  SGM has changed but only for the worse.  The little that is left is held together by lies and lording.  Such is a vain attempt against Jesus Christ, Lord of the Earth and Head of the Church.

Here’s is Dan’s response. 

From: Dan Roca [mailto:dan@crosswayma.org]
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2014 5:48 PM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: Re: Getting Back to Me?

> You won’t meet to hear my evidence against Paul and SGM.  You won’t meet and let me defend against your accusations. ~Brent Detwiler

> I am glad to meet with the leadership of SGM.  Meeting with you accomplishes nothing. ~Brent Detwiler

The offer still stands for meeting with me personally and possibly the other pastors in my church.  But as I have shown above by your quotes, you don’t want to.

-Dan

Here's my final response. 

From: Brent Detwiler 
Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 5:47 PM
To: Dan Roca
Subject: Re: Getting Back to Me?

You have sorely twisted my words and taken them out of context.  The way you attempt to use these quotes against me is utterly illogical and irrational.  They prove nothing except that you are treacherous. 

As I plainly said, I am glad to interact with you via email and/or over the phone though this accomplishes nothing in terms of presenting my charges to the leadership of SGM which you said they were happy to do.  I also said I was glad to have a conference call with you, Bauer, Dave and Paul.  I asked you to set it up.  You totally ignored my request.

I also placed two conditions upon our interaction.  One, you study the evidence I referenced.  Two, you show where my charge against Paul was “utterly false.”  These were both reasonable preconditions.  You refused to fulfill either.  Instead you laid down a condition for interacting or meeting with a larger group.

“But if you are willing to repent for your actions, I would consider trying to set up a meeting with more elders than just my local church.”

That says it all!  You’ll consider setting up a meeting with leaders from SGM if I first repent for my actions including the irrefutable charge that Paul Buckley secretly plotted to remove C.J. as President and then covered it up. 

Dan, you obviously have no interest in a just meeting where well documented charges can be brought against Paul, C.J. or other leaders in SGM.   Let me say it again.  “That is cultic.  That is corrupt.  That is cowardly.”  But that is nothing new!  You are carrying on the sinful tradition of SGM.  The cover-up of Buckley’s cover-up of Mahaney is underway.

Postscript

These are the Board Members that lied when they publicly stated in June 2012 and August 2012 that they were all united in C.J. Mahaney continuing and remaining as the President of SGM. They also reiterated this claim to all the SGM pastors in March 2013.  That was far from the truth.  In fact, Paul Buckley was pressing for Mahaney’s removal.  

1. Paul Buckley
2. John Loftness
3. Ron Boomsma
4. Craig Cabaniss
5. Mickey Connolly
6. Ian McConnell
7. Ken Mellinger
8. Al Pino
9. Phil Sasser

Buckley, Connolly, and Mellinger should be removed from the SGM Executive Committee.  Connolly should also be removed as a SGM Regional Leader.  Cabaniss, McConnell, and Sasser should be removed from the SGM Leadership Team.  Boomsma resigned.  Pino left SGM.

But guess what?  SGM pastors won’t press charges against these SGM Leaders.  There will be no investigations.  No report on findings.  And no consequences for lying.  It will be covered up just like everything else in SGM.  Mark Prater, the Executive Director, will pretend like it never happened.  The conspiracy to cover up the actual dynamics surrounding Mahaney’s Presidency is just another disillusioning illustration of the pervasive duplicity that ensnares SGM leaders and pastors. 

Let me close.  I also received a letter from a Sovereign Grace church member in another country that was encouraging.  He was asking good questions and making good points about the deceit he’s observed.  I wasn’t able to fully understand all he was writing because English was his second language.  I’m not sure he could follow all I was writing either so I tried to simplify my main points in these three sentences.  

The SGM leaders lie to the SGM pastors.  The pastors believe their lies and refuse to read my evidence.  The SGM pastors pass on those lies to people in the churches. The SGM leaders don’t want to be honest because they will lose their jobs and their money. 

He really didn’t need my assistance.  My Spanish speaking friend had already come to the same conclusions based upon his own research, interactions and observations.  I may have him contact Dan Roca for an international perspective!

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