Editor’s note: It is BNG’s policy to correct factual errors as soon as possible after learning about those errors. In the case of Rick Pidcock’s earlier piece mentioned here, we have not been informed of any factual errors or asked to make any corrections.
It’s one of the most basic, familiar patterns of abuse in Christian communities. A pastor gets credibly accused of mistreating people in his church. He publicly apologizes and tells his congregation he’s pursuing personal growth and reconciliation. But then behind the scenes, he contacts those who hold power to sow doubt in the accuser’s story, confuse the terms of the accusations, garner support for himself and threaten those who don’t agree.
After an extensive report from GRACE was released about Tim Whitaker and The New Evangelicals, Whitaker said: “My intent is to embrace repentance and do better in the future. For my complicity in all of this, I am so sorry.” Regarding his words and actions in the GRACE report after an angry driving incident, he explained, “I was operating out of fear and frustration.” The board of TNE said they planned to implement all the recommendations from GRACE.
But last week, 14 minutes after I posted to Facebook a link to my BNG article about that report and the danger of abusive hierarchy, my phone rang. It was Tim Whitaker. At first, I ignored the call to see if he would leave a voicemail so I could gauge the tone. But then he texted and asked for me to call him. So I did.
After our initial greeting, he shifted into a very forceful, angry energy and declared, “I’m going to do you a favor here and let you know that your article has factual errors all throughout it.”
“I’m going to do you a favor here and let you know that your article has factual errors all throughout it.”
A bit taken back, I thought to myself, he’s not the one to be doing me favors in this moment when he’s the subject of the investigation. And also, he’s setting up a power dynamic here where I’m beneath him, dependent on his favor to save little me.
But with that noted, I took a breath, pulled up my article and asked him to share the factual errors in it. He was very upset with my use of the word “abuse” but couldn’t point to any factual errors in the piece.
Tim Whitaker
A few minutes later, he said, “This is off the record, right?” At that point, after being forcefully talked down to and feeling uneasy with the situation, I wasn’t sure how best to respond. So I told him, “I’m not recording this. I don’t plan to write a piece about it. But I’d like to be able to talk with some people to see what they think about this conversation.”
I’ll keep our back and forth about the allegations against him private. But after talking with a few people, it’s become undeniably clear that Whitaker is continuing to operate out of “fear and frustration.” He’s acting differently in private than he is in public and spreading enough harm that what’s happening needs to be publicly exposed.
What happened to me also has happened to others.
Manipulating influencers behind the scenes
My initial plan was to speak with two people to hear their thoughts about our conversation. But when I did, they each mentioned another influencer or two who had posted a comment online, and within minutes of their comment, received a call from Whitaker.
I confirmed at least five such conversations have taken place. According to the influencers I spoke with, Whitaker wasn’t angry at them as he was with me. But the content of our conversations were similar. According to multiple sources, Whitaker mentioned factual errors, claimed his actions weren’t abuse, diminished the allegations as “not really a big deal,” “really nothing,” and “just a single accident.”
One influencer said Whitaker claimed he wanted to be there to answer any of their questions. But then when the conversation ended, the influencer realized they’d never had a chance to ask any questions because Whitaker talked the entire time.
“I can’t imagine I’m the only one he’s having this conversation with.”
Another influencer said they thought to themselves: “I can’t imagine I’m the only one he’s having this conversation with. He’s either trying to get in front of the narrative or cast enough doubt so that we will second guess.”
I felt that very pressure Wednesday night after our call. I was originally planning to talk through the incident for Thursday’s episode of BNG’s “Highest Power: Church + State” podcast. But I had to record minutes after I got off the phone with him. My head was spinning from the call. And Whitaker had been so forceful about the distinction between misconduct and abuse that I wondered if maybe I was missing some nuance I’d never heard of before.
As a result, I stuck to giving a quick intro to why I wrote the piece, and then I simply read the piece with an occasional interjection. But you can tell listening to it that I was trying to nuance any mention of the word “abuse” because of how I had just been forcefully talked down to about it.
What was more concerning to me was how a number of influencers mentioned Whitaker’s veiled threats. According to these sources, Whitaker would tell them he didn’t want to see their work tank due to their reputation falling from siding with the accusers. One source said Whitaker warned, “I’d really hate to see you guys go down with them.”
In case the power dynamic isn’t clear here, Whitaker said in December 2024 that TNE had amassed 323,000 followers and $206,000 in funding. In the podcast world, that’s a lot of power to be holding while telling other podcasters you’d hate to see them go down with the women who accused him.
“These are not the actions of someone who is genuinely sorry and embracing repentance.”
Despite calling with manipulations and veiled threats, Whitaker asked a few of these other influencers if they were recording the conversation and if it was off the record. But someone who is being accused of abuse doesn’t have the right to manipulate and threaten influencers and then cover their tracks by claiming it’s “off the record.” That’s not justice at all.
Influencers shouldn’t have to sit back quietly knowing they’ve been manipulated while the victims get demonized. These are not the actions of someone who is genuinely sorry and embracing repentance. They’re the actions of someone who is continuing to control out of fear and frustration.
Building a kingdom of abuse survivors
As I reported in my first piece, Whitaker and TNE signed progressive Christian influencer April Ajoy to their new podcast without telling her about the GRACE investigation. The morning after “TNE Reckoning,” a website started by the victims, released the report, Ajoy said, “I was made aware of the situation last night and am currently doing everything I can to fully understand what happened. For now, the show is on pause.”
Whether Ajoy decides to continue partnering with Whitaker and TNE despite not being informed of the report remains to be seen. But Ajoy wasn’t the only one left in the dark.
In the months, weeks and even days leading up to the release of the report, multiple podcasters told me Whitaker was courting them behind the scenes to join a new podcast network made up of podcasts that give a voice to victims of abuse. However, they all told me Whitaker never mentioned he was the subject of a GRACE investigation about abuse.
In case the harm isn’t clear here, these aren’t just general podcasters. These are podcasters who give voice to victims of abuse. If Whitaker had succeeded in convincing these podcasters to join a network with him, then they all would have been immediately thrust into a controversy about abuse once the investigation was revealed. Also, the tens of thousands of abuse victims who look to these podcast hosts for healing would have been traumatized by yet another abuse scandal.
When one of the podcasters confronted Whitaker about recruiting them to the podcast network without letting anyone know about the investigation, they said Whitaker responded by saying he didn’t think it was that big a deal.
Of course, Whitaker’s response is consistent with the findings of the GRACE report, which said Whitaker “under-appreciated the complexity of domestic abuse, personality disorders, abuse-related trauma and domestic legal cases.”
Burner accounts and background comments
As I do with all my articles for BNG, I posted a simple screenshot of the article with a border around it to my Instagram feed. Then an anonymous burner account named Giant Boulder began commenting. When they first began, they had 0 followers, 0 posts and were following only TNEReckoning, the account hosted by victims and witnesses in the GRACE report.
“Then an anonymous burner account named Giant Boulder began commenting.”
Giant Boulder was extremely familiar with the report but began asking a series of questions that were leading toward pushing the conclusion that the “report found no abuse.” They used specific words that were deeply embedded in the report and demonstrated anger when I told them I wasn’t going to participate in leading questions from an anonymous account.
Elsewhere, Scott Erickson, known as Scott the Painter, posted on his Instagram account in support of the victims as well. This time, an anonymous burner account named Smallish Pebble began commenting. They also had 0 followers, 0 posts and were following only TNEReckoning.
Of course, there’s no way for us to know exactly who Giant Boulder and Smallish Pebble are. At the very least, they are people who are so invested into making sure Whitaker doesn’t lose his job that they’re extremely knowledgeable of the GRACE report and very fearful and frustrated.
Additionally, one influencer who mentioned Whitaker as one member of a larger group of white male deconstruction leaders a while back told me within minutes of posting their piece, Whitaker called them too. And then shortly after, they started receiving messages from an anonymous burner account on Instagram as well.
Whether or not these accounts are Whitaker himself, there seems to be a pattern of these accounts angrily defending white male deconstruction leaders who get critiqued online.
Malynda Hale giving a response from the board of TNE. (Screencap from Instagram)
TNE board members also are acting differently in the comments than they are on camera. For example, Malynda Hale gave TNE’s original announcement of the report, noting the board wanted to “respond thoughtfully” and is “completely committed to reconciliation” with the victim.
But in private, Hale wrote a vague comment: “If someone confided in you about how someone you know treated them and you believed their story and stood by them and even participated in condemning the person who caused the wrong doing, what would you do if it came out that person lied or fabricated the story?”
The thoughtfulness of posting something so vague during the fallout of an abuse investigation is at least worth asking about. But when someone asked her about the timing, Hale responded, “Are you Serious? … I pose questions like this all the time.” Then she accused the person asking the question of “coming to police a Black woman.”
Hale also said the board values “transparency and accountability” and invited the community to “express their concerns.” But then in the private TNE Facebook group, somebody posted a comment saying, “As an organization that values transparency, I’d really like to know whether or not TNE and/or Timothy Whitaker were going to address any of this publicly.”
That’s a fair comment, especially knowing how Whitaker was starting podcasts and attempting to build a podcast network without telling anyone involved about the report. The group moderator who approved the post was then removed. They said: “I was removed after approving the post. I believe I was also removed from TNE group because I can only see the actual Facebook page now.”
Also, on social media the TNE group has been “liking” comments derogatory toward the victim. Who is the administrator in charge of that group “liking” these comments?
So much for transparency and accountability and inviting people to express their concerns. Anyone who doesn’t fall in line is called “the mob.” And any influencer who talks about the story without supporting TNE is called a “vampirous f*ck.”
Whether we’re considering the private words of Whitaker, burner accounts like Giant Boulder and Smallish Pebble, comments from TNE board members, bans of TNE moderators who approve inquiring comments, or the words of their supporters online, there is a deep-seated anger in the TNE community that sure looks and feels a lot like what their leader was accused of embodying.
It’s interesting to note their unified wrath in light of Whitaker’s private veiled threats to the influencers I spoke with that he’d hate to see them “go down” with the victims.
Confusing the terms of the accusations
One common claim from Whitaker and his supporters right now is that it’s wrong for us to use the word “abuse” when discussing the allegations and findings against him.
Their claim is that the GRACE report “found no abuse” but simply concluded there were two incidents of misconduct.
Part of the confusion is based on the report itself. Whitaker says the allegations and findings were not about abuse, but about misconduct. In the report, GRACE defines misconduct as “any verbal, nonverbal, and/or physical acts which are improper, immoral, indecent or unlawful. For the purposes of this investigation, behavioral misconduct specifically includes emotional misconduct, physical misconduct and sexual misconduct. Emotional abuse is defined as a pattern whereby a person in a position of authority and/or trust uses that position to domineer and control others through behaviors such as shaming, dismissing, bullying, threatening, intimidating, humiliating, degrading or insulting.” Furthermore, they add, “Emotional abuse may include spiritual abuse, defined as a pattern of coercive or controlling behavior in a religious context that relies at least in part on the alleged perpetrator’s formal or informal position of pastoral or spiritual leadership.”
The GRACE report also says, “The abuse dynamic is a function of the relative power in a relationship, misuse of that power and the impact on the victim(s).”
On that note, according to the report, Whitaker “held significant power within TNE as the founder, executive director, sole employee and public-facing personality and face of TNE that originally drew in RV, W1, and almost every board member. In some circles, he was viewed with almost celebrity status. RV, despite being a contractor who could theoretically contract for her value, set her rates and walk away if she wanted, held lesser power, functioning in many ways as an employee and subordinate to (Whitaker), as an unknown persona, a woman of physically smaller stature, who also received approximately two-thirds of her income from TNE, and held known prior trauma from a workplace.”
“Whitaker and the two anonymous accounts Giant Boulder and Smallish Pebble are all claiming in the same words that the report found no abuse.”
GRACE goes on to demonstrate eight different forms of power Whitaker held over the victim. But the report also says the witnesses “expressed he did not position himself as an authority on theological issues, and it does not appear that witnesses necessarily perceived him as being in spiritual authority over them.” Thus, they write, “It was not spiritual power in the sense of a pastor or theologian.”
Because of that caveat about spiritual authority, Whitaker and the two anonymous accounts Giant Boulder and Smallish Pebble are all claiming in the same words that the report found no abuse.
What others are saying
But others aren’t buying what Whitaker, Giant Boulder and Smallish Pebble are selling. Remember, the initial offense was Whitaker rage driving with RV in the car while being angry at her and yelling at the other drivers, thus making her feel unsafe.
Emily Maynard, a licensed psychotherapist, wrote on Threads: “People need to understand that driving abuse is extremely common. It’s a place where the driver has total control over the life of the passenger(s). Aggressive or reckless driving is a way to effectively terrorize another person and then blame ‘the other drivers’ or the passenger for overreacting. It’s prevalent in domestic and interpersonal violence. It is not an accident.”
Beth Allison Barr added: “I haven’t said much about @thenewevangelicals allegations. It caught me by surprise right at launch of my new book and podcast. When I read @rickpidcock’s article, my heart went out to the survivor as I know that fear. The report of driving abuse is something I once experienced & described in my postscript to Making of Biblical Womanhood.”
In the resignation letter of one of the witnesses, she said, “I’ve seen many unhealthy leaders and organizations repeat the same abusive patterns over and over, leaving a trail of harm in their wake. I’m really pulling for TNE to hold Tim accountable for his behavior.”
The victim herself was given a debriefer by GRACE, who, according to my understanding, functioned independently from GRACE as a person who could help the victim process her story. The debriefer reportedly named the events as abuse.
The GRACE report describes the allegations as including: “threatening and punitive … acting hostile … refusing to recognize power dynamics at play” and making the victim feel “cornered, intensely pressured, pointedly questioned and intimidated.”
If that’s not abuse, I don’t know what is.
Additionally, the GRACE report says there were “abuse allegations against a board member.”
Ironically, despite Whitaker’s current denial that the allegations were about abuse, he says in the report while responding to RV using the word, “unsafe,” “I was like, that’s a really big word. I heard the word ‘unsafe.’ Again, I work in the deconstruction space. I’m very tuned in. I follow abuse cases. I’m aware.”
So he knew she felt abused. He admitted it.
Also, in GRACE’s recommendation, they suggest for TNE to “implement training for all staff and volunteers to assure it incorporates and provides annual updates on the use and abuse of power; spiritual abuse; grooming (of individuals and communities), boundaries, and misconduct; understanding, identifying and responding to issues related to abuse, offenders and victimization.”
Why would they focus their solution on abuse if abuse wasn’t on their minds as needing to be addressed?
For anyone who is processing this story outside the fear and frustration of Whitaker and his followers, all these word games are ridiculous. As one influencer told me based on their conversation with Whitaker, “He’s arguing semantics rather than owning the reality.”
The only people who really matter in defining what the allegations were are the people who brought the allegations. And they told me: “We think it was abusive, plain and simple. Abuse of his position, abuse of his words, abuse of his power over her safety in that vehicle, abuse of his authority (or non-authority) with the board.”
Rick Pidcock
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a master of arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.
Related article:
Allegations against Tim Whitaker and The New Evangelicals show how hierarchy transfers to progressive ministries | Analysis by Rick Pidcock