That time I got an angry call from the subject of an article about anger and abuse

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on March 23, 2025.

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.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.