Reasons

Due to recent comments, it appears there are some questions as to the reasons for this place. These questions are both valid and deserve answers. This place exists for many reasons. A summary of these reasons is listed in the user profile. Nevertheless, this may be unclear to some. We have many hopes for the outcome of this site but the way this is received is beyond our control. We all come here for many reasons, and it would be impossible for us to summarize these reasons here. However, we can share our intents with this place.

We do not consider ourselves enlightened or above any of the current members. Nor do we feel they are blind by their continued involvement. Many people have had many different experiences with LFF and many of those were nothing but good. Yet, it is the bad experiences, the ones that derail a person's relationship with God that we are speaking out against. We have seen many, many people hurt by LFF and this place is an attempt to stymie these wrongs. We did not create this blog to broadcast the sins of the pastors to the world and we hope this interpretation was not made by anyone.

What happened and is happening at LFF was and is wrong. Unfortunately, hundreds have tried to point this out and in doing so have been silenced, ridiculed, and pushed out. Hence, this site. The truth can be silenced no more. We have come here to speak out against the abuse. Obviously, words lose meaning as they are more frequently used. So we do not throw "abuse" around lightly. People have been emotionally, spiritually, and verbally abused at LFF. THIS IS WRONG. It is equally wrong to allow this to continue to take place without speaking up. These abuses are anything but Biblical, even a non-Christian would label these as wrong. Yet they continue to take place. And it is breaks our heart each time a newly bruised person leaves LFF and in some cases rejects God.

We realize this place is controversial to many. It is hard to hear that these things have gone on in your church. This hardship is magnified if you have not experienced these things first hand. It was said by the senior pastor recently, "There are lots of people out there with opinions." And that is true, anyone with an opinion, a keyboard, and a little know-how can broadcast their thoughts to the world. Yet this is more than just a few people with opinions. This has become a collection of well documented facts as to the reason this pain exists. These things happened and continue to happen. It is not just my opinion that these wrongs are taking place, it is a fact. In the same way, it is not my opinion that New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, it is a fact. My opinion on the Hurricane's destruction matters not, it happened.

We truly hope to help the hurting. In this place they have found a voice. Not only have they found a place to share their hurt, they have for the first time, found an ear. It would be easy to label this all as bitterness, but that label is mistaken. It is wrong to silence the hurting and call the causes of their pain false. So no, we write not from bitterness, but from hope.

To some, this is a place of healing, to some a place of hope, to others this is thought provoking and we like that. For many of us it was hard to leave the abuse and manipulation because we knew not what awaited us beyond the walls of LFF. What we have found is so much better. We have found Jesus in a new way, we have found genuine acceptance and love. This acceptance relies not on our performance or action, we have found acceptance for who we are.

So again, this place is here to speak out against the wrong, lend hope and healing to the hurting, and perhaps, show those who are afraid to leave, there is hope. It is not our goal to empty LFF of all its members, or to remove those in authority. Sadly, our words may never cause the abuse to stop but we hope those who are still there will be helped by our words. We think no less of those who remain and realize many are well aware of these wrongs and remain in hopes of ushering in change. We were there once too and even our best efforts were met with the stiffest of resistance. Your continued involvement shows true dedication and should be applauded.

And on a slightly different note we have some comments on commenting. As was said before, we cannot control what anyone says in the comment box. That is the point of the commenting feature here and we in no way wish to censor the thoughts of any writer. Anyone is free to say anything they want and remain anonymous if they wish. We will only remove comments that are vulgar, severely inappropriate, or have outbound links to objectionable material. This has always been our policy and we have only removed one comment from the hundreds posted.

Though we will not edit comments we will extend this thought. It is said, "You attract more bees with honey than vinegar." This seems very applicable to commenting. It is easy to write personal attacks on people who don't agree. In fact, all points of view are encouraged here. But, for the most part, we are all Christians. So, though you are free to say ANYTHING you want, tact is encouraged. Especially when commenting to current members. If you attack anyone, the last thing they will do is see your point of view. They will quickly retreat and put up their best defenses. But, if you present your thoughts logically, tactfully, and in humility, you are more likely to be heard. Perhaps the point is, if there is no bitterness here, it makes it more difficult to label our thoughts as that. Ok, sorry for the soapbox, just some thoughts.

In conclusion (welcome words at the end of a long sermon) thank you all again. We cannot say it enough, Everyone's involvement here is greatly appreciated. We are literally getting over a thousand pageloads a day. We know not what the future holds for this project but we are encouraged by your comments and e-mails. We have even seen one former member make steps back toward God because of what they read here and that in itself makes this all worthwhile.