Dear Friends,

God was so good to Kyoko and I as we exhibited for The Hope of Survivors at the 2019 PELC conference at Oakwood College in Huntsville, AL. He surrounded us with supportive fellow exhibitors–one kind exhibitor even bought us lunch on the last cold, snowy day we were there. The Holy Spirit brought believers by to share their hearts and experiences of clergy sexual abuse. And many encouraged us and THOS to keep up the good work in helping victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Each year I hear a song or theme over and over from those who stop by our booth. This year the theme I heard was “Women crying out for JUSTICE against clergy sexual abuse!” It reminded me of our Lord Jesus sharing the parable about the persistent widow crying out for justice in Luke 18:1-7:3, “And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’”

Eventually, the judge was worn down by her persistence and said in verse 5,
“yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice.”

Finally, Jesus declares these powerful words about His children receiving justice in verses 7-8, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.”

Many women came by demanding the Church needs to believe women, hold abusers accountable, and bring justice to God’s people. Several were outraged over leaders not taking Biblical actions to protect the flock. They wanted the leaders to be educated more at conferences like the PELC and in local churches. They asked, “why hasn’t the PELC ever asked Steve and Samantha to speak about CSA?” The women were passionate–and even angry–that the Church does not give victims justice after being sexually abused by spiritual leaders. Last year at this PELC, a sister shared about a woman being assaulted by a male pastor. She reported the attack but nothing was done about it. This has led many women to cry out for justice. After talking with us, one sister was so convicted she marched away from our booth vowing to tell every lady and every leader she knew about THOS.

May The Hope of Survivors continue to be a voice for the voiceless crying out for justice for all who are heinously abused by wolves in shepherd’s clothing. May we continue to minister to the lost, the hurting, and the vulnerable sheep. May we continue to educate and call out to the Church to rightly handle CSA according to God’s Word. Our Lord Jesus is truly coming back soon–may the Bride make herself ready!

God bless you,
Tammy Landry
Victim Support Services/Exhibitor