Tim Tebow at Trinity Christian Academy
Tim Tebow played football at my alma mater, Trinity Christian Academy of Jacksonville, Florida. It’s unclear from his book, Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow (with Nathan Whitaker), whether he took any classes beyond physical education. Tebow was homeschooled by his parents who, further research reveals, were quite prosperous missionaries to the Phillipines.
Bob Tebow, Tim’s father, continues to run the orphanage, Uncle Dick’s House in Mindanao, Phillipines, which, with a name like that, we can only hope won’t have a scandal brewing similar to Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky’s Second Mile charity.
There’s no doubt Tim Tebow’s mother, Pamela, was a trendsetter in the homeschool movement. In fact, I was aware of her work before I even knew anything about her son. TCA alums in North Florida, who also homeschooled, told me about a program in the area where homeschooling parents get together with other homeschooling parents and take their kids on field trips. That way, they won’t miss out on socializing with others.
Well, Tebow’s mom was behind that! Tebow mentions this in his book and, although I am a critic of homeschooling, I must admit if more homeschooling parents were like Pamela Tebow, it would definitely break the stereotype of bigoted parents who only rely on PACE or ACE workbooks.
Example: Tim needed Latin in order to enter the University of Florida. Pamela contacts a Latin teacher and brings her to the house to tutor Tim. Now how many homeschooling parents have the dollars to just hire teachers to come to their house? Like I said, prosperous missionaries.
Florida passed a law in 1996 that allowed homeschooled kids to play athletics in public or private schools. Tebow choose Trinity and based on informal questions to other alums, it doesn’t appear like he took a single class beyond phys ed.
Tebow did not last long at Trinity. The Coach refused to let him play Quarterback. Tim Tebow believes in teamwork as long as he gets his way, obviously. It’s tempting to write that Trinity’s coach was trying to teach Tebow the meaning of ‘teamwork’, but TCA’s football history shows they’re not above doing whatever takes to get their team at number one.
I was at TCA in 1980 and as the picture from my yearbook shows (see below), we lost every single game that year. Why? Well, I guess if I had the reverse ego of Tebow I could blame myself. No, I didn’t play football but I was responsible for organizing lunch time prayer meetings so revival would come to TCA.
We were very concerned about a double standard regarding the rules that were enforced. If I were to moon someone in a mall (never did), I would have been expelled. A player mooned someone on a bus trip and got a slap on the wrist. Today, this does not strike me as behavior worthy of expulsion. In those days, however, I thought it was sign of the end!
Mooning? In a Christian school? By a football player? Perish the thought.
As a result of the prayer meetings and ‘revival’, some of our better football players were removed from the team. We lost and had no one but ourselves to blame for praying instead of practicing.
TCA wised up over the years and was accused of recruiting players. Specifically, Chirod Williams who went on to play for Georgia Tech. Ed White contested Chirod’s eligibility but it doesn’t appear to have gone anywhere. When Tebow left TCA, someone at TCA also contested Tebow’s eligibility. Sour grapes?
This might seem like the end of Tebow’s connection with Trinity, but it is not.
He writes about his ‘Uncle Bill’ Heavener, a wealthy individual who purchased tickets to the Heisman award for Tebow’s family. Uncle Bill also has a box at the Gator Bowl. Tebow does not mention that ‘Uncle Bill’ is James “Bill” W. Heavener, the brother of Jacksonville real estate mogul, Mac Heavener. Mac Heavener is the president of Trinity Baptist College and served as deacon of Trinity Baptist Church.
Mac was a deacon at Trinity Baptist Church when I attended from 1977-1980. There’s a good possibility he was a deacon during the era when pastor Bob Gray left for the mission field to allegedly avoid having the whistle blown on him for child molestation. At least, according to one of the depositions.
Tim Tebow was at Trinity circa 2003, based on informal communiques with various alums. Gray was arrested in 2006, so Tebow missed that drama by 3 years. In a sense, it seems inappropriate to even mention this except for the fact that Tebow’s major in college was family, youth, and community sciences and Tebow’s family operates an orphanage. Don’t you think someone in the business might have some thoughts on protecting children?
Tebow ponders the idea that after playing with the NFL he might want to go into Christian services dealing with youth and orphans. If that is the case, I think Tim Tebow would do well to take matters into his own hands and address the following questions:
How can Christian schools deal with sex predators in their midst?
Would you recommend some preventative sex education that tells the youngsters the difference between ‘safe touching’ and ‘unsafe touching’ and teaches them what to do and how to contact the police when they are approached by a predator?
Is Tim Tebow willing to use his name to get such a curriculum started in private religious schools like Trinity Christian Academy?
Just a thought.
Articles and links:
Chirod Williams:
TCA accused of recruiting Chirod Williams.
Chirod Williams at Georgia Tech.
Heavener related:
James ‘Uncle Bill’ Heavener’s Sail University.
Tebow:
1980, BCT (Before Chirod/Tebow):
America, You’re Too Young To Die!
I just found out this is available on YouTube. Even though it has a 1985 date, I saw this in 1980 at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida. Therefore, there might be some material in this video that wasn’t in the version I saw. It was originally a multi-media experience. Jerry Falwell brought performers with him and there were ‘stage movements’ (a BJU term for ‘dancing’). I wrote about this presentation in my book, Spring Break Missionaries, which is now out of print but still has an amazon page.
Excerpt:
The Moral Majority once again came to Trinity Baptist Church.
Our first period class had been cancelled due to the presentation, AMERICA, YOU’RE TOO YOUNG TO DIE. It was difficult to tell who was meant to be converted. The students were already on Falwell’s side, after all, we wrote letters for him twice that year!
We gathered to watch a multi-media presentation complete with singing, dancing (fundamentalists called them ‘stage movements’), and video clips of senators, congressmen, aborted fetuses, and grind houses. The feeling received after such a presentation was, “I’m glad I go to a Christian school where drugs and violence are not a part of everyday life!”
After the presentation, we returned to our homerooms waiting to be dismissed to our second period class. A student expressed disgust over a photo of two homosexuals.
“In my day, we knew how to deal with faggots.” a teacher said, “They used to gather at Friendship Fountain. When I was going to high school, a bunch of my friends used to go over and pick on them. We once knocked a guy’s head into the side of the fountain! He was bleeding like a squashed tomato.”
“That’s awful!” said a girl.
“They were queer!”
The boys nodded their heads.
“They’re still hanging out at Friendship Fountain.” One guy said, “I would have done the same thing.”
Something about my teacher bragging about violence bothered me.
“There’s a teacher at Trinity who brags about beating up gays. Do you think we should tell Brother Gray?” I asked a youth leader.
“Why should it concern you?”
I asked a teacher his opinion.
“Are you thinking of turning gay, Dwayne?”
“A gay person cannot be saved.” It was explained to me, “The Book of Romans teaches that God gave men up to unclean lusts. When God gives men up and withdraws His Spirit from them, nothing will stop them from perverting God’s plan. Once they step over the boundary into homosexuality, they cannot be saved—even if they want to! As far as God is concerned, their souls are dead. God looks upon them as animals.”
“I know they can’t be saved.” I argued, “But what about public relations? Wouldn’t it hurt our testimony if people knew we were beating up gays? It might keep them unsaved.”
“Why should we worry about what the world thinks?” another friend shrugged, “God does not want us to be cruel to animals, but if it happens God won’t send anyone to Hell for being cruel.“
Do Right, BJU? Just Do It, BJU! . . .and DO IT RIGHT!
If I were a person of influence at Bob Jones University, I would have a special chapel service on December 12th commemorating the Twelve Days of Christmas, along with Christmas carolers, a message on the ‘true meaning of Christmas’ (and I wouldn’t expect BJU to be shy about calling it a pagan holiday accepted by Christians thanks to the Roman Catholic Church), and, to get everybody in the spirit of things, encourage everyone to dress in Christmas colors like red and green. That way, no one would be able to tell the difference between those protesting how BJU has handled sexual abuse cases and the regular rank and file students.
This idea is courtesy of a post which is either buried or deleted somewhere on the DoRight BJU page, which I don’t feel like spending valuable time looking for. It sounded like someone trying to wave the white flag to the administration. The protest was to, and might still, involve students wearing red on December 12th, 2012, to protest Chuck Phelps being on the board of Bob Jones University. Chuck Phelps is the man who made Tina Anderson apologize to the church after she was sexually molested by a church worker. This case has been covered by the media and put the focus on child abuse within the ranks of the IFB in the headlines.
Phelps has since resigned but the protest will continue because Do Right BJU does not accept that the administration is doing all it can to stop sex abuse within its ranks. Lara McClintock, a regular poster on this subject, puts it like this: “The protest was and is a stand against BJU putting a rubber stamp on the willful cover-up of a crime (you know, the sin of violently raping a young girl), and the fact that several women on the campus throughout the years have been told shut up and not get the help they needed because of crimes committed against them.”
I have now read one of the many ‘Facebook Advocates’ (a term I predict will become frequently used as an insult) basically tell Do Right to pack it in and protesting students to resign and leave quietly. There’s not a lot of unity amongst Facebook Advocates but there certainly is unity amongst those who have been victimized and have come together on Facebook who have not pledged loyalty to anyone except other survivors.
That’s to be applauded! The Facebook revolution has helped more victims get their stories out and, might possibly, help them to recover faster than previous generations of victims have ever been able to. My take is most critics of DoRight BJU are just jealous that the internet wasn’t around in the seventies and eighties.
To protest or not protest? To wear red or not wear red? I feel I am more than qualified in sharing my two cents worth since I went to Bob Jones University for three weeks before realizing it was a mistake. This was not the place for me! Yes, I could have stayed because I knew I wouldn’t be getting my parent’s money back. But to stay there any longer would be a waste of that very money since most of my credits would not transfer.
I also wanted to be in an environment that valued free inquiry. Bob Jones University was not that place because I could not have a decent conversation with anyone that didn’t result in me receiving a notice to report to a Dorm Supe and then, eventually, the Dean of Men. Although, I never received the notice to see Dean Liverman, I just walked into his office ready to resign unaware that he was expecting me.
It was a waste! My interest was cinema and I would not be able to touch a camera for about two years. I could tell just from the first Film 101 class (or whatever they called it), when I submitted a treatment about a teen who escapes an abusive and Satanic (I’m influenced by drive-movies, give me a break!) Christian camp. My English teacher at Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida gave me an ‘A’ for that story. I saw my BJU instructor place the paper down while shaking his head. In a way, he might have been paying the highest compliment anyone at BJU could give me.
It’s been many decades since. I’ve always asked myself the question, “Was it wrong to leave Bob Jones University?” The answer to that question, usually asked during the lows of my life, came back with such clarity today I just have to publish my answer on this blog.
When I look back, I realize I am glad I left BJU. If I had stayed any longer, I would not have gotten married, moved to California, and had all sorts of adventures with b-movie directors, artists and activists.
I certainly wouldn’t have confronted all the conflicting feelings regarding sex, politics and art. Introspection? Psychology? I don’t care how many courses they offer in so-called ‘Christian psychology’, fundamentalism is against that sort of thing! It’s easy for me to imagine staying in the system, refusing to address the basic truths and contradictions of life and then winding up profiled on Chuckie’s Travels as either an abusive pastor or Sunday School teacher.
That didn’t happen! I left. And when I did, not even the fundamentalists from my Christian high school turned their back on me. BJU had already lambasted a number of their favorite evangelists so they didn’t care.
I left because I did not like my conversations monitored. Also, I realized the insanity of trying to learn film in a college that forbids you to go to movies. I left for the University of South Florida where I got to study under filmmakers like Will Hindle and artists like Roy Lichtenstein. This served me well when I finally came to Hollywood and made friends with directors like Donald Jackson (Hell Comes to Frogtown and other drive-in classics) who knew how those people influenced art and film making.
Those in the Do Right BJU movement have a golden opportunity not only to stop wasting valuable years of their life at BJU, but to do so in a manner that is actually noble! You’re defending the rights of abused children in the IFB system! What better reason do you have not only to wear red but to step out and leave the chapel, en masse, on Monday, December 12?
Bob Jones University, like most conservative fundamentalists, are very creative when it comes to lying. Sure, their stooge might have been on local Greenville TV saying students would not be expelled for protesting. Already there are whispers that BJU does not plan to honor that.
Fundamentalists never really stick to their word! They will make these bold promises, then, when they break their word, look for some scripture to justify their broken promises, “I know we promised, but there is no way I can keep to my Christian convictions by allowing you to, blah, blah.” Jerry Falwell did it to Jim Bakker and there’s no reason BJU won’t do it to protesting students.
Besides, do you really think BJU is having a moment of clarity? Hardly. Just like every generation thinks they ‘invented sex’, every fundamental generation thinks they invented diplomacy with fundamentalist leaders. President Obama thought the same thing when he confronted the Republican fundamentalists in Congress! If you still believe you can have a diplomatic exchange with the abusive fundamentalists at BJU, send your resume to the White House. Your country needs you.
If the University pulls any funny business like having everyone wear Christmas colors, they’re drowning out your voice. If you must protest, make it for real! On December 12, during the opening prayer, leave. That’s right! Get up from your seat and leave! It’s all over! It’s time to redeem yourself and start being who you were meant to be. You tried to play nice, but you can see the lies. Even if it’s just one or two people leaving, you will have more nobility, and an inspirational story to tell your children about how you stood against the corruption of an abusive institution.
I did. Life was rough but I’m still here and very proud of my decision. You can be, too.
NOTE: Just one day after this post, the following YouTube appeared on Facebook. It is allegedly of a BJU faculty/staff meeting which indicates some staffers, students, and maybe others plan on on wearing green and white to support the university. I did not know about this until this morning.
Penn State/Christian School scandals: deja vu
Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach now under arrest on charges of 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys during a 15 year period, was also active in a children’s charity called ‘The Second Mile’, which was praised by George H.W. Bush as one of the ‘shining points of light’.
This is just one of three similarities from my book, Christian School Confidential, that have been blowing my mind for the last two days. Christian School Confidential, a fictionalized account of a church community in the midst of a sexual abuse trial, was inspired by the arrest and eventual non-trial of Bob Gray, the founder of my Christian school, Trinity Christian Academy, and former pastor of TCA’s sponsoring church, Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville, Florida.
Gray was arrested on May 19, 2006. Over 20 women, and a man, came forward with accounts of Gray molesting them as children. The defense succeeded in delaying the case for nearly an entire year before Gray died of a fall in his home. This happened a week or so before his trial was set to begin. His death was reported on November 12, 2007.
I started the blog ‘Christian School Confidential’ shortly after his arrest. I wanted to expound on certain details the local media seemed hesitant to deal with. Because I was really the only one visible on the internet exclusively discussing the Gray case (as opposed to the entire IFB movement), Adam Horowitz, lawyer for the victims, sent me .pdf’s of the various civil suits before the Florida Times Union even caught on that civil suits had been filed!
There was criticism directed at me that I was broad brushing the ‘IFB’ movement (a name journalists and critics bestowed upon them, not the actual practitioners) by only discussing abuse that happened within fundamentalism. I agreed this was a problem and not very conducive to addressing matters of abuse. I began posting stories of abuse that happened in nearly every facet of society, from the military to iced cream men to themed parks.
Every organizations has their unique defenses against those who accuse their members of molestation. Rock stars and movie producers have money and can boycott certain performers. Fundamentalists have the bible and money. The police can intimidate and throw victims in jail. Whatever happened to those 5000 people who worked in the Pentagon who allegedly downloaded child pornography? The military and the Pentagon are probably the scariest people to deal with since anything in the top branches of the government can result in the loss of your rights under the guise of ‘protecting national security’. Every one of these demographics have been accused of using their influence to cover up child abuse.
My concern was that by dealing exclusively with the small minded world of the IFB, we would short change victims who were not abused by IFB ministers but might have been abused by other institutions such as the police, the military, and even good ole’ Penn State.
It was also difficult working with advocacy groups. Remember, this is before Facebook made advocacy a democratic pursuit not beholden to any one person or group. Before Facebook (2006, BF), those who concentrated on abuse within the family did not want to speak against the church. Those who addressed problems within certain denominations did not want to venture outside of their denominations. Most never answered emails. So, if you were abused at a commune or theme park or some other place where an institution or organization covered up abuse, you were out of luck if you weren’t Catholic or Southern Baptist!
And now we see from the Sandusky case, the coach worked with at risk children through the Second Mile organization, which he founded. Some are now accusing him of using the Second Mile to groom children for their abuse.
The same thing happens in my book, Christian School Confidential! The wife of a church pastor is a known advocate who was not only abused by my main character but helps cover up the abuse of her daughter. Her ‘advocacy’ is just another stepping stone in her career to be the ‘Christian’ Ann Coulter.
This is a sensitive area, I know. There have been incidents of predators infiltrating advocacy groups or other organizations that help children. It gives them an alibi as well as a place for recruiting and grooming victims. If you talk about it, you might be accused of being a mole or a toxic personality. If you don’t talk about, you’ve become no different than the enablers you criticize and the predator gets away with it. Hence, I found fiction a better place to deal with that issue.
Judge Leslie Dutchcot who granted Jerry Sandusky’s bail was a volunteer in Second Mile. The prosecutor in my book went to Freedom University, a fundamentalist college, run by a good friend of the accused pastor.
Joe Paterno, the Penn State coach who was fired for covering up the abuse, sold his house to his wife for $1. Bob Gray’s former church, Trinity, was authorized to sell the parsonage on 10/24/2006 and on 10/26/07, just weeks before Bob Gray died, property was sold to his wife for $10. The pastor in Christian School Confidential does the same thing except she gets the Paterno deal: a $199,999.95 parsonage for $1.
This road has been traveled before. Now that the Catholic Church has stepped in to help Penn State, the best most of us can do is sit down with a bowl of popcorn and play armchair quarterback.
Look for delays. Lots and lots of delays. If the victims are meeting on the internet, look for ‘advocates’ to come out and encourage them to talk while, at the same time, not going to the press! Lawyers will investigate some of those internet postings for inconsistencies in stories.
To talk the press or not? That is the question! Going to the press might hurt your court case. If you continue with the trial, you will be quiet while the case is going on but what happens when it’s over? Some are too exhausted to talk while others, even if they never settled, might have the entire case SEALED! That means, you can never talk about it. Ever! Those who do settle can’t talk because of confidentiality agreements. These are nice legal ways to cover up without resorting to threats.
Institutions have been covering up abuse for years. They have it down to a science. They exploit the individual quirks of their doctrines, mission statements, bylaws and political contacts to cover up abuse. The time has come to stop marginalizing abuse and to start adopting sweeping regulations that would penalize any institution or business (churches, college, theme parks, youth camps, teen behavioral modification centers, iced cream men, etc) that covers up instances of child abuse.
SIA’s Convention (or: Is that Bettie Page on the book cover?)
Survivors of Institutional Abuse are organizing a convention for victims of teen behavioral modification centers. It will take place in Long Beach, CA on February 24-26 2012 at the Queen Mary. I have agreed to share half the monies made with the sales of Christian School Confidential to help make this convention possible.
Christian School Confidential is the story of a woman who learns her daughter has been molested by her former pastor. Her sister, who was also molested by the same pastor, was sent to a girl’s home so she would be kept quiet. Pressure is put upon my main character to send her daughter to a fundamentalist girls home. Hence, the appropriate connection with those who suffered similar abuse.
The drawing on the book’s cover is ‘Our Lady of Biola’. It was done by the late Kelley Renee, who did the illustrations for the original Christian School Confidential which was a zine sold on e-bay in the late 1990s.
It was inspired by Bettie Page. Bettie Page did not attend a fundamentalist Christian high school but she did attend three fundamentalist/evangelical colleges after her pin-up career. She rededicated her life to Christ at the Key West Temple Baptist Church in Key West, Florida. She attended Moody, Biola, Multnomah, and a little known place called Bibletown in Boca Raton, Florida.
She spent a good deal of her life not aware that she had become a pin-up icon. She eventually wound up at a fundamental Baptist home for senior citizens. That was where journalists discovered her. Hugh Hefner, being a fan of Bettie Page from his teenage years, stepped in to take care of her both legally and financially. She gained control over her images but, to my knowledge, still remained loyal to the fundamental Baptist home that helped her.
I don’t have a problem with that. I’m just amused by the thought that a fundamentalist ministry might have profited from Bettie Page bondage films. Bettie’s last interview with Playboy only adds to the frustration! Bettie’s final words to her fans consisted of trashing her photographer, Bunny Yeager, and calling for all to turn to Christ.
Well, the lady in my book is no Bettie Page! The woman in the picture is now ‘Lamora Gomorrah’, former fifties pin up queen who repents of her sins due to the meddling influence of her soon to be husband, famed evangelist R. Lee ‘Jules’ Cutswipe. Cutswipe abuses her and another teenager in his girl’s home which operated during the 1960s. This encounter ends with death. Lamora (now forced to call herself ‘Mary’) begins her quest to undermine the evil of the Fundamental Independent Baptist (FIB) movement.
That’s what I look for in my super-heroine pin-ups! Someone who uses the resources at hand to undermine and transform the establishment!
The focus of this satirical novel is Sarah Starr; a former missionary who learns her daughter, Chelsea, was molested by her former pastor, Dr. Roger Bunyan, Jr. Bunyan is the former pastor of Diadem Baptist Church, located in Crane City which is located about 60 miles north of Los Angeles, CA. He left under mysterious circumstances to become a missionary. Bunyan’s son is now the mayor. Pete Jackson, Mayor Bunyan’s friend, is the current pastor of this desert megachurch.
Bunyan has returned to Crane City. Sarah learns Chelsea had a disturbing encounter with him. She is equally afraid of pressure to put her daughter in a girl’s home for even talking about the abuse. If you want know how this saga ends, you have to buy the book.
Real life survivors of fundamentalist girls homes have been reuniting on facebook for the last few years. They are coming to Long Beach, CA in February 2012 where they will join those from other homes, not all of them operated by religious ministries.
This convention is hosted by the Survivors of Institutional Abuse. It can happen only with the generous donations of survivors and their supporters. I agreed to let half the proceeds from this book help to pay down the cost of the convention.
Christmas is around the corner! Buy one for your favorite Christian school and/or college student! Have them do a book report on Christian School Confidential, then send the report to me complete with teacher’s grade (and general reaction). I will post it on this site.
If you don’t know any students, buy Christian School Confidential to support a good cause. Donate a copy to your local public school or library. Donate one to your local Christian School or Christian College library!
I dare you. . .
Christian School Confidential
NOW AVAILABLE AT AMAZON.COM!
Christian School Confidential
a fundamental satire
Authored by Dwayne Walker
Sarah Starr teaches fifth grade English at Diadem Christian Academy in the desert town of Crane City, California. Adam, her husband, is pursuing a masters in biblical studies when both learn troubling news. Chelsea, their daughter, claims Dr. Roger Bunyan, Jr, founder of Diadem Baptist College and pastor of their church, has molested her.
Sarah and Adam want to do the right thing by scripture. Instead of withdrawing her from Diadem Christian Academy, they keep Chelsea at DCA to teach her that Christians can resolve their conflicts in a godly manner.
Sarah’s odyssey takes her on an insane journey into the absurdities of fundamentalism, internet advocacy, politics, entertainment and mass media evangelism. In the grand tradition of Terry Southern and Gore Vidal!
Click here to order.
