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Fifteen years ago, the leadership of MorningStar Ministries sent an email to dozens of female students at its on-campus university inviting them to a meeting about two recently-terminated employees.
More than thirty women attended the gathering – held in a large room where students convened daily for chapel. According to those who attended, there were no apologies or offers of mental health support. Instead, the women were subjected to a ritualistic wiping of their foreheads to remove the so-called “Jezebel spirit” – an alleged indwelling of lust which marked them and drew abusers to them. The ritual was followed by worship.
Finally, the women were admonished to say nothing about their experiences with the two men.
“You are a better woman if you are silent,” one of the participants explained.
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So, the ladies complied. They kept their silence for years – a cloak of secrecy which was maintained until they began learning of the sexual abuse of minor boys who participated in a MorningStar youth ministry from 2018 to 2023.
This abuse was inflicted on them by the group’s volunteer leader, Erickson Lee, a police officer and U.S. Marine who pleaded guilty to criminal charges last September and is currently serving time at an undisclosed location in the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) system.
These women could remain silent no more. They have since come to be known as “The Thirty”.
“It is a disservice to these boys to not say something,” said Leah Wolf in a recent YouTube interview. “I wish I could help all of them.”
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Wolf, one of The Thirty, estimates more than ninety MorningStar students were invited to attend the meeting – all suspected victims of inappropriate behavior ranging from intimate texting to touching and far beyond. Through another student, Wolf reported the person who was privately texting her – lingering too close to her and putting his hands on her in ways that made her very uncomfortable.
Later in the school year, Leah found herself involved in an ongoing struggle with church leadership over her boyfriend’s proclivities. She wanted to break up with the aspiring youth minister – whom she described as a sex addict who had to leave campus several times a day to satisfy his cravings for pornography.
Two male ministry leaders called her into an office late one night to speak to her. According to Wolf, they told her the relationship was what God intended for her life. Marriage would curb her boyfriend’s porn addiction, they said. If she did not hurry up and marry him, her boyfriend’s failures would be her fault.
At the end of the school year, Wolf left the college and did not return.
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THE PETITION…
In the fall of 2024, another former MorningStar student drafted a petition calling for an independent investigation into the ministry’s history of abuse – and for new leadership. This petition has since been signed by nearly 300 individuals – many of them former students or members. Like The Thirty, they were spurred to action when the sexual abuse of underage boys was publicly revealed in a series of civil suits filed in York County last summer.
The plaintiffs, identified as John Doe 1, 2, and 3, were members of the MorningStar youth group for teen boys known as Youth Special Forces, which was Lee – a former Cornelius, N.C. police officer. According to the lawsuits, Lee groomed the boys, provided them with vapes, alcohol and pornography – and the sexually assaulted them.
On December 13, 2024, attorneys for the Youth Special Forces victims – and attorneys for MorningStar – appeared in court for a hearing on the ministry’s motion to dismiss the case. Since Lee was a volunteer and not an employee, the ministry is arguing the leadership had no obligation to provide training and oversight for the leader of the group as a means of preventing the abuse.
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RELATED | MINISTRY SEEKS TO DISMISS LAWSUITS
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Attorneys for the plaintiffs say considering the ministry’s history – which has been marred by multiple allegations of abuse over the past twenty years – how could they not take measures to help protect the vulnerable?
Despite the growing numbers of victims speaking of their experiences, MorningStar founder and president Rick Joyner called 2024 one of the ministry’s best years ever. Also, at a conference celebrating the New Year, Joyner ceremoniously restored disgraced pastor Todd Bentley to the ministry.
According to a panel of six charismatic leaders, Bentley allegedly harbored a “perverse sexual addiction” and engaged in “a steady pattern of compromised behavior, including credible accusations of adultery, sexting (including the exchanging of nude pictures or videos), vulgar language, and substance abuse.”
“There are credible accusations of a steady pattern of ungodly and immoral behavior,” the panel concluded in 2020.
Why would a church already facing such scrutiny invite a pastor like Bentley to its pulpit?
As both parties await a decision from S.C. circuit court judge Martha Rivers, this week both parties have filed new documents with the court in support of their positions – and submitted draft orders for Waters’ consideration.
To read the latest plaintiffs’ motion, click here (.pdf). And to read the latest from the defendants, click here (.pdf).
Count on FITSNews to keep our audience apprised as to the latest developments in this case…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Callie Lyons is a journalist, researcher and author. Her 2007 book ‘Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal’ was the first to cover forever chemicals and their impact on communities – a story later told in the movie ‘Dark Waters.’ Her investigative work has been featured in media outlets, publications, and documentaries all over the world. Lyons also appears in ‘Citizen Sleuth’ – a 2023 documentary exploring the genre of true crime.
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2 comments
More than 40% of convicted child molesters will be convicted again. Conservative estimates are that less than 10% of molesters are caught and convicted. Child molesters should NEVER be placed in a position that allows interaction children under any circumstances again regardless of the “restoration” that they may have under gone.
Parishioners, if you church’s leadership suggests any response to the alleged abuse of a child other than reporting it, and separating the alleged abuser immediately, you need to find a new church. If the allegations prove to be unequivocally false then you can”restore” the now cleared accused. Judgement is the Lord’s but we are called to exercise discernment at all times.
Well good for her obstinately breaking the omertà spell. And IDK but it seems inexplicable absent an unquestioning coverup by insular church elders/stewards/patsies. But yet, not far distant from JP Miller antics. Assuming he had raised up a make shift Christian college of sorts. As I recall, his daddy had which tanked earlier. How much trust should be granted to ministers accountable to hand picked trustees? The RCC has had problems but exercises oversight at a parish level that would derail this story early on.
Are there mandatory sexual abuse reporters in SC? Are clergy amongst them?