You CAN handle the truth.
A Victim of Clergy Sexual Abuse by Reggie Joiner (founder of Orange), speaks - it's time to listen.
A year ago, I learned that Reggie Joiner—founder of Orange, a friend, and a leader I once admired—used his position to groom and sexually abuse multiple women over many years. I’ve spoken directly with several of them. I also advised the board, but it appears very little of my counsel was followed.
Despite courageous truth-telling by the victims to the board, internal counsel, and an external investigator, there has been no confession, no repentance, no restitution, and no full acknowledgment.
Now, one survivor is coming forward with a public statement— seeking accountability and hoping to break the cycle of harm.
I’m exhausted by this story. It’s time to stop the passive participation in the presence of predatory evil—what I believe is the clearest definition of original sin, and a fitting description of the perpetuation of clergy sexual abuse.
I, too, once believed that if they knew the whole story, they would tell the truth. But there’s a deeply entrenched mindset that insists the public—the Church—can’t handle the truth.
Last year, I stood on the Orange stage and delivered a message urging us to face the discomfort of truth as a sacred invitation—not something to avoid. I named the ways we miss what God is doing: by covering, distracting, minimizing, and denying. I spoke as clearly and directly as I knew how. Looking back, I wish I could do it again—because now I know I needed to be even clearer.
The truth is: we can handle it. And more than that—we must.
Telling the truth is one of the only ways to break the cycle of clergy sexual abuse. I know I’m not alone in wanting this to end.
We can protect a generation from further harm.
We can honour and care for survivors who have been sinned against, sidelined and silenced.
We can free perpetrators who are trapped in silence, secrecy and darkness.
We can see the Church cleansed and restored and safe.
We can make right what has been so wrong for so long.
We can be free.
The era of scapegoating, blame-shifting, and complicit silence must end. This cycle of harm continues because truth is buried to protect perpetrators, while survivors are silenced. Abusers—and their protectors—have platforms, reputations, legal teams, money, boards, and powerful networks built for self-preservation.
But protecting institutions over people isn’t survival—it’s betrayal. The Church isn’t losing a generation because they’ve rejected Jesus, but because they see the Church has.
Thank God for a generation of brave, selfless survivors speaking truth to power. These light-bearers aren’t driven by revenge—they’re driven by the urgency to stop the harm, expose complicity, and protect others from abuse.
This is the very light Jesus told us to place on the table—to shine for everyone in the house. When the Church says hide it, or the accuser tries to snuff it out, we say no—and lift it higher.
We're following the voice of Jesus.
It may echo a simple Sunday school song, but it holds up as both faithful practice and solid theology for this moment.
I say to every survivor who speaks the truth - let your light shine!
For years, I’ve been on a journey to understand, lament, and help stop clergy sexual abuse. It never gets easier. And the cost is always high. Every survivor—and every person who stands with them—pays a price: reputations lost, platforms closed, friendships faded, opportunities quietly withdrawn.
I’ve been warned—by people I respect—that giving platform for this truth could cost me my place in the wider Church. But I’ve counted the cost, and I know of no other way that leads to abundant life but the way of Jesus. To take up the cross is the only path forward. And during Lent, it feels especially clear: this is the way of every survivor I’ve ever known. The cost for them is crushing. Their only hope? That their witness might set others free.
When I interviewed Lori Anne Thompson—survivor of both abuse by Ravi Zacharias and betrayal by the Church that protected him at her expense—I asked how her faith survived. She said: “To whom else could I go but the One who fully identifies with my exposed, scapegoated, and publicly crucified life?”
To whom else can we go?
Peter asked it. Lori Anne asked it. I ask it now. Only Jesus has the words of life—the Way, the Truth, the Life.
These belong together.
I pray we find them in Jesus—and in every light-bearer who embodies self-giving, co-suffering love. This is the way of the Cross: exposing abusive power, confronting complicity, and standing with the scapegoated and crucified.
This is the power of Love revealed.
“The cross is not the end. The cross is the way to the resurrection. It is not defeat but victory. The Christian gospel is a message of hope. God snatches victory out of defeat, life out of death, and hope out of despair.”
— James H. Cone, "The Cross and the Lynching Tree"
What can you do?
Listen to and support survivors of abuse.
Get educated on abuse dynamics and cycles.
Get help for your own trauma/complicity/or abuse.
Donate to survivor led organizations.
Advocate for full transparency at your church/org.
Stop complying with systems that protect perpetrators and perpetuate abuse.
Speak up and tell the truth.
There is a full podcast season called Ahhhhhh! All the things we can’t stand about clergy sexual abuse on my podcast (The Right Side Up)… a decent start for getting educated on all the things.
There is an online course called TOXIC CULTURES that might be helpful for your discernment about your own culture.