Ex-Californians Have Been in Robertson for 15 Years
By Chris Echegaray
The Tennessean
May 17, 2008
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080517/NEWS01/805170368/1006
CROSS PLAINS — They sold their homes in Southern California, left careers behind and followed their church leader despite whispers of sexual abuse among the congregation.
Now those whispers have arrived at their doorstep in rural Tennessee, where members of the nondenominational Christian Gospel Temple are solid members of the community who have lived here for more than 15 years.
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| Jennifer Meier-Beita of Robertson County is one of the plaintiffs in lawsuits filed against Christian Gospel Temple. Photo by Larry McCormack |
The church is embroiled in four lawsuits filed in Southern California that stem from sexual abuse allegations by former members. Though the church is rooted in Los Angeles, its leaders began moving to Tennessee in 1993. They said they wanted to move from the congestion and perils of Chino, Calif., to the Bible Belt, where they would feel more comfortable.
The church's former leader, the Rev. Cornelius Mears, and the congregation built Christian Gospel Temple on 15 acres of land that includes a baseball field and a pavilion for community events.
The church's reputation as a community stalwart is now threatened as members face something other churches have had to deal with in recent years: accusations of widespread sexual abuse.
Lawsuits and personal accounts from former members of the church say there were rapes, molestations and cover-ups in a congregation that includes several generations of family members.
The four women who filed suit against the church say one of the former pastors and other congregants sexually abused them when they were children in California. The lawsuits are seeking unspecified amounts in punitive damages.
The women, three of them now Tennessee residents, say Christian Gospel Temple never took any action when the abuse was reported to Mears, who died in 2006, or the current church leader, the Rev. Steve Farmer.
Church set policy
Farmer said that he feels sympathy for the victims of the abuse, but that the church did not hide or cover up the incidents.
He said that when allegations surfaced in 2004, long after the plaintiffs said they occurred, the church produced a policy that stated it would not tolerate any abuse.
"It's deplorable," Farmer said in an interview on Friday. "We are very sad, and the congregation feels great sympathy for the victims. We never specifically or intentionally covered up anything. It was different the way they dealt with it decades ago.
"We understand this happened outside of church confines and facilities," he added. "The lawsuits are in the process of the courts, and the truth will come out."
But the plaintiffs say it's the enclosed nature of the church that helped fuel the abuse outside of it by its members.
Jennifer Meier-Beita, of Robertson County and one of those filing the suit, said marriage starting at 16 was encouraged, and candidates to wed came from within the church.
She also said contact with other churches and the outside world in terms of movies, music and sporting events is discouraged.
The church provides home schooling through high school.
The lawsuit and former members call the church a cult that was controlling with its members under the guise of soul salvation.
It was rigid doctrine based on perfection and obedience, they said.
They said they were in church four times a week, with each service lasting three and a half hours.
Meier-Beita, who said she was molested by a member of the church in 1984, is suing for fraudulent concealment and fraud. She said a teenager sexually molested her.
Meier-Beita, who is a member of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that at the time she went to her mother, who in turn went to Cornelius Mears.
"Nothing happened," Meier-Beita said. "We didn't go to the police. We went to the pastor. At the time I believed you couldn't go anywhere else."
Janice Linder and her two adult daughters, also former members, share similar stories to those in the lawsuits.
Katie Burns, 32, one of Linder's daughters, says a member of the church raped her when she was a child in California. She has not filed a lawsuit, though. She said she decided to leave the church when she turned 18.
Burns and the others say aspects of their lives were controlled. Haircuts, wedding planning, vacations and birthday parties would require approval from Cornelius Mears.
"You don't realize the mind control," Burns said. "You go to the minister, and he is the judge, the law and everything. You had to show obedience, no matter what. Your soul was at risk."
Linder, 60, who was born into the church, made the move to Tennessee with her family in 1993.
Despite misgivings, she stayed in the church until nine years ago.
"I was miserable, spiritually," Linder said.
"One of my biggest regrets was the handling of the abuse. Back then, if I had gone to the police and had to leave the church, that would've meant our eternal souls, and I thought that was the worst thing for our children."
Contact Chris Echegaray at 664-2144 or cechegaray@tennessean.com
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