Ligonier Ministries: "Withrawal Of Legal Complaint"

On Wednesday September 20, 2006 Lignonier Ministries posted a "Withdrawal Of Legal Complaint," as well as a "Public Statement From Tim Dick", on their web site. Two days later on Friday September 22 at 5:27 (EDT) I received an email from Tim Dick which included links to Ligonier's two public statements regarding the lawsuit itself, as well as the alleged "withdrawal" of their "legal complaint" against me. I say "alleged withdrawal" because as of the date of this article the court has yet to receive any paperwork from Ligonier Ministries motioning the court to withdraw the lawsuit.

It's good that Tim emailed me those links because without them it'd be impossible to find those documents. Even though the lawsuit against me is a very public matter they've very carefully avoided drawing anyone's attention to it by not posting any links to those documents anywhere on their web site. Obviously Ligonier is ashamed and embarrassed of what they've done, and they should be.

In a subsequent article I'll address Tim Dick's Public Statement. In this article I'll comment on Ligonier's "Withdrawal Of Legal Complaint":

"On August 24, 2006, Ligonier Ministries filed a legal complaint and a request for an injunction since no ecclesiastical court could be found."

"Legal complaint" is just another way of saying "lawsuit," although for some odd reason Ligonier has been careful to avoid the use of the term, correcting anyone who calls it a "lawsuit." They've also termed their lawsuit an "injunction," again refusing to acknowledge that an injunction is in fact a lawsuit. Additionally, they've also avoided acknowledging that they've sued me for defamation and that they're seeking monetary damages.

The excuse that they sued me because they were unable to identify a suitable "ecclesiastical court" is a sham which in no way absolves them of their Christian duty to not file lawsuits against Christians (1 Corinthians 6). Furthermore, as I've already explained there are multiple Christian organizations readily available which specialize in Christian mediation. Ligonier did have biblical alternatives readily available for resolving this dispute and for them to claim otherwise demonstrates either gross ignorance or blatant deception.

"The filing was an attempt to stem the slanderous and reckless allegations being made about Ligonier and its leaders on the Internet by an individual known as Frank Vance, whose true identity is still unknown to us."

Stemming the allegations could have been easily accomplished had Tim Dick just answered my questions in the negative regarding the Soli Deo Gloria acquisition, "Did you defraud Don Kistler?" Tim repeatedly evaded answering that question, even though we exchanged multiple emails. Had he just simply said, "No, it never happened" then I never would have gone public. Just so Tim would know I wasn't bluffing about giving him a deadline of ten days to correct the SDG issue I posted a comment on August 21 on my blog and also emailed Tim Dick a link to that comment:

"For example something that Tim Dick perpetrated a couple years ago was just brought to my attention (keep those emails coming folks). This is VERY significant news that only confirms that Tim Dick has earned his reputation for being a "shark." This past Friday Tim and I dialogued via email about it. I told Tim about what I now know about how he defrauded a minister. The incident is extraordinarily troubling and if publicly exposed would be devastating not just to Tim Dick personally, but to the entire Ligonier organization. I don't want to see Ligonier harmed. Just the opposite. But I can't in good conscience just stand by and not blow the whistle on a lying thieving con artist like Tim Dick.

"I've communicated my concerns to Mr. Dick along with a proposed resolution. He hasn't got much time. If Tim fixes it then I've committed to not say anything more about it. But I don't give Tim much credit for common sense so don't be surprised if he leaves me with no other choice but to expose it all here. We'll see what happens. Stay tuned."

Tim continued to ignore me and thus he gave me no choice but to go public. He refused to deny the allegations that had been brought to my attention by several men who had first-hand knowledge of what they believed to be an acquisition by fraud of Soli Deo Gloria, a fraud which they blamed entirely upon Tim Dick. Had Tim even once just said, "Frank you don't know what you're talking about. Your sources are misinformed" I never would have gone public. But Tim didn't do that. Rather than denying the allegations he instead used the ten-day deadline as a window of opportunity to SLAPP me. Moving our dispute into the civil courts rather than seeking to resolve it privately as Christians proved to be fatal, not just for Tim Dick personally, but for the entire Ligonier organization. The damage that he has caused Ligonier by his foolish and reckless behavior could prove catastrophic.

As to my "true identity," any such newfound Ligonier excuses obviously didn't hinder Ligonier's ability to sue me. As to these new allegations that I've been operating under an assumed name see my response here.

"The accuser's malicious attacks culminated with the accusation that Ligonier defrauded Soli Deo Gloria, in our recent acquisition of it. This has been categorically refuted by Don Kistler, SDG's founder."

I'll have to reserve comment on the Kistler statement until it can be thoroughly investigated and shown to have actually originated from Don Kistler, and if Dr. Kistler himself did produce it that he wasn't coerced into it. It would be nice if I could say there isn't a cloud of suspicion hanging over that statement, but there is, and I'm far from the only one who's suspicious about it. Among the cloudiness in the Kistler statement is the issue of Dr. Kistler's stroke which allegedly prevented his timely response to my allegations. Yet as of August 20 Dr. Kistler had been released from the hospital and was already publicly posting comments about his recovery. Strokes can be quite serious, but from some accounts Dr. Kistler's health couldn't have been nearly as severely impacted by the stroke as certain Ligonier "senior management" have been leading us to believe. To at least one caller John Duncan described Dr. Kistler's condition as precarious. This has made for an effective cover story as to why it's taken so long for the Kistler statement to be released, but those who are aware of Dr. Kistler's remarkable recovery know that the cover story lacks credibility.

If the cloud hanging over the Kistler letter can be removed then I'll make a point of issuing an apology to Don Kistler. However, no one should expect me to issue an apology to Tim Dick. By refusing to deny the allegations that were brought to me by several credible witnesses Tim Dick brought everything on his own head. Furthermore he could have and should have gotten Don Kistler's statement to me prior to my August 28 deadline, rather than waiting an entire month to arrange for it. Again, everything about the Kistler letter is suspect, but hopefully that can all be cleared up.

"Threats to Ligonier and its leadership have continued to escalate, with the accuser issuing deadlines for Ligonier to answer his non-credible charges. At one point our president was told he had “put a knife to his own throat,” by ignoring the accuser."

If the SDG allegation was "non-credible" then Tim Dick should have just said so. He should have denied the allegations, but he never did. As to the "knife to your own throat comment," I did in fact use that figure of speech, and that's all it was, a figure of speech. Here's what I said in one of my August 18 emails to Tim:

"Tim, you're a bigger fool than I thought. Playing dumb or ignoring me is like sticking a knife to your own throat. You understand perfectly well what I'm talking about, which is exactly why you addressed everything in my email with the obvious exception of the most important issue of all, your theft of SDG by fraudulently switching the contract. Ignore me at your own peril... Ten days Tim."

For Tim to now make an issue of that only underscores how thin-skinned he is, and it's consistent with his suing me for defamation for calling him a "nincompoop."

" Throughout this entire ordeal, numerous emails and posts refuting the accuser were ignored by him."

What emails? I've already gone on the record flatly denying that I ever received any emails of any kind from anyone at Ligonier, Tim Dick or otherwise, "refuting the accuser." As for blog comments, yes I received a number of those, specifically from "Passerby" who claimed to be "Ligonier senior management." However, Passerby refused to give himself any credibility by identifying himself by name or to even privately email me as I suggested he do so that we could dialogue. It was I who sought an opportunity for fruitful dialogue. Passerby repeatedly ignored my publicly-posted offers. Moreover for Passerby to now claim that his rantings could in any way constitute "refuting" is absurd.

"Mediation through ecclesiastical means is always preferred. On at least six occasions, we have sought information from the accuser as to how we might contact his pastor or session. The accuser has refused all requests, publicly scoffing at the notion."

How very godly of them to only now make an appeal to Christian mediation a month after they'd already sued me! Yes, I did refuse to furnish the name of my church and pastor, and I also explained why.

"Having withdrawn the complaint, we ask friends and fellow believers to pray that we will have wisdom as this matter comes to a peaceful end."

That statement was posted one week ago and publicly released two days later. "Having withdrawn" is past tense meaning that as of a week ago it had already been done. A prerequisite for withdrawing a lawsuit is to file the necessary motion with the court so the court can then act upon it. My legal counsel informs me that it would've taken Ligonier's attorneys all of just a few minutes to draw up the necessary paperwork. But to do that it would've first required Tim Dick calling his attorneys and telling them to withdraw the lawsuit. Did that ever happen? Then it would take a day for the mail to arrive at the court, or approximately thirty minutes if Ligonier's lawyers hand delivered it to the court. Ligonier didn't say, "We're going to withdraw the complaint but it might take us a week or three before we get around to it." They publicly announced that it was withdrawn. No doubt the next Ligonier public statement will be all about blaming their attorneys.

The fact that an entire week has gone by after Ligonier's "senior management" publicly announced that the lawsuit had already been withdrawn, and they haven't so much as even filed the paperwork with the court yet, only further undermines the credibility of Ligonier's "senior management." Either they have once again lied, or they are bunglers (and probably both), but neither is befitting for the management of a donor-supported $10 million ministry.

In conclusion I'd assert that Ligonier is in desperate need of a major upper management shakeup. Tim Dick has more than proven that he's unfit to oversee a Christian ministry. He lacks both the ministerial and professional qualifications. Family connections do not a ministry CEO make. But there are others who are complicit in the Ligonier lies and cover ups as well, including John Duncan. They too must go. Ligonier's staff also include at least one who publicly boasts of squandering the salaries they receive, thanks to the financial support of Ligonier donors, on drunk binges and fornicating.

It's time for some major house cleaning. It's time to haul out the trash.

Then there's the matter of the outrageous "compensation" being taken by the Sproul and Dick families, between them over $1 million/year combined. For the Board of Directors to continue turning a blind eye to so many abuses is inexcusable. Just as extraordinary is the silence of RC Sproul himself during this time of crisis. Unless RC Sproul acts swiftly and decisively, and unless RC Sproul himself issues a public statement, Ligonier's credibility will continue to erode. RC Sproul's silence for the past month only sends the message that he fully supports and condones the behavior of his son-in-law.

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