I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Security issues are hiding in every church - do you know where to look for them? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission here is to find actionable steps that will make our churches sanctuaries of physical, emotional, and spiritual safety. To give you tools to help make that happen in your church, we’re going to investigate real crime stories from real churches. I’ve got three cases for us to investigate today, so let’s dive right in. 

Highlights from this episode include:

• Former Christian School teacher arrested, charged with several kidnappings, armed robberies and a carjacking
• Church treasurer steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from church
• Pastor steals churches. Not FROM churches, but steals actual churches

Our Scripture passage for this episode:

Luke 12:1b-3

“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!”

Jesus had just spent the last part of the preceding chapter reminding his disciples how Israel’s  religious leader had rejected their long awaited Messiah. He pronounces several “woes” on these leaders - one being that they tithe but neglect justice. Sometimes we do the same thing, don’t we? We give our money to the church but we’d rather not look to closely at things that make us uneasy. When we do that, are we being hypocrites just like the Pharisses? Will we be held to account when secrets are eventually revealed and we could’ve done something to stop injustice but we didn’t? That’s a little scary to me - no, actually it’s a lot scary. Scarier than stepping up to call out injustices we see. I’m ready to speak up more - are you with me?

Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

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Former church school teacher turned felon

Church treasurer helps himself

Pastor steals churches