Series Overview: In late 2013, Bill Gothard requested that Tony G provide him with evidence of Gothard’s personal knowledge of wrongdoing related to the
Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBYC, now IBLP) scandal of 1980. Tony responded with meticulous detail, mailing Gothard a collection of 50+ documents that totaled about 140 pages, including the
“Agent of Satan” letter and Tony’s response.
Tony copied other relevant parties, including Recovering Grace, in order to follow through in calling Gothard to accountability. We formally agreed to hold this information in confidence to give Gothard and the Board reasonable time to take proper action. We privately referred to this collection as “the package,” in order to differentiate it from materials provided to us from other sources, and we used the information contained in these documents (along with our other sources) as reference for our scandal series in February, 2014.
It has been difficult for us to hold this information, realizing that it belongs to a much wider, equally interested audience. On the heels of the 1980’s scandal, Bill Gothard launched his Advanced Training Institute of America, ATIA (later ATII, now just ATI). Every family and student affected by Gothard’s ongoing ministry must feel deeply the fact that this information exists, most of which was methodically (and sometimes cruelly) pushed under the rug. How many families would have taken a pass on the “new approach to life” espoused by Gothard’s homeschool program in 1984, had they known what really happened just a few years earlier?
As much as we wished to share everything right away, we held onto the package out of respect for the “old guard,” the former IBYC staffers who wanted to give Bill one more chance to make 
things right. We held it out of respect for Tony, whose careful research uncovered the scandal back in 1980. We later learned that we were perhaps being too respectful, since Tony did after all share the package with us because he suspected it would need to be published at some point in the most recent accountability process. Following the disappointing lack of response from Gothard, we have been given freedom to share.
In the months that followed our receipt of the package, we have tried to share some of the information contained within without damaging individuals who have been hurt previously. We will continue to hold certain people and stories in confidence, whether from Tony’s package or from our many other sources. Those people will tell their own stories when they are ready.
However, we will now make the bulk of the package available as public record, along with follow-up writings. The timing of this release has been influenced by the time required of our volunteers to edit and format these materials, though we hope the holidays will provide time for study and reflection. In order to aid our readers, we have re-ordered the information into the following blog posts (links will be provided here as the articles are published):
The purpose of these documents and the correspondence that accompanied them, written by Tony, is a call for repentance—a full acknowledgement and confession of sin, the correction of the wrongs and damage done as God would provide direction and help, and a recovery of a clear conscience and a genuine faith by Bill Gothard. This process includes a call for the IBLP organization, especially its Board and management, to be a ministry above reproach.
Tony made painstaking effort to follow specific biblical teachings for dealing with error and ungodliness in the church of Jesus Christ. The topics are hard, but these documents and letters are a good illustration of “speaking the truth in love” as we are taught by God to be careful to do. (Ephesians 4:15; II Timothy 2:24-26).
We know our readers will see that Tony is persistent. We hope you will note that his persistence comes from a heart of genuine love throughout his writing, and expresses two clear emphases. Tony stresses the need to follow biblical teaching for dealing with this situation, and he repeatedly offers biblical encouragement and reassurance. We are grateful that he was willing to share his material via Recovering Grace, and we appreciate his patience with us as this story has taken over our lives, worn us to the quick, and inspired us to maintain our integrity and focus over the past year. We hope that our readers are able to find answers, closure, healing, and direction, wherever you are in your journey toward Grace and Truth.
KNOWLEDGE AND DISQUALIFICATION
When Bill Gothard asked to see the evidence that would prove his detailed knowledge of ongoing immorality among his staff, Tony sent him the documents below for review. A careful reading uncovers a number of underlying issues that have staggering ramifications.
1. Gothard did know of his brother’s immorality, and of his own shortcomings, for years before the scandal erupted. Yet he worked to deceive all around him.
2. The men who wrote the cornerstone literature for IBYC (now IBLP) regarded women as objects of physical pleasure and disdain, and that point of view carried into their writings and actions. Many examples are discussed elsewhere on this site.
3. Gus Hemwall, a medical doctor and Chairman of the IBYC Board of Directors, looked the other way and led the Board in Bill Gothard’s defense. One of the young women sought Dr. Hemwall’s help, concerned for her health after an act of sodomy by Bill Gothard’s brother. Hemwall helped the Gothards instead.
4. The Gothard men utilized spiritual and psychological control over young women to hold them captive. Bill Gothard knowingly provided his brother with protection, a secluded environment, and women to command. In today’s language, one might refer to these activities as sexual slavery and human trafficking.
Shouldn’t EVERYONE be outraged?!
What is our reaction when the news media reports on multiple women found chained in the basement of a house, or a girl held against her will in fear even though she is unchained? We see other similarly horrifying reports all too often. The staff women may not have realized their reality in those terms (who would imagine such things?), and some may only recently have come to this realization, but this is the point to which IBYC and the Gothard men devolved. Allegedly.
Click each heading below to read the file of that name. There is a substantial amount of overlap among the documents. The four files are:
- Detailed Knowledge Summary
- Qualifications and Disqualifications of Teachers and Overseers in God’s Word
- Bill Gothard’s Discipleship of His Brother, with Report of Outcomes
- Authorship of Ministry Materials by Men Involved in Immorality
Detailed Knowledge Summary
Bill Gothard has denied publicly — for 34 years — that he ever had any knowledge of any details of immorality before April of 1980 (the first time that Tony asked to meet Bill privately with a report of what was being discovered). Gothard has made this denial to the IBLP Board, to his staff, to pastors everywhere, to his ordaining church, and to all of his alumni. Again he repeated the denial in a letter to Tony on 10.16.2013. He claims he had no reason to take corrective measures.
Personal interviews and meeting notes state otherwise. Our readers may discern for themselves whether or not Gothard is telling the truth.
Bill Gothard’s Discipleship of His Brother, with Report of Outcomes
Bill Gothard committed to single-handedly rehabilitate (disciple) his brother, Steve Gothard. Whether he shielded Steve, or whether he simply failed miserably, the outcome was that the immorality grew perverse. Further, the immediate cause of the outcome was spiritual and employment “Chain of Command” or “Umbrella of Authority” originating with Bill Gothard, who reaffirmed Steve’s command for many years.
Recovering Grace has redacted sections of detail in this document that list specific actions done to women who served, at Bill Gothard’s literal command, at the Northwoods Conference Center. These details have been provided to the IBLP Board and LaGrange Bible Church. Tony does cloak the identity of the women in the original document, but every detail is not necessary online, and the dignity of the women is of more value than our curiosity.
Qualifications and Disqualifications of Teachers and Overseers in God’s Word
Tony first developed this chart in 1980, and he updated it into early 2014. Although different people might construct such a chart in different ways, any chart will have to be quite large to account for all the evidence. One can see why Bill Gothard’s IBYC Board terminated him in 1980, why his IBLP Board disqualified him in 2014, and how he never “re-qualified” in the decades-long interim.
Added to the many, many records on RG – that number still growing – Gothard’s disqualification is sure. As primary author, teacher, counselor, homeschool curriculum writer, and ministry leader, Gothard’s unrepentant heart has guaranteed the disqualification of the IBYC and IBLP foundational teachings and materials.
Authorship of Ministry Materials by Men Involved in Immorality
IBLP has a very large problem. Underlying its considerable number of publications is an addiction to sexual fantasy. Not only were many of the people writing the materials disqualified from doing so, but the resultant materials themselves were disqualified by deviant thinking.
Some deviance was personal to Bill Gothard’s imagination and inflamed by his access to young females. His self-admitted, long-term addiction was in play throughout his tenure at IBYC, and we have no reason to believe it abruptly ended in 1980. He continued to recruit ever younger girls, to violate their personal space, and to take their “energy.”
Photographed on the sidewalk outside HQ, 1980.
In the 1970s-1980, Steve Gothard subjected staff men and women to increasingly harsh films demeaning to women, and deviance began to seem more normal. As noted in the IBYC minutes of July 10, 1980, the IBYC Board really wanted their R-rated films returned, accusing Tony of theft of Institute property (click to read), and Tony did return those films after photographing them. We understand that different readers may have their own ideas of what constitutes “porn” and that R-rated films might not meet their threshold. Separately, IBYC pilots discovered reels of porn (by any standard) transported to the Northwoods in plain metal cans for use by the publication team.
The result was a psychological and spiritual mess. Unless one believes The Godfather is a good model for Chain of Command. For proper comparison, bear in mind Gothard’s outwardly conservative and strict teachings.
Note from the 1992 Basic Seminar.
Bill Gothard’s definition of pornography: “If you look at or read something and you get lustful or impure thoughts then it is PORNOGRAPHY.”
Suggested viewing, per IBYC management, for members of the 1970s publication staff.
How will you explain to your children and grandchildren the heart and mind behind the materials your family is studying? Why would any pastors and teachers choose to glorify such failings?
Character Sketches
Men’s Manual
Basic Seminar
Advanced Seminar
Other now-ATI training materials
Common weaknesses and temptations of the flesh will not be resolved by rote memory, or by formulas created by a man’s philosophy and principles, but by a right relationship with our almighty and indwelling God. (Colossians 2:22-23, Romans 8:6)
Image of envelope copyright: kchung / 123RF Stock Photo
August 21, 2020
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