11-8-2012, This is what was delivered to the media regarding COGIC actions as it pertains to victims of clergy sexual abuse and misconduct

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Luke 4:18-19 ~ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Ladies, Gentlemen, representatives of the news media and all of them that are here
today for this vitally important event,
I am District Superintendent Harvey Burnett. I stand before you as a 30 year
member of the Church Of God in Christ. I am a pastor of nearly 15 years of the
New Bethel COGIC of Peoria, IL. I currently serve in Illinois 3rd Jurisdiction
under the Bishop Robert R. Sanders of Chicago, IL.
I say those things to point out and to affirm that I am no novice as it pertains to
ministry, nor as it pertains to this church, as it has been called the Grand Ole
Church Of God In Christ. We have a shared history of being a cornerstone of the
community, with a legacy of service and spiritual fulfillment through the preaching
of the gospel to all men, women children and families
However today, I stand in the call of the WORD according to Isaiah which says:
Isaiah 58:1 ~ Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins
One of the first things I want to say is that I am not here to bash the church nor
attempt to bring it down. I am a proud member of this church as I have affirmed
and cannot bring down anything that God has established. However, I am here to

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do my part in helping to bring our great church to a higher standard of
accountability.
In addition, I am proud that this church has adopted a zero tolerance policy for
clergy sexual abuse and that it currently performs background checks as a means to
screen out individuals who have bad records and do not need to be in positions of
authority. However…please let me be clear…NONE of those measures, as
necessary as they may be…are to be confused with a VICTIMS ADVOCACY
policy that I have called for and that this church STILL does not have.
Let me regress for those that don’t know the extent of this situation:
In 2008 it was brought to my attention that this church had certain members, many
of whom which were leaders, who had been found guilty of grievous sexual sins,
damaging and abusing some of those who are the least among us.
After diligent research into the issue and careful contemplation of the implications
involved, I was surprised to find out that in many of these cases there were certain
consistencies which could not be overlooked or minimized.
There were 2 things I noticed:
1- That the church was slow in responding to complaints of clergy sexual abuse
and misconduct. This by itself was disturbing, as it didn’t represent the
actions of the church that I have come to know.
2- That in many cases, all too many cases, there was little by way of response
from the church in an official or unofficial manner towards those who had
been victimized or that had presented allegations of sexual abuse and even
clergy sexual misconduct.

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Early in 2009, I presented what I called a COGIC Victims Advocacy proposal to
the then sitting members of the General board. This was a 23 page document which
I was able to fax to almost every member of the General Board except one, and
that one was Bishop Frank White who’s fax number either malfunctioned or could
not be obtained.
I received only ONE response to that proposal and that was from my Bishop, the
Bishop Robert R. Sanders who encouraged me to proceed, but do so cautiously.
Since that time, not only have I written extensively, almost over 56 articles
referencing COGIC, on my blog, The Dunamis Word, but in addition, my actions
and responses have been documented on the site, Report COGIC Abuse under the
“Policy Proposals” section.
During the course of all things, I have spoken to Dr. Eugene Rivers who claimed to
be the Chief Policy Advisor to Presiding Bishop Blake. I spoke with him on the Al
Sharpton Radio show specifically regarding this issue. He responded to my inquiry
by saying that the issue of sexual abuse and victims advocacy was a “highly
complex” issue and that he would “reach out to me” with additional information.
That information is yet forthcoming some nearly 3 years later.
In the interim, I have found that our church, has taken the position that there aren’t
enough of these types of cases to be alarmed. How did I formulate that
conclusion? By their own words and I will expound:
The 2009 General Assembly minutes records the following regarding the
statements of COGIC chief counsel, Judge Enoch Perry:
"He (Judge Enoch Perry) reported that in over 100 years, there have been 20-25
processed cases of sexual misconduct. He stated statistically the numbers are significantly

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small; however, there should not be one case among us. Judge Perry reported there has
not been one successful lawsuit against the church; cases have either been settled or
dismissed. He further stated that Bishop Blake supports the church's zero tolerance policy
against sexual misconduct." ~ [2009 COGIC General Assembly Minutes Pg. 2 Para. 2
parenthesis added]
Aside from the fact that only a lawyer would think that a settlement for sexual
abuse or misconduct against a religious organization isn’t a “successful” lawsuit,
those very same minutes record Presiding Bishop Blake as stating that the cost to
litigate such claims is approximately $800,000 per claim. Further, the record states
that there were approximately 5 open claims at the time. In other words, although
Perry said that there were only 20 to 25 “processed” cases in 100 years, according
to his own statistics, nearly 20% of all the cases in the last 100 years were talking
place in late 2009 to early 2010.
Aside from the fact that this is unbelievable, calls to my office from victims that
are experiencing these issues, that I have personally spoke with suggest that there
is yet abject silence in dealing with victims and the resultant fallout from clergy
sexual sins.
To my recounting, and from the research I have conducted into many of these
cases, many of those who did sue the church did so because the church refused to
acknowledge their allegations. In fact, many times, after once having received their
allegations, the church became deftly silent and even unresponsive as to inquiries
regarding the status of claims, processing of the offenders. In all cases there was
nothing done to provide healing either spiritually or naturally and no support as it
pertained to due process.

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Another disturbing aspect of this is the standard of the world vs the standard of
COGIC
In what can only be deemed as one of the most horrific accounts of sexual abuse
within our church, recently, 3 ladies who had been victimized by the current and
active Bishop Charles Brown of Louisiana came forward in an interview with
myself which is documented on my website and on these CD’s available to the
media today.
According to these ladies, over some 15 years ago Brown molested them. Some
time afterward reports were made to proper church authorities.
Unfortunately for those ladies, who were yet girls at the time, they were told that
they were wrong and told that they had come up to a standard of forgiveness, while
the alleged criminal simply went forward. Moved on with his life.
Some years later, the ladies took action filing a claim against Brown in civil court.
Brown was temporarily removed from his pulpit, but after after the litigation was
thrown out of court due to a Louisiana statute of limitations issue, ie: a
technicality, Brown was reinstated to his position within the church and currently
resides in TX, oversees both a congregation and one of the Louisiana Jurisdictions.
From credible sources close to the events, I found that the church settled with at
least 2 of the victims even though none of them filed litigation against the church.
The settlement was for an undisclosed monetary amount. One would think that is
good huh?...certainly unexpected...The problem is that Brown was NEVER made
accountable and the inquiry that was made by the church was simply shrugged off
because the “civil authority” had let Brown off the hook…

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In other words the church judged it’s actions of morality and justice, by the
morality of civil authority and that was based on a “technicality” not actual
innocence or guilt by the evidence and testimony. This is by itself atrocious as
there was no additional inquiry as to the authenticity of the claims or allegations, in
other words, the victims were victimized again by the church.
In all of that, as you will hear in my interview, one of the survivors affirms that in
the 15 years since the incident, and after their initial reports were made, that I was
the ONLY COGIC official that had addressed them regarding the issue at all. Save
one phone call from now Presiding Bishop Blake to one of the survivors, over 15
years ago, neither of those ladies have heard one word from any COGIC official
regarding either their claim, prayer, restoration or anything that can be associated
with their spiritual well being.
From my research, I have found that ungodly actions along with ungodly silence
has not only cost our church million of dollars, but has damaged countless
individuals and families.
Example: The state temple in Seattle Washington was previously up for sale due to
a settlement that exceeded $1 million. Illinois 5 th Jurisdiction was dissolved and
split into 2 jurisdictions when over a $5 million judgment was entered. Yet there
are other places in which sin and silence has combined to take from the church, the
people and the victims.
SILENCE is not and has not been golden to the COGIC.
We need a victims advocacy program and we need one now, to address the
individuals who have been damaged and hurt in the process of clergy sexual sins
and been disillusioned by the church in their fight for justice.

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This is why I am here today. To inform our leaders that we cannot continue to be
silent when God said to minister to the hurting. Silence is not the word of the Lord
and we would not be obedient to God it if we are content and complicent with what
we can see that some of the least ones amongst us have experienced.
Therefore I have formed I am My Brother’s Keeper Christian Advocacy Council
to address not only COGIC issues of silence and exposed victims that I have
discussed here today but to address these incidents within the Christian church in
general.
What can be done?
We would like to meet with Presiding Bishop Blake and certain officials to
formulate and draft a resolution that will establish a victims advocacy department
that can be adopted by the General Assembly of our church no later than Spring of
2013.
We would like that resolution to be accepting of 3rd party accountability to insure
that victims are not merely shuffled off to the back of church process. This is vital
to this issue.
We would like a full church investigation into the deeds of Bishop Brown of
Louisiana and a full and serious investigation into the claims that were filed by the
three victims and Bishop Brown immediately removed until such investigation has
been completed and the victims informed of the churches findings.
We would like this church to immediately allow I Am My Brother’s Keeper
Christian Advocacy Council to begin to help coordinate a plan throughout

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jurisdictions all over the country along with church endorsement and monetary
support.
We would like all current investigations to immediately include victims
correspondence and access along with measurable standards which our
organization will outline in future conversations with church officials.
We would like this church to be instrumental in providing mental and
psychological support to both individuals and families who have suffered from this
sort abuse at the hand of church personnel.
In the advertisement for the COGIC Publishing House that has been played daily
right inside of this center to all audiences, one of the employees states that Bishop
Blake has called them (the Publishing House) to “a higher standard of
accountability”
He was speaking of the production of books, we are speaking of souls.
Are we not called to a higher standard of accountability in dealing with souls?
We are in hope that our church will rise to a higher standard of accountability in
dealing with the human capital and fallout as a result of clergy and church sexual
abuse and misconduct.
Thank you and I will take a few questions for those who have them.