Link to Part 1: Together Church, Reddit, and the Continual Removal of Micahn Carter from Spiritual Abuse. You should start with Part 1, if you haven’t been here before.
(This post will take about 45-60 minutes to read, and longer if you follow the links provided. This is my Magnum Opus as of today, and the longest post I have ever blogged. I put a lot of reading, links, and truly important content in this post. All underlines are embedded links, but I will add the links to end of the post, at a later date too. I am grateful if you take the time to read, and I believe you should. Links attached to a single name, “Micahn Carter, Chris Hodges, etc.” will go to their personal Instagram accounts or Church websites. Links with a name and another word “Micahn Carter Rape, Dino Rizzo abuse, etc.” will link to a news article about the incident or something similar. Many links to people are re-used, so you can be clear on who I am speaking about when they are brought up later. )
To Mary Jones and Family:
I’m sorry for the continual spotlight on your life, and this may be a much heavier reading, but I don’t think I’m sharing anything you don’t already know. My sincere apology, as I do not know the effect I have on you all, but hope this can protect people like you, Mary, in the future.
Being a private figure, or rather, a “nobody” is an interesting thought. Especially when trying to prove that another person is a public figure, or a “somebody”. When it comes to Micahn T. Carter vs Mary E. Jones in a defamation suit, one of the main parts between them is determining whether Micahn Carter is a somebody or a nobody.
I recently found court documents filed on 09/25/2024 and 12/10/2024 for this exact court case. One of the main things decided but will likely be decided again in trial; is whether Micahn has reached a level of public figure, or, not. The ramifications of this determination will affect if Mary’s blog post or her letter to Church of the Highlands (COTH) was allowable. (The subjective analysis will pick up from here, after a Chronology.)
My goal with this post is to objectively report dates and facts that are likely unknown to most, from a chronological standpoint, clearly labeled as “Objective Chronological Report”. However, I will link people and groups, and it could (maybe should) influence your opinion. I will also highlight, bold, or enlarge parts that I find essential to the story, as there is a lot of information that could be skipped. This Chronological representation is nearly solely from the Court Documents, but it does include points of when I provoked Micahn and COTH and when the Reddit group was formed.
I will write a brief summary of the chronology, but I recommend you read the full post to get a clear picture of what has happened. This report, summary, and subjective analysis are still shorter than reading all 124 pages of the court docs, as I did. But I hope you open them and view them yourself; you will be disgusted.
The remainder of the post will be my subjective analysis based on my knowledge of the situation and how I interpret the legal documents in layman’s terms, and my new beliefs on the issue due to my reading. I don’t have legal education, yet, so this could be a very bad stab at what I read. However I know the ramifications of many words I use. Please take the subjective part labeled “Subjective Analysis” with any number of grains of salt.
Objective Chronological Report
2012-04/2019
– Morningstar Church is rebranded as Together Church.
– Kevin Gerald supervised Micahn Carter in Micahn’s role of Pastor.
– Micahn’s Instagram following reaches nearly 40,000 followers.
– Micahn presents at a conference for Association of Related Churches (ARC).
– Mary is hired to be Micahn and April Carter’s assistant directly to the pastors.
04/29/2019, Together Church Leadership Event
– Micahn Carter rapes Mary in Micahn’s office, with church staff and family right outside the door. 8 PM
– Mary calls her mother and asks to be picked up from a nearby gas station. Mary tells her mother about the incident and, in shock, refuses to go to the police or hospital. 8:22 Approx.
– Mother takes Mary to a therapist’s house, staying until after midnight.
– Mary meets with a trauma counselor in the morning with a desire to deal with it discreetly due to the need for her job and because complaints would be submitted to April Carter, Executive Pastor, wife of Micahn.
05/02/2019
– Micahn discloses that he had sex with Mary, in the Together Church offices, to April Carter.
– April Carter texts Mary, firing her from Together Church. Mary has told nobody at Together about the assault.
Early May 2019
– Micahn attends an event with Chris Hodges in Alabama.
– Micahn calls Kevin Gerald during the event, explaining he had cheated with Mary.
– Kevin Gerald and Chris Hodges discuss how to inform Together Church.
– Kevin Gerald Communicates with Dino Rizzo, learning more about Micahn.
– Dino Rizzo attempts to call Mary.
– Mary’s mom told Dino Rizzo that Micahn assaulted Mary.
Several Days Later, May 2019
– Micahn, April Carter, and Kevin Gerald meet in Washington.
– Michan does not deny what has happened but explains, with April Carter, that there have been incidents prior to this when Micahn cannot remember what happened. “This same type of incident happened with Mary.” (Kevin Gerald recounts later)
Sometime the Same Weekend, May 2019
– Kevin Gerald meets with Mary, and Mary states that the sex was not consensual. (Kevin Gerald recounts)
– Kevin Gerald recommends that Micahn undergo a few weeks of inpatient counseling. (Micahn did).
– Kevin Gerald sends emails addressing the fallout of the assault, to Micahn. Concerned people in Yakima will be angry and stir up a legal issue if he returns. (Winner Winner, that’s me.)
06/08/2019
– Micahn Publicly resigns from Together Church due to an inappropriate incident that he immediately told April about, and was diagnosed with a mental health condition the next morning, causing him “to do things not consistent with his character.”
– Micahn tells the church he does not have plans to preach again.
06/11/2019
– Micahn Publishes his book Made for the Middle with a Foreword from Steven Furtick. Less than two months after the inappropriate incident and three days after resigning for the incident.
During June 2019
– Micahn returns from counseling.
– Chris Hodges, Dino Rizzo, and Kevin Gerald form a 2-year restoration plan to rehab Micahn.
– Mary did not know the details of the plan but was told Micahn was in a “restoration plan” and would not be preaching.
Following these events, 2019
– Mary tries to move on, having multiple negative symptoms.
– Kevin Gerald uses Together Church money to pay for inpatient care for Mary, at the same facility Micahn had gone to.
– Mary is diagnosed with PTSD.
07/01/2019
– The Carter family moves to Birmingham, Alabama.
January 2020
– Micahn is employed with Church of the Highlands (COTH).
07/26/2020
– Micahn preaches publicly for the first time since leaving Together Church.
Sometime before July 2021
– I begin provoking COTH, Micahn Carter, Chris Hodges, and other staff, as explained in my previous blog titled Together Church, Reddit, and the continual removal of Micahn Carter from spiritual abuse.
– Mary learns that Micahn is preaching at COTH.
– The Reddit group r/AllaboutCOTH is formed.
07/13/2021
– Mary sends letter to Chris Hodges, disclosing the sexual assault to COTH.
07/21/2021
– Mary writes her blog, Moving Forward.
A few days later
– Micahn and his family resign their positions from COTH.
07/20/2022
– Micahn files a defamation suit against Mary in Alabama State Court.
During the Files Pending
– Micahn incorrectly files Requests for Admission (RFAs) in violation of Alabama Civil Rules.
– Mary’s counsel filed a Motion to Strike and for a removal of the RFAs. Which asked Mary to lie about the assault, brought up matters irrelevant to the pending files, and graphically dove into Mary’s sexual history.
– Alabama Trial Court granted the Motion to Strike, files were sealed, and RFAs were removed from the record because Micahn Carter was “misusing the docket as a bulletin for scandalous and sexually explicit allegations”
07/12/2023
– Micahn files suit against Mary in Yakima County Superior Court. (Alleging defamation in the Letter to Chris Hodges and Moving Forward blog post, and that he had lost employment, salary, and reputation, and suffered mental anguish and torment of humiliation and embarrassment)
11/20/2023
– Mary files a UPEPA motion with previous notice. A motion that prevents abusive litigation or strategic lawsuits that try to silence free speech.
– The motion is supported by Mary’s Mom, and Kevin Gerald.
– Micahn Carter files Motion for Order Lifting Stay and Allowing Discovery, giving him the pretext to file the same scandalous and sexually explicit RFAs that the Alabama judge already struck.
– Trial court seals the RFAs.
12/26/2023
– Micahn files opposition to Mary’s UPEPA motion.
– Micahn provides a declaration to the court, that does not deny or dispute that the incident occurred or dispute that Mary had said, “Please don’t do this, you’ll regret it.” as Micahn began raping her.
– Micahn relies on a declaration from Kierstin Platt, that Michan was open about his lust and infidelity before Jesus, and of learning of the “incident” on May 2nd, 2019, Platt claims Mary only said to Micahn, “you’re gonna regret this”.
– Platt also declared that Mary’s Aunt and Uncle encouraged Mary to Press Charges and the Treatment Facility that both Micahn and Mary attended, encouraged the same. The facility knew Mary was describing Micahn when she was in inpatient care because he was there one month prior.
– Mary filed a second motion to seal declarations by Micahn, Kierstin Platt, and Christina Vickers (Together Church Pastor) due to salacious and irrelevant allegations about Mary’s sexual behavior and that it included privileged material.
– Trial Court grants the motion and temporarily seals the declarations.
01/04/2024
– Mary files a reply in support of the UPEPA motion, moving to strike specific portions of Michan, Keirstin Platt, and Christina Vickers’s declarations as Clergy-Penitent Privilege, inadmissible under Evidence Rules. These include statements about Mary’s sexual history.
01/09/2024
– Micahn declares in court documents, he had sex with Mary in his church Office, as Mary describes.
– The trial court entered an order and letter opinion, finding UPEPA applied to Carter’s claims because a married lead pastor having sex with an employee/attendee right after a church event is, in fact, a matter of public concern.
– Court denied the UPEPA motion on the grounds that Micahn’s claim was enough to proceed to trial and that there did not seem to be a factual issue with the defamation claim.
– Court denies Motion to Strike on Clergy-Penitent privilege but partially seals the declarations by Carter, Platt, and Vickers with redactions.
09/25/2024, Appellant Document Filed
– Current Document is Filed to Court of Appeals (These are the recently found documents)
o Statement of Case is made by Mary’s counsel Jennifer Chung.
o Assigns Error to the Courts in 4 ways:
§ Micahn did not establish Prima Facie (That there is enough evidence for trial, as he does not deny that Mary told him “Please don’t do this” before he raped her. Nor did he show falsity that he abused his role as pastor and employer for sex.)
§ Micahn did not meet the burden of Prima Facie to establish fault in defamation, which requires proof he is not a Public Figure. (The court erred by concluding that Micahn is a private figure, not a public figure)
§ Mary’s letter is considered unprivileged communication. (Pastor-Parishioner communication is generally privileged. I.E: You use a confessional with a priest; the priest cannot share that info.)
§ Three conversations with Pastors at Together Church after the firing is unprivileged communication. (Similar to before, and after an unjust firing, the court erred by saying this is unprivileged communication.)
12/10/2024, Respondent Document Filed
– Micahn files a response to the errors Mary’s counsel assigned the court.
o It was consensual sex led on by Mary. Micahn’s account to his pastor team, after the incident, proves this.
o Micahn established Prima Facie as defamation could apply even if true AND
o Micahn is not a Public Figure or Limited-Purpose Public Figure (Meaning he is a private figure who just has to prove negligence) AND
o Micahn did not try to influence the case or opinions of others and lacked the means of communication to do so, which a public figure would not lack.
o Pastor-Parishioner Privilege does not apply to the letter or the conversations with the Together Church Pastors.
Brief Summary of Chronology
Micahn and April Carter hire Mary Jones as their direct assistant to them, as lead pastors. Up until 2019, Micahn’s level of fame grew steadily and sometimes rapidly, nearly reaching 40,000 Instagram followers, 10’s of thousands of views on his sermons appearing across YouTube, and Together Church explodes in growth to become the largest church in Yakima, Washington.
In April 2019, during a leadership event hosted by Together Church, Micahn rapes Mary in Together Church offices while staff and parishioners are still in the building. Mary refuses police or hospital help but receives counseling treatment. Mary is fired days later by April Carter. Mary’s mom speaks with Dino Rizzo about the incident, alleging rape, after Chris Hodges and Kevin Gerald are informed by Micahn about the incident. Kevin Gerald is informed by Mary that it was rape and not consensual.
Kevin Gerald has Micahn undergo inpatient treatment, and Chris Hodges/Kevin Gerald form a restoration plan for Micahn to pastor again. Micahn and April Carter resigned from Together Church due to an “inappropriate incident from Bipolar Disorder”. Three days later, Micahn published his book Made for the Middle with a Foreword from Steven Furtick.
Kevin Gerald has Mary attend the same inpatient treatment just one month later, and the Carter family moves to Alabama. Less than 6 months later, Micahn is a paid staff member at Church of the Highlands (COTH). Preaching for the first time publicly since the incident in July 2020, just over a year after he raped Mary. Mary learns about this in 2021, at which point she sends Chris Hodges (lead pastor of COTH) a letter saying Micahn raper her, and then she writes her blog about a week later, prompting Micahn to resign from COTH.
In 2022 Micahn filed a defamation suit in Alabama, claiming horrid things about Mary’s sexual history and that he lost $500,000 in lost salary and speaking engagements for the year following the COTH resignation. Also, claiming mental anguish and torment of humiliation and embarrassment. The suit is dismissed due to jurisdiction being wrong after his claims about Mary are struck from the record.
Roughly a year later, Micahn filed a defamation suit in Yakima, Washington, with the same salacious and unnecessary comments about her sexual history and character being thrown out again. Mary files a UPEPA motion with previous notice, a motion that protects figures from using litigation or court to bully or scare rape survivors from speaking.
Micahn opposes the UPEPA motion but declares in court record that Mary did tell him, “Please don’t do this” as he began to rape her. Micahn relies on Declaration from Kierstin Platt and Christina Vickers, former Together Church Pastors, that claim Mary did not say “Please don’t do this” as he began to rape her.
Trial Court denies UPEPA motion due to Prima Facie but letters an opinion finding UPEPA does apply because a Married Lead Pastor having sex with an employee and/or parishioner is a matter of public concern.
Now, in the final three months of 2024, Mary and Micahn have presented the arguments of their cases in writing, to the court. The hinge appears to be on whether Micahn is a Private or Public figure. Micahn affirms that he is a Private Figure without much following, and Mary affirms he is a Public Figure giving her actions true concern for other parishioners Micahn could abuse.
Subjective Analysis (Continued)
Rape is rape. The ability to prove it, nearly 6 years later, is what gave Micahn any hope it wouldn’t be known as such. And in Part 1, I was very specific and made it clear that I had backed off when I learned Mary was alleging rape because I recognize how life-ruining it could be. But this week, reading these court documents, I have full affirmation in my belief that Micahn Carter raped Mary Jones in Together Church offices on April 29, 2019. That IS an accusation from me. And I’ve never spoken one single word to Mary or her family. I hate spiritual and sexual abuse and have combed through Micahn’s life for the past 12 years. I’ve been onto you, Micahn, since I was a Freshman in High School.
If you, men, were about to sleep with a woman, and she said, “Please don’t do this” while freezing in place, and you did it anyway, you raped a woman.
If you, women, were about to be raped and said, “Please don’t do this” while freezing in place, you were most assuredly and, without a doubt, raped.
Micahn Carter is a rapist.
And, he doesn’t deny that Mary said those words and that he continued anyway. His own court declaration affirms that he is a rapist, whether the word itself is used or not. Which begs the question of why he would sue his victim, when she would’ve likely left his story dead more than I ever would, a nobody who inserted himself, into some part of the middle of it. My belief of why he sued is money, and after all, the root of all evil is money (1st Timothy 6:10). Maybe that’s not a hard question to answer, but for a Pastor, it should be. It is proof that Micahn is not just a rapist, but also a scam artist after your money.
When we look at Micahn Carter, the barber, prior to pastoring MorningStar Church subsequently renamed to Together Church, it’s unlikely that he was making copious amounts of money. Together Church proved that it made him money, or that, Micahn could make money from preaching and charging for Ministry Classes. (Some folks still have “Together School of Leadership” as their education bio for Facebook). Writing a book, set to be published without expecting that he would resign days before, proves he knew he could make money on writing his words too, particularly due to his public influence. The sermons that made it onto Youtube had large amounts of viewership prior to the collapse of his church and could have been monetized in their own right (may have been, I’m just unsure), but they certainly drove the growth of Micahn’s brand and the Together Church brand. A profitable capitalized church that played on the Passive Gospel and partly the Prosperity Gospel of his friend Steven Furtick.
The court files do not show that Micahn was attempting to deny the incident or Mary’s account of the incident. Rather, it paints a picture of someone who probably did lose money from his “resignation” at COTH and believed he would never recover or no longer be able to reach the heights of Hodges and Furtick. Especially now that he had this negative publicity. His salacious attacks on Mary’s sexual history and character prove he knew Mary very well as her Pastor and Employer, and wanted to ruin her reputation, as his had been. Being untruthful and vulgar was in hopes that it discredited her claims. These actions literally scream, “I think she is a whore, so how could I have raped her?”
So, if it would be very hard for Mary to prove rape years later, and his image slowed, he could, by all means, try and make her write his paychecks in the form of $500,000. If he can force Mary to disclose her sexual history also, for court, even better because she would lose credibility (stupid thoughts, Micahn) and he would use it to drag her name through the mud to better support his financial future. $500,000 is a whole lot, but it’s not improbable or implausible, especially in ARC.
So what determines a Public Figure?
In court, it is based on access to means of communication. The idea being, if Shelby Cox reaches out to CNN or FOX to post this blog, they’ll laugh me off and maybe steal the facts of my work because I’m not a public figure. But if a Steven Furtick, Joel Osteen, or major Christianity Today writer did it then they would likely run the story as being told by those people, influencing their fame even more. Similarly, the court typically also wants to see if a public figure is in media coverage due to fame or notoriety. Has this figure been in the news more than a basic person who might achieve recognition in the media once or twice in small markets? Or is this person talked about often, whether good or bad? In layman’s terms, can you google this person and find news about them with ease?
Well, just using my links alone in this blog post, I would obviously argue that Micahn Carter is a public figure. He has sermons dating back nearly 15 years ago, with tens of thousands of views, although many of the largest are deleted from YouTube. He has written and published a book, formerly able to be bought on Amazon and at bookstores. He led a church of thousands in a large enough town for it to mean something when he destroyed a religious community. And since 2019, Micahn has preached for Bianca Olthoff’s Church, Steven Furtick’s Church (Elevation scrubbed post-2019 sermons of Micahn), Church of the Highlands (Scrubbed since 2019), and most recently, Forward City Church (where he is a teaching pastor, currently), and many many others.
None of those are small churches. In fact, all of them are considered Mega-Churches by any Christian standard or non-Christian standard. The leaders of these churches are lying to you if they pretend they did not know Micahn was a rapist. The Christian celebrity-profit machine is as true as HBO’s hit show Righteous Gemstones, and it routinely takes people to the “Bus and Train Station” like the Dutton Ranch of the Yellowstone series, whether by actual violence or discrediting victims. All in the name of protecting the work these “leaders” have done for the Kingdom of Heaven.
Heck, even I was physically threatened by a Micahn Carter family member in 2021. As Taylor Swift would say, “Who’s afraid of little old me?”
This post is about Micahn the rapist. But what do the men I’ve also linked in this post have most in common?
They have either sexually assaulted, protected, or hidden sexual assaulters from legal and reputational fallout. And they’ve all done it while working for the Association of Related Churches (ARC), or started working for them right after doing so. Micahn may just be the guy who falls far enough for the iceberg of ARC sexual assault to finally crack and crumble.
Based on the legal documents linked, Mary first attempted to consult other Together Church pastors about how to move forward, mainly Kevin Gerald. After this, her Mother spoke with Dino Rizzo, which was unknowingly a mistake. The same unknowing mistake Mary made with Kevin Gerald who protects sexual abusers like Micahn, when Gerald knowingly failed to protect Mary and others, rather protecting Micahn. Similar, as Dino Rizzo has committed sexual abuse himself and survived the fallout of his actions to remain a “spiritual leader” and Executive Director of the ARC network of churches. The Google trail for Dino Rizzo goes deep, and proves that Chris Hodges hired him right after Rizzo’s abuse, and that Dino has investigated other sexual assaults with no action, and has been paid for ministry services or preaching by Steven Furtick, Chris Hodges, and Kevin Gerald. And now, Gerald, Dino, and Micahn’s team at ARC knew exactly what Mary was saying, thinking, and why she was attempting to voice what had happened.
Mary did not write the blog post until after the Reddit group r/AllaboutCOTH was formed and after Chris Hodges began platforming Micahn again. Chris Hodges and Dino Rizzo are/were tightly knit leaders in the ARC network, and based on this court document, both knew about the rape before they hired Micahn onto the staff. Similar to how Dino had been hired following his own sexual abuse. The only reason Micahn was removed from staff or “resigned” was because Mary voiced her concerns publicly in a blog, and very very kindly wrote a letter about her experience directly to Hodges first. At this point, Hodges knew he had no way to defend the hire and platforming while also holding his reputation. Micahn had to go if Chris Hodges’s Righteous Gemstones lifestyle was to remain, with a net worth estimated at around $100 Million.
And while I could take a whole bunch of time to go after all the sexual abusers in the ARC network, connected and protected by Gerald, Hodges, Rizzo, and others. I’d rather just post their names, with links to prove who they are, so I can focus on the story immediately relevant today; Micahn T. Carter vs. Mary E. Jones and the plan to keep Mary from speaking up. The ARC network needs to be exposed, but I don’t have the knowledge to do it, just enough to point the fingers that prove Micahn is being protected and guided by “Church Leaders” in ARC who have been here before.
Robert Morris (Overseer at COTH) Sexually Abused a 12-Year Old Girl for Years, 2nd Link
Stephen Wilson (Gateway Church and ARC Leader) Is a convicted Sex Offender
Joshua Mauney (ARC Church Pastor) Protected by Dino Rizzo and Greg Surrat
Jason Delgado (ARC Leader) Sexually Abused An Attender and Protected by Dino Rizzo
Greg Surrat (ARC Leader) Protects Sexual Abusers and Cover’s Up Abuse
Christopher Beard (Became ARC Leader after his abuse) Left church over sexual misconduct
Caleb Treat (Youth Pastor in ARC, COTH Teacher) Sexually Abused Women and Staff
This is just some of the small amount of abuse that I can find with links, to prove my point, but r/AllaboutCOTH and r/AllaboutARC can share about a whole lot more that never got linked or were covered up. Or, even, the articles about Gerald and his church Champions Centre that fail to exist anymore but were discussed in the Reddit group years ago.
Digging into ARC on your own will reveal the depths of depravity, scandal, and lies by this church network. Micahn was on business licenses for churches in Idaho. Gerald, Hartfield (unlisted previously), Rizzo, Hodges, and others are listed on ARC churches all over as owners, despite ARC claiming that they are independent churches that are related by common themes. Gerald was co-owner with Micahn, and absorbed the money and resources when Together collapsed. Hodges and multiple ARC pastors do the same when a church leader fails, even having benefitted from the Hillsong payment and tithing scheme. At least 6 ARC leaders, including Hodges and Gerald are on Steven Furtick’s secret “executive salary team”. Even now, after Micahn, Chris Hodges claims that his “Lodge” or Pastoral Restoration Center “will never house clergy accused of sexual misconduct”
What do these specific stories have to do with Micahn T. Carter vs Mary E. Jones?
They all consistently point out that the abused women were directed to discuss the abuse with Dino Rizzo, a sexual abuser who committed it as a Pastor. For Mary, Kevin Gerald and Chris Hodges gave Dino the information and pointed Mary to Dino, Dino even proactively called Mary and then her Mother before Mary attempted to speak with Hodges. Hodges, Gerald, and Dino worked together to form the plan on what would be said to inform Together Church of Yakima, about Micahn’s rape; which they called an “inappropriate incident”.
Dino himself is sexually abusive. But these stories paint a clear picture that ARC and COTH had a preemptive plan to work through sexual abuse scandals that would rock their pastors. A plan you only create when you believe you or your team is in it for something besides Jesus. Unfortunately for Mary, and endless others, they believed these were people to trust, Pastors who loved God and loved people, not money. It’s not that they expected Micahn to rape Mary, but they were prepared for when a pastor did. And when they claim they are all independent, a lie, it’s so they can plausibly deny involvement in the sexual abuse at any of their churches while upholding top ARC leader reputations.
It’s as diabolical and evil as April 29th, 2019 at 8:00PM when Together Church wrapped up a leadership event, and Micahn heard the words “Please don’t do this”.
A scheme created to silence women from ever sharing their stories, or shutting them up, if they did.
So, what are these pastors in it for? Why does Micahn continually find preaching opportunities? Why do all these sexually abusive men continue to be hired at churches, specifically ARC churches?
Because of the money that I mentioned earlier, charisma being valued more than character for a pastor is only because of the money it can bring. Micahn is good with his words, he’s charismatic, and he can stir up similar Christians to the ones Steven Furtick stirs up. He is a money maker when he talks about the Bible. Chris Hodges, Gerald, and Dino Rizzo all knew this, and it’s why they scooped up Morningstar Church at the rebrand to Together. Bianca Olthoff, Steven Furtick, and now Dr. Jackie Greene and Travis Greene continue to platform him and pay him for Ministry, because his preaching is good and continues building love and trust off of good one-liners and platitudes that allow them to scam people out of money for a fake spirituality. So long as Micahns past, stays in the past.
It’s time we take Mike Cosper’s Charisma over Character warning seriously.
Micahn is claiming to have lost $500,000 in lost salary and speaking engagements, that’s not only a lot for a “private figure” who speaks publicly, but it’s also proof that he can make money. Dino Rizzo makes at least $275,000 as an associate pastor just at COTH, speaking engagements probably raise that up higher, and he still gets paid to lead the ARC network. Micahn isn’t a Furtick, but he could be on his charisma alone, and his sermons are captivating in the same ways for the wrong reasons. Each one is specifically crafted to slowly build trust, love, and belief so that he can plausibly deny sex abuse and say what he wants when it’s financially lucrative. He does it now preaching at Forward City Church where the people don’t know what he has done. A rapist who is making a money grab on his victim and is not truthful about his abuse, except with people who hire him, claiming to genuinely love women and children in church. Furtick, Hodges, Hillsong United, and a whole multitude of churches operate in the same way. Forward City Church is a perfect landing place for Micahn Carter to continue profitable ministry, not valuable ministry. The only positive of Forward City Church is that they aren’t ARC-related. But that only further points out that this problem is beyond Micahn, ARC, Hodges, Gerald, and Dino Rizzo.
I get asked often; Why do you care so much about Micahn Carter?
I often wonder why I have always cared so deeply about Micahn Carter. And I don’t have it pinned down, actually. I was 15 the first time I listened to a full sermon and was very tempted to introduce myself more at Red Robin when I was 16 and we were both enjoying the previously fine establishment. I was 17 when I convinced at least a handful of attendees to stop going, mainly through connections at the great Yakima Valley University.
It wasn’t until I was an adult, that I fully inserted myself into Micahn’s story. Part of it is definitely my love for Yakima and the people I grew up with, watching them be wound up for Jesus when it was actually just Micahn with flashy words and production trying to take their money. Sometimes I think it’s because I have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, and Micahn received his same diagnosis in less than 24 hours, which is unheard of in my Bipolar circles, mine alone took months to receive. And, no matter what, it can explain my own shitty actions, but it can never be an excuse.
Further yet, I’ve pondered if I have some deep love for Mary and the Jones Family, but considering I’ve never spoken or typed a single word to them, I find that angle doubtful in my own mind. Which is not to say that I don’t love Mary, but it’s the same love I would have for any woman who was sexually abused by her Pastor and led on a road of non-committed action by other sexually abusive pastors to save their money and not their flock. Which, is actually a lot of love that I have, even if it’s a blanket statement of women I will never meet.
Maybe, that love comes from the miscarriage of my Daughter in 2022, or maybe that just grew my love for women since I had already been onto Micahn 10 years earlier. As a Father, you have a right, privilege, and requirement to make sure your Daughters know at least one man will love them unconditionally their whole life. It is a problem, sadly and harrowingly, unique to women; not being loved correctly by men, my own experience reveals that truth even if I’m no Micahn, Hodges, or Rizzo. It’s incredibly difficult and unlikely, albeit possible, from a Husband, Friend, or Pastor, but it is a Father’s duty.
So why do I care so much about the Rapist, Micahn Carter?
I have been led to believe that it is my love for the church, and I think the previous thoughts about why Micahn lives in my head rent-free are also true. Yakima, Bipolar Disorder, Mary, Miscarriage, and Mistreatment.
But more than anything, I love the Bride of Christ. Obviously, not whatever modernized version Micahn, Furtick, Hodges, and Rizzo have pulled off. But also, not the version Westside, Stone Church, or Yakima Foursquare are pulling off. You don’t have to be sexually abusive to worry more about your Church’s ability to stay afloat than you do your flock. Those three Yakima churches may have pastors with Character outpacing their Charisma, I’m unsure, but it’s more clear they are all very Charismatic leaders, good at preaching, to have grown those communities.
When I did arrive at Multnomah Bible College, I began the process of learning about the Essence of the Church, and I was almost immediately disgusted at the ones I had previously attended, but not all of them. And that is not to say that Westside or others like it don’t offer a great deal of love, to a great deal of people. It’s that they would rather say one-liner platitudes that will build your trust in their leaders and institutions, then have honest conversations about the state of the church. This is why I feel burdened to blast Micahn and the problems of the church online rather than trying to fix them directly. I already tried fixing it from the inside and was always told to stop talking about the issues we have created for the Bride of Christ.
“Think about all we have done for the Kingdom, though, Shelby!” is my favorite line I’ve heard, and continue to hear.
Micahn, specifically, represents a great danger to the public and should never be allowed to work around women and children as a spiritual leader again. Him, and large amounts of the entire ARC network are implicated in the act of, or protection of, spiritual and sexual abuse inside their church. And I can speak somewhat to other awful Rapists at ARC, but I have strong knowledge of Micahn, and I feel a need to share, like this, about Micahn Carter, a Spiritually Abusive Rapist.
And my love for the Bride of Christ won’t die, no matter how hard I have tried, truly and for whatever reason. Even when I’m fed up about the Essence of the Church being lost on a weekly basis, as Pastors continue to guide us further from honest spiritual discussions and rather fit us into the mold of their own beliefs.
It is out of my love for the Church, The Bride of Christ, that I no longer trust Pastors who preach a good sermon based on their ability to convey the message. And why I can’t fully say “No” when friends ask if I’ll ever be a pastor, because I truly love the Church and what it actually is supposed to be (Although, I posit myself charismatic too). These days, I find myself drawn to the Pastors society likes to make fun of, the small-church and uncharismatic talkers leading the way. The Essence of the Church is the covenantal community of believers and not much more than that. It is not the building, location, pastor, sermon, missions, events, youth group, music, one-liners, plans, or much of anything else besides the people, in community. And that community should be unique to each church, based on its locality, full of sinners who are not the target audience of Christians as of today. Jesus did not come to save the righteous.
Why do I care that Micahn Carter is a rapist?
Because I love the Bride of Christ and Micahn raped Mary, and her.
How far do we have to go, letting sexual abuse run in the church, before we do something? How long will we deny women the intellectual authority they command, and when will the men of the church treat them with the dignity they deserve? At the very least, we have an obligation to remove spiritually and sexually abusive leaders like Micahn Carter, Dino Rizzo, Kevin Gerald, and Chris Hodges. My thoughts beyond that may never be correct, but removing abuse is.
And as much as I hate to say it, Mark Driscoll did say it best, moments before Mars Hill collapsed, here.
He just didn’t realize he was speaking to Micahn Carter.
“How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are? Abusing a woman, neglecting a woman, being a coward. A fool!”
Thoughts of Life and Taylor Swift 
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