A COGIC Apology & Revised Operations Re: Young Men Of Valor Training Manual

Read Pt. 1 Of This Issue HERE

In a recent posting at COGIC.org, the Church Of God In Christ came forth to correct and "repudiate" the information set forth in the "Sexual Health" section of its 2015 "Young Men Of Valor Training Manual". In addition, an official letter of apology was sent from International Youth Department President, Pastor Ben Stephens, "distancing himself" from the teaching of the manual. The office of the Presiding Bishop seems to have delivered a general order reaffirming our church's position on the issue of celibacy, sex and sexuality and setting forth guidelines of how the church will insure that such erroneous information will not be delivered to any COGIC member under a COGIC platform in the future.

As a reminder, this is what I asked in my previous article:

"How did this material get by screening? Was the material even screened at all? Were our leaders so enamored with their job duties, recognition, fame, conferences and the "department program" that what they were actually teaching our youth was of no consideration? Is there commonly no vetting of material by the Presiding Bishop's office? What of General Board officials? Have they no duty to review church programs and materials to make sure there is harmony with church and biblical values in materials distributed? With all of this surrounding material given to our young men, what in the world may be in the Young Women Of Excellence material? Does it also contain challenging and ungodly suggestions? The church and the leaders of the church have a greater duty to the members of this church than what they are showing and have shown in this matter? A statement of apology from these department leaders is in order as well.

Although the who and how, of this question was not addressed, I remain positive, and am EXCITED to see that dissent such as mine and the dissent of others was taken seriously enough to act upon and to implement measures that assure the fidelity of teaching and consistency of doctrine to ALL COGIC youth and members going forward.   

First: A Letter Of Apology:

Pastor Ben Stephens, the President of the International Youth Department, in a letter to Presiding Bishop Blake dated May 29th, stated the following:

"It was under my watch that the Young Men of Valor (2015 Edition) was published that omitted the Church of God in Christ's well-established theological, biblical, and doctrinal information surrounding "sanctified" sexuality. In its stead was clinical information acquired from various (non-Church of God in Christ) professional sources. The 2015 edition clearly represents a lapse in judgement and failure in supervision, and I take full responsibility for it."

Pastor Stephens further affirmed that the Young Men Of Valor program should be consistent with church values by stating the following 5 things:

"1. Sex is not to be engaged in outside the context of marriage; therefore, encouraging young men to maintain their virginity until marriage, by practicing celibacy.

2. We support the concept and commitment to sexual abstinence prior to marriage.

3. We encourage and support holy matrimony only between a man and woman.

4. We find it vital to address sexual temptations but from a holy and biblical perspective.

5. Single Young Men of Valor are encouraged to live chaste and sexually pure according to the Bible and the Doctrine of the Church of God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian (Young Man of Valor) is enabled to live a holy and separated life in this present world."

Pastor Stephens letter was encouraging, to the point and well appreciated. The entire letter can be viewed HERE.

Secondly: New Guidelines To Govern The Review & Release Of Distributed Information:

I and others asked about the vetting process for publications and information that is delivered to our children and all COGIC members. The General Order from the Bishops office, in no uncertain terms, addresses the issue as follows:

"1. Pastor Ben Stephens has given a strong reprimand and his actions will be subject to oversight for an undetermined period of time;

2. Oversight and management of the Young Men of Valor program has been reassigned;

3. Bishop James L. Whitehead, Jr. has been appointed to lead a standing commission that will be responsible for reviewing all printed departmental materials as well as all materials promoted or sold through the Publishing House to ensure they are in line with COGIC doctrine;

4. Representatives of the Publishing Board will appear before the General Board semi‐annually to provide information on content being offered; and,

5. All department leaders have been tasked with conducting an audit within their respective departments to determine if any documents now exist that are in need of revision to ensure alignment with COGIC doctrine."

In my opinion, these guidelines, if followed faithfully, will assure that information delivered to our youth is consistent to COGIC doctrine and more importantly biblical positions on the issues. The General Board should know and be fully aware of what is being taught to not only our youth, but throughout our church.

I believe that it is the first duty of the minister and ministry everywhere to deliver information that is faithful to the word of God. The conferences and all the operations, books and everything else is secondary to truth and the wholesome, biblically based information that we are charged to deliver to our members and the world. It is my desire that this church would slow itself down, reorganize priorities and set its face towards the substance that makes holiness different and unique from the doctrines of men and live out its first call, to love God and do righteously in this world. 

Secondary Issues:

Even with what I consider to be positive steps taken by our church in addressing the issues favorably and responsibly, there is yet further speculation that this fiasco was a calculated move to move us off center as it pertains to fidelity and sexual integrity and purity within the church, and that Ben Stephens is wholly responsible for this manual and its subsequent content, but does not suffer because of his relationship to Presiding Bishop Blake. 

The fact is that even "if" Pastor Ben Stephens was totally responsible for the teachings in this manual, and even 'if" such material was planted as a part of a conspiracy to subjugate our youth to ungodliness, ALL parties, involved (or not), have had to publicly repudiate the manual and its contents under the "Sexual Health" section, to the fullest degree. This is a written record which has been captured both by myself and others and is not so easily overcome by equivocating on the issue. 

I do not believe that addressing the response with high levels of criticism is productive. While each individual is entitled to believe what they wish, it is the position of this blog that this matter has been and is being addressed adequately by COGIC leadership, there are new procedures in place to address other potential issues,  and The Dunamis Word is glad to serve and facilitate positive change and better procedures in whatever way we can.

Blessed!

COGIC General Order & Repudiation Of The Sexual Health section of the Young Men Of Valor Training Manual: 

COGIC Young Men Of Valor Training Manual Statement from Pastor Harvey Burnett

     

Read more!

COGIC Delivers & Withdraws Comprehensive Sexual Education To Youth

Updated 6/6/2016: READ The COGIC Response To This Issue HERE

Yes, you read the headline correctly. The Church Of God In Christ, otherwise known as "COGIC", the largest organized Pentecostal/Holiness church in the United States primarily led by Black ministers and leaders, was at least until recently, offering through the National Youth Department, comprehensive sex education in what was called the "Young Men Of Valor Training Manual" (with a creepy cover to the right). 

Since many individuals don't know the difference between or how to identify various sex education programs, please allow me to define what is meant by a comprehensive sex education program. Advocates For Youth.org defines a comprehensive sex education program in the following manner: 

"Comprehensive Sex Education teaches about abstinence as the best method for avoiding STDs and unintended pregnancy, but also teaches about condoms and contraception to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and of infection with STDs, including HIV. It also teaches interpersonal and communication skills and helps young people explore their own values, goals, and options."

Careful attention to the part about helping young people "explore their own values, goals, and options." is the defining feature of the sexual health information that was placed into the Young Men Of Valor manual. Providing comprehensive sexual education seems to be EXACTLY what this program was designed to do at least in the sexual health section.

To be clear, COGIC has since removed the manual and produced a statement dated May 24th, 2016 as follows:

However, according to additional REPORTS from Dr. Earl Carter, who seems to have first examined this issue, COGIC has since distanced itself from the publication with all leaders claiming that they did not know what was being printed and delivered to our youth through the International Youth Department Manual.   

"If you do decide to have sex, you should: Use condoms 100% of the time. You need to make sure that you use a new latex condom (or dental dam) correctly every time you have oral, anal or vaginal sex. If you're allergic to latex, use a polyurethane male or female condom"~ COGIC International Youth Dept. Young Men Of Valor Training Manual Pg. 69 (yes-page 69 see below)

Dr. Earl Carter, who has an outstanding call to our church to reform and reject the leadership Of Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake for various reasons which I will not elucidate here, recently revealed the COGIC youth department's teaching manual, in which  young men were taught how to have sex rather than how to avoid sex and sexual activity, or even examine sexual consideration in light of scripture. In fact the booklet even suggests making provisions for sexual acts normally associated with homosexual behavior.

Not To Beat A Dead Horse...'Cause This Horse Ain't Dead!

Though the manual has been pulled and a statement issued from the church regarding it, this is a huge issue and one worthy of great ongoing concern. Why? In part because as a church we trust our leaders...ALL of our leaders, to guard and watch out for the best interest of our youth, especially in the auxiliaries they serve. 

As a Supt. in this church, I feel that if we cannot trust Departmental leaders and their committees and teams to review, approve and stand by material distributed to millions of children and members in the church, those same department heads should be immediately removed from position and replaced by individuals who take their duties with more diligence.  

The Information Has Already Done Much Damage:

Pulling the information after the fact does not change the fact that the information that has already been distributed, has done its damage. In fact, from the review that I have seen of the pages of the manual, not only did the manual teach young adults how to make sexual decisions, but made no reference to the biblical teaching that sex without marriage is sin. In fact there was no reference to any biblical mandates or consideration for the integrity of the word of God in the life of the believer. It was a secular writing, from a secular point of view based on secular information, and human moral values. At a glance, one could see that the information contained within this guide was not biblically centered. 

 At one point the authors of the manual assume that the young men that they are training are involved in same sex relationships among other relationships. 

"If you are sexually active, you also need to think about:

• Gender of your sexual partner 

• Kind of relationship you have with them

• Type of contraception and sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention methods you use".  

             COGIC International Youth Dept. Young Men Of Valor Training Manual Pg.                67- 68 

While I have not received the complete "Training Manual;" it seemed like a "how to" journal instead of an actual teaching on "valor", especially as it pertains to youth sexual activity and functions. One could rightly ask, is the only reason that the manual was removed and taken down because it was revealed or spoken of publicly? Can we afford to passively sit by while our youth, who are constantly bombarded with the message of sex and sexual immorality, are under attack?

In addition, since it didn't take anything more than Dr. Carter making this known on his video, how in the world did subscribers both to the publication and to the Youth Department, who were aware of this MESS, think that this book was valuable or of a resource to our youth or consistent in any manner with teaching our young men encouraging them to be strong and courageous in this world? This is what makes the revelation of the material so shocking and the response of our church so lack-luster and wholly inadequate. 

For the record, VALOR is defined as the following:

"boldness or determination in facing great danger, especially in battle;heroic courage; bravery:" Dictionary.com

"strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness : personal bravery" Merriam-Webster.com

"Courage and boldness, as in battle; bravery. boldness or determination in facing danger." The Free Dictionary.com

This manual, designed to teach children in a Pentecostal/holiness church, was teaching anything but valor. It taught children how to conform to the world rather than to conform to Christ.

How did this material get by screening? Was the material even screened at all? Were our leaders so enamored with their job duties, recognition, fame, conferences and the "department program" that what they were actually teaching our youth was of no consideration? Is there commonly no vetting of material by the Presiding Bishop's office? What of General Board officials? Have they no duty to review church programs and materials to make sure there is harmony with church and biblical values in materials distributed? With all of this surrounding material given to our young men, what in the world may be in the Young Women Of Excellence material? Does it also contain challenging and ungodly suggestions? The church and the leaders of the church have a greater duty to the members of this church than what they are showing and have shown in this matter? A statement of apology from these department leaders is in order as well.  

Now, was this not the same basis for the chastisement of Dr. Earl Carter from the beginning? Remember, his Convocation message was released, but when criticism started to occur, the leadership, the Presiding Bishop's Office in particular, vocally and forcefully condemned Carter's message and terminology, even making a video which was released from West Angeles on the issue. 

In this case, we have a generic statement written by who, we don't know, saying that the information was not properly vetted, which we already know, and that it is being investigated as to what happened and simply saying that, it won't happen again. How do we trust that? WE CAN'T!

My problem...

First, the Youth Department has violated both its Objective and the YPWW Pledge. From it's website:

"This charismatic department will design, develop, and implement programs and ministry opportunities that meet the spiritual needs of the youth of our church. Rallies, workshops, and pertinent seminars will be tools used to effectively teach our youth how to apply the Word of God in their lives."

That objective was clearly missed by the acceptance of such a manual. Secondly, focus on our YPWW Pledge:

"We pledge our unselfish devotion and loyalty to the principles and doctrine of our COGIC faith to be representatives of holiness in our everyday life; and to let our lives be the mirror that reflects the image of Christ."

Missed on BOTH accounts!

We have a list of persons associated with this department and at least 4 involved in the "Education" section of the department. I would like to hear from them, how this material got by them or what they were told was contained within the material. 

I would also like to hear from the Presiding Bishop, Charles E Blake, assuring the church that information pertaining to SEXUAL HEALTH that was placed in this manual, was wholly inconsistent with church teaching and that the church further REPUDIATES such teaching as was in the manual under the guise of "sexual health". In other words, I would like to see our leadership approach this matter with the same vigor and intensity as the matter of Dr. Earl Carter was addressed. 

As of now, we do not know how many young people were given this information with the blessing of adults who either did not know what was in the manual, or who did know and were ready, eager and willing to teach kids about sex! The manual was on sale for $30.00. How many manuals were sold and how much in profits were already received and delivered?  believe this church, the Grand Ole Church Of God In Christ, has a greater moral duty to ALL of its members and especially to our youth and families. I believe we should expect and demand better from this church. 

Supt. Harvey Burnett

Blessed!

The Infamous Pg. 69

     

Read more!