[Vision2020] Sitler Travis Wedding
Posted by Rosemary Huskey
Visionaries,
About a month ago I published an email on V2020 addressed to Doug Wilson and his elders regarding the forthcoming marriage of Steven Sitler and Katie Travis. I specifically named the elders so that in their daily out and about in Moscow you would know who they are and what they represent. Now, I will answer some of the questions that I (rhetorically) asked them. (They didn’t bother to answer me.) A degree of culpability for supporting this sacrilegious “marriage” covers all of them, but some actors are more deeply involved than others.
The following list of elders (with the exception of John Grauke — who depends on the Kirk to supply patients to him so is beholden indirectly to Doug) are employed by Kirk owned or allied ventures. Nothing keeps the toadies in line like a regular pay check. Ben Merkle is on the faculty of New Saint Andrews and is married to Doug’s eldest daughter, who mysteriously refers to her father as a Presbyterian minister on press releases for her business. When did that ordination happen, Doug? Gordon Wilson is Doug’s brother.
Dale Courtney, Dr. John Grauke, Matt Gray, Ed Iverson, Mike Lawyer, Csaba Leidenfrost, Ben Merkle, Jim Nance, John Sawyer, Wes Struble, Matt Whitling, and Gordon Wilson, and Pastor Doug Wilson
Katie Travis and Steven Sitler are “grateful” to NSA librarian and church elder Ed Iverson and his wife for arranging their meeting and supporting their courtship. It is disturbing to learn that Miss Travis had known Mr. and Mrs. Iverson for many years prior to her arrival at NSA. She boarded with them during her NSA tenure. I know there is a word for a person who procures women for men, but I don’t know the word for someone who engineers a marriage with a serial pedophile. It is true that Miss Travis asked Ed Iverson to find a suitable husband for her, but I can’t imagine she meant a child-molesting felon.
I wondered if her home church pastor was aware of this travesty. Silly me. Of course he was aware. Click on the links for more info on Tim Tucker. The bolding in the bottom line of his vita is mine:
Pastor Rev. Tim Tucker was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, but grew-up in Connell, Washington with an older brother. If he could live anywhere it would be “Right here in Fallon, I love it here!” Tim is the Pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian Church here in Fallon, and also serves as the Headmaster of our school. Tim teaches at LCA [Logos Christian Academy] because he wants to see generational growth in God’s Kingdom in Fallon. In his free time he likes to date his wife, play with his children and read. Tim is married to Carleen (for 34 years), and they have eleven blessed children: Heather, Heidi, Holly, Forrest, Hillary, Hannah, Fred, Ford, Freeman, Finn and Hallie. He is also the proud grandpa of nine grandchildren with another on the way! Mr. Tucker is committed to classical education and to the work of rearing up children in the ways of the Lord. He has been involved in education from a Christian perspective for over 25 years. He has lived in Fallon since 2001.
Education:
- B.A. (Religion and Philosophy) from Northwest Nazarene University
- Fellow of Greyfriar’s Hall, Moscow, ID (M.Div. equivalent)
What’s with the Pastor Rev. crapola? I don’t see any evidence that a genuine (recognized by a national affiliation) Presbyterian church ordained him. Perhaps it is the same church that laid hands on Doug. Or, could it be that he is claiming affiliation with a respected denomination to boost his own rather rickety credentials? And yes, it is not accidental that fat old Friar Tuck has also started a Logos clone. School start up is part of the requirements for graduation from Doug’s pseudo-seminary, Greyfriar’s Hall. (Note the loop effect, Greyfriar graduates have to start up a Logos style school which in turn must pay to join Doug’s school accreditation business the Association of Classical Christian Schools. Kirkers may claim it’s about a worldview, but since money is part of every transaction, it really is all about the money. (Can you smell the pyramid scheme lurking in the background?)
If you know anyone in Fallon, Nevada, who is looking for a church home, I’d sure as heck steer them away from this one. If you’d like to ask Pastor Rev. Tucker what led him down this path his email is: friartuck53@cccomm.net). Don’t expect an answer though; he is not interested in explaining his role in this ungodly marriage. Taking responsibility for bad behavior has never been a high priority in CREC (Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches — Doug Wilson’s home-grown invention of like-minded individuals.) Incidentally, CREC utilizes a presbyterian (note the small “p” it is an adjective not a noun) style of church governance. Capitalizing the P does not mean that they meet any of the requirements for ordination, nor are they associated with nationally recognized Presbyterian churches. For example, they are not, absolutely not, associated with the real live local Presbyterian Church. Does anyone think for a moment that because I live in a town called Moscow, saw the movie Black Swan, and conduct ballet classes on my back patio, that I am somehow entitled to describe my pretend classes as an extension school of the Bolshi? Same deal and just as ridiculous as Doug’s loony claim.
Speaking of ministers, how ’bout Pastor Eby of our local Nazarene Church? What makes him tick? Why in the world did he get involved with this mess? If he didn’t know about Sitler’s crimes when the church was rented, he certainly knows now. I wonder what his congregation thinks about this use of their church? It kinda reminds me of the warning in Matthew 21:12. I don’t have a doubt in the world that Pastor Eby would be unwilling to rent his church to a person who is a notorious abortion provider. I have always wondered why there is an overwhelming concern to protect the unborn “child” but not so much for babies after birth. Steven Sitler has in effect murdered the spirits of countless children but I guess that doesn’t count when someone pays top dollar to use the sanctuary. (Doug Wilson will perform the service.)
Are you seeing the pattern of spiritually corrupt CREC ministers in this mess? As to the parents of both the bride and groom — they are beyond shame, I get that. No father in his right mind would give his permission (which is generally required in CREC marriages) to this grotesque match. As far as the Sitler seniors are concerned, they appear to be ecstatic that they are marrying off that nasty piece of work they hatched. They have left their old church — the one that dis-fellowshipped Steven when he admitted to molesting children (including at least one in their congregation) — in favor of a new CREC church plant in Colville. Everywhere I look I see the footprints of Doug Wilson’s size 14 combat boots.
And here is the point of this series of emails. When Doug and the boys rip off community members in Moscow by running gambling casinos, illegal boarding houses, plunking a college and an under-the-radar boys school in central Moscow, or not paying taxes when they rented space to for-profit businesses on tax-free property they are a pain in the ass. And, yes, thanks to the lack of backbones the city council let them get by with their self-entitled bullshit. The Daily News has had a long-term love affair with all things Kirkish for years. A bottle of wine goes a long way to buying good press I guess. Again, annoying but not worth much more in the long run than throwing up ones hands and sighing. I know that calling out the Kirk is risky business. And, most folks have the mother wit not to get involved. After all, there is a price to pay for pointing out their nastiness. Saundra and I, not to mention Tom Hanson, are keenly aware of this. But we won’t stop — silence is acquiescence and we would be ashamed of ourselves if we cut and ran when things get a uncomfortable. (Curiously, shame is a motivator for us, but Kirkers, not so much.)
This wedding is a different kettle of fish — it involves so much more than cheap chiselers thumbing their noses at city regulations. This is the culmination of years of unrelenting propaganda that preaches the sole purpose of women on this earth is to marry and breed. Of course Miss Travis wants a husband, how could she be a real grown up without one? Getting married means that God is blessing you. Failure to snag a husband means that no matter what else you accomplish, you are a failure, half a person, incomplete, in the eyes of the faithful. This unrelenting message leads foolish young woman like Miss Travis to become engaged on a second date to a really creepy criminal. Her obsessive desire to be married is heartbreaking on many levels.
But, my sympathy for Miss Travis, although sincere, has to be measured against what I am sure is her desire to have children. Someone has to be the advocate for the (potential) children of this union. It is clear that neither set of grandparents give a damn about what could happen to children in the home of a serial pedophile. Their lack of concern rules them out as responsible parents or grandparents. There is no way on this earth that Miss Travis, who after all is choosing to marry a molester of toddlers, is competent to protect her babies. (Think about it, how likely is it that she will turn him in when, if convicted, he will spend the rest of his life in prison?)
And so, as unpleasant as it is, these emails are my only hope that at least our community (and anyone who googles the names in this email) will be aware of what is happening June 11, 2011, thanks to the principal enablers in this hellish drama. Stand up and take a bow parents, Don and Betsy Travis; Roxanne and Dave Sitler; “adopted grandparents” Ed and Paula Iverson; and pastors Doug Wilson, Tim Tucker, and to a lesser extent Ed Eby. The elders in both CREC churches who support this marriage also bear a responsibility for going along to get along. Once again, please remember the names of Christ Church elders in Moscow:
Dale Courtney, Dr. John Grauke, Matt Gray, Ed Iverson, Mike Lawyer, Csaba Leidenfrost, Ben Merkle, Jim Nance, John Sawyer, Wes Struble, Matt Whitling, and Gordon Wilson, and Pastor Doug Wilson, for they are men who promoted and protected evil to achieve God only knows what. (One can’t help but speculate if ample donations to the New Saint Andrews library have appeared over the last six months) I can say unequivocally, not a one of them would have permitted Steven Sitler to marry their own daughters. Sadly, Miss Travis was groomed by these jackasses, and their CREC brothers, to be expendable.
Rose Huskey