Please know that I hesitate to post any further on this painful matter. I'd be the last person in the world to defend Rick Ousley regarding his maritial failures and this post is not my intention at all. But I believe that fairness requires this post.
Ousley is a contemporary styled Southern Baptist traveling evangelist, well known in the state of Alabama, and the Southeast. He was one of the first pastors (now retired) at The Church at Brooks Hills, a liberal megachurch in Birmingham, Alabama.
As many of you know, Rick Ousley admitted to having an affair with Donna Jones of Katy, Texas. The Birmingham News carried that admission on their front page and that article is linked here.
When the story broke, many blogs also posted the news article, including this one. Within hours this blog alone had hundreds of hits from all around the world searching for Rick Ousley information. (That number is well into the 1000's now.) The articles regarding this situation drew many comments. Those comments ran the gamut from curious onlookers to people who actually knew Ousley and wanted to defend him, or even bring further accusations.
Posts started popping up left and right on the Birmingham Blues Blog. A Poster claiming to be a friend of Donna Jones (Ann) started making remarks and giving more details. "Ann" made horrendous claims against Ousley on behalf of Donna Jones.
Posters claiming to be members of Donna Jones extended family (who lived in another state) started making comments and further claims with weird personal details on behalf of Donna Jones.
An 82 year old aunt (Marie) of Donna's supposedly had her son David post a letter on behalf of Donna because she didn't have or know how to use a computer. But yet she frequently used internet lingo in her two very detailed messages. And she knew very unbelievable details about her niece Donna and Donna's relationship with Ousley. Like how much booze Donna bought and what brand Rick liked. And the names of sermons Rick has preached.
It was starting to sound a little strange. I have cousins and aunts that I love dearly, but they do not know the intimate details of my life and certainly couldn't quote the names of sermons my pastor has preached.
Aunt Marie supposedly lives in Arizona but claims to have heard Rick leave messages on Donna's answering machine. The list goes on......... something is not adding up here.
Next we have someone calling herself "Nancy Long" posting messages and claiming that her daughter was also a "victim" of Rick Ousley. That post is located here. "Nancy Long's" second post is located here. The cadence and phrases are remarkably like Ann's, Donna's Aunt Marie and Donna's cousin David. Nancy Long claims that she does not know Donna Jones and says she lives in another state.
Then a poster at the Birmingham Blues Blog shows up and claims to be THE Donna Jones of Katy, Texas. My opinion is that she was who she claimed she was because she inadvertently posted her personal contact information from her place of employment. She sent an urgent message to the blog owner asking for the information to be removed and threatened a law suit to anyone who used that information to contact her. I saw the information and did save it.
Then someone posted claiming to be "a stewardess" who was harrassed by Rick Ousley. My suspicious meter went off again because my cousin was a flight attendant more than a few years ago, and even back then, they never called themselves stewardess. They always said FLIGHT ATTENDANT.
Some wise person (not me, if I was wise I never would of made the first post at that place) asked the webmistress about IP or ISP numbers, numbers assigned by your service provider that identify your computer.
The webmistress conducted an IP number survey and discovered that the person claiming to be Donna Jones in Texas, her friend Ann, her cousin David from Arizona, her Aunt Marie from Arizona and the totally unrelated Nancy Long in Alabama, supposed mother of a victim, had
ALL POSTED FROM THE SAME COMPUTER.
Does that mean that Rick Ousley isn't guilty of what he has admitted to? No, it certainly does not.
Does it mean that someone is creating false personas to level false changes against him, to slander him and his wife Joyce?
That's what it looks like to me. And that is just as wrong as what Ousley did and should be exposed in the same manner.
Greg Garrison, The Birmingham News, Alabama Baptist, everyone who covered this, I call on you to cover the rest of it. Because there is far more to this than meets the eye.
As an aside, Dr. Shelton Smith was far more right about the Blogosphere than I wanted to admit the first time I read this article. (Note, I still don't think he is completely right, but he makes some great points.)
This posting is amazing and only confirms my thoght that there are some really weird people out there in Blog-land...
ReplyDeleteAs for Rick, another fallen public figure - another black eye for all Christians.
kjp
There is no way that 6 posters in 3 different states had the same IP number.
ReplyDeleteNO POSSIBLE WAY PEOPLE.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with all the anonymous posting, by the way?
ReplyDeleteso good to see pastor john posting again!
ReplyDeleteI thought it was telling that the alleged "Donna Jones" went away when her secret id's were brought to light by Kathy.
ReplyDeleteYesterday for whatever reason, Rick was on my mind. I knew he was in evangelism, so I googled his name, that's when I found out about his infidelity.
ReplyDeleteBefore I continue, I must give you some background. Rick was my youth minister at Oak Ridge Bapt church. He came to Oak Ridge in the summer before my freshman yr in HS. We lived in the same area, and at that time were very close. He was good friends with my family. On, Thursday mornings we had BASIC, brothers and sisters in Christ, a weekly Bible study for High schoolers and middle schoolers. Either he picked me up to go to it or I picked him up. I spent a lot of time with Rick. I admired and respected him, I loved him as my brother in Christ and my mentor. I even wrote a poem that basicaly said, I admired him, but not really him, but the Christ inside that I saw. We prayed together, he told touching stories and illustrations. The youth at Oak Ridge would go with him to the various churches where he preached revivals. He had some of the most indepth Bible studies which I have ever heard, his messages were touching and heart felt, bringing you closer to God. I was one of 6 or 7 youth which had felt God's calling into the ministry. He taught a class on Sunday evenings on preaching and teaching. We would preach or teach, then be critiqued on what we did right or wrong with the presentation, and on whether the topic had Bibical standing.
Our youth group grew to close 200 members, he established a youth council, which was voted on by the entire youth group, to help plan the yearly calender of teaching and events for our youth group. For 3 years, I was the youth council president.
My jr yr in high school, we did a mission/choir trip. When we returned, we even recorded an albumn at 1st Bapt houston. Rick told us a week or so later that he was leaving to be youth minister at 1st Bapt Houston.
Not too long after that, Rick was spending days and nights at his office at 1st Baptist. Then he and his first wife, Deb, seperated. Deb divorced Rick due to his infidelity at that time with a high school senior, who was 18 yrs old. There were rumors even then that there was other girls which Rick had inappropriate conduct with.
A few years back when I heard he had established a church and that it was growing, and that he had a family, and he was into evagelism, I was very excited. Rick had always been in my prayers, and I felt God had annointed Rick with tremendous talent to spread his word.
I believe that Rick did not reveal the complete story. When you compare Riok to David. David fell before the Lord and man, confessing that he had commited murder and adultery. Rick's confession seems to fall short of the full truth. I love Rick, my brother in Christ, and I will keep him in my prayers. I do believe that Rick has/had a special annointing, but like Sampson, he may have let it slip away.
Forgotten in this whole situation is his first wife Deb, and their 2 children.
I'm praying for everyone in this situation.
Floyd Sanson