Rick Ousley, what are you up to now? If you are reading this, people still care about you

Dear Mr. Rick Ousley,

You don't know me and we only met once, which wasn't really even a proper meeting. You were eating lunch with a group of fellow pastors planning the launch of Riverside Baptist Church.  I was sitting nearby and overheard your conversation. You might remember that I approached your table in tears imploring your group of pastors to please re-think promoting rock music in your churches.

Your group's pleasure at being asked if you were all pastors quickly faded when your heard my plea, and it of course fell on deaf ears. If memory serves, that was about 12 years ago.

I still feel the same way about the tragic decline of sacred music in Southern Baptist Churches, but for the purposes of this blog post, that's neither here nor there. I only mention the event so that if you read this, you might have a frame of reference for who I am.

I know that we'd differ on a lot of things. I'm an unabashed independent Baptist, a fundamentalist and yes I believe that the King James Bible is the only one you or anyone else ought to be using. (Get a KJV Bible here, for free!)

But I'm writing this post to somehow try and get a message to you that people still care about you. Besides Ray Boltz, the majority of hits on this website come from searches asking about you. They want to know what you're doing now. They want to know how you are. They wonder if you are preaching anywhere.

And the searches come from all over the US. Mostly from the Southeast, but plenty from out West as well. There was one from Maryland a few days ago.

 I don't know where you are in life, but I wanted to tell you this, that people still care about you. And tell you that there is a balm in Gilead. 

God bless you.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." 

Galatians 6:1-3

The Ministry of Rescue and Recovery

This is a free eight lesson study designed by ordained Baptist pastor Mike Althaus to help those who've fallen by the wayside and need restoration. You may e-mail Mike Althaus at: malt55 (AT) juno.com

Note: Yes comments are welcome, but I do moderate comments and if you'd like your comment to stay unpublished, just make a note of that.

Edited 7/20/11 to add: There is a video interview with Rick Ousley located at CBS 42.

What is Rick Ousley up to now?

What's Rick Ousley up to now?

To be honest with you, I don't know. I only met him once and that was extremely brief. I don't really move in those circles and his camp isn't my camp. (Speaking of Brookhills Baptist Church.) Do they still even use the name Baptist?

However, if the Google searches that bring people to my blog are any indication, lost of people still care about Rick Ousley and want to know how's he doing.

I think Ousley got a bum deal from The Birmingham News and religion writer Greg Garrison. They were happy to expose the fact that Rick Ousley had an affair with Donna Jones of Katy, Texas. But when Donna Jones was exposed  for  making post under false names accusing at Ousley of other affairs, the Birmingham News went silent.

That doesn't excuse what he did. But shouldn't the whole story be told?

Edited 7/20/11 to add: There is a video interview with Rick Ousley located at CBS 42.
Also, an open letter to Rick Ousley is located here: http://thefullcourt.blogspot.com/2011/07/rick-ousley-what-are-you-up-to-now-if.html

Very Strange Happenings in the Rick Ousley Donna Jones Affair

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.)

"If sin goes unjudged in a church, we are thereby inviting others to become self-indulgent" (Rick Ousley Affair)

A Google search of blogs and other websites regarding the Rick Ousley affair brings a multitude of posts that defend Rick Ousley and claim that no one else should judge what he did. As usual, most of those same people express no concern for Rick Ousley's victims while they continue to make excuses for him.


Their mindset shows the sad lack of sound Biblical judgement that surrounds the easy believism of the Southern Baptist Convention and the "megachurch" model.

Author, pastor and missionary David Cloud made these remarks in regard to the lack of judgment in the church today. I believe we would all do well to heed his warning.

THE POSITIVE ONLY APPROACH VS. HUMAN NATURE
(Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2007, http://www.wayoflife.org/ fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The Doctrine and Administration of the Church by Paul R. Jackson: "Modern psychology objects to a negative approach and opposes commandments and warnings.

God's Word does not support such a theory, for the theory ignores the awful fact of a depraved human nature. It would be ideal if men could be encouraged to live godly lives without any warning of judgment upon ungodliness. But to suppose they will do so is idealistic and contrary to all observation, as well as to Scripture.

God warns of impending judgment and says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). "Because there is wrath, beware..." (Job 36:18). If sin goes unjudged in a church, we are thereby inviting others to become self-indulgent.

It will not do to plead "love" as a basis for neglect. ... God does not put love and punishment in opposition to each other. He says, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth..." (Heb. 12:5-11). The church has a solemn responsibility to restrain sin by proper discipline. If we do not exercise the judgment, the Lord will (1 Cor. 11:31-32).

Other Articles of Interest
MOST SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCHES DO NOT EXERCISE DISCIPLINE
What Is Wrong With The Divorced Pastor?

The Church at Brook Hills WILL NOT RESPOND to Rick Ousley Victims

From the Church at Brookhills website.......

"Please note at this time that this form is limited to comments that you feel would be helpful to the issue at hand, and that these comments will be read, but not posted or responded to."


Great article THE ADULATION OF MAN IN THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

THE POSITIVE ONLY APPROACH VS. HUMAN NATURE (Friday Church News Notes, March 23, 2007, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from The Doctrine and Administration of the Church by Paul R. Jackson: "Modern psychology objects to a negative approach and opposes commandments and warnings. God's Word does not support such a theory, for the theory ignores the awful fact of a depraved human nature. It would be ideal if men could be encouraged to live godly lives without any warning of judgment upon ungodliness. But to suppose they will do so is idealistic and contrary to all observation, as well as to Scripture. God warns of impending judgment and says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). "Because there is wrath, beware..." (Job 36:18). If sin goes unjudged in a church, we are thereby inviting others to become self-indulgent. It will not do to plead "love" as a basis for neglect. ... God does not put love and punishment in opposition to each other. He says, "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth..." (Heb. 12:5-11). The church has a solemn responsibility to restrain sin by proper discipline. If we do not exercise the judgment, the Lord will (1 Cor. 11:31-32). (Written by missionary David Cloud.)