Sorry Phil,
I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.  I will remember not to forward 
anything else to the list.  Please accept my sincere apologies.
Virgie and Hoshi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 6:37 PM
Subject: Re: Darrel Scott's testimony


>I did not comment on the speech given before congress by Darrell
> Scott when it was first posted to blind-x because I was way behind
> on reading my mail.  Now that I have a few minutes, I wanted to
> say something about it even if it gets me into trouble.  This same
> speech by Darrell Scott has come to me more than once over the
> passed years.  It was recently posted on the electronic church
> mailing list I have and I didn't comment publicly about it there
> but probably should have.  In fact, I will post on echurch-l what
> I am about to say on this list because I think it needs to be
> said.  Anyhow, here are my comments.
>
> Let me begin by saying that I have read Darrell Scott's speech
> before and that I agree with everything he says.  I personally
> know Darrell Scott and his family and I am always a little
> uncomfortable every time I see Darrell speaking on these issues.
> Let me explain why.  Darrell Scott was pastoring a church near my
> home.  I joined Darrell's church and soon became involved in his
> ministry.  About the time I joined his church, he had become
> discontented in the pastoral ministry and in a few months, he
> literally turned his church over to me to take his place.  He had
> gotten involved in a multi level organization and was making more
> money than the church had ever been able to pay him.  After he
> turned his ministry over to me, he left the church and never
> returned. We then found out that he had been using the church for
> part of his business operations.  That is not, of course, illegal
> but I considered it unethical.  We also found out that he had been
> paying his own salary each week and ignoring the church bills.
> This included the rent which was 2500 dollars a month.  When I
> took over the church, I found out that we were at least two months
> behind in all the church bills.  This came to about 6,000 dollars
> that we were behind.  It took us several months to get caught up
> and I went without a salary all that time.  the church also had a
> number of people who were leaving because Darrell refused to work
> with others in the church wanting to assist in different church
> ministries.  The church had no board of elders or deacons of any
> type.  Darrell always said he never believed in such
> accountability in the operation of a church.  By the time he left,
> we probably didn't have but 50 or 60 people left and it once had
> been nearly 150 people.  At least that was what Darrell always
> told me but I personally never saw more than 75 or 80 people
> there.  About half the people who remained, quickly left when
> Darrell stopped pastoring the church.  So not only was I stuck
> with several thousand dollars worth of church debt, but I had a
> fraction of the people left in the church by the time Darrell
> left.  By the way, Darrell, at that time, was one of the best
> Bible teachers I ever heard.  He was a great musician and our
> worship services were fantastic.  His wife played the piano,
> Darrell sang, and at that time, one of his sisters was a part of
> our music team.  Since Darrell was doing a lot of traveling with
> his new business, I took his place on Sundays most of the time.
> The men of the church finally called a meeting and asked Darrell
> to either pastor the church or turn it over to someone.  After a
> lot of discussion, Darrell turned the church over to me in front
> of all the men at that meeting that night.  Of course, half the
> men there didn't believe I should have been the man taking
> Darrell's place so many of them never returned to any of our
> services.  Darrell never came back to any services again.  A few
> weeks after he left the church, we learned that Darrell was having
> an affair with the church secretary.  She, by the way, had left
> the church when he did because she was working with him in his
> multi level business and traveling with him as they did
> presentations.  Darrell left his wife and children for this woman
> and this woman left her husband and children for Darrell.  I never
> heard if they actually got married or not.  Frankly, I cannot say
> if they were having their affair during the time he was pastoring
> the church or not but I can tell you some people believed they
> were.  I was visiting a church a couple of years ago where some of
> Darrell's relatives were members.  He was back in a church at that
> time and was dating a woman.  I have not recently heard if he
> married or not.  I do not know if Darrell was supporting his
> former wife and children when he left them but I know for awhile
> he must not have been because his own father and mother moved to
> Denver from Louisiana to help her with the children while she went
> out and got a job to support her own children.  His father had
> been a pastor and since he was retired, he and his wife moved to
> Denver to help Beth, Darrell's wife, raise the children while she
> went out and got a job.  Doesn't sound like a father supporting
> his family to me but then I didn't go around asking any
> questions; I was too busy trying to clean up the mess Darrell left
> at his church.  I was told much of this information by personal
> friend's of Darrell's at the time and as I said, I did not go
> around trying to find out all that was going on in his life
> because I was too busy doing the ministry work.  I have not
> bothered calling friends that know Darrell nor have I bothered
> calling any of his relatives here in Denver to find out how
> Darrell is doing now.  Frankly, I don't want to know any more than
> I do right now.  I have no reason to believe that Darrell is
> anything other than what he appears to be based upon the speech he
> gave.  I have seen him on TV shows and heard him on radio talks
> shows several times since his daughter was shot and killed at
> Columbine High School.  I have never heard anything he said with
> which I disagreed.  I just feel uncomfortable listening to him
> when I know things in his background and how he left his wife and
> five children, and his ministry, and how he screwed up his life
> ten years ago.  I hope Darrell started supporting his former wife
> and his children long before Columbine but I personally do not
> know his relationship with his children to date.  I know his wife
> has remarried and seems to be very happy.  I know that she and her
> husband are faithful at the church they attend.  I have the funny
> feeling that one day we are going to hear Darrell is running for
> public office or that he is publishing a book.  Though I always
> liked Darrell and he was always good to me as a friend, I have
> trouble reading his speech and seeing him on television and
> hearing him on radio talk shows because of what he did ten years
> ago to his family and his church.  I know some are probably saying
> about now, well, that was ten years ago.  Can't you forgive him?
> There's nothing to forgive because I never had anything against
> him and supported him, and his ministry, in every way I knew how.
> I never spoke against him after he left the church and if anyone
> in the church tried speaking against him to me, I didn't allow
> them to continue.  I feel very uncomfortable hearing him talk
> about his daughter when I know there was a time he did nothing to
> support his family.  At least, if he did, he sure put his wife and
> children through a terrible time back in the early nineties.  I
> wish him well and I have nothing to hold against him but his
> popularity over the last year because of his public appearances
> personally bothers me because he seems to come across so pro
> family now and yet he abandon his own family ten years ago for
> money and sex.  At least that's what it appeared to be at the
> time.  If, by this time, you are getting the picture that I don't
> cut ministers much slack when they abandon their families and
> screw up their church and people's lives, you are right.  I'm not
> saying they cannot change and I am not saying they cannot be
> forgiven for what they've done.  I do not think, however, when
> they become self appointed spoke persons for a certain cause, that
> their passed should be overlooked.  Anyhow, I thought some of you
> would like to know this.  If you don't care to know it, forget
> what I said.
>
> Phil.
>