Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

You can paste full URL like: https://x.com/threadreaderapp/status/1644127596119195649
or just the ID like: 1644127596119195649

How to get URL link on X (Twitter) App

  1. On the Twitter thread, click on or icon on the bottom
  2. Click again on or Share Via icon
  3. Click on Copy Link to Tweet
  4. Paste it above and click "Unroll Thread"!
  5. More info at Twitter Help
Andy Rowell Profile picture
@AndyRowell
Aug 24, 2020 • 70 tweets • 38 min read • Read on X
Aram Roston has been one of the most important reporters on this story.
Jim Rutenberg and Frances Robles also wrote an important summary of the timeline:
It will be interesting to see if @doug_hanks and @jkbjournalist of the Miami Herald can get in touch with Jesus Fernandez Sr. and Jr. who have changed their names to Jett and Gordon Bello for comment.
The other person who received a risqué photo of Becki Falwell was Ben Crosswhite as described by @BrandonAmbro in Sept 2019:
politico.com/magazine/story…

See also the Aug 2019 reporting by
@AramRoston @jschney about the financial deal with Crosswhite.
There is a group photo in the Miami Herald story by @jkbjournalist and @doug_hanks about Giancarlo Granda that also features Ben Crosswhite in the dark blue shirt in the middle.
From left: Trey, Granda, Crosswhite, unknown, Becki, Jerry.
miamiherald.com/news/politics-…
Jerry Falwell Jr. is still sticking to his story that his wife had an affair and he is the innocent victim.

Some are wondering whether people should stop looking into this story. The answer is no.
Above in this thread is possible corroborating evidence.
Audio from @AramRoston story:
Is this the photo (tweeted by four people below) that Jerry Falwell Jr sent to Ben Crosswhite as reported in the @BrandonAmbro Politico story? Source?
politico.com/magazine/story…

,
,
,
Here was the story from last night (Sunday). By 5:00 pm Eastern Time Monday, Jerry Falwell Jr. had resigned according to Jack Jenkins of RNS.
More confirmation from Susan Svluga, @spulliam, and @mboorstein of the Washington Post that Falwell has resigned.
My motivation has been that because Jerry Falwell Jr. has been one of the most famous "Christian leaders" in the U.S., it should be made clear when his harsh, greedy, vindictive, secretive, and corrupt acts are not consistent with Christian behavior or good leadership.
On Liberty University's enrollment:
This is why it has been important for white evangelicals to call out Jerry Falwell Jr.'s behavior over the years.
RNS reports Jerry Falwell Jr. says he has not resigned (7:15 pm Eastern Time Monday). At 5:00 pm reports came out that he had resigned.
More reports that Jerry Falwell has not resigned. It is about 7:15 pm Eastern Time and reports of his resigning were at about 5:00 pm.
,
The latest reporting is that the Liberty University trustees have no agreement yet with Jerry Falwell Jr. to resign but hope to have a statement on Tues.
,
,
,
,
I am not feeling magnanimous toward the Liberty University trustees or Falwell. He has been constantly involved in morally questionable behavior for years. When Liberty threatened one reporter in October, I made a list of stories by other journalists:
Okay. Update 10:30 pm Eastern Time:


See also my thread above for the whole saga of the last 24 hours starting with Jerry claiming his wife had an affair and this morning Giancarlo Granda giving his side of the story including recorded audio.
Update 11:50 pm Eastern Time Monday. Wall Street Journal reporter says Falwell says he has resigned.
ABC News is also reporting that after 11 pm Eastern Time Falwell says he did submit a resignation letter.
2016:
2018:
If I was a reporter, I would interview:
@BozT and @KSPrior (as former faculty there) about Jerry Falwell Jr.'s influence on Liberty University. Ask for institutional abuse and literary comparisons from them respectively.
I would also be interested in interviewing @wilsonhartgrove and @plattdavid and @drmoore who have been criticized by Falwell and understand southern, Baptist, evangelicals.
I would also be interested in hearing from alumni of Liberty whether they have been embarrassed by Jerry's behavior the last few years and whether they recommend the school to their kids.
It would be interesting to ask historians / sociologists about what significance Falwell has for evangelicals. @kkdumez @JohnFea1 @anelsona @robertpjones @JemarTisby @kathsstewart @socofthesacred @ndrewwhitehead @ryanburge @jncthehistorian @praxishabitus @LivedTheology
I also think the work on narcissism by @chuckdegroat and abusive institutions by @wademullen would be interesting.

@HoogstraShirley on higher ed.

Would also be interested in hearing from @leithanderson @timkellernyc @edstetzer @jdgreear @AndyStanley about evangelicals.
It would also be interesting to ask @Franklin_Graham @ericmetaxas @drjamescdobson @robertjeffress @waynegrudem @rdland @jackngraham @JohnnieM @nhclc @albertmohler @greglaurie about personal moral character and leadership as Trump supporters.
More details from Giancarlo Granda in a new interview published Tuesday morning at 7 am from @MaggieSeverns
and @BrandonAmbro of Politico:
Phil Vischer comments on nepotism.


Jonathan Merritt did too:


Here is a tweet from my thread on nepotism:
More historical perspective recommendations here:
Staggering parallels between the Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell Jr. scandals. (And Jim Bakker is still in business today or was until a few months ago).
Some of us in evangelicalism are angry about the moral corruption within and sick of it.

and
It should not have taken a sex scandal for Jerry Falwell Jr. to be fired.

I called for the Trustees to do it three times about other lesser known matters:
,
,
Update 12:30 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday and wow, there will be some vicious quote tweets on this one.
Tuesday 1:30 pm

More confirmation from NPR


And the Washington Post that Falwell has resigned.
Lawyer and expert in response and prevention of institutional abuse and a former professor at Liberty University:
Tuesday 3:00 pm Eastern Time.
Liberty University announces they have accepted Jerry Falwell Jr.'s resignation.





More quotes from Jerry Falwell Jr.
"watching his wife have sex with another. He called that story '90 percent false'"
,
“I never broke a single rule"
,
"They're honoring my contract, I have a good contract."
Tuesday 7:50 pm Eastern Time

Giancarlo Granda gives a new angry statement to NPR about Jerry and Becki Falwell.
Karen Swallow Prior @KSPrior unsurprisingly spoke out with courage and clarity that there were many indications over the years that Jerry Falwell Jr. was irresponsible and callous.
Tuesday 9 pm Eastern Time
@iglovett and Andrea Fuller of the Wall Street Journal report on the money Liberty University will pay Jerry Falwell Jr. according to his contract.
This Twitter account is by Liberty alumni:
Tuesday 10 pm Eastern Time

Audio from NPR interview with Jerry Falwell Jr.
Tuesday 11 pm
A very well written account by @spulliam of an interview with Jerry Falwell Jr. responding to the latest developments about a photo of a Liberty student sent to Granda and his contract that the trustees did not contest.
Alumni of Liberty University suggest names of new trustees so that the corruption of the Jerry Falwell Jr. era is rooted out and not repeated in order to ensure the future health of the school.
Money is one way boards and supervisors—who lack the courage or authority to fire a destructive employee— persuade them to go away. It makes the parting much warmer for those involved. But an outrageous payoff indicates the governance has been very sick.
Rachael Denhollander, lawyer and victim, stopped the USA gymnastics doctor abusing young girls. She calls for someone to look into who else at Liberty University was involved in and turned a blind eye to Jerry Jr. and Becki Falwell's sexual predation.
Johnnie Moore runs a public relations firm, the Kairos Company. Literally, that is his job. He began with Jerry Falwell Jr., and then Paula White-Cain, James MacDonald, and Donald Trump. His niche is defending those without integrity.
Jerry Falwell Jr. says he did not break a rule so he gets his $10 million. But Giancarlo Granda released audio of Jerry, Becki, and Granda talking about the adultery. Also Reuters (@AramRoston) saw FaceTime screenshots of Becki naked with Jerry watching.
"I heard over and over about their worries young people would walk away from their relationship with Christ, yet they placed blame for that almost exclusively on secular professors and the liberal media. They shouldn’t."
- Sociologist Jeff Guhin
"When I was at Liberty University, from 2012 to 2016, I had to take 'Christian worldview' class ... Yet the more powerful education we received was through thrice-weekly 'convocations' — that frequently featured Republican pundits and politicians."
Ruth Graham picked up on a subtext of moral outrage from Jonathan Falwell, the pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church and Jerry's brother at the convocation.


But this is bleak:
Christianity Today podcast @CTPodcasts with @tedolsen @Mepaynl interviews Bob Andriga about board governance. "Evaluating the CEO is a primary function of the board . . . non-profits are not supposed to endorse candidates . . . there were warnings."
Another knowledgeable person on non-profit governance, Warren Cole Smith, agrees that the trustees of Liberty University failed here in not firing Jerry Falwell Jr. for cause.
It is Thursday and Liberty University announced the resignation of Jerry Falwell Jr. on Tuesday after the revelations Sunday and Monday.

David Nasser addressed the Liberty student body and later Jerry called him and asked Nasser how he had sinned.
Thursday evening (after the Jerry Falwell Jr. resignation was accepted on Tuesday).
Politico story from reporter @BrandonAmbro:
A new allegation that Becki Falwell seduced a student in 2008.
Miami Herald by @doug_hanks:
Jesus Fernandez Jr., a close friend of Giancarlo Granda, had photos of Becki (and Jerry Jr.?) Falwell. Michael Cohen's involvement (intimidation?) in 2016 led to changing his name to Gordon Bello. Bello says Granda knows more.
Former Liberty law professor wonders whether a former student at Liberty University will file a Title IX complaint.

Allegations so far: Jerry Falwell Jr. sent an inappropriate photo to Giancarlo Granda. Becki sexually harassed a student.

Liberty University graduate and Senior Class President in 2013 calls for an independent investigation into Jerry Jr. and Becki Falwell's time at Liberty University in the Wall Street Journal.
Giancarlo Granda gives interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. (His testimony fits with all existing evidence that I know of).
Jerry Falwell III (Trey)
- Liberty VP
- owns the hostel with Giancarlo Granda.
- Liberty failed to disclose when they sold a house to him.
- He makes money from managing a Liberty-owned shopping center.
- He needs to go.
politico.com/magazine/story…
and
politico.com/magazine/story…
Note these photos with Jerry Falwell Jr. and Trey at the hostel.
Samantha Bee tried to figure out the scandal a year ago.

Remaining questions:
Where did Fernandez get the photos of Becki? What did Michael Cohen do to Fernandez so that he changed his name to Bello? Will Cohen say?
Why did Granda/Jerry buy a gay hostel?
Barry Bowen, who has some expertise in this area, begins in this thread to set out what he know about the legality of the $10 million golden parachute that Jerry Falwell Jr. is so happy about. He also asks for others to weigh in.
If it is true that Jerry Falwell Jr. signed a new contract in 2019, and if it did not have a clause protecting the school from paying millions if he embarrassed the school with gross immoral actions, the trustees failed to protect Liberty University.
Friday night update.

Lingering questions:
- Why did Falwell / Granda / Fernandez buy a "gay-friendly hostel" for their investment?
- How did Jesus Fernandez get the photos of Becki Falwell?
- What did Michael Cohen do that made Fernandez change his name to Gordon Bello?
The Fernandez father and son changed their names to Bello after Michael Cohen got involved. "There were obviously major concerns based on threats."
Cohen claims it was a personal favor for Jerry Jr. and Becki but it was intimidation and perhaps extortion.
miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Andy Rowell

Andy Rowell Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @AndyRowell

Andy Rowell Profile picture
Jan 9
"Leadership" is often an incoherent field of study. Often it's anecdotal. "Here's what I did to ... win the game ... make a lot of money ... win the war ... win an election."
But below I sketch a few conceptual foundations of Leadership and note their practical value. 👇
Properly, Leadership is a subdiscipline of Ethics (how to live well), which is a subdiscipline of Philosophy.
Within Christianity, Leadership is also properly a subdiscipline of Ethics (how to live well with the presupposition God has spoken in Scripture and in Jesus Christ), which is a subdiscipline of Theology.
Read 12 tweets
Andy Rowell Profile picture
Jun 21, 2022
Oh wow. Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse (a "non-profit organization") made $224,339,099 in 2020 in profit (Revenue less expenses"). $224 million.
Number of independent members of the board at Samaritan's Purse. 9 of 16 in 2020. They lost 3 independent members and added another family member since the previous year in 2019.
Samaritan's Purse has 11 people paid over $200,000 in base salary.
Read 6 tweets
Andy Rowell Profile picture
Feb 8, 2022
- 79% of Americans are comfortable with a female pastor, but only 39% of evangelicals.
- 72.8% of evangelicals are fine with a woman preaching on Sunday morning.
- 3% of evangelical congregations and 30% of mainline congregations have a female senior pastor.

See sources below.
According to a 2016 Barna survey,
79% of Americans would be comfortable with a female priest or pastor.
barna.com/research/ameri…
But only 39% of evangelicals would be.
Only 13.5% of U.S. congregations in 2018-2019 had a female as the head or senior clergyperson.
Or slicing the data differently, only 7.4% of U.S. attendees attend a congregation with a female as the head or senior clergyperson.
Read 7 tweets
Andy Rowell Profile picture
Feb 8, 2022
Thread of comments on books from 2019-2021 on women and Christianity. They are all worth reading.
Books on: famous women leaders, practical support for women, biblical description, history of masculine militarism, bad sex in Christian marriages, and the history of patriarchy.
The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities
October 1, 2019
by Kate Bowler @KatecBowler

History of prominent women leaders in American Christianity.
Better Together: How Women and Men Can Heal the Divide and Work Together to Transform the Future
February 11, 2020
by Danielle Strickland @djstrickland

Practical reflection on empowering women in leadership.
Read 7 tweets
Andy Rowell Profile picture
Feb 7, 2022
These pieces are revealing. For them, Christianity is using any means necessary to rally people to make America more like 1980's white Christianity. It is not humbly reading the Bible together so as to learn how to act like Jesus.
,
They did in their youth read the Bible and became convinced about what it was saying to American culture. And now they are in a position of power to rally people to that. But did we stop reading the Bible afresh? Is Christian political coercion of non-Christians the right goal?
Is not the political witness of Christians primarily one of example, of love, of integrity, and sharing of the hope that there is a God who is bringing a kingdom of love? Yes, advocate in the public sphere for the common good. Be salt and light. But still act like Jesus!
Read 4 tweets
Andy Rowell Profile picture
Jan 7, 2022
Quick thread on the decline of church attendance.
Anecdotal evidence:
People are leaving their house less often in general.
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

Send Email!

:(