Regarding the GACA page on the "official" GAC website

By a friend:

Glenn Goodwin, the current pastor of Gospel Assembly Church in Des Moines, Iowa, has recently posted a web page that deals with Gospel Assembly Christian Academy. I have a few things that make me believe that everything is not as Glenn Goodwin states it is.

1. Glenn quotes Martin Luther, who said that he believed universities would become "gates of hell" if the scriptures did not reign paramount. I have a few questions for Glenn. Has not Gospel Assembly Christian academy become the "gates of hell" when the church allowed the school principal to sexually molest young children and failed to take appropriate and prompt remedial action? Is this an example of the "scriptures reigning paramount"? If this is scriptural, then I want nothing to do with those scriptures!

2. Glenn then states that "this prophetic utterance of Martin Luther has come to pass. Drugs, insolence, rebellion, immorality, permissiveness, withcraft (sic), insubordination and aimless indifference are characteristics of the younger generation, while perversion is tolerated in the name of academic freedom." What about perversion that is tolerated in the name of religion and "having the right spirit." Glenn, you are an officer of the court. Why don't you do something about the perversion that took place in your christian school (albeit while you were not yet pastor)? What about an older generation that abused a younger generation? What I have seen is aimless indifference on the part of you, your father, and your uncle to the abuse of young children in your school by the former principal.

3. Glenn states that the church does not want to be state approved, and that the same goes for the school. This sounds good on paper, but then why do you accept driver's licenses, marriage licenses, and teacher certification from the state. God instituted marriage -- why do you need a license from the state? If you don't want to be state approved in one area, then why do you allow it in another area?

4. Glenn indicates that the church would be unwilling to teach all of the approved curriculum that would be required by the state if the school were accredited. Glenn states that, "[I]t seems unreasonable for Gospel Assembly to expect parents to withdraw their child from a government school with its academic and moral ills, only to place him in a private institution with the same curriculum, methods, and objectives." Whoa, wait a minute! I agree that its unreasonable to expect this -- but isn't this what your uncle expected when he told parents to put their children in his christian school and then allowed the former principal to sexually molest them? Isn't this flawed logic? If you don't want to teach sex education -- fine. But isn't it just a teensy bit hypocritical to say this when you know what the former principal did?

5. Glenn states that the school doesn't have to be accredited for a graduate to then enroll in a college or university. Wait a minute -- are we talking about those same universities that Luther was? This is actually true, as Glenn points out, if a student passes certain standardized tests, they can gain admission to college. Glenn, why don't you tell the rest of the story? Most of the students I went to school with never passed (or even took) those standardized tests. I know of at least one student who got approximately a 50% score on the ACT. Out of the 11 graduates in my class, only one of us made a high enough score to be accepted to Des Moines Area Community College without having to take their admissions test.

6. Glenn states that "Gospel Assembly Christian Academy stands without apology for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the highest standards of morality and Christian behavior." Do these high standards of morality include allowing a former principal to get by with forcing young girls to have sexual intercourse with him and perform oral sex on him? Is this the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Glenn, must I remind you that Jesus said that you have clothed him when you have done it to the least of these my brethern. Jesus also rebuked his disciples when they would not allow the young children to come to him, saying, "[S]uffer not the little children to come unto me." Glenn, wouldn't you think that if might be wrong to allow sexual immorality to have gone unchecked so long? Why was nothing done? Can you expect the children who graduated from the "christian" school not to be dualistic, when the church is so full of hypocrisy?

Additionally, why hasn't the church previously been forthright about the school's accreditation? Have you also told your congregation about the fact that the church lost that tax case back in 1984? When is Gospel Assembly Church going to start dealing honestly and openly with its members?

These are just a few of my questions for Glenn.

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