Tom Schroeder and Fern Strouse Letter

(Click "HERE " to read Fern Strouse's Handwritten Letter)

(See typewritten letter below)

Hello:

I. too. want to welcome the new people that have posted on this list lately, and the list has become very interesting again this past week, and it seemed G_ _ _ asking questions about the faith she is in and B_ _ _ W_ _ _ _ _ _ _'s response to her about the same faith that he is in that has been named "the truth" for many years, will give her some things to ponder over.

About 10 years ago, two men workers started a mission in a small city of five thousand people near here and after two weeks, they closed up because they got a call to go to another state and help build a new machine shed on a convention farm. 

So I said to a professing woman, "How could they do this and leave all these people hanging in mid air waiting for them to come back, surely the people are going to be afraid to get in the car and drive down the street as they could accidentally end up in the Cemetery and they haven't professed yet." 

All she said was, "I'm sure arrangements were made."

"What kind of arrangements," I said, "Did workers ask all the unsaved worldly preachers to quickly have a revival and get the unsaved people saved?"

Well, Harold Bennett was preaching at convention about 10 years ago and he had read in the paper that 200 men graduated from a religious seminary in New York and, "Just think," he said, "Not one of them knows God."

Well, somebody said, "That's judging!!!"

I have started a general letter to the list today about recent topics but it will take me a few days to get it finished because of my writing handicap, and no time to write tomorrow because I've been invited to have dinner with the monks and that will be a new experience for me.

I happened to think this afternoon that it would be a good time to send the letter of Fern Strouse to the list again so the new people here might get a glimpse through the eyes and mind of a worker that spent some years in the faith named "the truth" in North Dakota. When we talked on the phone in 1993, she asked me if I ever knew her boss, Gilbert Ricter, the head worker in North Dakota.

Yes, I told her, "He is my brother-in-law since 1954."

"Well," she said, "So you know Gilbert Ricter."

 Her letter follows in my next post.

Tom
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Hello Again:

Someone asked me to put this letter on the list again, as a number of new people on this list may not have seen it,.......it is about two years ago that it appeared here.

The letter is written by Fern Strouse an Ex-worker that had been in the work for 30 years. She left the work about 1991 and she told me some workers took her to the bus station, and her destination was Portland, Oregon, where she found a job with a place to live. I talked with her several times, I believe it was in 1993, and she told me about the state that she had labored in and she said the head worker there did not treat her badly, but that he had spies in the system that were monitoring her involvement in guiding the abused within the church to where they could get professional help.

This was causing tension in the leadership of the worker system, because she was over stepping the bounds of missionary work, but she knew she had to help these people. She said she had dealt with 70 victims during her 30 years in the work. I asked her if I could make copies of her letters and send to some people, and she told me, "You can make as many copies of what I wrote and send them to as many people as you want as they may be a help to others."

She became ill and passed away about 1997.

Tom Schroeder
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Dear ones:
             
It seems to concern some that I'm not going to church meetings.  I'll try to explain again! It is very important that I get some money laid up that will work for me when I'm to old to work.  My years for doing this are few, at age 60.  I work evenings, nights, weekends, days, when would I go to meeting? My fellowship with God is deep and my soul is being so abundantly fed. 

There is no reason for concern and besides it is my business. Thanks for caring.

No, I have not left the church or am I against it.  I did leave the ministry, (before I was put out) because of my interest in alcoholism, sexual abuse, and emotional problems, etc. I am still ministering, in a different capacity, that thrills my soul to be so God used, and being so much appreciated.

However, there are some things that I have left, which I feel very good about.  These things were not easily shed.

I have left dishonesty (wearing a mask and sweeping under the rug).

I have left the traditions of man and his restrictions for an obedience to God alone. 

I have left off "closed mindedness" that hindered me from being "all things" to all people. 

I have left off being "holier then thou" to become easily approached.

I have left off judging others (playing God) to "let God!" ( and not controlling because of my insecurity).

I have great freedom when I leave off worshipping the creature more than the Creator. 

I have left off the "thou shalt nots" to have the Christ within me.

I have left off the lack of mercy and compassion, realizing that love is the only way to the very core of another human being. 

I have left off ignoring others questions, and feeling threatened, because I have learned that questioning is neither rebellion or dissent, but a desire to understand, and to participate, and is a real sign of love and maturity.

Leaving off and putting on has brought so much freedom and liberty in Christ. 

I have learned the value of communicating.
                   
Love and care,
Fern Strouse

I understand the sexual situation there and have you all in my heart and prayers. Your concerns are my concerns and I know what you are up against in not being heard by the authorities in the  church……..I doubt that you will move the workers to do anything. They are too far into denial, too lacking in knowledge of emotional damage to the victim, and too far into religious pride and insecurity.  This is where the prayer of Jesus fits so well, "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing (in this type of problem.)"

Workers have joined the world in playing the game of "blaming the victim"  and minimizing the deeds of the abuser………I learned recently that a nine year old girl was molested in a cornfield on convention grounds over thirty years ago. It came out in her alcoholism counseling.  The worker married later, molested his own children, and spent time in prison…….The victim needs to know it is a courageous act to turn in their abuser, even if it is their favorite worker. They may be  saving others from the pain they have borne. If these victims become abusers, what will the church come to? Someone has to break the addiction. I dealt with 70 victims during my 30 years in the work,  besides my family.