Looking back, Weitnauer notes that several warning signs “ought to have prompted me to consider Ravi unworthy of continued Christian ministry.” These include the existence of the non-disclosure agreement, which “by its very nature…indicates that something inappropriate occurred.” Emails that Zacharias sent to Lori Anne Thompson, adds Weitnauer, “are disqualifying in and of themselves” because they reveal manipulation and a “guilty mindset.”
Weitnauer says he regrets not only believing Zacharias’ “shifting and contradictory lies” but also communicating to others for years that Thompson and other “courageous allies were maliciously slandering a good and godly man.” To start making amends, he plans to contact friends and ministry partners to share the truth. He also urges RZIM to “change its name, repent, and seek a restorative response to the harm” experienced by the Thompsons and others. Finally, Weitnauer asks the couple for “counsel on any other measures that I might take to demonstrate my most sincere repentance and commitment to change.”
The Thompsons Also Respond
On her website, Lori Anne Thompson writes that she and Brad are grateful for the words of people like Weitnauer and Baker-Hytch, “individual apologists have paid a high price for their integrity.” She writes, “It takes time and often overwhelming evidence to be able to entertain the possibility/plausibility that someone you love, admire, and respect could actually be a sexual predator—even when you are the victim(s). Bystanders and employees can be their victims too.”
As of her December 23 post, Thompson said investigators hadn’t yet contacted her and that RZIM headquarters hadn’t yet demonstrated “institutional courage.” After the board released a statement about preliminary findings of misconduct, Thompson amended her post to note that organizational leaders were acting like “children who have been caught in crookedness.” She writes, “They will deny the obvious. Then they will acknowledge only aspects of their conduct that they know can be proven, and even then, in the fashion in which sheds their person in the best possible (light).”
In a January 3 post titled “The Greatest Apologetic,” Thompson calls the experience of being victimized and not believed “mind bending and heart rending.” She adds, “To finally be defended and believed has been the greatest apologetic to me.”
