I was sent this email by someone who had direct contact with Hartland. Feels like Dejuvu to me.
I received this from Hartland on 5/28/2007.
Dear********
Yes, Gailon Joy was indirectly involved (or at least he tried to get himself involved). He was never a member of the staff, nor was he a member of any of its organizational bodies, so he only wrote what he heard by word of mouth. Most of what he wrote at that time was sheer misrepresentations of fact. In my opinion, he tried to spin anything and everything he heard in its worst possible construction. He has no compunction about bearing false witness. He totally discredited himself to the vast majority of the staff at Hartland. His spin was so outlandish that it wasn’t credible to anyone that knew the truth. He was apparently being fed information though, from at least one disgruntled insider at Hartland, but never once did he bother to check with both sides on any story. He only consulted (obviously) with the one that he chose to represent (or rather with the one he used to make his misrepresentations). Most of our staff at the time got the very clear impression that he was not trying to be fair in his assessment, but rather biased – and in the extreme. So when we began reading what he wrote about 3ABN, we simply sent the emails to the dustbin. There may be elements of truth in what he has written about 3ABN (large or small), but I don’t recommend that you trust his spin. Be sure you can verify what he says from other sources.
We had the feeling that he enjoyed the work of trying to cut down institutions attempting to do God’s work and attempting to discredit their leaders. He seems to have a lot of time to waste on this self-appointed work. He also apparently claims that he was responsible for the dismissal of one of the presidents of AUC (which may have been needed), but I doubt that he was the one who accomplished it or that bears the responsibility for it.
Anyway, for what it is worth, that is my take on the situation.
God bless and keep you,
Sincerely,
(Pastor) Hal Mayer
Thank-you, SAM, for the reminder of my firm stand against Hal Mayer's leadership role at Hartland, WHICH STILL STANDS, and is supported by many Directors, Officers, AD COM members and staffers over the years. I will repeat the history for you and STILL STAND FIRMLY OPPOSED TO HAL MAYER"S FAILED LEADERSHIP!!!
Let us start the response with my basis for injecting myself into the Hartland mess:
1) I had been a long term Hartland Supporter and contributed frequently to Hartland until Hal's second coup;
2) As a Director of New England Minisitries, we had encouraged the support of Hartland Institute and had raised large sums from New Englanders over more than a decade and Hal was a recipient on several occasions, Ron Goss and Dr Colin Standish on others;
3) New England Ministries, a conservative forum, had co-sponsored the 150th anniversary of the Great Disappointment in October, 2004 with Hartland Institute and Hope International (Hal Mayer was NOT an invited speaker for a number of reasons) a program that ran for nearly three months on the local Cable System;
4) Hal Mayer, as have so many other dissidents, has been a visitor to my home and has sought New England Ministries help with several projects over the years;
5) Many of our youth in New England were encouraged to attend Hartland Institute and in fact many New Englanders have graduated from there;
6) Many of the New England Ministry supporters over the years have taken the mission call to Hartland and served in many capacitites, including Hartland Directors, members of AD Com and other staff positions.
7) To a large degree, the failure of the Officers and staff at Hartland to work with the church and to follow Spirit of Prophecy educational standards was the reason for the founding of Outchetah Hills (Clark had been the Chairman at Hartland Institute before developing plans for an alternative at OH);
Hartland has suffered greatly as a result of Hal's first coup and Hal's second coup d'etat and if he had absolute control of Hartland Institute, we would logically have just another cult.
Much to the chagrin of Hal Mayer, I had many sources for the Hartland Stories, including directors, officers, staff and constituents. One major source regarding Hal Mayer's personal behavious was his own secretary who resigned and left Hartland Institute in protest to what she observed and heard.
My initial letter resulted from what I viewed as a serious conflict of interest where the Stewardship Director, Hal Mayer, of Hartland Instutute was under discipline and faced a pending disciplinary action beforoe the Board of Directors for waht some viewed as insubordination. While this conflict raged, Hal Mayer was defiant and found ways around the restrictions placed upon him by the AD COM.
In what was a clear self preservation move because he was not sure how the votes would line up in a pending Board of Directors meeting, Hal Mayer moved to take over the tape ministry of a venerable old warhorse and standard bearer, Elder Lawrence Nelson, Speaker and Director of Keep the Faith tape ministries. I broke the story (I believe thats called reporting) and protested Hal Mayer's conflict of interest of utilizing his Stewardship Director's position to grab what should have been been a terrific addition to the Hartland Media Center.
Hal Mayer's actions and accountability was so out of control, The Media Center director and another key player both resigned in protest and one is retired while the other works for Amazing Facts (she and her husband were voted out of the constituency by a cabal of Meyer supporters).
Instead of serving Hartland Institutes purposes as Stewardship Secretary, adding much needed revenues to the Hartland balance sheet, Hal Mayer took over the Keep The Faith Tape ministry based on the West Coast, retained his STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR'S position at Hartland and transferred the ministry to Virginia to his own benefit.
Once again, those IRS 990's tell the story and demonstrate a man collecting for services at Hartland while running a seperate 501(c) 3 ministry for his own benefit. Obviously, the 990's are readily available to those who wish to see the revenue stream and the rather hefty balance sheet the Stewardship Director inherited from Elder Lawrence Nelson. A sum that I feel should have been recovered to the benefit of Hartland Institute, not Hal Mayer, the STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR.
My position was not a conflict of one (Gailon Arthur Joy) versus Hal Mayer or even Hartland Institute, but rather a position I shared with many others on Hartlands Board of Directors, it's AD COM, some officers and many staffers. In fact, it was the seive of Hartland that provided all the sources for the various stories.
The battle to restore Hal Mayer by Hal Mayer supporters had many of the characteristics we have observed at many other independent ministries, including 3ABN. The difference is that the directors were narrowly split and a single vote restored Hal Mayer and moved him on his way to virtual control, including the purging of even the Hartland constituency in unprecedented challenges to opponents.
The Chairman of the Board resigned in protest. Others followed suit. Elder Ron Spear even called for reformation but the pleas fell on deaf ears.
Since this conflict, Hartland has seen the lifting of the Blessing of the Lord. Some examples include but are not limited to, and a key staffers' son was killed when he fell from a moving motor vehicle while traversing the campus. The staffer (a controller) resigned and his wife filed suit against Hartland and settled for an undisclosed sum a little more than a year ago; The sanitarium facility contributed largely by the McKee Family had to be condemned and shut down. Osha and state officials have born down heavily on Hartland shutting down Dorm Facilities and imposing various other fire and safety standards upon Hartland Institute; the new auditorium has restricted usage that requires stand-by fire crews paid by Hartland during camp meetings and other events until Hartland installs a very expensive sprinkler system; Hartland's student body has shrunk to less than fifty based upon reports (those "unreliable" sources) and they obviously have almost no real media ministry, let a lone the failed health program.
If someone would like to open a Hartland Thread, I shall be happy share the many writings, including the exhortations of H. Bear, a mystery writer to this day. I also have such jewels as the Chairman's exit letter, Ron Spears' letter, and exhortations from other directors, including the purged directors.
So, SAM, thank you for the opportunity to rehash an old series of reports. I suppose that is proof that we have been ecclesiatical reporters long before
3ABN (oh, well, there goes another 3ABN allegation in the lawsuit). In fact, this was the first story we did outside the Atlantic Union, thus the title Atlantic Union Reporter for many years.
And yes, it is true that we wrote many a story and warned many an administrator of the issues at Atlantic Union College during the late 90's; and yes, we even were given top secret documents and published them to warn of imminent loss of Accreditation; and yes, you are correct, Most Directors, some Officers, and some staffers largely dismissed our warnings and calls for change while those with talent and wide open eyes exited;AUC pooh, poohed us even when we published the warning letter from NEASC; The president once stood in a general assembly of staff and students and told them we were the enemy!!! Union Officers and Directors heard us loud and clear but stood helplessly by, that is until AUC ACTUALLY LOST IT'S ACCREDITATION AND IT'S FEDERAL GRANTS AND LOANS. Only the quick firing of the president and his CRONIES and the hiring of an imminently qualified president (retired from Southern) was able to partially turn it around. However, the damages to the institution were so deep and cost so much that the institution still teeters on the verge of closure five years later.
We do not enjoy "cutting down institutions" but will accept any challenge when that leadership is clearly abusing their position and utilizing an institution dedicated to the Lord's work for their own gain. That will continue to be my avocation and Lord knows there is plenty of fodder for the presses, even at Hartland Institute. And we will continue to be a voice for the abused and disappointed underpaid missionaries that quietly go about their work despite the clear abuses of miscreant "leadership".
And thank-you, Hal Mayer, for the opportunity to yet again re-open the discussion of these critical issues found so often in cultic ministries. Since you have played the Pied Piper roll at Hartland for it's entire history, it is appropriate, with Colin Standish so close to retirement or other demise, to consider what would be best for Hartland Institute's future, and No, you are clearly not it!!!
Gailon Arthur Joy
AUReporter