Operation Save America - Wichita

“Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger.”   -Psalm 8:2 (NKJV)

Letter to Leaders of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America 

May 6, 2002

Subject:  An update on the state of the work in Wichita, Kansas and our relationship with Troy Newman.

The good news is that the state of the work in Wichita is strong!  They continue bringing the praising, praying, proclaiming Church of Jesus Christ to the gates of hell (George Tiller’s child-killing center) and the gates are not prevailing.  The pastoral team, under the anointed and creative leadership of Pastor Daniel Thompson, is moving forward in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The seed you have faithfully sown into the ministry in Wichita over the past eleven years is producing marvelous fruit.  Soon, through the power of Christ, the killing in Wichita will come to an end! 

Since you left this summer, the work has moved forward powerfully.  The expected attacks from the enemy, both from without and from within, have also been stepped up.  It is an internal attack that has occasioned the writing of this letter.  A young man, greatly gifted by God, has chosen to go his own way in Wichita and, in so doing, has done great damage to the work of Christ.  Troy Newman has decided that he would be the leader in Wichita even after making several pledges to submit to the leadership team placed over him.  He came to Wichita to serve, so he proclaimed, but it became painfully obvious that, after two short months, he had come to Wichita to be served.

Enclosed, you will find my charge to Troy.  It was given to him, at his own request, before he came to Wichita.  This is what I expected of him as he served the saints in Wichita in the power of Christ.  You will also find his response to that charge.  Also included is a brief description of events that took place when Troy arrived in Wichita that led up to the writing of this letter.  

When I first heard of the divisions, confusion, misunderstandings, and bitterness springing up in the hearts of the lambs in Wichita after Troy had been there two months, I was caught totally unaware.  My mind ran back to Troy’s persistent pleadings that he and his family be allowed to come to the city and help serve the saints while continuing to serve nationally under OSA’s direction.  Troy requested to be a part of Operation Save America’s leadership team in Wichita and had flown into Dallas to spend a weekend with Rusty and I to discuss the possibility.  I was hesitant because:

1)    We had already sent three leadership teams (Bob and Bonnie Behn, Mike Warren and Jerry Crawford, and Rusty and myself) on separate occasions since the summer event. 

2)    The leadership team in Wichita was strong and well equipped to do the work.  We had five pastors serving as pastoral oversight for Pastor Daniel.  Donna Lippholdt proved very effective and diligent in all of the office administrative duties.  Wichita was doing very well!

3)    I did not know Troy well.  I had not worked with him on a national event before.  The spirit and vision of “servant leadership” that we have fostered in all the cities where we have ministered since 1994, was not necessarily Troy’s. 

4)    Because I did not know him well and was not certain of his vision, I felt a check in my own spirit about sending him to Wichita.  Our vision has been to come along side local pastors and leaders as they labor to stand in the gap to shore up the biblical hedge in our cities and nation.  At every national event our desire has been to serve the Church of Jesus Christ and help her bring the battle to the gates of hell.  We have, every time, left the lambs more encouraged and inspired than they were before we came.  We believe the Church of Jesus Christ is God’s answer to the abortion holocaust savaging our land.  Submission to this vision is paramount.

Troy was persistent, however, in his desire to move he and his family to Wichita and continued to ask for our blessing.  He pressed hard after this issue with Rusty while we were in Washington, D.C., in September 2001 confronting President Bush over Embryonic Stem Cell Research.  He finally got what he wanted from me and I made a decision that I have regretted every day since.  Troy got his way.   

On October 5, 2001 Rusty and I went to Wichita to officially install the local leadership team.  We laid our hands on Pastor Daniel Thompson, Bob and Donna Lippholdt, and Pastor Marc Holic.  We commissioned them before God and almost 300 witnesses to lead and carry out the work in Wichita. 

We then had the newly installed leadership team lay their hands on Troy and commission he and his family to come to Wichita.  We did it this way to insure that there would be no mistaking the lines of authority.  Troy was commissioned by the local body to come to Wichita and serve them.  The lines of authority were very clear!  Pastor Daniel was the man set apart by God to lead in the battle for the lives of children in Wichita.  The pastoral leadership team was in place.  The administrative staff was in place.  The foundation was strong, right, and true.

When Troy arrived with his family in January, division dogged his every step.  Whether or not he created the divisions or poured gasoline on divisions already there, the group was and is split.  Some sided with Troy, some with Pastor Daniel.  A full-fledged split had taken place over who should be leader in Wichita.  Many were casting aspersions on Pastor Daniel, Bob and Donna Lippholdt, and the pastoral leadership team.  Troy did nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop the gossip. 

I knew that if this had been any of you to whom I am writing this letter, you would have been heart broken over this state of affairs.  You would have done everything in your power to stop brothers and sisters from tearing each other apart.  You would have laid your lives down for the health of the lambs and the work.  Not so Troy.                     

One headstrong young man can cause a lot of damage in a short time if that is his desire.  We have called Bob and Bonnie Behn to, once again, come to the aid of the saints in Wichita and help see them though this chaotic and confusing time.  They have been there for the past month and have enabled Pastor Daniel and the saints to find strength in God.  Bob and Bonnie are true blessings from the Lord! 

The pastoral team and Pastor Daniel are standing fast.  We are thankful that our pastoral leadership team sees Troy’s rebellion, his sowing of discord, and are confronting it head up.  It is vital that we now step up to the plate and make this situation known to you.  As you review the documents below we are asking you to “watch over carefully” Troy as a man more than willing to sow discord among the brethren, or allow others to take up his offense, in order to get what he wants.

It is important to remember that God hates those who sow discord among the brethren as much as he hates those whose hands shed innocent blood.  How can this be?  One activity usually involves only conversation while the other involves the actual killing of an innocent person.  The answer is simple; just as abortion murders a child, so sowing discord among the brethren murders members in the body of Christ.  It destroys the body of Christ.  God will not tolerate this.

The sowing of discord must be dealt with in order to protect the body of Christ.  It must not be swept under the rug in hopes that it will just go away, because it never does.  Sowers of discord in the pro-life ministry are actually operating by the same spirit that they proclaim to be fighting.  There are a number of references that reveal how God feels about those that sow discord and how to handle them:

1)    Proverbs 6:19, God hates “… a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”  God’s purpose is unity in His body.  Jesus prayed for this in John 17.  Those who sow discord directly thwart the purposes of God.  Those who sow discord tear the Body of Christ apart and murder precious saints with their tongues.

2)    Titus 3:10, “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time.  After that, have nothing to do with him.”

3)    Romans 16:17-18, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them.  For such people are not serving our Lord Christ but their own appetites…”

It is also important to note that Troy had agreed to be in submission to both OR/OSA and the local leadership group in Wichita.  It became very apparent that he was in submission to neither.  This lack of a true submissive spirit and desire to serve others has wrought terrible consequences:

1)    Numbers 12:1-15, we see Miriam and Aaron rising up against Moses saying, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses … Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”  This was the very section of Scripture we were reading in our Bible Reading Schedule when I met with Troy to confront him over the damage he brought to Wichita.  The consequences of Miriam and Aaron’s rebellion were horrific and so they have been in the rebellion in Wichita.

2)    Numbers 16:1-35, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rose up “as a group” to oppose Moses and Aaron and the consequences were even worse.

3)    2 Samuel 13-18 we see the horrible consequences of Absalom’s revolt against his father King David.  Many died including Absalom himself.

Troy was never submitted to the Operation Rescue/Operation Save America vision of ministry and, because he was not, he was submitted to no one but himself.  It is our prayer that Troy will come to a realization of his own culpability in the harm he has caused the lambs in Wichita and will truly repent of his sin.  But, whether he does or does not, the work in Wichita will go on.  The saints are busy planning a “Spring of Life” campaign to begin at Tiller’s mill in June.  Rusty and I plan to be there this weekend to encourage their hearts and get them ready to join us in Dallas this summer.

Please keep us all in your prayers.  Pray also for Troy that he does not persist in his desire to be first.  In God’s kingdom, those who serve are the one’s who lead. 

In Christian love,

Flip Benham

Also in agreement: Keith Tucci; Mike Warren; Bill Shanks; Bob Behn; Tom McGlade; Rusty Thomas