Image by philippe leroyer via Flickr
Or so it is revealed in the Nashville scene. Scene reporter Caleb Hannan was able to track down a former patient and confidant of Nancy’s, Jennifer Wynne, who was witness and part to a cover up of Nancy’s long term liaison with Lisa a “cured “lesbian who worked as a nutritionist at Mercy. It seems Nancy was smitten with this woman, buying her expensive gifts (cars and a house). The situation became so obvious that a pastor suggested – you guessed it a separation contract. The two continued to meet, bumping into each other regularly.
For the girls at Mercy, it wasn’t hard to guess why Alcorn overreacted. Her speeches routinely boasted of the virginity she’d kept into her 50s. She attributed it solely to the sacrifice she’d made in order to build her ministry. But Rebecca, Ferris and the other girls had another guess as to why Alcorn remained single.
“It was a running joke,” says Rebecca, “because everyone knew that Nancy was gay.”
……
While Wynne was in Dallas, Alcorn told her about Lisa, a nutritionist at the Nashville home. Lisa had been gay for 17 years, said Alcorn, but now she was straight. Which made it all the more puzzling to Wynne when Alcorn would shut her door at night with Lisa in the bed behind her. Wynne wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. She just knew that every once in a while Alcorn could be counted on to rush into her room in the middle of the night, frantically begging Wynne to pray with her that Lisa wouldn’t leave.
Thus began a pattern. Lisa would threaten to go and Alcorn would buy her something. First it was a Range Rover. Then a newer Range Rover. And finally a house in Belle Meade. When Alcorn’s pastor caught wind of the relationship, he offered a remedy reminiscent of Alcorn’s own prescription for preventing lesbianism: a separation contract.
Suddenly Wynne’s job title changed. At 20 years old, she was already Mercy’s youngest intake director, the second-highest gig in the house. Now she was also Alcorn’s alibi.
Wynne was dragged along to local coffee shops to witness Alcorn and Lisa’s “accidental” run-ins. They’d leave together afterward. Meanwhile, Wynne was hiding a secret of her own.
Of course Nancy and Lisa have denied this, easy to do when you have been denying it to yourself for so long.
The rest of the article, aside from this revelation is well written, quotes Ex-Mercy’s blog and generally gives a good run down of Mercy scandal worldwide with several quotes from Mercy Survivors. Certainly a better written and more favourable piece than that presented by the Tennesean.
If you are a Mercy Survivor supporter pas around the good news, link to the article.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/2008-10-02/news/jesus-rx/1
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Might I suggest that someone make sure Wikipedia references this article?
To be fair, I called it (3:19).
Credit where it’s due
Sean,
I learnt this morning that the ministry I am a survivor of (His Mansion Ministries) provides a link to Mercy. I suspect both organizations refer clients to each other. I also found links on the His Mansion site to at least 5 or 6 other ministries that are “Christ-centered” and look suspiciously like biblical counseling or deliverance ministries. Please, I’m not trying to plug my blog, but do check my entry on His Mansion, or at least the His Mansion website. I think mmoa2 and your site ultimately has to think about networking with survivors of these ministries as well.
John Weaver
P.S. Freedom Village looks particularly scary and its in my backyard.
Guys, I wanted to make sure it’s o.k. to reference my blog in my posts. I’m trying to attract mentally ill evangelicals to my blog, but I don’t want to be violating Internet ettiquette here.
John feel free to link to your post if they are relevant to the discussion as these are – see sage’s link.
Sean,
I tried the .html thing, ran into a little difficulty. I’m going to post the link as text in mmoa2, and then hopefully, post a real link shortly after.
John
I am Jewish…does that count? And a democrat..
I think you all should talk to a few other graduates before making accusations. I know people that graduated from Mercy Ministries and they are doing great things.
Personally, I don’t think Christianity is right for everyone, including myself. But why didn’t the girls just leave the program and go to a secular treatment facility if they had so many problems with it’s counseling model? That is the part that I really have a hard time with….
Matt,
Not sure what being Jewish or a democrat has to do with it.
I have spoken personally with 4 graduates 3 from Australia and one from the States. The Mercy survivors website has had contact with 30 complainants 1/3 of the total Mercy intake in Australia.
I don’t doubt you know Mercy grads who are doing wonderfully. I know quite a few catholic priests that aren’t pedophiles either. Just because it din’t happen to you friends does not mean it did not happen.
As to accusations, my suspicion is that you have not read the majority of this blog please check out this post for a summary. This is not just an isolated news story.
But why didn’t the girls just leave the program and go to a secular treatment facility if they had so many problems with it’s counseling model? That is the part that I really have a hard time with….
Matt, I would love for the girls to tell you themselves as they have told others, hopefully one will pop in here, mind you if you read many of the Mercy posts here you will come across their reasons.
Why did they not go to a secular( or indeed another Christian) facility?
a)Psychological control methods used by Mercy prevent this
b)Guilt reinforced by Mercy approach
c)basic christian beliefs skewed and distorted by Mercy’s interpretation.
I have no issue with Christian facilities as long as they are using treatment models that have a basis in evidence and reality.
Sorry, I just saw you said it was an Atheist blog so I wanted to make sure I was ok to post. It also states “if you come to discuss ideas in a rational manner and are a friend to reason and democracy” so I was just throwing that out there…
So I read the rest of the posts and looked up news articles online. When did the home in Australia actually become a part of Mercy Ministries? I saw conflicting information about that. Some places it said it happened awhile ago but I saw something that said it just became a part of the ministry this Spring. If it just became a part of Mercy in the spring all of the acquisitions occurred before Mercy was involved right? Someone clear me up on that.
So you have only spoke to one girl in the States that has concerns… I am sorry that is still not enough tangible evidence for me to go on. That one graduate in the article seems very disturbed. I am sure she has several issues she is working on. I think more graduates stories need to be observed before we can conclude there is a problem with the ministry.
I just feel like I know three girls that graduated from the program. One from the home in Monroe and two from the STL home. They all have good things to say. So why are you trying to attack something that is still doing so much good? Maybe the one girl should just go to Nancy Alcorn and try to address her issues. It doesnt make sense in my opinion to try to use that one girl’s story to judge the entire program.
I read the entire blog but it seems like the same few girls/guys write over and over again. I see the articles and most are based on Australia… is that what your main concern is? The problems that were addressed in Australia? If so, I guess I need more information about that incident before I can form my own opinion about the home there.
I think with a voluntary program it is their choice to leave. So I think if a girl says they physically were not allowed to leave then Mercy has a big problem on their hands. Otherwise, I think it is the girls fault for making the choice to stay. Is it free for the girls in the States? What kind of costs do they have to pay? I think that is probably a big factor too. If there is some kind of deposit they would loose then I do understand why they would leave… let me know if you have that info.
I still don’t know if I believe that Mercy staff could have possibly brainwashed these girls to stay in a program they didn’t want to be in. It just doesn’t seem possible. Does anyone know that amount of girls that have been through the program? If not, how can I find out? I would love to see how many girls have graduated then use that number to put things in perspective. Let me know what you think.
Sorry, I just saw you said it was an Atheist blog so I wanted to make sure I was ok to post. It also states “if you come to discuss ideas in a rational manner and are a friend to reason and democracy” so I was just throwing that out there…
Cool Matt it’s more of a warning that I will nor treat religion with kid gloves.
So I read the rest of the posts and looked up news articles online. When did the home in Australia actually become a part of Mercy Ministries? I saw conflicting information about that. Some places it said it happened awhile ago but I saw something that said it just became a part of the ministry this Spring. If it just became a part of Mercy in the spring all of the acquisitions occurred before Mercy was involved right? Someone clear me up on that.
The homes in Australia have always been part of Mercy Ministries as far as I know, same as the UK and Canada
So you have only spoke to one girl in the States that has concerns… I am sorry that is still not enough tangible evidence for me to go on. That one graduate in the article seems very disturbed. I am sure she has several issues she is working on. I think more graduates stories need to be observed before we can conclude there is a problem with the ministry.
By spoken to I mean as in had a verbal conversation with (I have recieved emails from 2 others.) she in turn has been in contact with a number of other girls. From memory though she was unaware of Ms Wynne who was quoted in the Nashville Scene.
As to a disturbed individual I am not sure what you mean. It quotes two American women who have spoken out about Mercy. One of those, who I have worked with is very level headed and very balanced in my experience.
Your call for more evidence is understandible. If these girls don’t complain,however, then how do other victims know that they are not alone. Three women speaking out in Australia resulted in 30 women coming forward.
Mercy prevents women from talking about their problems with other residents, which is the exact opposite of what occurs in rational programs, secular or religious. This enforced isolation I think compounds the feelings experienced by these women ie that they are alone, that they are at fault that, they are the worlds trash.
I just feel like I know three girls that graduated from the program. One from the home in Monroe and two from the STL home. They all have good things to say. So why are you trying to attack something that is still doing so much good? Maybe the one girl should just go to Nancy Alcorn and try to address her issues. It doesnt make sense in my opinion to try to use that one girl’s story to judge the entire program.
Nancy has known about the complaints in australia for some time. It took media intervention and suggestions of legal action to get her to come to Australia. What I see is a pattern of abuse occuring, and a pattern of reluctance on Mercy’s behalf to take a good look at itself, but then you have Nancy who by her own words believes in demonic oppression, allowing RTF to be used as a counselling model.
It’s not just one girl, and if there wasn’t an issue, the story would have died. Mercy’s initial response in Australia was to slander the three women that spoke out – they have since apologised for this. Now their response is to put forward success stories. The best thing would be for them to open themself up to independent investigation. But that I think is against Nancy’s fundamental beliefs. She deliberately set up the program so that there would be no government interference or oversight. She doesn’t want inspectors snooping around because if it became widely known what material they were using as a basis for treatment, any sane Christian, Jew, Muslim, Humanist would be extremely concerned.
I read the entire blog but it seems like the same few girls/guys write over and over again. I see the articles and most are based on Australia… is that what your main concern is? The problems that were addressed in Australia? If so, I guess I need more information about that incident before I can form my own opinion about the home there.
Kudos to you that’s about 40 odd posts. The women who do speak out are brave. One of them, who I met in person is still very scared of Nancy, scared of her own Christian community, yet she continues to speak out. A lot of the women who have come forward simply don’t have the strength to put themselves through the meatgrinder of media interviews, attacks from single minded Mercy supporters. A lot of these women, some graduates among them are still grappling with issues.
To make it clearer its like expecting all the victims of a serial rapist to stand up in court and indentify their attacker when that attacker happens to be the hometown quarter back, beloved by everyone.
I am sure Mercy does a great job with some people even a lot of people but they do significant damage as well.
Do we reduce it to a numbers game and say it’s better for the majority to get a better life at the expense of a minority or do we try and make Mercy the best program it could be?
I think with a voluntary program it is their choice to leave. So I think if a girl says they physically were not allowed to leave then Mercy has a big problem on their hands. Otherwise, I think it is the girls fault for making the choice to stay. Is it free for the girls in the States? What kind of costs do they have to pay? I think that is probably a big factor too. If there is some kind of deposit they would loose then I do understand why they would leave… let me know if you have that info.
I don’t know what area of work you are in, have you ever dealt with victims of domestic violence? Learned helplessness? They may have been physically free to leave but mentally their are strong psychological forces that make that option unrealistic or unlikely.
I still don’t know if I believe that Mercy staff could have possibly brainwashed these girls to stay in a program they didn’t want to be in. It just doesn’t seem possible.
It’s not that hard. Take a christian girl down on her luck suffering from psychological issues, fill her head full of hope, tell her this is the end of the road and then use very specific behavioral techniques to break her down. It is scarily easy to do. There was actually a post on the techniques. I will dig it up for you.
Does anyone know that amount of girls that have been through the program? If not, how can I find out? I would love to see how many girls have graduated then use that number to put things in perspective. Let me know what you think.
On stats – I would love to look at the stats. My suspicion is that Mercy doesn’t have them They had to scramble to construct that survey earlier this year. The thing is that they are independent of any oversight so they don’t have to provide anything. Mercy are not open with any figures or statistics. As far as we can determine 90 or so had been through the program in Australia. Mercy has been operating in the states for 25 years, so I would say thousands.
My guess( until I have the figures) is that Mercy are good (but not significatly better than any other treatent provider) at looking after pregnant mothers, organsing adoptions and setting people back on the “right track”. I suspect that they are downright dangerous when it comes to foolin’ around inside peoples heads. Using “exorcism” to treat mental illness?
Unlike other treatment providers Mercy believe themselves to be ordained by God – this to me is a fundamental problem. When you think your treatment model is perfect then you don’t review it or examine how you can do things better.
I suggest you withhold your judgement Matt, either way.
Hi Matt, I’m an ex resident from Mercy Australia and I’m happy to answer any questions you have about Mercy.
But why didn’t the girls just leave the program and go to a secular treatment facility if they had so many problems with it’s counseling model?
I did try to leave not long after getting there and was stopped (but I’ll talk about that later.) But the answer in short, is because we were told we would get to see qualified counsellors and mental health professionals. We were also not permitted to see the RTF counselling model in full, we only knew what was in it page by page as the counsellors revealed it to us with each counselling session. A huge factor for me was all of the indoctrination. As soon as you get to Mercy the staff tell you they are so glad you’re there, and that God chose you to be there. They say Mercy is your only hope and your last hope for recovery, and that if you ever leave you will be outside of God’s will for your life. They say if you ever leave you will not recover. They also tell you that your illness is caused by demons that are inside you, and that there are generational curses caused by the sins of ancestors that cause problems like eating disorders and mental illness. They then tell you that is why only Mercy can help. Secular treatment centres and psychologists cannot help because mental illness is really “just demons that need to be expelled” and Mercy staff are annointed by God to do this. That was my SHORT answer. It’s quite complex. The indoctrination becomes so ingrained, especially when you’re so sick, not able to see your family or friends and you are taken away from all medical and psychiatric treatment. There is nobody with a normal outlook on life or illnesses or Christianity that can balance out the indoctrination you get put through while at Mercy.
When did the home in Australia actually become a part of Mercy Ministries?
The Sydney home was set up in 2000 but as far as I know, they started taking girls in 2001 (or it might have been late in 2000.)
The queensland home was set up in 2002 and started taking girls in 2003.
I think with a voluntary program it is their choice to leave. So I think if a girl says they physically were not allowed to leave then Mercy has a big problem on their hands.
Not long after I got there, and I got a taste of the indoctrination and weird things they were trying to tell us about Christianity, I did try to leave. Staff saw me and physically stopped me from leaving the room they had me in. They told me that a girl can not leave “just like that”, they said a girl has to go through a process and give notice that she wants to leave (I think it was at least 48 hours from memory.) They told me I couldn’t just take my stuff and tell them I was leaving, and go. They talked me into staying, they said if I leave I will be outside of God’s will, that God is giving me the opportunity to be totally healed and that I would be throwing it in his face. They said I would be disappointing my family if I left, and that I just need to “stop thinking so much, stop trying to work everything out and understand everything, and just trust staff.” It is about the indoctrination again.
Does anyone know that amount of girls that have been through the program? I would love to see how many girls have graduated then use that number to put things in perspective.
I don’t believe a thing he says, but in March this year Peter Irvine claimed it was around 102 in Australia. I do know that when I was at Mercy more than half the girls there were dismissed or eventually chose to leave. So you could estimate as of March 2008 there were probably around 50 graduates in Australia (that’s probably being generous), with 50 or more who went to Mercy being dismissed or eventually leaving.
But graduating or not graduating doesn’t really mean much when you’re talking about the mistreatment and other things that went on. A lot of girls who spoke out about the mistreatment at Mercy are graduates. They were indoctrinated so much that some of them even agreed to give pro-Mercy speechees at fundraising events after their graduation, until they burnt out, were shunned by Mercy for ‘not having enough faith and giving into the flesh’ and then finally managed to get real help that worked, through real Christian counselling services.
I just feel like I know three girls that graduated from the program. One from the home in Monroe and two from the STL home. They all have good things to say. So why are you trying to attack something that is still doing so much good? Maybe the one girl should just go to Nancy Alcorn and try to address her issues. It doesnt make sense in my opinion to try to use that one girl’s story to judge the entire program.
So you think it’s ok that so many girls were mistreated at Mercy and had their illnesses actually made worse, because you know three girls who graduated? You are basing your opinions on the three girls that you know, when there are so many more that have spoken of being mistreated at Mercy.
Many girls in Australia did go to Mercy with their concerns before the media got hold of the story. Mercy refused to do anything or to even look into it. One girl’s parent got hung up on when she called Mercy Ministries management to talk about the abuse. Phone calls from treating counsellors and psychologists weren’t returned. It is not something that Mercy wanted to recognise.
Feel free to ask more questions, I’m happy to help you understand why this organisation is so wrong in what they have been doing.
Emma,
Thanks for dropping in.
Hello,
I am trying to write a story for my local paper about Mercy Ministries. I came across this blog and had a few questions… I need a former Mercy resident (or graduate) to answer about 7 questions for me. They cannot be a Mercy resident from Australia though, they have to be from a United States home (my editor wants it to be relevant.) If anyone knows a few graduates that would be willing to help me out please e-mail me at jguntertns@gmail.com.
Thanks!
J,
I have forwrded on your email to the Mercy Survivors in the states
Anonymous,
I have removed your comment as it violates the comment policy feel free to repost and leave a name.
You don’t need to know my name…you can delete my post if you want…but I will say that you guys on here are sadly deceived. You have no idea what you are talking about. The Word says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Not my words, but His. Get a life and a real past time and leave Nancy and Mercy alone. If you were not threatened at all by the TRUTH then you would have no problem with reality being posted on here.
Anonymous,
Read the comment policy, top left hand side and you won’t sound so ignorant.
I will let this comment stand but if you post again make up a name so that we can converse with you and know who we are refering to. Your comment will be deleted otherwise.
I don’t need to know your name but it makes civil conversation so much easier if I can determine if you are anonymous 1, 2 or 3
But then you just rushed in here all indignant didn’t you.
Now maybe instead of hurling insults without any evidence you could make some constructive statements. Did you read just this post or the 60 odd that I have made on this topic.
I will let your comments stand and debate with you civily if you write under a psuedonym.
If you were more polite you might just get your message heard.
I have a life, it’s a good one. It enables me to help others and Nancy is old enough and canny enough to look after herself .
You can quote out of the bible as much as you like but how bout another work of fiction
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
or
“All that Glitters is not gold”
I do happen to be a bit indignant about this particular issue because I am one of the Mercy “survivors.” I do not at all believe that Mercy is perfect or that everything that glitters is Gold. I do know from personal experience that Mercy is a credible ministry and have the evidence in my own life that the counseling they do works. Life is about choices. I needed God in my life – He was my last resourt. I was never told that I could not leave. Mercy doesn’t make those who leave by dismissal or their own accord feel as if Mercy is their only resource for getting help. I was actually dismissed from the program but was sent out on good terms and with the opportunity to call in for help if needed. At that time it wasn’t for me. Once again I realized my way was not working….so I reapplied and was graciously reaccepted. I would not be the person I am today without it. I do not glorify Mercy, but God in my life. I know for a fact that those who worked with me are not perfect, but I do know that I was loved and accepted and had a safe environment to work through the issues I needed to deal with. I was open to the things of God and what the Word says. I am sad for those who had a bad experience. But for those I know who personally had a bad experience, their attitude about getting help once they arrived was that they still wanted it on their terms. Those I know who are upset…they were also released from secular treatment because they wanted to run the show themselves. If you want help…..you have to submit to someone who is wiser than you at some point and allow them to teach you and counsel you on ways of living that are healthy. Many who willingly come to Mercy stating that they are ready for help are in fact not ready and then are upset when Mercy doesn’t work for them.
Sarah G.
Thankyou Sarah G,
I will be anwering your points in a blog post of its own.
I’m a Mercy Survivor but my experience was totally different to Sarah G’s. I was prevented from leaving many times, and when I finally got out of there they told me I was turning away from God.
It wasn’t God I was turning away from, it was their dangerous treatment. I was prevented from seeing anyone qualified to treat me while I was there, even though they promised qualified treatment before I went.
They forced rituals and exorcisms on me, none of which glorified God at all. Instead of empowering me, just about everything they did was very disempowering and it just caused my illness to get so much worse.
I agree that when we get treatment we do need to LISTEN to somebody who is wiser in the situation, and qualified to treat us. But I didn’t have access to anybody like that at Mercy. There were not qualified and their understanding of God often did not match with the Bible. They refused to even discuss questions relating to the teachings, we were told to listen and take it in and not to question it because it showed a weakness on our part.
Submission should NEVER be a part of counselling unless you’re talking about submission to God. Submission to God is what I had to have to give me the strength to keep my faith in him after Mercy.
My experience of Mercy was that they were very misguided, dishonest and their treatments made medical and psychological conditions a lot worse. They did not do things as a legit Christian organisation would, and I would never recommend any of my friends to go there, Christian or non-Christian. What they are doing is totally irresponsible.