Bent Tree pastors are experts at BITE control (look up Steven Hassan’s BITE model). I can give 3 examples of different pastors using BITE control.
1. Former Pastor Amy told me it would be a sin to leave Bent Tree to find a different church closer to where I live.
2. I reported this to Pastor Ken, who promptly ghosted me and never spoke to me again.
3. I reported Pastor Ken to Pastor Steve, who blocked me from talking to Ken and told me Ken wanted to pass along a message of “I am genuinely sorry that you are hurt, and I am sorry for our miscommunication”. Two things are wrong with that: first, why couldn’t Pastor Ken directly say that to me? Second, that’s a textbook narcissistic apology.
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