Last Wednesday The Village Church sent out an email to parents whose children had participated in any children/youth activities at the Fort Worth Campus. They had planned a meeting for parents only, and for those who could not attend, set up a conference call number to dial in. When news of this meeting was made public, the conference call was mysteriously cancelled.
On Sunday 10/13/19, according to a member who was present, the parents were informed that a children’s & youth volunteer by the name of Andy Landrum had confessed on Wednesday 10/9/19, to ‘having some inappropriate sexual contact with a child and also having tried to videotape children at his place of employment (a school). According to Mr. Landrum, no incidents occurred at The Village Church. The church immediately contacted CPS & the authorities.‘
I have been informed as of this morning that the case has been assigned to Detective Andrew Owen at the Fort Worth PD. He can be reached at 817-392-4361.
My source, who has contacts at the TVC Fort Worth Campus, received this text communication from someone who was present at the meeting:
There was no church-wide announcement made. This was only during the meeting with parents. It must also be noted that there are many youth events that are combined amongst the campuses, where Landrum could have had access to many kids from all TVC campuses. This meeting only took place at the Fort Worth campus and only the parents of the youth involved at activities at the FW campus were invited to the meeting.
Isn’t it also interesting that TVC uses the language ‘taking pictures without their permission‘ in place of the actual crime of ‘felony video voyeurism‘?
Who is Andy Landrum?
Andy Landrum is/was a volunteer in the youth ministry at TVC Fort Worth campus youth department for approximately 4 years. My source has informed me that her two children were directly involved in activities where Andy was a volunteer leader, particularly on Wednesday nights. He also led a small group of junior high boys (approx ages 12-13), along with TVC staff member Neal Batman, who is the Student’s Minister at the Fort Worth Campus.
My source tells me that a concerning issue came up during a youth retreat in 2016. At this weekend retreat/sleepover at Landrum’s home, he spoke openly to the boys about his struggle with pornography and offered to be available to them if they wanted to talk to him, if they were experiencing the same struggles. What is interesting to note is that Landrum & Neal Batman were ROOMMATES, which is a living situation that is encouraged for singles at TVC. Also, the youth were told to turn off turn off their cellphones for the entire weekend, which my source’s sons found very odd.
I have also been told that one mother of a son, who was present at the sleepover, was not informed of the meeting, because she was no longer attending The Village Church.
I was able to locate a blog where Landrum wrote about his struggle with pornography.
Andy Landrum also submitted a Google review for City on a Hill Church (formerly Celebration Fellowship) in Fort Worth, whose pastor, James Reeves, runs a well-known ministry for sex addicts.
Nothing To See Here
The Village Church is taking the same hardline approach by assuring their members that ‘nothing happened at any of our campuses’, so don’t be concerned. Well, we all know how forthcoming child sexual abusers are, and that Andy Landrum has probably come clean on every crime he’s committed. I digress.
Once again, The Village Church chose to have a closed door meeting to control the narrative, which in light of the lawsuit they are currently involved in, is absolutely terrible for their optics. Haven’t they learned anything? Did they appeal for any other possible victims of Landrum to go to law enforcement? There is a very high probability that he abused someone while serving in the youth ministry at TVC. We simply can’t be naive’ about these things.
I, along with other advocate bloggers, will be following this story closely.
Corrections that should be made above:
The text you received was from a church wide announcement made during service. The announcement about Andy Landrum was made at the end of both services, not at a parents meeting.
Thank you so much for being a voice for those abused by this toxic entity. As someone who attended there I am appalled at the lack of concern for the most vulnerable among them. They are beyond blind guides. To think that children should pay the price to keep their “empire” intact is so egregious that there are not even words that appropriately detail the scope of such an offense. Like one of your sources I never received and email even though I was a member there. I do however still get sent the newsletter. Their entry on Oct. 17… Read more »
Practically speaking to answer your question about emailing former members monthly newsletters. I used to work for a cosmetic surgeon. Everyone got a newsletter unless they “unsubscribed” from it. It was updated and sent out automatically each month. Other emails were curated for certain clients based on previous purchases and expressed interest. Could the leaders of The Village Church have been calculated in who they emailed? Sure. But if you are no longer a member and don’t want their emails any more, have you tried to unsubscribe? I would also suggest, if you haven’t done so already, you email the… Read more »