RCC/Academy Timeline

 Many Academy parents have expressed a desire to know more about what happened and why so many are angry with and hurt by Riverbend Community Church (RCC) and Riverbend Academy (RA).

 

Many want to know if Riverbend is a safe place to send their kids. Can they trust leadership to protect their children?

 

We believe, unfortunately, that the leadership of the church and school have always and will continue to prioritize their reputation over the safety and well-being of children.

There have been repeated concerns over the years regarding how leadership has handled reports of sexual misconduct within the church. In some instances, leaders have been perceived as slow to respond, dismissive of credible allegations, or uncertain about how to address them appropriately. These cases have ranged from moral failings to alleged criminal behavior, underscoring the need for transparent processes, accountability, and proper reporting to authorities. [1]

Given the church's size and reach, the number of reported cases has been troubling and underscores the importance of transparent systems for prevention and response.

 

Please read this timeline of both major events and closed-door meetings and decide for yourself if you can trust the leadership at RCC/RA.

 

All events in this timeline are described in good faith and accounted for to the best of our abilities. We rely on first person testimony, published accounts, and news media articles as much as possible. The goal of this timeline is not to provide new information or make new claims about alleged abuse; instead, we hope to provide a cohesive summary for RA parents who may be unsure about what has transpired over the past few months.

 

Timeline: The Riverbend Church Crisis

 

Origins

Early Summer 2025:

•                 Josh Brown and Jason Karr release a YouTube video series promoting a patriarchal ideology—one that, among other things, attributes women’s suffrage to the nation’s moral decline and argues that, ideally, men only would vote for their households since women are “more easily deceived.”

o   Source: Rumble with ads (because RCC removed the original)

•                 The series circulates widely online.

As women who grew up at RCC begin to discuss the series, many realize their painful stories of spiritual and sexual abuse are not isolated. What they once thought were unique experiences appear to be part of a broader pattern involving many women with stories of abuse over many years.

 

The Breaking Point

July 13, 2025:

•                 A former RCC member posts a public statement on Facebook detailing systemic abuse within the church. Dozens of women message her to privately share similar experiences of abuse and protection of many different abusers under patriarchal leadership. More victims share publicly.

•                 Victims and supporters are harassed by current and former RCC members on social media and in person.

 

Surveying the Damage

July 14, 2025:

•                 Survivors create an anonymous survey to gauge abuse within the RCC community—ranging from discouragement of higher education to sexual misconduct. The answers overwhelmingly indicate strong, systemic patterns of abuse.[2]

•                 A second survey soon follows, focused on the treatment of adult women, including professional dismissal, counseling to stay in abusive marriages, and other gender-based harm. Like the first, it points to widespread abuse of all kinds.

•                 Over 90 women total complete the surveys before they are closed.

 

Reaching Out for Accountability

August 11, 2025: Meeting with the elders

•                 Following the biblical model of Matthew 18, victims and advocates met privately with RCC elders, presenting survey data and a proposal for accountability and healing. Elders verbally agreed to contact a church health organization but later withdrew from the agreement, taking no action. [3]

•                 We know many individuals encouraged the church leaders to hire a third-party agency that specializes in investigating abuse and church health. We believe the elders were going to have a call with a victim to explore help from an agency, and pastors even mentioned at a later family-meeting that they were exploring help from an outside group. We do not know if the call even took place, and we have no reason to believe a third-party investigative agency was ultimately engaged.

 

Removal and Resignation

Around August 13, 2025: Closed door “Family Meeting”

•                 Heyward Evans was removed from worship and academy teaching roles after confessing to misconduct with female high school students in a closed-door, members-only meeting.[4]

•                 Pastor Josh Brown described his actions as “romantic history” and stated the change was “not discipline, just a staff change.” He emphasized that this “staff change” was not because of outside pressure.

•                 It is extremely important to note that the decision to remove Evans was made without any recent testimony from victims, which strongly suggests leadership was already aware. [5]

o   Source: The Observer

 

August 17, 2025: A Resignation

·       Jordan Hargrave resigned from his role at the church; reports suggest he also resigned from teaching biblical manhood at RA.

·       No explanation was offered publicly by Hargrave, the church, or the school.

·       Allegations of both inappropriate conduct and communication with underage high school students while supervising the Riverbend after-school program in his mid-twenties resurface, reflecting broader cultural issues tolerated by leadership.[6]

 

Public Appeals and Institutional Silence

August 21, 2025: Substack Statement #1 and RCC response

·       Victims publish a public letter to the congregation, following Matthew 18:17: “if [the elders] still refuse to listen, tell it to the church.”
The letter, which urges repentance and reform, is widely circulated online and shares anonymized testimonies[7] and pleads for truth, repentance, and reform.


o   Source: Substack #1

 

·       The response among RCC members to the Substack post is overwhelmingly hostile. Victims and advocates are harassed, leading several contributors to redact their stories out of fear for their safety.[8]

 

August 22, 2025: Elders respond; Substack #2

•                 The elders issue a statement on RCC’s Facebook page expressing general sadness but outlining no concrete steps for reform or direct apology to victims.

o   The elders also claim that they, “desire to know the truth and set things right. These things are all very new to us, and we are humbly committed to truth, safety, transparency. We desire to humbly listen to anyone who would like to speak to us." 

•        Multiple survivors have emailed and contacted the elders and received no response.

o   This statement is stunningly similar to their statement just four short years ago in response to Elder Griffin criminally charged and imprisoned for possession of child pornography.[9] The elders claimed they may not have known of his crimes, but they actively concealed his involvement with the church and school. [10]

 

•                 Survivors respond to the elders’ Facebook statement with a rebuttal and call to action:
“Survivors did not speak out to destroy a church. They spoke to expose patterns of harm and call for repentance… True repentance requires both truth-telling and transformation.”


•       Source: Substack #2

•       The statement was emailed to the elders, and they did not respond.

 

•                 Jason Karr emails Academy parents when the allegations became too public to ignore and directed further questions to himself.

 

August 24, 2025:


•       Karr follows up with an email to academy parents, admitting that he and Brown wrongly presented their patriarchal teachings—such as opposition to women’s right to vote— as “biblical mandates.”

 

Escalation and Public Exposure

August 26, 2025: YouTube Censorship, Substack #3, Investigation

•                 RCC deleted dissenting comments on YouTube and ultimately removed the feminism/family series altogether with no explanation as to why.

•                 An unedited copy is published on a private YouTube channel; RCC filed a copyright claim against the upload, forcing its removal.

•                 Many other copies of the original series have already been made and are now shared widely on social media and on Reddit to show the teachings RCC is suddenly hiding.

o   Source: Partial voting video on Rumble (with ads)

 

·                 Victims publish a third letter to the elders, demanding transparency about the church’s teachings on women and questioning the removal of videos and copyright claims against reuploads.


o   “We have been patient… To date, the only action is a non-apology and a copyright claim on your own unedited words.”

o   Source: Substack #3

 

•                 The Ormond Beach Police Department (OBPD) announces an investigation, allegedly after a concerned academy parent alerted them to a developing situation at the academy, leading to widespread media coverage.

 

August 27, 2025: Academy Letters of Encouragement

•                 During school hours, academy students were instructed to write letters of encouragement to RCC elders, sparking outrage among parents.[11]

o   Victims received no such support and continue to face bullying and harassment online and in person.

 

August 28, 2025: Leaked Closed-Door “Family-Meeting”

•       The Observer publishes excerpts from the leaked members only meeting, sparking community outrage, particularly over Josh Brown referring to alleged abuse as “romantic history.”

•       Parents—both RCC members and non-members—begin removing their children from the Academy.

o   Source: Ormond Observer

 

August 29–30, 2025:
Two RCC elders resign

•                 August 29: Gary Giovanni resigns

•                 August 30: Bobby Caliendo resigns

•                 Several of the 5 remaining elders have overlapping and potentially conflicting responsibilities in the church and academy.[12]

o    This reveals that the church and school are effectively the same institution.

 

 

August 30, 2025: Blogspot Post

•       An anonymous post is published, demanding an explanation why the Q&A series with Josh Brown and Jason Karr was removed from the church’s YouTube channel.

o   This post explains that the previous communications to academy parents have been inadequate and connects abuse with patriarchal teaching.

o   Source: Blogspot

o   There was no response from the church either in response to an email sent to elders or on the post itself.

 

Further Revelations

August 2025: Douglas Wilson Interview and RCC/RA connections

·       In August, Wilson was interviewed by CNN. When explaining gender roles, he stated “women are people that people come out of.” He has previously taught that, “a man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts.” Like Josh Brown and Jason Karr advocated in the family video, Wilson also believes in a head of household voting model.

•                 Wilson is praised as a formative influence on Riverbend Academy’s website, and his accreditation board (ACCS) is used by the academy.  

 

September 1, 2025: John Griffin cover-up by RCC

•                 A Reddit post reveals that convicted elder John Griffin had worked with children at RA, contradicting previous statements made to the media by Brian Giaquinto, an RCC elder and RA legal counsel, who said, Griffin “was not in a position over any of our children’s activities” according to The News Journal. This RA yearbook photo in the post confirms Griffin’s involvement.[13]

•       Several unverified Reddit users comment and allege Griffin also worked in the nursery at RCC around the time of his arrest.

o   Source: Reddit

o   Source: News Journal article Second News Journal Article

 

 

Continued Silence and Pleas for Reform in September 

September 7, 2025:

•                 Concerned citizens organize a peaceful protest at RCC.

o   Source: Ormond Observer

 

September 2025: Ongoing Social Media Posts and RCC response

•       Victims continue to share their experiences on social media.

o   Very few from the RCC have demonstrated any concern; most have been silent.

o   Many have slandered and harassed victims, both online and in person.[14] Some RCC members have gone so far as to create fake social media accounts to harass and attempt to discredit victims on social media.

o   RCC leadership continues to ignore victims’ repeated pleas to call for an end of harassing behaviors. There is no discipline brought against those engaging in harassing behavior.

•       RCC members allegedly support men accused of abuse through meal trains and job offers.

•       There continues to be no support for the victims. The elders have yet to acknowledge victims who reach out.[15]

 

September 24, 2025: No accountability at another closed-door family meeting

•                 RCC leadership informed members at another closed door “family meeting”[16] that four pastors would assist in church health efforts. At the time of writing this, at least one of the four pastors was unaware of what his role would be and that his name had been shared with the congregation.[17]

•                 RCC leadership also asserted that they will not discuss their stance on patriarchal theology further, will not apologize for their teachings, and that they will repost the feminism/family series.  

 

 

 

October 2025: Ongoing Silence

•                 Despite months of appeals, RCC/RA leaders continue to ignore victims and advocates calling for truth, reform, and accountability. No independent church-health evaluator has been retained, no public apology has been issued, and the pattern of silence and suppression persists.

 

Summary

Because of the significant overlap between the leadership of the church and school (see footnote 12), parents should understand that Riverbend Academy and Riverbend Community Church are one and the same. Patriarchal teaching, such as the inherent inferiority of women, influence both institutions, with consequences in the classroom; many students and parents have complained of emotional and spiritual mistreatment by overly harsh female teachers, who are exerting their power in the only sphere where they have any agency within this system.

 

Furthermore, lack of accountability at the school reflects a lack of accountability at the church, with several accused or even convicted men having held teaching roles.

 

To be clear, this is not just about Heyward, who has unfairly borne all of the blame for this entire scandal. It is also not about Jordan. This is about multiple men - most in leadership roles – using their positions of authority to allegedly influence and coerce underage girls into engaging in sexual behavior.

 

And although we are grieved by the alleged abuse, we are far more concerned about how RCC/RA’s response shows a lack of transparency and accountability; indeed, leadership’s response underscores victims’ claims that they have been dismissed, ignored, or even blamed.[18] We confidently assert that leadership was aware to some degree of this deviant behavior and looked the other way. Through RCC’s teaching, leaders created an environment where abuse could occur, hid or minimized it, and clearly will not be accountable and take concrete steps to prevent it from occurring again.

 

Many stories have never publicly been shared because of fear of retribution. Some of these victims are afraid to speak out now after seeing how those who have spoken out have been treated by the church. Even some anonymous testimonies on the first Substack letter resulted in victims being identified, threatened, and asking for their stories to be removed.

 

Survivors who spoken out have been met with silence from RCC leaders and harassment from RCC members. Some have lost friends and even family members. They are being silenced once again in an unthinkably awful way: silenced for finally having the courage to tell the story they hid for years - or in some cases, the stories leadership already knew and had previously blamed them for.

 

Many women have come forward to the police. They are weary.

 

Riverbend’s silence to victims and smoke and mirrors assurances to parents shows that they are clearly hoping all of this goes away on its own. Do not be fooled into thinking that silence means the stories have gone away: if behavior is not accounted for and changed, there will almost certainly continue to be stories of sexual abuse at RCC/RA.

Riverbend has shown a pattern of abuse, fueled by patriarchal teaching, and they have a history - stunningly recently in the Griffin case - of concealing and minimizing to protect themselves. There are many of stories of sexual abuse - some criminal - and countless accounts of spiritual manipulation and abuse.

 

Many other stories attest to the emotional and spiritual damage that can be done to a child who isn’t physically abused. One claims his experience at RCC reduced his self-worth to the point that he believed he was “worthless and hopeless.”

 

Follow up questions for parents to ask RCC/RA leadership:

 

o   Ask leaders what concrete steps they have taken to safeguard against further abuse. Demand specifics.

 

o   Ask leaders if they believe the victims. Ask how many they have reached out to or spoken with. Ask if they have responded to every victim who has reached out to them. (They have not).

 

o   Why was the family/feminism series removed? Does leadership still endorse the content?

 

o   Does RA equally encourage both male and female students to pursue academic excellence and careers? Doug Wilson, head of their accreditation board, says that a girl’s education is “aimed at a different end” than a boy’s.

 

o   Do RCC leaders believe women have a civic duty to vote, and should women vote independently of their husbands?[19]

 

o   Is it wise for young women to pursue higher education before marriage?[20]

 

o   Are single women considered autonomous or do they continue to be best protected under their father’s authority?

 

o   Are women in abusive marriages now counseled to file for divorce?[21]

 

o   Do leaders believe men and women are true equals in intelligence, capacity for moral fortitude, and their need for education?

 

o   Do leaders still teach that women are more easily deceived and therefore need protective male headship? Or do they recant this position, so clearly articulated in the videos posted this summer?

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[1] Two more recent incidents that the timeline does not address but which point to a systemic problem are as follows: one from 2007 and another from a young man filling in as a youth choir leader the night he was arrested in 2013. These are in addition to incidents that are addressed in greater detail in this timeline (elder arrested for child pornography in 2021, open criminal sex abuse investigation in 2025).

[2]Of the 63 women surveyed in the youth version, 66.7% claimed they were actively discouraged by church leadership from seeking higher education. This is a deeply disturbing statistic for a school. In the same survey, nearly 30% of respondents (29.5%) reported that they were manipulated or coerced into sexual behavior by an adult male church member when they were minors. Source: The Observer

[3]This is similar to the 2021 pornography charges of Elder John Griffin (more details below), where RCC assured they would conduct their own private investigation and never publicly shared findings.

[4] At least three minors (at the time) and one young adult, groomed as a minor, have claimed they were manipulated into performing oral sex upon Evans, one as recently as 12 years ago – not 20+ years ago as RCC claimed. At the time, there was enough knowledge (or at least suspicion of) unscrupulous behavior that leadership allegedly instructed Mr. Evans not to entertain underage girls in his apartment anymore. It is baffling why leadership would then hire him to teach underage girls at Riverbend Academy.

[5]We know of at least two RCC lay-leaders who referred to Heyward as a known problem.

[6] Under Jason Karr’s leadership, Hargrave supervised the after-school program at RA. His now wife was a student in this program when he was in his mid-twenties. They married shortly after her 18^th birthday. We share this not to shame the Hargraves, who appear to have a very loving marriage, but rather to illustrate how RCC/RA leadership turned a blind eye to a grown man on staff dating a student. There is a long-standing culture of college+ aged adult men “helping” in youth/high school activities, and there are countless stories of these men pursuing and dating girls in youth/high school. Young men who grew up in this culture are unlikely to recognize the problem and self-correct; leadership is responsible for creating and allowing that predatory culture to continue.

[7] These testimonies were not originally submitted anonymously. Every story included was vetted closely, but victim names were redacted in the published copy for their own protection.

[8] It is troubling that several stories were so well known by the RCC community that they could be recognized without any names. This strongly speaks to the veracity of these stories.

[9] Griffin was sentenced for possession of over 200 photographs of children engaging in sexual acts with men, ranging from toddlers as young as 3 years old to teen girls aged 14.

[10] RCC’s response to Griffin: In a video posted to the church’s website, the lead pastor stated, “Our goal is transparency with everything. We as elders would never, never cover up something that we would know. We seek to know the truth, and we will do our own investigation in time.” Brian Giaquinto said, “we’ve encouraged those to speak to us, and so far, today, we haven’t had anyone bring an accusation against [Griffin].”

A later Reddit thread proved that Griffin actually worked at the academy, a direct contrast with what Giaquinto said in a news statement. Others allege that Griffin also worked in the church nursey at the time of his arrest. The language of concealment and lack of accountability is similar to the elders’ statement on August 22. They also claim they were, “not aware of these things.” If they were not aware, why did they remove Heyward without testimony or outside pressure? One underage victim testimony recounts leadership protecting an abuser. We suggest that some elders knew of some degree of inappropriate behavior, which would be contrary to their statement.

[11] We believe that children should only be discussing this highly sensitive subject with their parents, certainly not the church that is in the midst of an active criminal investigation for alleged sexual abuse of minors. It is also deeply offensive to victims for children to be asked to encourage the very men who continue to ignore their calls to accountability of abuse they experienced as children. 

[12] Josh Brown: grew up at RCC from age 7, attended Riverbend Academy (RA), joined pastoral staff in 2019; Jason Karr: joined pastoral staff in 2001, serves as pastor of education/headmaster of RA; Brian Giaquino: joined pastoral staff in 2017 as pastor of administration and finance, serves as general counsel at RA; Aaron Johnsen: on staff since roughly 1999, taught at RA for 14 years and served as Dean of Students, served as children’s and youth directors, has MDiv from RCC’s in-house seminary; Jerry Schaeffer: joined pastoral staff in 1994.

[13] In the photo, Elder Aaron Johnsen and Valerie Brown, Josh Brown’s mother, are clearly visible. Certainly they would have been able to contradict Giaquinto’s statement, that Griffin was not in contact with children at RCC/RA.

[14] There are many examples of unfriending/blocking on social media by RCC members and leadership (including pastors, pastor’s wives, and youth leaders). There are also many examples of dismissive behavior from current and former RCC members. Here are two examples. One woman reportedly told her clients that “these girls were just flirting.” Allegations of criminal sexual abuse is not flirting. A former youth leader told others that a victim was making a big deal about “just a kiss” when what actually happened was far worse, confirmed as criminal abuse when the victim reported to the detective. Additionally, there are instances of in-person confrontation by RCC members as well as unannounced visits to homes. RCC members text and DM victims directly, questioning the veracity of their stories and accusing them of trying to destroy the church with exaggerated stories.

[15] Of course, we do not know of all correspondence, but we have heard from several victims who have reached out to the elders, all of whom have been ignored.

[16] We believe this is the fourth closed-door “family meeting” addressing this scandal. We are deeply concerned by the lack of transparency leadership has demonstrated, insisting on communicating only to members in a closed-door meeting instead of addressing what is now a community wide problem in a public manner. Their continued secrecy is deeply troubling.

[17] We wonder how serious RCC leaders can be about evaluating church health is one of the pastors allegedly helping them doesn’t even know his role.

[18] Victims who attempted to report alleged abuse at the time consistently share that they were often blamed for enticing men in how they dressed or acted. One reported that her parents were told to “give her up to the devil.”

[19] The voting video said women’s suffrage is responsible for the moral decline of the nation since women are more emotional and more likely to vote for the Democratic Party. Brown and Karr also suggested that a woman should not vote her conscience if she disagrees with her husband, but rather she should vote as her husband does.

[20] Girls were allegedly told at RCC camp this summer to prioritize marriage, not college.

[21] Many adult victims in abusive marriages attest to RCC’s counseling ministry advising them to submit more and discouraging them from pursuing legal action.