An organization dedicated to accountability for various forms of abuse in churches and other Christian organizations recently released a report detailing behavioral misconduct by Tim Whitaker, the creator and facilitator of The New Evangelicals (TNE). The report followed an investigation by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) into allegations that Whitaker created an unsafe working situation for a TNE contract employee.
In an interview with Good Faith Media in 2024, Whitaker described the creation of The New Evangelicals as a reaction to disturbing things he saw on social media during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As he processed what he was seeing, he began to deconstruct many of the tenets of his faith out loud and online.
A virtual community of people with similar experiences formed around Whitaker, leading to the creation of an online TNE community. In 2022, The New Evangelicals became a nonprofit organization with a board of directors and financial reporting.
By 2023, Adele Mulford, one of the people who resonated with Whitaker’s and The New Evangelicals’ work around faith deconstruction, had begun to offer organizational and strategic services to TNE on a contract basis.
Mulford’s allegations stem from an incident on May 9, 2024, involving Whitaker’s “rage-fueled” driving and the response from Whitaker and the TNE board to the incident. According to the report, the incident occurred as Whitaker drove Mulford to a recorded interview for a documentary in which Whitaker was participating.
Mulford, who had worked overnight on a script for Whitaker’s appearance, said she felt anxious about being behind on the work and making them late for the recording. When she got in the car, she said she could feel Whitaker was upset.
After trying to lighten the mood, Mulford alleges Whitaker began driving aggressively. In her statement to GRACE, she said, “He was driving very fast. He was changing lanes, he was honking, cussing, muttering, and I just couldn’t get him to calm down.” Mulford said Whitaker’s driving continued like this throughout the ride.
Several minutes before their arrival, Mulford said Whitaker “stated something to the effect that they needed to talk about what happened this morning, that he felt like she didn’t respect him, that he hated when people are late, and that they’ll have to figure this out and determine if they can keep working together.” She described his tone as “trying to control his deep anger…even though his words were calm.”
For several days after the incident, Whitaker checked in on Mulford to see if they were “all good.” Twelve days later, on May 21, she told him she had not been comfortable with the situation despite previously saying she was “okay” with everything.
According to her statement, this prompted Whitaker to become agitated, asking questions like “Why are you bringing this up now?” and “Are you going to go public with this?”
In June, Mulford contacted two TNE board members, telling them she needed to step back from working directly with Whitaker until she felt “emotionally safe.” This prompted a call between Mulford, Whitaker, and a board member, which led to what Mulford described as a “soft apology.” After this, she alleged a pattern of retaliatory behavior from Whitaker.
In July, after a particularly combative phone call, Whitaker suggested the two go through mediation, recommending a trauma-informed therapist who had appeared on one of his podcasts. In the mediation, Mulford began to notice and be uncomfortable with Whitaker’s and the mediator’s friendship. At one point, she felt “cornered” when the mediator asked Mulford how she would “fix the situation.”
According to the GRACE report, a podcast featuring Whitaker and the mediator was released on the day of mediation, a timing Whitaker later said he regretted.
Mulford resigned from her position with The New Evangelicals in September 2024.
In the driving incident and what followed, the GRACE report concluded that Whitaker “committed behavioral misconduct in the form of verbal, nonverbal, and physical acts that were improper, including a lack of self-control, controlling behaviors, and holding double standards.” It cited the power dynamics between Whitaker and Mulford as contributing factors to this conclusion.
The report makes several recommendations for the TNE board to implement. Among them are funding to assist Mulford in her healing process from the experience, an assessment of TNE’s governing structure, and continuation of the work to de-center Whitaker as TNE’s primary personality, something the organization had already recognized as a need but had been slow to address.
Mulford and Cherri Rodriguez, a board member who was a primary witness for the GRACE report, have created The Reckoning, a website about the incident. The site acknowledges and affirms GRACE’s work with the investigation but notes areas where they believe the report fell short.
Mulford and Rodriguez also expressed concern that Whitaker and the TNE board have had the findings from the GRACE report since February 11, which they say was released on March 4, and Mulford has yet to receive any communication from the organization.
In an Instagram statement, Malynda Hale, a TNE board member, acknowledged that the “board did make several missteps” throughout the process and has “started to address all the recommendations proposed in the GRACE investigation.”
Hale claimed the TNE board received the report on March 4, Whitaker received it from them on March 5, and a final version was released on March 6. According to Hale, they were not allowed to comment on the report until it was released in its final form.
Regarding the recommendations, Hale said Whitaker and the board are “committed to reconciliation” with the contractor and are “pursuing reconciliation as recommended by GRACE.” She said the “first attempts at reconciliation have already been initiated.”
The board is also working with a consultant to update TNE’s policies and procedures and implement a plan to expand and diversify the board.
Rodriguez and Mulford are also making recommendations, including for Whitaker to “be removed as TNE’s Executive Director and de-platformed by the organization for a meaningful period of time, subject to the standards he has expressed for other abusive Christian leaders.”
Hale said in the statement that the TNE board will keep Whitaker in his role as Executive Director but is working to “shift the focus away from him as the sole representative of the organization.” Hale said that part of this work will consist of adding a chief operating officer and a community director and diversifying the personalities that TNE features.
“We know that TNE was built on the principles of transparency and accountability, and we are committed to upholding those values,” Hale said.
According to Erin Hill, an expert in trauma-informed ministry in congregations and other Christian organizations, GRACE is highly regarded in the field of ministry accountability. “As I’ve followed their work for the last 10 years,” she said, “they continue to take a multi-disciplinary approach and have necessary layers of the investigation to account for any possibility of bias.”
She added that they “prioritize cultural humility and trauma sensitivity to provide an in-depth investigation and analysis of a situation from an outside perspective, which is best practice in instances of allegations such as this.”
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