Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Today, Teleka Patrick Missing 3 Months- An Open Letter to Pastor Marvin Sapp

An interested person who has been following the story submitted this letter to me, and the Patrick family. He gave permission to publish it in any forum that might help Find Teleka.
 
Open letter to Marvin Sapp (and “shepherds” everywhere)
 

By Eddie B. Allen Jr.
 
Dear Pastor Sapp:

 
An unkempt stranger walked into a Toledo, Ohio church, behaving erratically. When the pastor asked members to rise, the man stood at soldier-like attention. At another point, the graying visitor gave a military salute. Without interrupting service, the pastor caught the man’s attention, beckoning to him. A retired naval chaplain, the minister led his guest through an exit, quickly learning that the visitor was a veteran who suffered from emotional problems and had been without medication for months. Not much later, the pastor, Kevin Bedford, began seeking resources for this stranger who didn’t know how to handle his troubles – but knew he wanted to be in a church.

I’ve never met your former congregation member, the missing Dr. Teleka Patrick or her family, but, like the veteran, she deserved spiritual support.The Bible makes it clear that, even the ‘wilderness’ – the prostitutes, the mentally ill – needs a voice,” says Rev. Bedford, now pastor of Aurora, Ill.’s Progressive Baptist Church. “Kicking them out is the equivalent of closing blinds on the hungry and shutting the door on the beggar.”
We’ve read the protection order and the letter excommunicating Dr. Patrick from Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids. We’ve heard that you were, perhaps reasonably, concerned that she crossed boundaries into your private life. What we’ve not read or heard is any sign that you fed this lamb in your flock with the bread of compassion.
Not only are all media denied interviews since the doctor’s Dec. 5 disappearance, but private investigator Jim Carlin says that you and your staff refuse to talk even with him as he works to find her; Carlin says that Dr. Patrick’s family hasn’t even been contacted for an offer of prayer.
Well, Christ warned: “What you did to the least of these, you also did to me.” A 30-year-old woman who, one lonely night on a highway, vanishes from loved ones and a prestigious job, certainly ranks among “the least.”
Please set a righteous example, Pastor Sapp.
Silence can speak volumes.                       
Eddie B. Allen Jr. is an author and filmmaker in Detroit.

5 comments:

Mrs. White said...

This is so very true as a pastor how could you be so cold. Also whomever these security guards are I prey that they are being investigated to the fullest. Teleka was far from crazy, I know she knew exactly what she was talking about. Knowing that your church can turn its back on you in a time of need makes one wonder what else are they capable of. Im kinda afraid to even post anything regarding her, just an uneasy feeling I have. A wolf can easily hide in sheep clothing. Dear Lord: please bring Teleka home and expose and
lead us to whoever is responsible. I think he "the Lord" has already spoken to us.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Mr. Allen for having the courage and compassion to speak out on Teleka's behalf. No stone should remain, this, we owe to Teleka as a human being. Truth shall prevail!

Anonymous said...

Sapp is screwing all these people over, he in it for the money, its easy to see.

Why don't he speak to investigators , help, family, reconize thta she is missing....like I said no money in this for him.

Lambs to the slaughter....the world has few leaders, but many followers.

Anonymous said...

Investigator Carlin, have the username/accounts marvins210 and patientmunchkin on Formspring been investigated. Not sure if they mean anything but they are something that we have come across that we are trying to investigate further. Thank you. #Find Teleka

Anonymous said...

But how do you know that Marvin Sapp hasn't been praying for her. That sir, you do not know and neither do I. You can show love and compassion for someone even from afar, in this case protecting his home seems to an outsider like me, a necessity for his children's sake. You have assumed many things in your letter, none of which may be true. And the police have said that Mr. Sapp has cooperated from the beginning satisfying whatever they requested of him.
I pray for Teleka, I look almost everyday for the search line "Dr. Teleka Found." Having a daughter of my own, my heart aches for her family and I truly pray that she is found alive and well. But dragging someone's name through the mud without any evidence that he is involved is just wrong.
Now that I know about Mary Lands, I will pray for her too.