Doug Phillips, former elder of the Boerne Christian Assembly (BCA) in San Antonio, Texas, who confessed last year to having an extramarital relationship, is still in hot water with the church, because he became a member of another church without their permission.
The founder of the Texas-based Vision Forum Ministries, which closed in November 2013 after his admission of guilt, apparently did not follow proper procedures, which he had helped set up when he was an elder with BCA, according to a statement on BCA’s website.
Phillips is also in trouble with Lourdes Torres, the other woman with whom he had an extended affair. She claims in a lawsuit that he used her as a “personal sëx object,” when in fact, he should have been acting as her “spiritual father.”
The 29-year-old former mistress of Phillips claims that since he was her pastor, boss and landlord, he used that authority to have his way with her. She also claims that Phillips told her that his wife would die soon and after that, they’d get married.
According to Torres’ attorneys David Gibbs and Dustin Gaines, the disgraced elder led a group of people of which he had total control. They added that apart from worshipping and working together, members of the institution would also live together and spend most of their free time in each other’s company.
The lawsuit went on to state that “A person within a total institution is cut off from the normal world entirely.” It continued, “As a closed and tightly knit unit of people, total institutions lead an enclosed and uniquely administered round of life that is peculiar to its own characteristics and beliefs.”
The attorneys also claim that leaders of Vision Forum Ministries knew of Phillips extra-marital affair and did nothing about it, until his resignation in October 2013.
However, Phillips’ attorney Diaz Jakob, claims that two of his personal assistants, Bob Renaud and Peter Bradrick, and one of his employees at Vision Forum, Jordan Muela, are conspiring to destroy the name of his client.
In a letter to the three named individuals, Jakob states that Torres was in full consent of any sëxual advances made by Phillips, in fact she often initiated them. He adds that Torres was nothing but a “gold digger,” because she often requested Phillips to give her money, jewelry or other special favors.
