On September 18, 2018, Danny Silk (the well-known relationship author) created an advisory board and sent out a public letter, closing down Welton Academy. A lot of stories have been told since then, some of them true, some not so much.

Here is the real story in short form

After the school closed, Karen and I spent three months separated while I sought daily inner-healing emotional counseling. We moved back in together and thought we were doing a lot better. I began attending church again and continued to meet
regularly with Danny Silk over Zoom throughout 2019. In the fall of 2019, Danny published his book Unpunishable. This told the story of my journey up to this point, but as a result, it scared the crap out of a lot of people. The concern was that I hadn’t really changed and this book was going to launch an unchanged Jonathan back in ministry (a very valid fear at the time).

In the spring of 2020, just as Covid lockdowns were taking full swing, my restoration train fell off the tracks.

-I was given an excommunication letter from my local church leadership

-Several blogs were published detailing how I had mistreated my former staff

-Half my board had lost faith in the process and demanded a new update letter be sent out

-And Karen had lost hope that I could actually change and decided to separate again and move toward divorce

At this point I had tried everything I knew to try: Brainwave therapy, talk therapy, inner healing,12 step groups, meditation trainings, narcissism intensives, books, blogs, podcasts, etc.

Finally I joined The Bulletproof Husband in May of 2020.

Over the course of that summer I applied their tools in my life like a madman. I was driven to do anything to finally change and keep my family together for the sake of my children. Also over the course of that summer I had to go no-contact with my extended family even at the cost of losing my inheritance as a son because I testified against one of my siblings who was under Federal investigation for prostituting their spouse (FOIA). This led to retaliation where other family members began to call in fake allegations to Child Protective Services and endanger my children. Finally to protect my wife and children; I had to fully cut off my extended family.

By August Karen had seen the deep changes that had taken place and even her counselor was happily surprised to recommend that we get back together. By September I was asked by the leadership of The Bulletproof Husband to go through their coach-training program.

In January 2021, Danny Silk officially dissolved the advisory board and in June he sent out a public letter announcing I was doing well, I have honored the accountability process from beginning to end, and I am released from all the commitments that were placed on me. With the commitments finally removed, I finally had permission for the first time in 3 years to communicate with the public and former staff members. At this point I released specific apology letters to individual groups of students as well as detailed specific apologies to staff members.

Over the next two years I began podcasting, doing men’s coaching, publishing my commentary on Acts-Revelation, writing The Bulletproof Husband book, and attending a new home church down in the Carolina’s where we live. We continue to have a beautiful friendship with Danny Silk who has gone to hell and back with us and with our local church leaders that have walked all the way through this with us.

Only recently, in the spring of 2023, as I made an announcement that I will be making my old school teaching videos available
again some of my former staff members have been stirred up to made good on a threat they made years ago. They had threatened that if I ever tried to go back into ministry, they would paint me as a serial sexual predator and make sure I can never restore my reputation.

This has led to a journalist writing an article in the summer of 2023. On the positive side, the article does cover a lot of the last 5 years from several angles. It does a good job representing how manipulative I was, how deeply inappropriate I was in my communication with my staff and how I have been unable to rebuild their trust. These are all things that I have owned and communicated openly about over the last two years. I was deeply manipulative and completely dangerous to be in leadership. My behavior was wrong and I regret how I harmed my friends.

The linchpin to the article hinges on the testimony of an anonymous “Jane Doe.” I have also chosen to honor her anonymity because I care about my friend and I want her to be able to move on with her life. I do not want to harm her reputation or any of my former friends.

Over the last five years, I have been slandered, maligned and written about from my extended family, my former staff and my former friends. My response has been to own everything I can and acknowledged the pain I caused as well as express my regret. This is the first time that I will be explaining and rebutting what is being said about me.

Back to Jane Doe’s story. She claims that I:   “trapped her in an Airbnb room, pulled her close to him on the bed, and kissed her neck as he pressed his body against her. When she resisted, she says Welton told her, “You are my daughter and I love you as a father,” before he let her leave.   Doe said she never pressed charges against Welton because her immigration status was uncertain at the time. But within six weeks, she left the ministry and moved several states away. Bosco told TRR that Doe’s life was “really torn apart by Jonathan.” Doe said Welton has never owned or apologized for what he did.    

The problem with this account is that is it 100% bullshit. The only part that is true is that I haven’t owned it or apologized, I haven’t because it’s not true.  

When I read this account, I finally understood why Bosco, Weaver, and Gregson have been so adamant about resisting my return to ministry. They have been lied to and manipulated by my former staff member. Thankfully I have the receipts to prove it, which I will share with you in a moment. But first here is what actually happened that night. I wrote up this account for my wife and Danny five years ago.

I was in my room down the hallway from [Jane doe’s] room. I was unpacking my bag and I invited her in to chitchat. She came in and sat in the armchair and we talked for a bit. Then I hugged her goodnight and she left.

About an hour later we texted about both being up and not able to fall asleep, so let’s hang out. I was sitting up on the left side of the bed against the pillows. She came in and closed the door behind her and came and sat on the middle right side of the bed where we talked for a bit. She laid down next to me and we were in a spooning position for about ten minutes, I think we both felt uncomfortable, I knew for myself that I had crossed my line. Then I said we should say goodnight and we both got up and I walked her over to the door. I gave her a hug, and let go and she kept squeezing, so I hugged her again and let go a second time, at which point she let go and headed out. We didn’t talk about it until a few days later when I texted her about how I need to have better boundaries and that my behavior was across the line. She deflected the behavior, didn’t see anything wrong with what had occurred but she was willing to work with whatever I needed (as seen in the texts from July 22).

Was this wrong and inappropriate? Absolutely! Was it her being trapped, groped, kissed, and resisting? Not
at all. Here is what she said about it four days after it happened (See text images)

Also while I am correcting lies, I will also point out that the article claims I was fired from Global Awakening in 2011 for having an
affair with an intern. This is false. I was only on staff for Global Awakening in 2007 and I was not fired, I left on good terms at the time. Also I have been open about the fact that I had an affair in 2010 with a graduate from the Global Awakening ministry school.

I know the truth. I also know that my behavior was terrible and I deeply hurt some people I really care about. I continue to pray for them and I wish them the best. At the same time I know that the best apology is changed behavior. Therefore I will continue to walk forward in my restored integrity and be the man I should have been all those years ago.

The saddest part of all this has been that the Internet is forever and someday my three daughters will have to read all the things written about me. Yet at the end of the day, I will own it. “Yes, daddy was like that. I hurt a lot of people and I had to work really hard to face the broken places in me that caused me to act like that. Thank God people can change, just like Christianity has told us for two thousand years.”