Here is the article I found in the recent Post and Courier, a Charleston, South Carolina newspaper.
I think it's a follow-up piece but I can't seem to find the original if so. Anyone in Charleston have it??
Just thought some of you might be interested in reading it.
Heather in Greenville, SC

Controversy dogs parenting expert as he moves here
By: DAVE MUNDAY    Of The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 10/13/02
Page: B1

     CORRECTION (10/17/02): Because of a reporter's errors, a story on Christian parenting teacher Gary Ezzo on page 1B in Sunday's editions of the Post and Courier contained two inaccuracies. Ezzo's master's degree is in Christian ministry with an emphasis in Christian education. Critic Frank York says he's following the guidelines for Christian discipline outlined in 1 Timothy 5:19-20.
     
     One of America's most popular and controversial child-rearing experts has moved to Charleston, and he hopes to find some peace in the nation's most hospitable city.
     Gary Ezzo of Growing Families International is best known for a book called "On Becoming Babywise," which has stirred up criticism with its suggestion that nursing mothers put babies on a schedule and try to get them sleeping through the night by 2 months.
     An article in Christianity Today, the leading magazine for evangelical Christians, also put Ezzo in the national spotlight two years ago with an article in which critics accused him of character flaws that supposedly resulted in two churches excommunicating him.
     Ezzo has hundreds of supporters in Charleston. He and wife Anne Marie led a parenting conference last month at Citadel Square Baptist Church that was sponsored by a dozen local churches, including some of the biggest ones, such as Seacoast, Cathedral of Praise and East Cooper Baptist. The conference drew more than 200 parents. Everyone interviewed was aware of the controversy, but believed the charges were wrong.
     "A lot of what has been said is unfounded," said the Rev. Chuck Coward of Citadel Square.
     Carl and Anita Couch, who helped plan the conference, have been using Ezzo's "Growing Kids God's Way" materials for 10 years and have entertained the Ezzos in their home on several occasions.
     "Obviously, I was disturbed by the article," Mrs. Couch said. "It was hurtful because their teaching has been so helpful. Just knowing them for who they are, I just really don't understand it."
     Ezzo estimates he's sold a million copies of "Babywise" since the early 1990s, affecting the daily lives of 3 million children. One edition was No. 144 on Amazon's list last week and No. 191 on Barnes and Noble. Ezzo says his Growing Families International Web site received 2.3 million hits in August.
     "We definitely feel that we must be out ahead, because we keep getting kicked in the rear," he said.
     Besides the book on babies, his curriculum includes books, videos and study guides that cover the spectrum from birth through the teen years. The Ezzos lead about 30 conferences a year.
     BABY WARS
     The latest edition of "Babywise" recommends that mothers nurse their infants every 2-1/2 to 3 hours during the day and train them to sleep through the night by the time they're 2 months old. That advice sends some parents up a wall.
     "If you are looking for a book that seeks to justify child neglect, this book is for you," James John Nagy Jr., a father of three children, says on the Barnes and Noble Web site.
     Several Internet sites exist solely to keep track of complaints against Ezzo. Various articles and postings dispute Ezzo teachings on subjects ranging from whether children should be allowed to sleep in their parents' bed (he is against it) to corporal punishment (which he does not advocate for infants and calls a last resort for older children). Laurie Moody, a former Ezzo contact mom and lactation consultant in Mishawaka, Ind., runs one of the sites, posting reports of hungry and underweight babies.
     "It was pretty horrifying," she said in a phone interview. "I started trying to encourage moms to be more flexible."
     Diana Roberts, a certified lactation consultant at East Cooper Medical Center, said she also has concerns over mothers taking the Ezzos' teachings too far.
     Ezzo, 54, holds a master of arts in Christian education from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. His wife is a registered nurse. He writes his books with a pediatrician, Dr. Robert Bucknam of Louisville, Colo.
     Ezzo says he has read the reports of mothers who blame their undernourished kids on him, and he doesn't think it's fair. He points to a section of "Babywise" that urges parents to be flexible.
     "Parental assessment has always been there," he said. "We argue against hyperscheduling as much as we do against the attachment parenting. We have always advocated this centrist position."
     Earlier editions of the book recommended nursing every three hours.
     "You grow and you learn. You tweak here, you tweak there," Ezzo said. "But the overall message is still the same."
     Ezzo says the number of babies that fail to thrive under his system are no more than the national average, so there's no reason to blame it on his system.
     "You're dealing with the fallacy of disproportionate reporting. We face that all the time," he said. "If there's failure to thrive, it's not because you fed them every two to three hours. You have the freedom to feed them before, and you have the freedom to feed them afterward. It's because there was another factor."
     BUILDING CHARACTER
     Besides purely medical reasons, putting babies on a feeding schedule is one of the first steps to building their character, Ezzo says in his books and videos. Babies find security in a routine, and they start learning parents are there to give them what they need, not always what they want at the moment.
     Building character in children is Ezzo's main thrust. He challenges parents to instill values and virtues in their children, rather than letting them run wild on the one hand or controlling them with threats and nagging on the other.
     "That's what we're all about - submitting to the character of Christ," he said at the conference.
     With his emphasis on character, it's a serious matter when two pastors come out with letters saying they excommunicated Ezzo for lack of Christian character.
     The leaders of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., disavowed all association with Ezzo in early 1997, accusing him of spreading false rumors. They followed up with a stronger statement in July 2000, saying, "It appears rather obvious on biblical grounds that Mr. Ezzo's refusal to heed his own church's discipline disqualifies him from Christian leadership or public ministry in any context."
     The leaders of Living Hope Evangelical Fellowship in Granada, Calif., issued a statement in April 2000 saying Ezzo was excommunicated because of "a pattern of lies, slander, gossip and false accusation."
     Christianity Today reported on the controversy in November 2000.
     Ezzo called the letters the result of "a local feud" among "three guys who were real close friends."
     The three guys are Ezzo, the Rev. John MacArthur at Grace and the Rev. Dave Maddox at Living Hope. All three worked together at Grace until Ezzo and Maddox left that church because of disagreements with the leadership, Ezzo said.
     "We don't broadcast our reasons for leaving," Ezzo said. "I can tell you this, though. Grace Church did not disassociate itself from us. We clearly disassociated ourselves from Grace Church, and somehow it always gets twisted around."
     MacArthur started putting out statements against Ezzo after the Ezzos joined Maddox at Living Hope.
     In 1998, Ezzo called in Ken Sande of Peacemakers Ministries in Billings, Mont., to try to sort out the accusations. Ezzo says the leaders at Grace would not cooperate. Sande put out a letter saying he couldn't say anything because only Ezzo gave him permission to talk. Ezzo takes this to mean that he's the only one with nothing to hide.
     "We feel pretty vindicated," Ezzo said.
     Ezzo said he left Living Hope after finding out that some of the leaders there also had problems. That's when Living Hope put out the statement against him, which Ezzo calls "a red herring."
     After leaving Living Hope about 2-1/2 years ago, the Ezzos joined Granada Hills Community Church, also in California. Pastor Ron Seidel was visiting the Ezzos during the conference in Charleston. Seidel, a retired police officer, says he took the charges seriously and spent several months investigating them.
     "In my investigation, I found no evidence to support their accusations," Seidel said.
     Ezzo and Seidel have letters they send out to pastors who want more information on the controversy.
     One of Ezzo's most vocal critics has been Frank York of Hermitage, Tenn. He was Ezzo's editorial director for two years and also identifies himself as a former editor for James Dobson's Focus on the Family, staff writer for popular Christian authors Tim and Beverly LaHaye, writer and researcher for Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, and author of the recently published book "Protecting Your Child in an X-Rated World."
     About the time the Ezzos were moving to Mount Pleasant this summer, York sent a letter outlining charges against Ezzo to Pastor Greg Surratt at Seacoast Christian Community Church, where he figured the Ezzos might attend. York accused Ezzo of "unaccountability, lying and other character problems," including being "a liar and a slanderer."
     Surratt sent a note back to York saying he was familiar with the charges and asked York how his method of airing his concerns "works within the framework Jesus gave in Matthew 18 for dealing with disputes." That method of discipline starts with a personal conversation to air grievances, then adds two or three witnesses, before airing the complaint publicly.
     York sent another letter to Surratt saying he tried that route already with no success and that it was time to warn the church about Ezzo. York forwarded those letters to The Post and Courier.
     When asked about York, Ezzo characterized him as "a disgruntled former employee who has no reason to be disgruntled."
     "Wherever we go, he sends this to every church," Ezzo said.
     Ezzo declined to say why he left California. The Ezzos remain members of Seidel's Granada Hills church, and they haven't decided where they might transfer their membership. They have no plans to start their own church, Ezzo said.
     He said he moved to Mount Pleasant because he had read Charleston was the most hospitable city in the nation.
     "It's a lovely place to live, and I have a lot of friends here," he said. "There just seems to be a type of spiritual awakening here in the greater Charleston area that we have sensed. There just seems to be something alive here."
     Dave Munday covers religion and can be reached at 937-5720 or [log in to unmask]
     
     


             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html