Harassment and Abuse of Jared Cox

In November of 2023, I relocated to Bozeman and was introduced to Petra by my best friend and her family. To fully demonstrate the impact of Jared and his abusive leadership on my life, I feel it's necessary to share some background on why I moved and who I was before Petra.

I grew up in a divided home with divorced parents who lacked consistency, love, and a foundation  in Christ. Desperate for validation and love, I sought these from my father but never received  them. The absence of authority and security in my life led me to seek these from the world. For 15  years, I lived in sin, indulging in alcohol, drugs, and sexual impurity without any remorse. It wasn't  until I reached rock bottom, attempted to take my own life, and survived that I realized the gravity  of my actions. Though I didn't see it then, I now understand that it was by the grace of God that I  survived. 

Following this dark period in my life, I found myself in an abusive relationship for three years until  my best friend rescued me and assisted me in moving to Bozeman. Broken and seeking  redemption, I turned to Jared for guidance and confessed all my sins. Initially feeling safe and  hopeful for a new beginning, I soon found myself in uncomfortable situations where Jared began  to exert control over my personal life. 

Very soon after confessing my deep sin and the roots from where it came from Jared began  calling me his spiritual daughter and telling me that he was loving me in the way my father had  not. From there things escalated very quickly. In a meeting, he forcefully said I must say out loud  “My dad didn't love me, does not love me, and never will”, over and over. He also pressed into my  dating life and told me who I could and could not date but prefaced it by being the "love and  protection of the father I never had". He said I was going to feel anger for my father but project it  onto him as I have never been loved the way he would love me. Which coming from my  background of men, this was extremely overwhelming, so I ended up leaving. 

The next day Jared texted me one-on-one and asked how I was feeling. I kindly responded that I  appreciated his time, and I got a lot out of it in terms of forgiveness however I wanted to set a  boundary of not talking about my job or dating life anymore. He proceeded to say he felt like I was  being ungrateful and I profusely tried to thank him for his time and just ask for that boundary to be  set. He texted me 8-10 times in a row stating we had to meet the next day, and it was urgent. I  said I needed to pray about it, that I did not want to speak out of emotion, and that I was open to  meeting when The Williams family was home. 

He proceeded to write a novel to the members about being used and abused for his counseling.  He shared he felt like I was rejecting him, but that he would not apologize.

This coming from the abuse I experienced in my life from men was too much for me to handle and  I decided to take a step away from the church, silently. He publicly portrayed me as the  aggressor, leading to harassment from members of the church. I was messaged by three young  women of the church that next day about how I was wrong for doing so, I am wrong for the things I  said about Jared, and I need to repent. I did not share what I shared in the meeting with Jared or  why I was leaving with them, nor did I plan to. I felt uncomfortable leaving my home. 

Since then, Jared has told my best friend that I am jealous of her life, and I am going to try to sleep  with her husband. He has told an entire group of church members and their children, that I am  having an affair with my best friend’s husband AND that I am a prostitute. I came to Bozeman with  nothing, no family, no home, no worth. I built a family and found my worth in Jesus and he has  done everything in his power to strip me of that. He has made it his mission to ruin my reputation  and leave me with less than I came with. Jared's continued smear campaign against me, falsely  accusing me of inappropriate behavior, has forced me to relocate for my safety. 

I am grateful that I know the true love of Jesus and am filled with the Holy Spirit because if I did  not, I would be in a worse spot than I was at 27. There is going to be another broken girl that he  manipulates, abuses, and discards when she doesn't submit to him she will be far worse off than  I was, and he needs to be stopped before that happens. He must be held accountable for his  actions to prevent further harm to others.