Spiritual, Emotional & Psychological Abuse

History of Manipulation and Broken Promises

Peter recounts a troubling history with Sean Feucht, who was a childhood bully and later became a ministry leader. Despite their past, Peter agreed to help Sean launch a Burn movement chapter, leading to years of involvement in which they and others contributed significant time, money, and energy. However, patterns of manipulation and spiritual abuse resurfaced—Sean made empty promises, used shame to control leaders, and diverted designated donations for personal or organizational use. The writer also alleges witnessing unethical financial behavior and spiritual coercion, including scripture misuse and pressure tactics, culminating in emotionally abusive confrontations that left them feeling humiliated and ashamed for raising concerns.

"After that call I literally felt like I had just been stripped naked and beaten mercilessly. I felt so guilty and ashamed, all because we called some legitimate concerns into question." - Peter Hartzell"

Patterns of Spiritual Manipulation

Over time, patterns of manipulation and spiritual abuse resurfaced:

• Sean made empty promises to leaders and volunteers
• Used shame and spiritual language to control leaders
• Diverted designated donations for personal or organizational use
• Employed scripture misuse and pressure tactics
• Engaged in emotionally abusive confrontations when questioned
• Sean pressured pastors of local congregations to give him more money when he didn't find their offerings to his liking. Witnessed pastors telling Sean that he was acting in sin and that he was never welcome to return.

Spiritual Coercion and Fear

Efforts to confront Sean about these issues were repeatedly avoided or met with aggression. Leaders were spiritually manipulated into staying in certain roles or geographic areas under the guise of divine responsibility, and many drained their resources to sustain the mission.

Specific instances, such as misappropriation of funds donated for equipment, further exemplify a pattern of exploitation masked as ministry. The cumulative experience reflects deep emotional and financial harm, spiritual manipulation, and a profound betrayal of trust.

"He would make promises and dangle carrots, but never follow through. He would make fun of my style, and bark orders. He treated me like a grunt because he knew that I was desperate for purpose, and he exploited me." - Peter Hartzell"

Seven Years of Uncompensated Service

Liam began his involvement with Burn in 2013, initially serving as the Oklahoma City (OKC) Director before taking on broader responsibilities as a regional director. Over the years, he led "burn wagons," facilitated field training, and even joined Sean's Wild Tour—all at his own expense.

Despite this deep commitment, Liam often found himself covering costs personally, including driving Sean to campaign events and paying bands out-of-pocket when Sean did not compensate them. For seven years, the local OKC Burn brought in only $1,000 in revenue, which was used for basic necessities like food and transportation. All other offerings were directed to Sean alone.

Retaliation for Questioning Practices

As Liam increasingly questioned the organization's financial transparency and growing political agenda, he experienced internal resistance. He was met by Sean with derogatory labels such as "communist," "fascist," and "woke," and was ultimately slandered following his departure.

Claims were circulated that he had “deconstructed” and was no longer a Christian, which he denies. When he stepped down, leadership delayed making the announcement and falsely asserted that new leaders were stepping in seamlessly—despite at least one such individual, Christy, confirming she only accepted the role temporarily. Liam, who had volunteered 40–50 hours weekly while maintaining a full-time job to support his family, described feeling used and discarded once he began raising concerns about ethics and integrity within the movement.

"I felt like a shiny new toy for Sean to play with” He often uses people as opportunities to get to the “next level” and when people are no longer useful, he discards them." - Liam Bernhard

Richie’s account describes extensive concerns regarding Sean and his affiliated ministries, including potential financial misconduct, labor violations, and emotional manipulation. Richie served in various volunteer and administrative roles over the course of three to four years. While paid for bookkeeping services, he was often met with pushback at requests for compensation that was aligned with market rates for services. He witnessed questionable financial practices such as unexplained use of ministry funds, lack of transparency with accounting (e.g., being blocked from viewing credit card expenses), the recruitment and use of volunteers or underpaid workers treated as staff yet never reported in Sean’s tax filings, and possible failure to report or properly allocate donations. Cash was frequently handled informally, with large sums moved without oversight, and reimbursements were inconsistently provided—often only after pressure or delay.

“I was literally the one carrying bags of cash off the stage and I am here with no job and no income other than some part-time work with the Burn” I had this feeling of "I'm doing a lot of work to make this happen and I am not being taken care of.” - Richie Booth

In addition to financial concerns, the environment was described as emotionally abusive, manipulative, and unsustainable. A culture of extreme loyalty was demanded, with those who left being labeled disloyal or spiritually deficient. Many staff and volunteers reported burnout, mistreatment, and emotional distress, especially women, who were often the target of inappropriate jokes or dismissed after being brought to tears. He also witnessed staff members being put in difficult positions overseas. Despite early hopes for a ministry centered on community and spiritual values, the individual came to view the organization as chaotic, Sean-centric, and emotionally harmful, lacking any kind of accountability or a healthy culture.

“When I first met Sean I realized everyone around him leaves and I made a vow on the inside that I wouldn’t be one who leaves. Somewhere along the way I realized that that is actually not what is happening here. People are leaving because this is not a healthy, safe, balanced environment for them.” - Richie Booth

Organizational Neglect and Leadership Void

From 2016 to 2024, Christy served in various volunteer leadership roles within the Burn and Let Us Worship (LUW) organizations. Throughout her tenure, she frequently raised concerns with leadership, particularly with Adam Miller, regarding the neglect and lack of accountability within the organization.

Despite efforts to address issues such as high turnover, leadership overhauls, and the departure of key individuals, there was little to no change, with vague explanations given for the departures. Leadership, including Sean, often failed to engage meaningfully with the team, showing a lack of genuine investment in the well-being of the organization and its volunteers.

Systemic Dysfunction and Volunteer Exploitation

Numerous organizational failures, such as communication breakdowns, where emails were often misdirected or failed to address specific concerns were the norm. At various Burn Summits and other events, leadership’s lack of engagement was evident, with Sean giving brief speeches and then retreating, neglecting opportunities for deeper connection. Despite the passion and dedication of volunteers, who often contributed their time and resources without recognition, the leadership’s behavior suggested a lack of respect for their person and efforts. These patterns led to a growing sense of frustration and disappointment among those working within the organization.

"In light of recent events that have left me expelled from the Burn organization by its global leaders, I wanted to tell my story rather than stay quiet and allow others to speak on my behalf to question my integrity and character. To release a narrative that has been used to weaponize my words against me and thus discredit my role, my “title” and my heart before the Lord. Our leaders of the Burn organization have long neglected the organization to pursue other callings on their lives and have spent years excusing their actions. Neglect is abuse. They have not taken ownership, accountability and have not been transparent when it comes to addressing the needs of the people serving in and for this organization. They have been emotionally, spiritually, abusive to those that have served this organization…Sean called me “self-seeking”, self-righteous and self-promoting” He said that I “went rogue” and that I was operating in a divisive spirit . He threatened that they (the board) would deal with me personally. Adam sent me a text that we had a lot to talk about and he wanted to know why I had self-appointed my position as USA National Director and that he had never had a conversation with him about this title. This is not true." - Christy Gafford

Exploitation of Musicians and Creative Labor Through Manipulative "Spiritual Mandates"

As part of Sean Feucht's Seattle/Tacoma worship team, Jesse witnessed and experienced patterns of financial and spiritual manipulation that corroborate other testimonies. He and his wife provided extensive creative services, including playing on several of Feucht's albums, designing album artwork for him, conference flyers, promotional material, and touring as Sean's band—all while receiving minimal or no compensation. Jesse's wife's professional design work for album covers was severely underpaid ($200-300 for unlimited revisions), despite Sean profiting significantly from these products, and being under one of the most lucrative Christian Record labels at the time (Bethel Music). When they recorded on Sean's albums, they received zero compensation or credit (streaming platforms/digital assets) while taking unpaid time off from their regular jobs.

Sean cultivated a culture of loyalty through "spiritual mandates," telling Jesse and others they had special callings unique to their region that could only be fulfilled through his ministry. These promises of platform and exposure never materialized, despite their significant personal and financial sacrifices. Sean consistently used grandiose spiritual language and "mandates." These delusions of grandeur would often leave volunteers with a spiritual obligation to fulfill these "mandates" on their own while staying committed to the ministry of BURN 24/7. He would tell worship teams that they had special callings unique to their region, which could only be fulfilled through his ministry structure. These tactics created spiritual and emotional pressure to sacrifice time, money, and professional standards in service to his growing platform.

"We would take off two weeks of work to tour with him and be his band for free…Sean is making tens of thousands of dollars per stop while we're barely getting gas covered. While I understand the premise/context of volunteering to help support a minister, the pattern became that we were giving up everything for Sean so he could gain everything. My wife and I had no problem supporting a traveling minister (which we have done many times in the past with other ministries); it was that we went from supporting ministry from a distance (typical model) to directly serving Sean who has no accountability which left us with no way to confront/hold him accountable while also giving up our own resources to help him grow his platform. Which to us wasn't a platform at the time, but rather, a "spiritual mandate" that we were helping fulfill."

"The promise was if you do this job for me, you'll get more work... but the old adage is exposure doesn't pay my mortgage."

Ethical Violations

In one particularly troubling incident, Sean had Jesse's team smuggle thousands of dollars worth of merchandise across the Canadian border to avoid declaring it. They were instructed to tell border officials they were "sightseeing" rather than disclosing they were transporting goods to sell at his events. This deliberate circumvention of customs laws put volunteers at legal risk while protecting Sean's financial interests.

Jesse describes a culture created by Sean where alcohol consumption was acceptable before and after worship events.

"Regularly after events, or before events, drinking was a normal thing. We would often grab drinks right before the conference (sometimes even in the green room of the conference) or meet for drinks after."

"One time, in Gig Harbor Washington, after a worship event, worship team members were invited to a 'Bring Your Own Beer' party at the house Sean was staying at. This house was used by a ministry to house other ministries/ministers that were traveling through. The amount of alcohol that was brought/consumed was no small volume. For a group of 10 people, almost 12 6-packs of beer were brought along with various bottles of wine. There was no intention of 'saving this for later,' given that travel was on schedule for the next day. This type of excessive drinking was a regular occurrence at other tour stops as well."