Troubled St. Louis Pro-Life Org Resigns From ECFA

Move follows leadership shakeup, closures

ThriVe St. Louis, once a leading provider of pro-life pregnancy resources in the St. Louis area, resigned in March from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

Photo via Facebook @ThriVe St. Louis Express Women’s Healthcare

ThriVe’s departure from the EFCA has halted the accountability group’s investigation into a potential standards violation as the embattled ministry attempts to bounce back from a leadership scandal and near-total shutdown.

“At the time of their resignation, ThriVe was under review related to ECFA Standard 2 (Governance),” ECFA President Michael Martin told MinistryWatch without further elaboration.

According to the ECFA website, Standard 2 requires that “every organization shall be governed by a responsible board of not less than five individuals, a majority of whom shall be independent, who shall meet at least semiannually to establish policy and review its accomplishments.”

While the resignation listing does not specify how ThriVe fell afoul of Standard 2, the ministry’s board of directors has been under the microscope for its handling of abuse allegations against the former director, Bridget VanMeans.

Whistleblowers Come Forward

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported how, in May last year, a husband and wife contacted the board of ThriVe alleging years of emotional and spiritual abuse at the hands of VanMeans.

The wife, Tricia Leu, is a former ThriVe patient who became a spokesperson for the organization and even served on its board while touting her story of redemption from a life of prostitution. An ad for ThriVe’s 2020 Nation Guardians of Life Annual Dinner Experience fundraiser praised Leu as an “ultra patient ambassador” who is a “highly gifted speaker, passionate follower of Jesus Christ, author, blogger, business owner, wife to Aaron, and a mother to five miraculous children.”

The success of that fundraiser prompted VanMeans to invite the couple to move from their Ohio home to St. Louis, where Tricia continued to promote ThriVe while Aaron took a staff position.

Tricia told the Post-Dispatch that VanMeans promised they would be treated like “royalty.” But behind the scenes, Tricia said, the director controlled every aspect of her and Aaron’s lives, both professionally and personally, going so far as to coerce them into a marital separation that almost led to divorce.

By September, a total of 17 former and current employees had come forward with stories of VanMeans’ alleged abuses. Letters provided to the Post-Dispatch described public humiliations, such as telling staff that if they questioned her, they would face disasters and even death because they were going against God’s direction.

Leaders Close Ranks

With Grace Church St. Louis, a longtime ThriVe supporter, acting as intermediary, the accusers asked the ministry’s board to allow an independent third-party investigation into VanMeans.

But according to the Post-Dispatch, the board refused, instead telling the aggrieved individuals that ThriVe’s policy required them to work out their problems privately with VanMeans. It then hired an attorney, sent cease-and-desist letters threatening legal action, and branded the accusations as “demonstrably false” and an attempt to “cause financial harm to ThriVe.”

One former board member, Pastor Duane Manuel of Radiant Church, appeared on a local radio talk show, Mike Ferguson in the Morning, to dismiss the Leus’ story as “categorically false.” Describing VanMeans as a “kind and compassionate” person, Manuel argued that VanMeans’ success in lifting ThriVe from the brink of failure and making it a top pro-life nonprofit demonstrated her good character.

“That can’t happen in a toxic environment,” Manuel said. “There is no way you can separate the effectiveness of president VanMeans and the success of ThriVe and her recognized leadership of making Missouri an abortion-free state.” (Missouri currently stands at No. 8 on Americans United for Life’s state rankings from most to least pro-life.)

Ministry Collapse

But as donors and churches cut ties, VanMeans became a liability, and the ministry—which had brought in over $4 million in revenue the previous year—faced financial collapse. Within months, the embattled executive stepped down.

“Ms. VanMeans and ThriVe’s Board are left with no alternative but that Ms. VanMeans should depart her position with the ministry,” Board Chair Craig Weber said in a letter to staff obtained by the Post-Dispatch, while still dismissing the allegations as a “smear campaign.”

VanMeans’ firing, however, came too late to stop the bleeding. In December, local First Alert 4 reported that ThriVe closed all its Express Women’s Healthcare centers, which had provided services such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, STD tests, and information on adoption. It also furloughed employees and halted its mobile services.

Four months later, a popup on ThriVe’s website indicates its medical and telehealth services remain closed “temporarily,” and its Parent University and Resources and Risk Avoidance classes are listed as active.

ThriVe St. Louis currently has a transparency rating of D, indicating it meets just one of MinistryWatch’s three transparency standards.

ThriVe did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

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