KC filmmaker’s docuseries shines new light on Missouri boarding schools, church abuses
A new documentary series from a local Emmy Award-winner premieres on television this week and is based in part on The Star’s award-winning coverage of troubles at Missouri boarding schools.
Filmmaker Sharon Liese’s “Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals,” a four-part series about the predatory behavior in Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches, has multiple Missouri and Kansas City ties. It will debut Nov. 24-25 on Investigation Discovery.
Part of the series focuses on the allegations of abuse, first detailed in The Star, at Circle of Hope Girls Ranch and Agape Boarding School, both in southwest Missouri, with first-hand accounts from survivors, church defectors and activists.
“These women are so ready and so excited that their voices are going to be heard, because they were silenced,” said Liese, who lives in Overland Park. “It’s kind of a unique type of reward for a filmmaker to do that. So I’m really happy these stories are getting out there.”
One episode features Amanda Householder, who went public in 2020 with allegations against her parents’ Circle of Hope Ranch. Like Agape Boarding School nearby, Circle of Hope shut down, and Boyd and Stephanie Householder face nearly 100 felony counts of child crimes.
Liese said that she was drawn to the story because of reporting in The Star dating to 2018 and that many of the documentary’s interviews were filmed in Kansas City.
The documentary is also based on an investigative series by a sister paper of The Star, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which found hundreds of sex abuse allegations in Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches across the country.
“What I hope from this series is that more women come forward,” Liese said. “And I completely expect that to happen.”
“Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals” comes on the heels of the success of Liese’s “The Flagmakers,” which won the Emmy for short documentary. Major movie and TV producer Mark Gordon (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Speed,” “Ray Donovan”) is adapting “The Flagmakers” into a stage musical.
Also, the short documentary “Parker” by Liese and co-director Catherine Hoffman about a Black family in Kansas City recently began streaming on The New Yorker platform. It premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
