Help. Hope. Healing.
We bring help, hope, and healing to survivors of domestic oppression, domestic violence, child abuse, sex abuse, and child trafficking through the U.S. family court system.
The Church is a body of people, not just a building.
We are a family of believers in Jesus Christ, committed to loving one another as He loves us.
Mount Simon Ministries is a 100% survivor- and women-founded, women-led ministry and a non-traditional, non-denominational church body made up of people, not a building. We exist to advocate for the oppressed, support those in need, and stand with individuals and families enduring suffering, retaliation, loss, post-separation abuse, or ongoing abusive relationships.
Many of the mothers, children, and families we serve are also navigating the harm, bias, and corruption that can occur within the family court system. Through faith, advocacy, partnership, and community care, we seek to bring help, hope, and healing to those who have gone unseen and unheard.
We work alongside other ministries, nonprofits, advocates, and available community resources to serve our communities, with a broader vision of pursuing God’s justice for women, children, and families.
Below, you will find more information about the Lydia Philippi House of Justice, a developing initiative of Mount Simon Ministries focused on justice-centered education, advocacy, survivor support, and reform.
For more about Mount Simon Ministries Church, including our church without walls, Bible studies, outdoor and virtual services, and upcoming podcast/videocast, please scroll to the bottom of this page.
Simply put, Mount Simon Ministries is a church without walls, a survivor and women-led family of believers loving one another as themselves, and a place to hear and be heard.
Lydia Philippi House of Justice
Mount Simon Ministries is honored to announce the developing launch of the Lydia Philippi House of Justice, a justice-centered, survivor-led initiative focused on education, advocacy, survivor support, community partnership, legislative engagement, and public awareness for mothers and children impacted by domestic oppression, domestic violence, post-separation abuse, litigation abuse, family-court related harm, child safety concerns, and systemic gaps.
presented through the Lydia Philippi House of Justice
First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit Summer 2026
This one-day educational summit will serve as the public launch and central focus of LPHOJ’s current work.
The summit aims to bring together survivors, protective mothers, advocates, attorneys, trauma-informed professionals and experts, legislators, court-connected professionals, agency representatives, ministry leaders, and community partners to shine light on family court gaps, litigation abuse, child safety concerns, and opportunities for stronger protection and reform.
The Lydia Philippi House of Justice is a justice-centered, survivor-led initiative created to help educate, advocate, and build stronger pathways of protection for mothers and children impacted by domestic oppression, domestic violence, post-separation abuse, family-court related harm, trauma, and systemic gaps that too often place protective mothers and children at physical, legal, financial, emotional, and long-term safety risk.
LPHOJ’s current focus is justice-centered education and advocacy, survivor support, community partnership, legislative engagement, professional collaboration, and public awareness.
This includes education around coercive control, post-separation abuse, litigation abuse, family court gaps, child safety concerns, documentation and reporting challenges, and the ways family court and criminal court systems can intersect after abuse is disclosed, reported, investigated, or litigated.
Although LPHOJ is an initiative of Mount Simon Ministries Church, this summit is not a platform created to promote religious beliefs or limit support to only those of a faith background. All mothers are welcome to receive support and services regardless of their personal convictions. We recognize the need for local churches and ministry leaders to partner responsibly with local agencies, advocates, attorneys, trauma-informed professionals, lawmakers, and community systems so that survivors and children receive informed, ethical, and practical support.
Pre-registration, speaker lineup, speaker biographies, panel discussion topics, sponsor opportunities, and event details are coming soon.
We are currently accepting tax-exempt donations to help make the First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit possible and support the continued development of LPHOJ programming.
Will you partner with us? Donate today to help launch Lydia Philippi House of Justice and support the First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit coming summer 2026.
Mount Simon Ministries Church is keenly aware of the ways Scripture has often been misused to silence, control, shame, or endanger women and children. We reject abusive distortions of the Bible and the man-made doctrines that have used submission, headship, marriage, and authority to excuse oppression, coercion, violence, and spiritual manipulation.
As part of our teaching and ministry focus, MSMC will be studying what the Bible truly says about women, marriage, oppression, abuse, submission, divorce, justice, mercy, and the heart of God toward the vulnerable. We believe many harmful teachings have been hidden behind a veil of deception and corruption within portions of the church, and we are committed to bringing these issues into the light with humility, courage, and biblical truth.
Abuse in the home does not always leave bruises or visible scars. Some of the deepest forms of oppression are hidden from public view, leaving wounds in the soul, spirit, mind, body, identity, and sense of safety. MSMC is committed to standing with those whose suffering has gone unseen, unheard, or misunderstood, and to proclaiming the help, hope, healing, freedom, and truth found in Jesus Christ.
MSMC is currently developing a summer schedule that will include Bible studies, bi-monthly outdoor gatherings, and virtual services designed to create meaningful connection, spiritual growth, and family-centered fellowship. Our desire is to build a faith community that is accessible, relational, and rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus.
We are also preparing for the release of a podcast/videocast that will offer faith-centered teaching, encouragement, and conversation. These offerings will be separate from the Lydia Philippi House of Justice initiative and will focus specifically on biblical study, spiritual growth, family, healing, justice, and restoration through a Christ-centered lens.
A few statistics to consider on physically abusive occurrences in our country:
- According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, one in 15 children are exposed to intimate partner violence each year. Furthermore, 90% of these children are eyewitnesses to this violence.
- Between 30% and 60% of intimate partner violence perpetrators also abuse children in the household. (Source)
- One study found that children exposed to violence in the home are 15 times more likely to be physically and/or sexually assaulted than the national average. (Source)
- According to the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, domestic violence may be the leading precursor to fatalities from child abuse and neglect in the US. (Source)
These are only the statistics on acts that leave visible wounds! There is a crisis in our country and our communities, with intimate-partner and child physical abuse, and violent “unseen” oppression. Mount Simon Ministries vows to stand in the gap for those silenced and living under such bondage.
All donations either monetary, services, or tangible are 100% tax exempt and anonymous through Mount Simon Ministries donation link.
Colorado lawmakers Rep. Meg Froelich, Rep. Yara Zokaie, and Sen. Cathy Kipp stood in support of Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins during the first weekend of a seven-weekend jail sentence imposed in connection with Larimer County family court proceedings. Rachel’s incarceration occurred while her former spouse who had been charged and arrested in a child sexual assault case was out on bond under GPS ankle-monitoring conditions while awaiting trial. Pictured: Rep. Meg Froelich with Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins outside Larimer County Jail.
Rachel was jailed after being ordered by Larimer County family court to pay $370 per week for therapy interventions she believed were harmful to her children, while being prohibited from using Medicaid and despite her indigency, under orders issued by Magistrate Dina Christiansen, now a Logan County judge, and Judge Daniel McDonald. Rachel’s family court litigation remains ongoing, with another hearing scheduled for May, reflecting the prolonged legal and financial burden many protective mothers continue to face after leaving abuse.
Board President and founding member Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins knows firsthand the devastating realities that many protective mothers and children face when domestic abuse, post-separation retaliation, and family court failures collide.
Through a previous associate-sponsored GoFundMe effort, supporters helped Rachel and her children begin rebuilding after a long and costly legal battle, that continues to this day. Those funds were used to help stabilize housing, re-establish Rachel and her family, assist another mother facing litigation abuse in the family court system, and help fund the early development of both Mount Simon Ministries Church and the Lydia Philippi House of Justice.
Rachel’s lived experience, including years of domestic abuse, family court hardship, post-separation retaliation, and the ongoing pursuit of safety and justice for her children became part of the foundation for this work. Her journey has revealed how deeply protective mothers and children can be impacted not only by abuse in the home, but also by the financial, legal, emotional, and spiritual weight that often follows when they seek protection.
Out of that lived experience, Mount Simon Ministries Church and the Lydia Philippi House of Justice are working to bring greater awareness, education, advocacy, and support to families facing similar circumstances. Rachel, together with MSMC’s 100% women-led Board of Directors, remains committed to speaking up for mothers and children who are too often unseen, unheard, dismissed, or financially overwhelmed while navigating abuse, litigation abuse, and family-court related harm.
Today, we are asking supporters to help carry this work forward.
All current donations will help fund the First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit, a one-day educational summit coming summer 2026. This event is being developed to bring together survivors, protective mothers, advocates, attorneys, trauma-informed professionals and experts, legislators, court-connected professionals, agency representatives, ministry leaders, and community partners to address family court gaps, litigation abuse, child safety concerns, and opportunities for stronger protection and reform.
Your donation helps make this summit possible. Support will assist with event needs such as venue costs, speaker support, printed materials, hospitality, survivor-sensitive planning, accessibility, security, and the continued development of LPHOJ programming.
When you give, you are not simply funding an event. You are helping create a platform for education, reform, survivor dignity, and protection for mothers and children whose voices have too often been silenced.
Will you partner with us? Donate today to support the First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit and help launch the next chapter of Lydia Philippi House of Justice.
All donations either monetary, services, or tangible are 100% tax exempt and anonymous through Mount Simon Ministries donation link.
You were created to thrive, not survive.
If you are called to serve and are able to offer support, resources, skills, or encouragement, we invite you to partner with us. Email us to learn how we can work together to bring help, hope, healing, truth for today, and hope for tomorrow.
This ministry exists solely to love people the way Jesus loves us:
- to advocate for those in need
- to teach others to advocate for themselves,
- and to serve in love.
We focus on families and children affected by divorce, domestic violence, child trauma, sex abuse, and human trafficking through the family court system.
By bringing awareness and support to those suffering, often in silence, we seek to restore our community and build a body of people loving one another as ourselves.
If you are in need, please reach out and email us today! We are here to offer help, hope, and healing.
A Mission Fueled by Faith, Love, and Compassion
The women behind Mount Simon Ministries Church are driven by a deep faith in Jesus Christ and a commitment to love and serve others. United by a shared belief in compassion, healing, and restoration, our team works tirelessly to bring hope to those impacted by trauma and abuse. Guided by these values, we strive to be instruments of God’s love in every life we touch. Our entire board of directors are victorious survivors of trauma and intimate partner abuse.
Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins
Her lived experience exposed how religious and institutional authority structures can be distorted to silence women, excuse abuse, and condition women and children to remain in harmful and unsafe situations. Rachel was later married for nearly two decades to a law enforcement officer who is now facing trial on multiple counts of sexual assault on a child.
After experiencing abuse both inside and outside the church, as well as abandonment by church systems when protection and accountability were needed most, Rachel joined with her Board of Directors to form Mount Simon Ministries Church.
Rachel’s story is rooted in decades of navigating deception, coercion, spiritual manipulation, domestic abuse, institutional betrayal, and the misuse of authority by men who presented themselves as “godly” or trustworthy while using faith language, status, and authority structures to control and harm. Her work now focuses on exposing these harmful patterns, bringing truth into areas long hidden behind religious language, public image, professional credibility, and misplaced loyalty.
Through Mount Simon Ministries Church, Rachel is committed to raising awareness, supporting healing, and confronting the ways spiritual abuse, domestic oppression, institutional protection, and exploitation can intersect. This includes addressing tactics increasingly recognized in abuse and trafficking contexts, where religious manipulation, grooming, coercion, secrecy, and false authority are used to exploit women and children.
Her mission is direct: to bring these issues into the light, uphold the dignity and safety of women and children, and help restore lives through truth, justice, faith, and healing.
Jennifer Burgher
Dawn Conley
Friends will tell you she’s gifted with seeing and healing (but she’s not known to brag).
Your Gift Makes a Difference
Every dollar helps move this mission forward.
Your tax-exempt donation supports the current work of Mount Simon Ministries Church and the developing launch of the Lydia Philippi House of Justice, including justice-centered education, advocacy, survivor support, public awareness, and the First Annual Behind the Survivor’s Veil Summit coming summer 2026.
Your generosity helps create space for survivors, protective mothers, professionals, lawmakers, advocates, and community partners to come together around education, protection, reform, and stronger pathways of support for mothers and children impacted by domestic oppression, litigation abuse, family-court related harm, and systemic gaps.
Thank you for partnering with us to bring help, hope, healing, justice, and meaningful change to families in need.