It has now been over three years since Grace Fellowship responded to the various blog articles I’ve written about them and the podcasts done through Apologetics Live that highlighted the abuses and distortions in their teaching. They responded using an unusual method. They created a fairly well-produced private video. It actually is a good strategy. They don’t open themselves up to scrutiny by someone like me, but they can send it to the appropriate people with questions about their ministry.
I have sought to proclaim the truth of what happened to us and many others during our time at GFC. For those who might be new, we spent nine years at the church under the “authority” of Mike Reid and the eldership of GFC. We came to see the abuses, domineering society, and cult behaviors of what parades itself as an orthodox Baptist, 1689, Reformed Church. I’ve written many articles on the topic, all available for scrutiny and criticism. I have nothing to hide. I also have the required two to three witnesses to bring the charges, followed by at least another hundred who would affirm my charges and concur that these things do occur.
Not everyone agrees with me, which is the point of this article, but first, I’ve noticed a new attempt at damage control by the GFC brain trust. I looked up the term damage control, and the best description is “measures taken to offset or minimize damage to reputation, credibility, or public image caused by a controversial act, remark, or revelation.”[1]
Having a good reputation is important. According to Paul, it is a qualification for the office of elder in a Christian Church. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil (1 Tim. 3:7).
There are several interesting points regarding this verse. A man’s reputation in church leadership matters to people outside the church community. He is expected to have a good reputation. He should be a good neighbor to those who live near him. He should be well thought of by those who hear of him, and all this predicts how he will behave inside the church and in his private life. He should be an upright and a stable man.
I have had more than my fair share of conversations regarding Grace Fellowship’s leadership and its principal leader, Mike Reid. One would be hard-pressed to find glowing reviews of his character among the non-believing and church communities. His reputation does not meet the requirements listed above, and his reputation does, indeed, precede him. I’ve made this argument before, along with several other qualifications mandated by the Apostle Paul. Will anyone see it within the GFC community? Unlikely.
This brings me to the main point: if your reputation is known (Proverbs 20:11), and Mike Reid’s reputation is well-known, you should improve your reputation somehow. Recently, they came up with an idea to write an article titled “In Case You Googled Us,” a friend told me they were showing up at certain college campuses. People would Google them and then confront them over their wacky behavior. Others we’ve known of had even mentioned they did Google searches, and the negative press was overwhelming. The article is well-written in its form, but it is distorted and inaccurate. Given the writing style, it leads me to believe it was written by Tony Miano, and since Tony doesn’t know all the details of our history at GFC, I can understand how he has been influenced to believe what he wrote. I wrote a response to set the record straight on one significant error, which continues to be repeated, as if telling a lie more often will make it so. That article also contradicts one of the Google reviews I will address.
As a side note, much of this could be avoided by cleaning up the mess they’ve created rather than trying to whitewash it. However, the issue is that they can’t backtrack on their mistakes. That would show weakness, and the pride of their sins would have to be crushed. That’s not possible for them to admit. They can’t possibly go back and acknowledge the pain and misery they’ve caused to so many people.
The last point in trying to perform damage control is to improve your Google Review scores. Today, no matter where you are going, you probably check the reviews. These reviews are generally helpful. Most people want to give a fair analysis of their experiences, whether it be a restaurant or a church.
Let’s take a restaurant, for example. If I go to a place and receive good food and good service, it doesn’t mean the food is always good, but if you see enough reviews that indicate the restaurant is good, you can expect it to be good in most cases. Your odds are reasonable; this is a decent restaurant.
If you went to a church and enjoyed the service, experienced friendly people, and what you thought was a good sermon, it is a snapshot in time. It might be a good church, but it doesn’t mean it is. You’ve been given a glimpse of an unrealistic reality. If the people were nice, that doesn’t mean the people are always nice. It also doesn’t mean they aren’t. What you need is more information. What if that great restaurant you love has a bunch of health code violations or gave a bunch of people food poisoning? These may not show up on the review, but if you knew someone from the health department or someone from the health department contacted you to inform you, that might help change your mind.
A church review is different from a restaurant review. Churches mostly have the same people coming to them. GFC is a small church, so it doesn’t receive visitors that often. What happens when a new face comes into the building? Have you ever heard the term love-bombing? They put their best foot forward and go out of their way to welcome them, and they will probably be invited to lunch after the service so the pastor can ask them how they liked his sermon (no joke).
Can one or two visits be enough to get an accurate understanding of a place? Well, yes and no. When you see signs like love-bombing, you should be aware. It’s good to be friendly, but not too friendly. I want to address one particular comment first and then highlight the overwhelming five-star ratings from the families and members of GFC. That’s the other way to bolster your ranking.
In steps Mr. Kendall Mohr.
I don’t know Mr. Mohr, but he wrote a rave review. You’d think, by his words, he literally found heaven on earth during his first visit. This has happened before where people were so immediately taken in, they were ready to move on the spot. It doesn’t always turn out well in the end. I can think of several examples.
I hesitated to use his name, but since his comments were rather derogatory toward someone who attempted to warn him in love, it seemed appropriate. Mr. Mohr made an initial comment and then came back and updated it two more times. That’s really interesting. I have a theory about why this may have happened, which includes Mike Reid “ministering” to him and his family from afar. His first post said this,
This is a beautiful church. They are a part of the body of Christ, no doubt. We visited for their Wednesday evening fellowship, and they welcomed us with kindness and love. Their youth were respectful and bold in welcoming people. Davenport is truly blessed to have this community of true Christians! If your life is broken, visit them. If your life is wonderful, visit them. If you are a sinner, visit them.
They had him at hello….
Certainly, hospitality, friendliness, and open arms are part of what it means to be a church of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that does not mean anything more than being friendly and welcoming. You may get the same treatment at your neighborhood Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Friendliness is not an inoculation against error, authoritarianism, or dozens of other potentially damaging actions. But we can give the guy a break here; he was love-bombed but didn’t know it. He was taken in within a few moments. He may have been viewed as an easy mark.
Within a relatively short period, he may have been offered a job and an opportunity to move to Davenport to participate in this unique, ground-level opportunity. He’s not the first one. That usually doesn’t work out well once they understand what they’ve gotten into, and there are many examples. They would offer to send a vehicle to help him move and provide lots of help setting up the new home. I write this from experience. I’ve seen it and lived through it. It is Cult-101 behavior, but Mr. Mohr doesn’t know this yet. He’s still in the honeymoon phase. I could go on, but evaluating his two updates is important.
Update number one mentions an “odd woman” and refers to her as “abnormal.” The fact that she is willing to divulge so much information makes him suspect. Fortunately, according to him, he uses his own diserment [sic] to root out this woman who would go to such lengths to contact him. According to Mr. Mohr, he communicated with the elders and then decided he needed to warn people about her.
Now, isn’t that ironic?
It was bad for her to warn him, but since she was so odd and abnormal, he thought he needed to warn others about her. His concern is for others posting “positive” reviews. I’ve looked through those other positive reviews, and they are only from members, so it seems that getting positive reviews is few and far between, but I digress.
His first update also mentions that she makes “outrageous accusations not backed up by any fact” and that “she seems to have a personal vendetta.” Those are bold claims in and of themselves. What I would love to ask Mr. Mohr is how he knows this. What he may not know is the long trail of dead bodies that have left GFC. Those who have left GFC spent many years there and bear the scars of manipulation, authoritarianism, and spiritual abuse. There are over a hundred victims with similar stories in the years since we were a part of this place. Now, of course, Mr. Mohr has no idea about that. He heard the “elders” side of the story and concluded this poor woman was nuts and had a personal vendetta. I wonder if he read and considered what she had to say to him. Did he consider that love warns? Did he consider exposing the evil deeds of darkness to be a biblical thing to do?
Savage wolves adorn themselves in sheep’s clothing (Acts 20:29). They are not always easy to spot, but one thing you can’t miss is the damage done. The sheep are bloodied and beaten. He continues to make subtle insults and suggests she needs help, and this attack is probably because the church does evangelism. His insults become more aggressive in his second update. He again states that she is “odd” and has an “obsession” with the congregation. He again shows that he has had a one-sided conversation by stating “that she had an opportunity to sit down with her pastor and former pastor to communicate in a sensible biblical way, but she turned that opportunity down.” He finishes with another good backhand by describing her as a gossip and liar, a hater, and one who needs biblical help.
Mr. Mohr, I don’t know you. I’m sure you are a well-intended guy on some level. I’m sure you desire truth in the inward parts, but you have no idea who you are dealing with in this situation. Mike Reid is a master at manipulation, lying, and deceit. As one small example, you can review the article I wrote in response to the “In Case You Googled Us” (my response) article by Tony Miano. In that article, they continue to repeat the lie you have now repeated about rejecting any opportunity to meet with them after departing. Most everyone that left the church has, on some level, offered to meet with them, but it was always conditional. Our experience told us it had to be done in a specific way. One they were unwilling to accommodate. So, before you continue to spout things you know nothing about, you might try that Proverbs 18:17 thing that Mike is so fond of quoting. You’d probably be surprised that this little slice of Heaven you think you found just might be the Hell you never expected.
Lastly, if you want to improve your Google reviews, get all your members to write really nice things about how great the church is and remove any negative feedback. That is the strategy they have utilized. Drown out, ignore, or remove dissension, but no matter how hard you try to whitewash your reputation it has a nasty habit of following you wherever you go. As mentioned earlier, outside of Mr. Mohr’s review, the only positive reviews are from the indoctrinated, and if you read them, it will tell you a lot about what you might be in store for if you attended GFC. Lord, help them.
Sadly, GFC continues the path it has been on since Mike Reid became the pastor. By all intents and purposes, he is the Lord of the Flies, and GFC is his kingdom. Perhaps somewhere in his mind, he thinks he’s doing the right thing. Perhaps. However, it’s hard to believe he has missed all the people he has hurt down through the years. Jesus said, by their fruits, you will know them, and for Mike Reid, that fruit looks like it has been trampled and smashed, and I pray Mr. Mohr is not his next victim.
Update: 6/28/24
Mr. Mohr wrote a new update based on my article above, and given what he said I thought it was important enough to respond to something which shows he doesn’t know much about the track-record of GFC.
I seek to tell the truth and then allow the chips to fall where they may. The above article accurately portrays the leadership of GFC, and without knowing Mr. Mohr, it accurately portrays what he said.
Just as I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me or what we’ve been through. But he has taken this and lumped me into the looney bin for daring to speak out about the place that, after one visit, he knew everything there was to know about the graciousness and hospitality of the Church of Davenport. I hope he never visits Wells, Texas.
For one, he makes absolute statements about things he doesn’t know.
Such as:
I have a grudge against this church.
My blog is exclusively committed to bringing down the church.
I hate the people at the church.
I’m as good at holding a grudge as Michael Phelps is at swimming.
My hatred has no limits.
I think my abnormal behavior is normal.
I’m fine with disagreeing with the guy, but all these are untrue and slanderous. I’m sure it shocked him that I named him. He was contacted because someone cared about him and his family and didn’t want to see them go through hell, as we and so many others have at the hands of this place. The place that he thinks is great is based on his one visit.
I wonder what he would think if his wife was asked about her preferred sexual positions. How often are they active in their bedroom, and what do they do? I wonder if he’d appreciate his wife being told about the pastor’s sexual proclivities and how his wife helps him out.
I wonder how he would feel if his wife had two miscarriages and the pastor asked her in front of another man if her parts were still working.
I wonder if he’d appreciate his wife being interrogated and provoked about her actions and then told that the pastor is doing his job for him. I wonder if he’d enjoy living under the microscope of constant examination by the “leadership” team to determine how holy they are and then constantly being called out on their sins. Additionally, their previous sins were consistently used against them.
I wonder if he’d appreciate the constant lying about himself and what he did to try to leave the church and then being excommunicated for his trouble. These are just a few things; there are many more.
But before Mr. Mohr writes about how weird the people are, he should take the time to examine the issues. The reality of the situation could not be further from what he said. There is no hatred, grudge, or commitment to bring down the church, we would desire to see them change course. If they refuse to change course the church should be closed down. Mr. Mohr never asked any questions to determine whether what was said was true or worthy of examination. As stated above, he must have missed the parts in the Scriptures where it is biblical to point out lies and bad behavior by church leaders. I hope he will consider these things.
I don’t wish to embarrass him or harass him, but it is important to establish the truth, so I took a screen shot to establish his words.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/damage%20control
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