It has been a couple of years since I last appeared on Apologetics Live to discuss Grace Fellowship Church (GFC). I was recently invited to discuss a sermon Tony Miano delivered in July 2022. I’ve written several articles about Tony (1) or some of Tony’s behaviors. (2). We were hopeful he would help reform Grace Fellowship. That not only didn’t happen, but Tony bought in entirely and changed the landscape even more. Perhaps, even making it worse than it was, although that’s not provable.
I’ve stated it before, and I’ll repeat it: I like Tony. We’ve had some great conversations; it is not my desire to malign, hurt, or attack him. I desire to wake him up and bring him to his senses. Perhaps he will listen to his words and realize he has bought in, hook, line, and sinker, with the exact type of church he warned against. (3).
I take no joy in writing about GFC or Tony. It’s not something I wring my hands about and say I can’t wait to write more. I wish they’d repent of their wickedness, clean up their act, or close their doors. But what have they done? More specifically, what has Tony done? He has played the victim card. While playing the victim card, he went on the offensive. He predicted in his sermon (4), someone would say something about it, and well, here I am. Fulfilling his wish to persecute him some more.
I’ve been referred to as the chief reviler, slanderer, and now wolf and coward. If we evaluate what Tony said there is a great deal of hypocrisy to uncover. I understand Tony doesn’t like the articles nor does the church he belongs, but there is a simple answer. Stop hurting people. The track record of spiritual abuse is long. It has gone on for a long time and there are a lot of witnesses that have testified to it. For them this is a problem. I didn’t invent this stuff out of thin air because I was bored and had nothing better to do with my life. We thought it was necessary to warn people. The Scripture says, love warns. Paul warns the elders in Ephesus to be on guard. Jesus says, beware of false prophets.
I have often wondered if Tony ever thinks about how many people he has abandoned? He has cut them out of his life for disagreeing with them as if they never existed. He’s disposed of some of those he would have called his best friends for no other reason than raising a red flag about Mike Reid. This has been very costly for him, but he has turned the tables and accused these people of leaving him on the field of battle. How clueless can he really be?
Tony’s resume. Tony claims this is not sharing this as some tacky attempt at self-promotion, but he does just that but in a humble-brag sort of way. He states this is a confession of sin that he has done evangelism wrong for all these years. But guess what? Now he has it figured out because he is finally under the authority of the right guys.
I’d be curious to know how Tony reconciles his claims that he was a member in good standing of the many churches he was a part of that had ordained and sent him out as an evangelist, but somehow this was bad because the ministry, “was mine,” as he so boldly proclaims. I can’t read Tony’s mind in his past 20 years on the streets. Perhaps, it is as he says. Perhaps, he primarily sought his own glory and not the glory of Christ, but the Scriptures also point out that no matter whether it was done out of selfish ambition, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice, says Paul (Phil 1:15-18).
Was it all done perfectly? Doubtful. Is it done perfectly now? Also, doubtful. I believe the fallacy here is that somehow NOW that Tony is under the authority of Mike Reid and company, he is doing it much better than he did before. Well, of course, we’ve heard this many times from Tony. If you’ve ever watched his videos or heard audio of his open-air preaching, he usually begins with saying, “I’m here under the authority of my pastors and elders of so-and-so church.” We could go down through the years and see the many articles he has written in the past or statements made about doing this. Time and again it was now being done better. When he landed at Grace Community Church, he finally found the place to give him this long-desired spiritual covering. That didn’t last long. He quickly found this Utopian society in Davenport, Iowa.
Since we’ve heard this before, will it happen again? It’s not easy to escape Davenport, IA, I know. Tony appears to be bought in more than he has at these other places, and that is likely due to Mike Reid’s charismatic influences. I often wonder if Tony thinks about what has happened at the Church of Davenport since he arrived. Has he looked around and noticed how many people have left? How many of those that have left were excommunicated (5), for leaving? Has he noticed that many of those he called, “dear brother,” at one time or another and now he won’t even look at them if he sees them at Starbucks? Has he thought and pondered the suicide of a good friend (6), and the horrible treatment the family and friends received at that disgusting display of a “sermon” they preached? Has he thought about how many friends he has abandoned in that open-air community he deemed worthy of destruction? Has he considered that advisory board that he once trusted and now has zero communication with anyone of them, except perhaps one.
There’s an old saying that if the same thing keeps happening to you, perhaps it is you that are the problem. I think that applies to Tony’s situation and specifically to the Church of Davenport. Why is it that so many people have left and claimed spiritual abuse? Why has Mike Reid consistently been the target of these claims? Have all those that have left been in sin because they left? Or the old saying, where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire. The stories coming out of Grace Fellowship all have the common theme of authoritarianism and spiritual dominance. We experienced it. Our friends that left before and after us have experienced it.
Tony is an intelligent man; how does he not see it? He refers to us as wolves and cowards, but what does it mean to be a wolf, scripturally? The word appears only five times in the New Testament. Contextually, only two verses matter. Matthew 7:15 and Acts 20:29. To understand what a wolf is in the Bible, Matthew 7:15 is a good starting point. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits.
Jesus says that wolves are first of all false prophets. They appear religious, and they appear to be pastoral, they are even in the office of one in religious authority. A pastor, an elder, maybe even a deacon or evangelist, but the thing Jesus says, is we need to beware of them.
Paul says about them to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:29, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. I included verse 28 to show that the context driving the understanding of a wolf is that they are in Christian service, primarily as an overseer. Verse 30 says, they will arise from within the ranks of Christianity.
How do we know who is a wolf? Jesus says you will know them by their fruits. What kind of fruit does a wolf produce? (7). What do wolves do in the wild? They devour sheep, for one. They scatter the flock according to Paul. They are carnivorous, so they bite and damage those in their care. They are wearing the clothing of sheep. If we were to examine the ministry of Mike Reid and compare it to what I have done since leaving I believe anyone with a degree of honesty would conclude that Mike Reid is the wolf, not me. Sadly, Tony, by association, is damaging the flock as well and he is doing it knowingly and willingly.
Tony spent considerable effort and time exposing false churches, authoritarian leaders and wolves before he came to Grace Fellowship. He did it with Bethel Redding and with the Church of Wells. We did a long podcast on that topic to show Tony, in his own words, how much GFC and Wells are alike. In the sermon discussed on this podcast Tony, in his own words, shows his forgetfulness.
The entirety of this podcast shows Tony’s hypocrisy and dare I say, cluelessness? Is he really this blind? Or is he under the sway of a charismatic leader that has bewitched him? You judge for yourself.
Here is a link (8) to the most devastating quote of the show. It is Tony in his own words speaking about something he is directly involved now, and the number one cheerleader for. But please listen to the entirety of the show and hear for yourself. And Happy New Year, may the Lord bring justice to the victims and trail of dead bodies behind the GFC bus.
Kevin
- https://uncommonfaith.org/2024/06/26/damage-control/
- https://uncommonfaith.org/2020/12/16/my-response-to-tony-miano-god-hates-divorce-in-the-church/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N07mSJeyl4o
- https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/79222351294885
- https://uncommonfaith.org/2019/09/30/excommunication-the-abuse-of-biblical-doctrine/
- https://uncommonfaith.org/2023/12/05/a-response-to-ryan-petersons-funeral-sermons/
- https://www.exposegracefellowshipqc.com/newBlogPost-zipxsF
- https://youtu.be/KAWrKabkbKQ?t=8435
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