Leaving Beaver

Posted on by kevinjandt

What should the cultural lens be for Christians? I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, and this concept has been stewing in my brain, especially since I noticed the desire among many Bible-believing Christians for a moral society.

Allow me to say that I also want a moral society and morality directed by the Scriptures is the best way to judge it. Without an objective standard, which the Bible provides, we are left only with opinions. Having strong opinions and convictions isn’t bad. It’s a good thing to know what you believe and why you believe it. No arguments from me on this one.

My concern is how we get there.

First, where are we?

Every generation thinks theirs is the worst. I doubt we are an exception. And if you want to look around, it’s hard to argue this is a moral society with a good moral compass guiding people and the youth of the day. But isn’t this always the case? Consider the times less than a hundred years ago. Whether it knew it or not, our country was coming out of a World War and would be headed toward another. A war sparked by one man’s desire to take over the world and destroy an entire ethnicity in his path. That doesn’t seem very good to me.

I have a lot of gripes and complaints against people and groups of people. I’m angry at the injustice in the world. I see and hear about a lot of things I don’t like. I hear about the abuse coming out of places that should care for and heal people. But instead, they are causing incredible damage. Most who know me or have read anything I put on paper know that I’m not a fan of the patriarchy movement. I think it is destructive to families, women, and the church. It is producing a lot of spiritual abuse.

While claiming high theological ground, this movement plays fast and loose with a concept never meant to apply to the family. The father/husband is not a God to the family (Think Gothard’s Umbrella of Authority). His job is to protect and love, not rule and lord over. Husband and wife are one flesh and are both heirs of the family of God. The individual priesthood of the believer is a real thing. Husbands should love and cherish their wives, not be served as a king.

I’ve seen a trend in patriarchs who long for the good old days. If only the wife stayed home, the kids would be home-schooled, and maybe all the women could return to wearing dresses and skirts. If you are in the position, get a homestead. Everything could go back to the days of June and Ward. We can begin moving things toward that ideal society one family at a time.

I’m not against some of these things, by the way. We live in a different time and place. Was the Leave It to Beaver generation better? How about earlier times? Where do we draw lines? It’s complicated, right? We can’t go back, and it’s unlikely datpostmil is being ushered in soon. This whole thing lacks the most essential issue of all—the Gospel.

Times change, people change, and cultures change, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). He is unchanging. If all of society collapses around us, what difference does it make if we are in Christ? I don’t like how things are, but I shouldn’t be too comfortable in this world. We are not meant for this world, so how hard should we work to change it?

What’s needed is balance. Live in the world, but don’t be too much in the world. Serve the Lord, love the church, serve people, and do the right things. Stand against what is wrong.

A friend sent me an article asking me to read it. A Catholic apologist is writing a response to the Gospel Coalition’s article on why Protestants are converting to Catholicism. According to the Coalition article, one reason is that “Protestants are too busy fighting secularism to focus on their own doctrinal distinctive.”

The orthodox wing of Protestantism is indeed busy fighting against secularism, but I think that’s a laughable reason they are turning to Catholicism. I’m not arguing for Catholicism, but there’s a lot of battling going on in Protestantism that has little to do with the gospel, and perhaps those converting to Catholicism are sick of it. Maybe they see it as a more stable system. They’ve had their issues, that’s for sure, but the abuse in our circles is being exposed at a much higher level than in the past, and I’m thankful for it.

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast opened the floodgates. The Sons of Patriarchy podcast shows just how bad things are in the loosely “Reformed” world. We also have books written by prominent scholars, such as Michael Kruger’s Bully Pulpit and Sinclair Ferguson’s The Whole Christ, only to name a couple.

Everyone is angling for a position of power, whether it’s the patriarch dominating his wife or some pastor trying to be an internet star. Going back to Beaver isn’t going to save the culture, the church, or souls. The whole patriarch movement is an overreaction to cultural Christianity, effeminate Christianity, or any other label you want to put on weak-kneed Christianity as they believe it to be. Sure, that’s out there, but I’m not sure this pendulum swing is healthier. I’d argue it’s worse.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Kevin

Wolves and Cowards

Posted on by kevinjandt

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

  1. https://uncommonfaith.org/2024/06/26/damage-control/
  2. https://uncommonfaith.org/2020/12/16/my-response-to-tony-miano-god-hates-divorce-in-the-church/
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N07mSJeyl4o
  4. https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/79222351294885
  5. https://uncommonfaith.org/2019/09/30/excommunication-the-abuse-of-biblical-doctrine/
  6. https://uncommonfaith.org/2023/12/05/a-response-to-ryan-petersons-funeral-sermons/
  7. https://www.exposegracefellowshipqc.com/newBlogPost-zipxsF
  8. https://youtu.be/KAWrKabkbKQ?t=8435

Have You Tried Forgiveness?

Posted on by kevinjandt

“Have you tried forgiveness?”

I wasn’t expecting that to come from the podcast I listened to. It seemed out of the blue, but there it was. I’ve become a fan of the Shawn Ryan Show, and Shawn asked his guest this question. The man was describing a challenging relationship with his father (Starting around the 52:00 minute mark). The father seemed to use the man for most of his life for his benefit. He always needed confirmation and kept score on the good things he’d done for his son. I’m sure it’s not uncommon.

In religious circles, it happens also. Religious leaders use people for their benefit. The stories are awful about the physical and sexual abuse that runs wild in certain religious circles. There is also the spiritual abuse that seems to be showing up everywhere. Podcasts, books, and blog articles have increased dramatically, seeking to expose the abuse. I’m grateful for those.

When Ryan asked this man about forgiveness, there was an awkward silence. He was thinking about it, but I’m guessing he was also thinking, “No way…. That’s the last thing I want to do.” Being a good host and wise man with experience, Ryan navigated the hesitation with a story about his hurt, and how the abuser sought forgiveness from Shawn. It was liberating, he said. “It was like a weight was removed. I’ll never speak to him again or want to be around him if I can help it, but I’m choosing to forgive.”

Forgiveness is the Christian message.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14

Forgiveness, or the other forms of the word, forgive, is used 129 times in the New Testament. Romans 4:7 says, Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

We all need forgiveness because we’ve all sinned against God, but we’ve also sinned against others. Others have also sinned against us. When we choose to forgive, we are not declaring everything is back to how it was. No, it’s a conscious decision to no longer allow bitterness and pain to rule over you.

I have forgiven those in my past who abused their religious authority over my life and the life of my family. I will, however, continue to expose their evil deeds. That is not an unbiblical thing to do. They have no power over me or my family’s life, and forgiveness is something I have willingly chosen to do so. I have also chosen to hold them accountable for their sins, especially since they continue to do those sins and hurt other people.

Forgiveness is necessary. Forgiveness is also liberating. It returns the power to you over those that have done damage. It is the better path to healing and restoration.

May we all seek peace, forgiveness, and uphold righteousness.

Kevin

Damage Control

Posted on by kevinjandt

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.

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. One way to bolster your rating is to have all the member of GFC write glowing reviews and that is what they have chosen to do. Every review on there is from members less two. .

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.

Lastly, if you want to improve your Google reviews, not only have all your members write really nice things about how great the church is but also 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. 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 nobody else inadvertently stumbles into this place because of the fake reviews.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/damage%20control

In Case You Googled Us – A Response

Posted on by kevinjandt

If you insist you are not a cult, there’s a good chance you are a cult. That’s precisely what Grace Fellowship has done in their most recent attempt at answering their critics. As one dear friend pointed out, “Thou dost protest too loudly?” Yes, that is precisely what thou dost. There is no need to go line by line (as they’ve said would be done). Each of the points in their article has been addressed many times, and they have been attested to by multiple witnesses. But just for fun, allow me to make one point.

Here is the quote from the GFC article:

For the first few years after all this commotion began, Grace Fellowship Church made earnest attempts to reach out privately to our accusers to attempt resolution. This included reaching out to former, excommunicated church members (and where applicable, the leadership of their current churches), as well as some of the internet meddlers. In more than one case, we’d even gone so far as to offer to fly pastors of other churches out to meet us—at our own expense—in order to sit down together and examine these matters (see 2LCF, Ch. 26, Par. 15). All such attempts have been rebuffed.

The background is important. I met with Mike Reid multiple times (four to be exact), followed up with an email to confirm my thoughts, and spoke with the elders on one other occasion about legalism and our growing discomfort with the church. Then we left. We left knowing it wasn’t going anywhere. That was obvious. It was apparent to me, my wife, and the countless others who had previously left the church.

We wrote our departure letter and then had a few written exchanges. Within a few days, we were excommunicated for leaving the church. For almost two years, we never publicly criticized them. We didn’t comment on Facebook, nor did I write blog articles naming them. However, I wrote a series on a book called, Churches That Abuse, here. We received more than our fair share of communication from Mike Reid. He sought to reconcile, and we said we would, but I had to understand what it was he was trying to reconcile. He would never say, so we didn’t meet. In July of 2019, we moved to New Mexico. September 30, 2019, I wrote the first article naming them, here. This was over a year and a half after we left.

They say all such attempts (at reconciliation) have been rebuffed.

On December 6th, 2018, I said this in an email.

Mike,

Jen and I have discussed your message, and we are willing to meet.

However, we are not certain we understand what you are wanting to discuss in our meeting. Before we agree to anything, can you please email and tell us what exactly you have in mind to address?

Kevin

He wouldn’t directly answer the question, so we declined. 

I responded to him in an email with this: March 21st, 2021. This provides context as to just how long all this was going on. We sought on numerous occasions to meet with them, but it was always on their terms, and we would not have anything to do with standing in front of a firing squad.

 According to your note, you have made an offer before to meet with the elders of Heritage and us. While this is true, you have failed to mention our offer to meet long before that. I’ve copied our email correspondence if there is any confusion about the time frame the last offer from us took place.

At the very top of the email chain (dated 07 Dec 2018), we offered to meet, and we asked you twice the purpose for our meeting in that text message exchange, but you evaded and avoided the question by continuing to repeat the statement “for my cause in the matter” which in no way indicates the purpose for our meeting. Additionally, we extended an offer previous to that exchange in a letter that I wrote to you (dated 05 Nov 2018), but we didn’t get your response.

I’ve attached both of these documents for all to examine, and I’ve highlighted (07 Dec 18) where I said we would meet or work toward reconciliation and peace; I count 5 or 6 offers in that one exchange. I also pointed out that we need to deal with the root cause of our leaving in that email exchange. I have highlighted some of those crucial elements in these correspondences.

According to your website, gfc still claims to be a Confessional Church, citing the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith (gfc’s confession).

In chapter 26, paragraph 15 says this:

Paragraph 15. In cases of difficulties or differences, either in point of doctrine or administration, wherein either the churches in general are concerned, or any one church, in their peace, union, and edification (this applies to us as it relates to you); or any member or members of any church are injured, in or by any proceedings in censures (You censured us by excommunicating us causing injuring to our reputations and future) not agreeable to truth and order (It was an unbiblical excommunication): it is according to the mind of Christ, that many churches holding communion together, do, by their messengers, meet to consider, and give their advice in or about that matter in difference, to be reported to all the churches concerned;29 howbeit these messengers assembled, are not intrusted with any church-power properly so called; or with any jurisdiction over the churches themselves, to exercise any censures either over any churches or persons; or to impose their determination on the churches or officers. 29 Acts 15:2,4,6,22,23,25 30 2 Cor. 1:24; 1 John 4:1

While you have attempted to say that gfc must adjudicate, that is not what the confession teaches.

They have maligned and distorted the truth (some might say bald-faced lies) to suit their own needs more times than I could possibly count, and their whole “non-response” article is loaded with examples of this distortion. I’ve never known of churches to write up something like this, even the most cultish of the cults. Normal places don’t have to defend their practices and then insult others to build themselves up. I have been firm and pointed in my criticisms, that is for sure, but this response tells me they are exactly what they claim not to be (a cult).  But I’ll allow those genuinely seeking both sides to decide for themselves. I’ve linked it here, but I’ve also copied the text below in case they ever remove it.

We recently compiled a list of over 100 names of those who have been spiritually or mentally damaged by Grace Fellowship’s leadership, there are more. These are real people who left the church under duress. We hope and pray they are now in healthy churches. GFC is not a healthy church.

If the leadership of GFC would go back and begin to clean up their messes and repent of their harshness and authoritarianism, to name a few, we would gladly meet with them to discuss all of these things. We would never go back into the lion’s den and stand in front of them all and allow them to abuse us some more. We continue to hope and pray that they will repent of their ways, get right with the people they have hurt, and most of all, get right with the Lord for the damage done to the body of Christ.

Lord have mercy on them.

Kevin

The Grace Fellowship Article – Titled: In Case You Googled Us, linked here: as well as copied below.

Start Here:

Dear Reader,

If you’re reading this page, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ve come across some of the content out on the web containing various accusations made against our church and its leadership over the last several years. It’s also possible that you’ve been visiting our church for a while, and you’ve been sought out via social media by a particular couple who were once members of our church, with the intent to discourage you or scare you away from associating with our church any further. Apparently, in the minds of some, we’re like a cult or something.

While it remains our principled position to limit our interaction with those who revile our church and spread false narratives, we thought it may be helpful to take the time to address a couple things for the benefit of the type of reader described above. 

Why No Public Response?

First, we understand that to some folks the absence of a response from our church to these things over the years could be interpreted as some kind of tacit acknowledgement that the allegations are true, and we have no defense. From time to time, the question arises, “If all of these allegations are false, why doesn’t Grace Fellowship Church respond publicly to all these allegations to clear her name?”

The answer to this is very simple. We do not recognize the court of public opinion to have any authority or standing as relates to adjudicating the affairs of the church. Sadly, in the social media-frenzied age in which we live, the internet is filled with all types of trolls who sit at keyboards all day and think it’s their Christian duty to render an opinion about everything going on under the sun—including giving their opinion on matters of church discipline in churches across the country which they aren’t a part of, involving people whom they’ve never met, and facts that they are in no position to know. Many such people go on to become self-proclaimed “discernment bloggers” who make it their so-called ministry to go around sticking their nose into ecclesiastical affairs they have neither the authority nor the information to adjudicate. They are theological ambulance chasers, hoping to garner attention by “exposing” the evils of this or that church and “protecting God’s people from wolves.” In reality, however, such men don’t know the first thing about caring for God’s sheep or loving the church, and wouldn’t know what a wolf looked like if it was staring at them in the mirror. Truthfully, such men and/or women are nothing but meddlers and busybodies. The Bible has quite a bit to say about these kinds of people, and we would urge the reader to consider this (1 Tim. 5:13, 1 Thes. 4:11, 2 Thes. 3:11, 1 Pet. 4:15, Prov. 20:3, Lev. 19:16).

To summarize, we believe the Scriptures give pretty clear instructions that we are not to feed the trolls. So if you’re waiting for us to give a detailed defense concerning every false allegation, half-truth, twisted truth, one-sided narrative, or flat out lie that’s ever been brought up in a blog or on a podcast about us, we’re afraid you’re just going to have to keep on being disappointed. The internet at large is not owed an explanation or accounting for how a local church conducts its affairs. We maintain that God has given the authority and responsibility to each particular church congregation to adjudicate its own affairs in the fear of the Lord and in obedience to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 5:4-5, 6:1-4. See also 2LCF Ch. 26). Social media keyboard warriors don’t get a seat at the table here, no matter how badly they want it or think they deserve it. That isn’t how church discipline works (see Matt. 18:15-20).

In addition, for our church to offer up our side of the story in each of these cases would require publicly divulging personal details about the lives and conducts of the accusers, which would publicly expose their sins and cast them in a negative light. We are unwilling to do this, even despite their willingness to revile us. We will not return evil for evil in these matters (Rom. 12:17-21). So far as it depends on us, we prayerfully hold out hope in the Lord for reconciliation with the parties involved, and we are perfectly content to wait upon the Lord to do such a work.

As a Reformed Baptist church, we believe in the autonomy and authority of the local church. We believe in the authority of God’s Word. And we believe in the biblical models for conflict resolution, church discipline, and reconciliation. We continue to extend an open, outstretched hand to anyone willing to be reconciled to us, but this reconciliation will only come through the mediation and adjudication of the church, not podcast debates and blog wars.  

Judging a Matter

Second, while we won’t be publishing any sort of response to any of the specific allegations found online concerning our church, we would encourage you to remember that the Bible gives several cautions about judging a matter based on one side of a story (Prov. 18:13, 17, Deut. 13:14). Simply put, dear reader, don’t be so naive as to believe everything you hear or read on the internet. We would invite you to learn about our church and our doctrines by visiting with us, personally, rather than by listening to chopped up, out-of-context audio clips of our pastor pieced together by strangers on the other side of the country, or by listening to long hours of podcasts put together by discernment bloggers giving platform to the grossly exaggerated, one-sided narratives of former members with an obsessive hatred against us. If you think you’re getting an unbiased view of the facts from these sources, then we know a Nigerian prince who would like to talk to you about an inheritance coming your way. 

Why Now? 

After remaining publicly silent about these things for years, some may be wondering why we’ve chosen now as the time to say something. You may also be wondering why you’re detecting a slight touch of sarcasm as you read this. 

For the first few years after all this commotion began, Grace Fellowship Church made earnest attempts to reach out privately to our accusers to attempt resolution. This included reaching out to former, excommunicated church members (and where applicable, the leadership of their current churches), as well as some of the internet meddlers. In more than one case, we’d even gone so far as to offer to fly pastors of other churches out to meet us—at our own expense—in order to sit down together and examine these matters (see 2LCF, Ch. 26, Par. 15). All such attempts have been rebuffed. It’s clear to us that our accusers are only interested in duking it out in a social media cage match, and will entertain no other outcome than the immediate dismemberment and disbanding of our church. 

Perhaps most alarming is the stunning disregard for biblical ecclesiology exhibited by self-promoting internet “pastors” who honestly believe they have the authority to lord over a church hundreds of miles away on the basis of hearsay. We confess boldly in the Lord that such men ought to be ashamed of themselves. 

While our initial disposition was to sincerely, soberly and prayerfully attempt to engage with our accusers, their long track record of hard-hearted indifference for the damage they are doing to the bride of Christ has left us with no reason to take them seriously, and we’ve resolved to obey the apostle’s command to give them no further attention (Tit. 3:10-11). And frankly, the Lord has taught us to laugh a little. He who sits in the heavens laughs at the schemes of the wicked (Ps. 2:4), and we’ve come to learn that sharing in His humor is sometimes the best thing for our souls. While our hearts remain filled with sorrow over the hard realities of persecution and grievous division in Christ’s church, we are confident that the Lord continues to build His church, and His great promise that the gates of hell will not overcome it causes us to remain as cheerful as ever (Matt. 16:18). 

Unfortunately, due to our church’s relatively low internet presence (we have a pretty bland website that rarely gets updated, and we aren’t active on social media), our revilers have been able to do such a bang up job in producing and promoting content against our church that their stuff tends to come up front and center whenever someone Googles our church. We have to give credit where credit is due here. They have soundly beaten us in the SEO game, which means whether we like it or not, visitors and prospective members tend to stumble into this mud regularly, so we have to keep dealing with it. 

In fact, we fully anticipate that even this very writing will be received by our revilers as blood in the water. As soon as they pick up the scent, we expect them to waste no time pouncing on this article, carefully analyzing every word to see what they might use against us. But this does not surprise or dishearten us. It’s the sort of behavior the Scriptures teach us to expect. When Paul warned the Ephesian elders that there would be wolves, he was sure to emphasize that they would be the grievous, savage type (Acts 20:29), not the kind you’d find in a Disney movie. But this article isn’t written for them. Our hope is that this writing might offer the judicious Googler a little insight into our perspective before forming an opinion about us. 

Okay, but Seriously, How Weird are You People?

One of the overarching allegations about our church is that we’re “cultish.” Supposedly we’re all being led astray by a horrible, villainous pastor who rules the church with an iron fist and micromanages every aspect of the personal lives of every congregant. Frankly, as a congregation, we hold these assertions to be—if we may speak so plainly—pretty dumb. We’re certainly prepared to grant that our church is a little weird, but only because we’re black coffee Calvinists, and we still use paper hymnals (campaigns to convince the elders to move to a 1990’s overhead projector have thus far been unsuccessful, but we’re slowly grinding them down). 

In seriousness, we at Grace Fellowship Church take the gospel and the doctrine of the church very seriously, and we do so in an age where these truths are being greatly assaulted even within many evangelical circles. To many Christians, church is a thing you go to on Sunday when you feel like it, rather than something you’re a vital member of (1 Cor. 12:27). To many Christians, being a member of the body of Christ is an ethereal concept, rather than a reality to be lived out in the context of a real life congregation. Many Christians are largely unknown in the churches they attend. Many have never even met the men whom they consider to be their pastors. 

We believe this ought not be so. We take seriously God’s design for individual Christians to be joined to particular churches, to be in fellowship with particular brothers and sisters, and under the pastoral care of particular men appointed by the church as elders. We believe no Christian is meant to live their life in anonymity or seclusion apart from the love, nurture, and fellowship of the local church (Acts 2:41-47, 14:23, 20:28, Rom. 12:4-5, Col. 3:16, Heb. 10:24-25, 13:17).

The difficult thing about real fellowship is that it involves being close enough to people to sin against them and be sinned against. It also means having our own sins exposed. This indeed can be uncomfortable, but we hold that it is simply God’s good design for the continued growth and sanctification of the Christian, as we live out the Christian life together, and God continues his good work of transforming each of us more and more into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). The New Testament is filled with exhortations for Christians to forgive one another (Eph. 4:32), bear with one another in love (Col. 3:13), bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), to strive for unity (Phil. 1:27), etc. All of these commands presuppose that we’re going to be up in each others’ grill sometimes. And we say, “Amen” to all of it. 

If this sounds cultish to you, then we’re happy to be guilty as charged. But in a world where church life has been largely relegated to a Sunday morning TED Talk, you’ll have to forgive us if we don’t take the charge too seriously. Besides, there are plenty of other Reformed Baptist and even Presbyterian churches with whom we fraternize that receive the same kinds of insults, and we’re pretty content to consider ourselves to be in good company (1 Pet. 5:9).

Fear Not the Chained Lions

In his classic work, The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan paints a brilliant allegorical picture of the Christian life. One scene in the book has to do with the Christian coming into the church. Following his conversion, Christian (the main character) finds himself ascending a hill called Difficulty. At the top of the hill is a palace called Beautiful (representing the church). As Christian comes to enter the great house, he is met by two lions blocking the way.

“. . .[Christian] made haste and went forward, that if possible he might get lodging there. Now, before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off the porter’s lodge; and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he espied two lions in the way. Now, thought he, I see the dangers that Mistrust and Timorous were driven back by. (The lions were chained, but he saw not the chains.) Then he was afraid, and thought also himself to go back after them, for he thought nothing but death was before him. . . “

Readers have long wondered what exactly Bunyan meant to represent by the imagery of the two lions. Many believe that these represented the powers of civil government and the state church which, in Bunyan’s day, were persecuting Christians to discourage them from joining local churches not sanctioned by the Church of England. Regardless of the specific interpretation, what we know for sure is that these lions represent forces which serve to discourage Christians from joining themselves to Christ’s church. These lions served to scare travelers from going any further, and instead to force them to go back.   

Sadly, we observe that many such lions exist in the world. There are many people—professing Christians, even—who make it their aim to stop people from venturing into the safety and nurture of a local church. Some of these lions come in the form of arrogant internet trolls like the ones we described above. Some of them come in the form of former church members or apostate Christians who through their unbelief and hard-heartedness have given themselves to such disgruntledness that they now make it their life’s work to oppose and ridicule the churches they once called home. Our church is hardly the first to endure this kind of thing, and we won’t be the last.

So we’d leave the reader with this encouragement, from what came next in the story:

“But the porter at the lodge, whose name is Watchful, perceiving that Christian made a halt as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying, “Is your strength so small?” Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that had none. Keep in the midst of the path, no hurt shall come unto you.”

Whether you end up deciding to visit our church or not, we exhort you in the Lord not to be scared by the lions. Trust in Christ, and join yourself to a local church. Your soul needs it. Don’t let the internet trolls rob you of the nourishment and grace God has for you through the means of the local church. 

The Lord hates a false witness who breathes out lies, and the one who sows discord among brothers (Prov. 6:19). We continue to pray fervently that those who strive to tear apart the body of Christ will be granted repentance. The Husband will not fail to avenge every offense committed against His beloved Bride. Let those who fear the Lord take heed and tremble. 

May the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified through the sanctifying of His people. May His churches be filled. May the earth be filled with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the seas. 

May the Lord bless you. 

Warmly and Sincerely, 
The Members of Grace Fellowship Church

May 14, 2024