As we delve into in episode #9 of Drunk Ex-Pastors, the church that we grew up in (Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa) is embroiled in a bitter lawsuit, brought by two of the now-deceased founding pastor’s children, concerning both leadership and ownership of the church’s vast financial resources. My contention was that in the context of a paradigm where the only way to judge a leader’s authority is by whether or not you agree with him, this kind of in-fighting and lust for power is par for the course.
Still, it is disheartening to see church leaders behaving with no more dignity and decorum than secular leaders, and for my part, I can totally see how so many of my friends have lost their respect for the Christian church because of the behavior of its “anointed” leadership.
Listen here, the discussion begins at around the 53:36 mark. . . .
Good thing “anointed” is in quotations. There is little anointed about how Calvary picks and chooses most of their leadership. Nepotism, favoritism and who can kiss the most pastor butt. There are the few that are truly gifted – but I would take a trained and educated teacher/expositor over one of Calvary’s “called and anointed” any day.
Is my anger showing? Ugh… so unattractive.
How about they donate their “vast” finacial resources to the homeless, and hungry, and for people that need it. Like their Bible calls them to do, in several various verses throughout the Bible.
Here is another thought, Jesus hung out with the outcasts, lepers, and sinners. Jesus, if he was alive and walking around today would not hang out with them, in fact it is said that he will vomit out the luke warm church from his mouth.
Mark Twain has 2 great quotes that I think apply to this discussion. “If Christ were here there is one thing he would not be—a christian.” And I love this one: “You believe in a book that has talking animals, wizards, witches, demons, sticks turning into snakes, burning bushes, food falling from the sky, people walking on water, and all sorts of magical, absurd and primitive stories, and you say that we are the ones that need help?”
It’s interesting to me personally on many stratospheres (sky pun). A year ago I was asked by Janet & Jeff via proxy my mom if I’d testify against CC with my knowledge of corruption & child molestation – my thought hell yeah but don’t you understand I’ll be taking the whole foundation with me…pluck out my eyes because I loved Philistine female folk ok, but now after my hair has grown you want me that close to your idol? Glad I walked away with new eyes & smile…the end is near and it’s nothing I fear.
none of the bad stuff is good. it will never be less than bad with time. but neither is any of this stuff good. If we really love Jesus, and if we really believe He is a mighty, magnificent Savior, we should grieve, without bitterness, for everything that brings reproach to the name of Jesus rather than gloat over it. it just doesn’t fit Jesus. for wendy – Jesus hung out with the worst of sinners. he came to seek and save that the lost. and he did write a loving rebuke to a luke warm church pleading with them to repent. HIs bride is made up of a bunch of broken, messed up men and women, like every one who has commented. it’s scary when a pharisee starts to call some else the pharisee. how do you know you’re a pharisee? when you pick up stones to throw at an obvious sinner.
Too simplistic there Richard. This isn’t gloating, nor is it throwing stones, but a recognition that the system is flawed and we need to do better. While I don’t buy fully into the centralized hierarchical argument for Catholicism, if evangelicalism is ever going to be whole and just, we have to recognize, among other things, that the premium we have place upon independence have stretched us beyond our capacity of our greatest God given utility. There is much we can learn from this critique, and I pray that we don’t refuse to hear……. as was the case with the Pharisees.
I’m tired of hearing Christians say things like, “We’re all sinners. We’re just people like you. We make mistakes too! Don’t hold us to a higher standard.” Where is this transformative “power of the gospel” I hear so much about? Surely, it can’t be just that people stop swearing, drinking, watching rated R movies, and go to church all the time. Shouldn’t there be some real difference between Christians and people in the world, in who they actually ARE? I don’t see it. I just hear excuses.
From where this Calvinist sits, not so much. What should actually happen is a dialing down of the “transformative power of the gospel” stuff. That rhetoric actually seems to have more in common with the therapeutic than the theological, the one significant factor being the abiding nature of human sin, which has a remarkable way of sobering up giddy notions of personal transformation.
But as long as many maintain the “transformative power” stuff in conjunction with the faux-humility stuff and believers inevitably bump into their own abiding sin and screw up, it just rings off tune. Comes off as wanting lots of sympathy for us on our bad days, but on our better days we shift right back into pointing fingers mode. So, yes, we’re supposed to be different but not in the sense you suggest, i.e. above it all. More like not so surprised when sinners act like sinners.
Well, we’re specifically talking within the Calvary Chapel context in this post, and it’s something I keep hearing (not just here but elsewhere) out of CC, especially since the lawsuit went public, “Hey, we’re just like all of you!” I grew up in CC though, where the call to join them is filled with invitations to come have Jesus change your life. Having been behind the scenes of CC, I can testify that people are no different than they are behind the scenes at the accounting company I work for, and they’re often worse. When it spills over into the public eye, I’m not going to feel bad about pointing out the irony.
I don’t think CC has grasped the true Gospel of Jesus. The good news is His Grace & Righteousness & the Holy Spirit ARE recieved by All who receive Him. In the 90’s pressure was to look good on the outside & condemnation for not being spiritual enough if you dare had problems the church didn’t want to deal with. 10 yrs & was never taught that I was blanketed in Jesus’s Righteousness from the moment I became a believer & He dosnt pop in & out depending how good I’m being. A popular saying then was “we shoot the wounded”.