Reading Time: 6 minutes For years now, Todd Elliott and his elders have been fighting over who holds ultimate control over the megachurch. Obviously, Elliott — as the sole megapastor by them — thought he should wear the crown. But his elders disagreed.
Covenants (Church Discipline)
Posted inReligion
Gospelbound: Authoritarians Think More Control Means Less Churn
Reading Time: 10 minutes The tagline TGC created for Gospelbound claims it offers listeners “firm faith in an anxious age.” Of course, it does nothing of the sort. Instead, it offers the usual authoritarian blahblah from the most toxic elements in their entire end of Christianity. I’ve saved the most alarming of that blahblah for last: their oh-so-very Calvinist plan for churn reduction. They think more control over congregants means less churn from their churches. Today, I’ll show you what that means — and why it’s such a laughable contradiction of the supernatural claims of authoritarians.
Posted inReligion
Steve Timmis’ Rise and Fall (Reveals a Serious Problem in Christianity)
Reading Time: 12 minutes The more seriously Christians take their ideology, the more dangerous a malignant leader becomes to them. One prime example of these rules could well be what just happened in Acts 29, a huge Christian church-planting business. Their leader, Steve Timmis, just lost his job there. And he lost it by being, apparently, a grade-A jerkweed. Today, let’s check out Acts 29 and see what red flags Steve Timmis might have been waving there long before his situation came to a crisis point.
Posted inReligion
The Big Church Meeting in ‘This Present Darkness’ (LSP #115, Ch. 10)
Reading Time: 11 minutes Finally, we enter the big scene Peretti set up as the big conflict from the start of the novel: a church voting scene. We’ll look at how this scene might have resonated with Peretti as an author, and what it actually accomplishes in the novel’s setting. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a scene that demonstrates just how far from reality evangelical pastors’ lives truly are.
Posted inLGBTQ, Religion
The Different Types of Christian Ghosting
Reading Time: 14 minutes Today I’ll show you the two kinds of Christian ghosting, how prevalent ghosting has become in that community, and a very likely reason for why it’s happening so much lately. And in the doing, maybe we’ll see something here that we can use to understand ourselves better.
Posted inReligion
Church Discipline: Evaluating the Claims.
Reading Time: 8 minutes When power-hungry people want to abuse others, and they are given the means by which to do it and victims to abuse, abuse will happen–and Jesus won’t lift a finger to stop it.
Posted inReligion
Church Discipline: Covenants and Contracts.
Reading Time: 9 minutes Church discipline is usually initially presented to members by way of an agreement called a ‘covenant.’ I want to show you these agreements today, and walk you through why they’re such bad news for church members.
Posted inReligion
Why Shepherds Really Tend Sheep.
Reading Time: 7 minutes I’d be hard-pressed to name a ministry idea that fails as hard as this one.