Why I left Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale

Eight years ago I was employed as a groundskeeper at Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale.  At the time I was also leading a weekly ministry dedicated to those struggling with addiction and mentoring several men who were in the Calvary House Ministry (a ministry helping men with addictions to overcome those addictions).  I left Calvary under a cloud of mystery and suspicion losing several close friends and the church body that I loved. Not wanting to tarnish the image many continued to hold of the church leadership, and because I did not want to hinder the work God was doing, I’ve been silent since then. It is time now for me to speak up… not with a “see I told you so” attitude, but as a warning to those still in ministry and insight as to how and why the moral failure Bob Coy has admitted to may have happened.

I started to see a shift in the way things were done at CCFL when a decision was made to change the “Connection” (the church bulletin for those unfamiliar with CCFL) from a plain yellowish informational handout to a graphic-laden Bob Coy promotional flyer.  In a matter of a few months the visuals within the church changed from not a picture of Bob to be found, to not being able to walk 10 feet without seeing his face plastered on a wall, television, banner or kiosk. At the time this was done with great intent, after all Bob was a great teacher who filled the sanctuary seats with thousands of people, but it was, in my opinion, the top of the slippery slope that led to this weekend’s heart wrenching announcement.

I can’t tell you the exact time frame, but within a year or so, plans for growth began to surface that included beaming Bob’s image to “Satellite” sanctuaries for live (as live as a 500 inch television screen can be) services throughout South Florida and a fundraising scheme deemed as a “stewardship journey” aimed solely at raising funds for an extravagant new sanctuary and parking garage (I was privy to the blueprints for these projects, so I speak with authority when I say extravagant). 

I then began to see a shift in the way ministry was done.  Bob stopped truly expositionally teaching the Bible (going where it leads in the timeframe it leads- leaving nothing out) and he started to package his teachings in nice mp3 sized, easily sellable format with beautiful graphics and a catchy title.  We also began to package other teaching ministries into nice 6 to 7 week scripted formats with trendy acronyms as their ministry names and a “certificate of completion” given to the attendees if they signed in every week. I was personally “exhorted” (a Christian-ese term used as an alternative to “do this or you’ll be removed from leadership”) to change my addiction ministry format from a verse by verse chapter by chapter teaching of the Word, to a program that could be completed in six weeks… I was literally being asked to tell addicts that if they just took my six week scripted class that they would be freed from the addiction they’d been struggling with for years… then to prove we did our part as a ministry, I would give them a signed document saying essentially that they were good to go because they showed up several weeks in a row…

Now many argued then and may still argue that these changes were necessary and good… they may be right… and if this is where it ended I would have just agreed to disagree and would have quietly phased myself out of the ministry and faded into oblivion… but the changes in and of itself were only the tip, the reaction of leadership to any questioning of these changes was the iceberg that in my opinion began the descent down the slippery slope.

One of the key tenants taught by Chuck Smith, the patriarch of the Calvary Chapel movement, was “where God guides, God provides.”  I don’t know if it is still the case, but when I was hired I was required to read a book called “Calvary Chapel Distinctives” and watch a video titled “A Venture in Faith”.  In both of those resources Pastor Chuck outlines his disdain for church growth and fundraising programs. So it was no shock to me when CCFL staff members were a bit confused when it was announced by Bob at a staff meeting that consultants were hired and a plan had been developed to begin a church growth and fundraising program called “Until the Whole World Hears”.  But when anyone questioned the leadership on this seemingly obvious veering of its long held practices and principles, it was met with fierce rebuke.  We were essentially told that obedience to leadership was a required tenant of Christianity, and any questioning of the leadership was forbidden.  Each department was treated to what only can be described as pep rallies to try and convince a confused staff to go along with this program willingly… but those pep rallies didn’t seem to help, so leadership resorted to exhortation and rebuke.  We were encouraged to sign pledge cards and to be examples to the congregation in our giving.  At one staff meeting we were rebuked by the executive pastor for not giving enough… how did he know what we were giving you ask?  He checked the tithe records and found that many of the staff was not tithing… so he “exhorted” us to step it up.

For my wife and I, though we were troubled by the process, we wanted to believe that this was a good cause so we donated $1000.00 above and beyond our tithe (this was a huge sum for us at the time)… but I refused to sign a pledge card… and was reprimanded.  Our response was to pray… and in my case to cry for what I was seeing happen to my church… but with the exception of one brother and close friend who I spoke to about my concerns… I kept silent.

Shortly after CCFL’s “stewardship journey” began was when I was asked to change the format of the ministry I led. I questioned that move to my overseer… and was rebuked.  Shortly after that, I was pulled into another pastor's office and was told that I was developing a reputation for being both a dissenting voice and butt kisser (for the lack of a better term)… how someone can be both is psychotic, but that was the accusation (keep in mind that up to this point, the only things I had done was refuse to sign a pledge card and question the direction I was being asked to lead the flock that I was asked to lead). My heart was now breaking for my church and I began to pray about what to do and/or say.

It wasn’t long before God opened a door for me to talk with my direct boss about my concerns.  It turns out that I wasn’t the only one with those concerns… it seems a day earlier in a department head meeting it was announced that an anonymous letter was circulating that had things in a bit of a tizzy and my name had just rocketed to the #1 suspect for being the originator of said letter.  I had nothing to do with the letter, and it is against every fiber of my being to send an anonymous letter, but within an hour I was summoned to Bob’s office for a chat.

It started nicely enough, Bob told me that he took time out of his normal Friday afternoon sermon prep to address my concerns, but it quickly dissolved from there. Sitting alongside of me was Bob’s tag team partner, a member of the “senior” church leadership, and to them I began to try and communicate what I saw as some inconsistencies about what was being said and what was being done… at that moment I still had high regard for Bob and was trying to point out to him how his leadership staff might be going too far in the carrying out of his directives.  I found out quickly that they were doing exactly what he wanted them to do, and that he was offended by my questioning of those directives.  I sat there for two hours trying to talk while Bob and his leadership lackey sitting next to me interrupted me, put words in my mouth, took my comments out of context, questioned my motives for service, and ridiculed my heart breaking reaction to his unwarranted rebuke (yes, I cried) … I kept asking myself during those hours how they could be so blind, how could they not hear me, how can they disregard the three years of exemplary service I had given and completely misread my heart… how can they not see this!?

I left that meeting broken hearted at who my pastor had become, knowing that he was no longer my pastor… and after my wife and I prayed about it over the weekend, we decided that I needed to resign on Monday morning.  I gave a two week notice but within three days I was disgracefully escorted off the premise at the request of “senior leadership”… I said nothing of the meeting to any of my staff, I did not defend myself in the least and left telling everyone that CCFL was a still a church God was using for His glory and that my leaving should not discourage them from serving.  Only a handful of people to the time of this writing know what happened…

So how did this past weekend’s revelations happen?  In my mind it comes down to the leader that was in the room with Bob and me during our meeting.  He is one of Bob’s closest friends and closest confidant… he blindly went wherever Bob led, never questioning, never objecting.  Bob’s inner circle was stacked with those men… men who believe in him more than they should have.  I am willing to wager that during the course of the past few years some may have even suspected or known of Bob’s failures, but they had made a conscience decision years ago not to question him or confront him… 100% of the blame for Bob’s failure lie at his feet, but it started with him surrounding himself with a bunch of weak men who dared not question the obvious.

Bob used an analogy when he taught about a man named Sanballat and his assistant Tobiah in the book of Nehemiah… he compared them to the iconic cartoon bulldog and the yippy dog that followed him agreeing with everything he said … That is a fitting description of what happened at CCFL; Bob surrounded himself with a bunch of yippy yes men who because of his ability to fill auditoriums, were unwilling to challenge his desire for celebrity, his need for control, and his flawed definition of success…. even while he was destroying his ministry.  Those men, many of whom purport now to want to help rebuild CCFL, need to grow a pair and step down.  Don’t pour new wine into old wineskins.

My prayers are with Dianne and her children, I cannot imagine their pain.  As for Bob, I am still heartbroken; my prayer for the past eight years has been that he would return to his first love… my hope is that now he will be forced to do that.

Are We Living in the End Times? (The non-intellectual version)

One of the things that has brought me to a logical belief in God and the inerrancy of Scripture is fulfilled prophecy. There are some things that are inexplicable if not for the existence of an ever present, all knowing, all powerful God. For example: the prophet Isaiah wrote that in the beginning of the end, a nation would be born in a day.



Isaiah 66:7-9
“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery?” says the LORD. “Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb?” says your God.”

Tithing? Come on, are you kidding me?

I was talking to a friend a couple weeks ago about Christianity as a whole and though he grew up in a Christian family, he is currently disappointed in Christianity and has decided that “churches” aren’t worth attending…he now is “worshiping” on his own, doing his own thing. One of the reasons he gave for his decision not to go to church any longer was that he once knew a man who was tithing to his church despite the fact that he was only making minimum wage. “How can a church who says they want to help the poor take 10% of a poor man’s money?!” He asked. Then he asked me if I tithed. “Of course I do,” I said. “God asks us too.”

Does God ask us to tithe or is that an Old Testament command that we no longer need to worry ourselves with?

It’s a wonderful life…but don’t tell anyone

There are, as I see it, four schools of thought of how Christians are to share their faith:

#1 - To show people the Law of God, proving to them that they are sinners and that they are going to hell unless they repent and give their life over fully to Christ. I’ll call this for the purpose of this column the “Street Preachin’ Method”.

#2 - Tell people that God has a wonderful plan and purpose for their life; just come to Him to receive it. Your sin will be washed away and you’ll be able to live life to its fullest. I’ll call this one the “Mega-Church Wannabe Method”.

#3 - Live your Christianity out in such a way that others will see it and ask, “where did you get that and how do I get some”. I’ll call this method the “Smile and Wave at Everybody Method”

And

#4 - Tell people that to receive eternal life with God in Heaven, they must admit that they are a sinner deserving eternity in hell, turn from their sin and turn to Jesus making Him the Lord of their life. Do this, as I have, and though in this life you will still experience pain and you will still struggle with sin, God will grant you forgiveness and will be with you, comforting you and showing you a life that you didn’t know was possible filled with the type of love that produces joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. I’ll call this the “Biblical Method”.

Blessed are the What?!

In Matthew 5:3-11 Jesus, at the beginning of His teaching that is generally referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, gives us great insight into what a Christian is to look like. As we take a look at the Beatitudes we will find a series of landmarks on a road to sanctification that we will be able to look at to see where we are and where we need to go as we grow in our relationship with Jesus. Also, since each Beatitude begins with the word “blessed” which literally means “oh how happy”, we will be able to by studying this section of scripture, begin to understand God’s path to happiness. The Beatitudes start with:



“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

What does someone who is poor in spirit look like? Let’s look at the opposite; what does a spirited person look like? Remember the cheerleaders at high school football games? There was a cheer back in my day where one teams cheerleaders would yell to the other teams cheerleaders; “we’ve got spirit, yes we do, we’ve got spirit how ‘bout you!” Then the other team would yell back the same cheer and the teams would go back and forth, each trying to be louder than the other team. Having spirit is having a lot confidence in yourself or your team. Being poor in spirit then would mean that you have little confidence in yourself. It literally means broken…Oh how happy are the broken, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Someone who has figured out that they can’t get to God without a redeemer, or someone who realizes their need for Christ…it is those people who will truly be happy…it is those people who will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Why Self Indulgence is Killing the Church

We live in an egocentric society. “What’s in it for me? How will what you are doing affect my life? How does that help me?” We’ve gotten this way because of a convoluted belief that has permeated culture that says that it is more important that a person has a good self image than it is for a person to have an accurate self image. We give ribbons to losers and reward mediocrity with “Great Job!” star stickers in hopes that not making anyone “feel” bad will cause us all to gather together in harmony holding hands singing Simon and Garfunkel tunes.

Unfortunately what that kind of thinking has wrought is a society so intent on not challenging self indulgent behavior because it may offend the self indulged, that self indulgent behavior has become the status quo. “If it feels good, do it” is now the societal mantra and if anyone would challenge your right to be the you that you want to be they are labeled as prudes who just want to prevent people from being “true to themselves”.

Unfortunately that kind of destructive thinking has found its way into the church and if continued it will end with many professing Christians hearing the unfortunate words “I never knew you” from the mouth of Jesus as they stand before the judgment seat.

The Pursuit of Happiness

It’s the American dream…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are all pursuing happiness, we all want liberty, we all want a good life…how we get those things is the question.

Religion has attempted to answer that question: Christianity says they have that answer, Buddhism holds claim to it as well. The New Age movement, Scientology, Mormonism, the Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, even Atheism and Satenism all say that their way is the way to true happiness.

Leave Me Alone I Was Born This Way!

****DISCLAIMER**** The Christian view on this subject has been deemed by many in the world as unacceptable and worthy of  viscous attack. I don't understand why. The vast majority of Christians treat others, even those who are part of the LGBT community, with love, not scorn. My motive in even speaking about the subject is to point out what I believe to be God's view on homosexuality... if you don't believe in God or view the Bible as God's Word, then why do you care? You accuse us of being intolerant because we tell you that you can't be a part of a club that you don't believe exists... that makes no sense to me... And then your response is to attack and vilify people who are a part of a club that you don't want to be a part of... that's just strange.

...

On the first page of my Bible, next to Genesis 1:1, I have written in the margin, “believe this and the rest is easy.” Believe what? That God created the heavens and the earth. God designed and created everything, and everything He created, He designed perfectly. Water was designed perfectly, animals were designed perfectly, plants, light, soil, duck billed platypuses were all designed perfectly and when God finished creating all these things He looked at them and said that they were good. Then He designed and made man, and after God created man and woman He looked at all of creation and said that it was “very good”.

Our first Christmas together my wife and I went to our local superstore and bought a Christmas tree and a Christmas tree stand. When we got home I grabbed the stand and immediately began to assemble it. Now I’m a very handy guy, some would even say that I am an expert with tools, but I was having trouble getting the tree to stand upright…which is an integral part in Christmas tree decorating…so I’m told. I started to get very frustrated. “Why can’t I get this stupid tree stand to hold this tree upright?!” Five minutes passed…then ten, and my normally patient demeanor was beginning to turn into stark raving madness. In frustration I said to my wife, who probably at the time was questioning whether or not she’d married a lunatic, “Who would sell something so poorly designed? I’ll get my tools.” And I went to my truck and grabbed my tool box. Sweating up a storm I got back on my knees and decided that I needed to redesign this poorly engineered piece of… It was about that time when I heard my wife say “did you need this?” I turned around and saw her holding a small box of parts that had fallen to the floor when I hurriedly ripped open the box to start assembly. Neither of us had seen it fall, and up till now it had been hidden from our view. But it turned out that this missing box was essential to the design of the stand. If I would have read the directions or even looked at the picture on the box I would have saved myself a lot of frustration. Embarrassed, I assembled the stand as designed and low and behold it worked perfectly!

What to do? What to do?
Psalm 27:14
Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!

Psalm 37:7-9
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Psalm 37:34
Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt you to inherit the land

Psalm 40:1-5
I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD

Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Lamentations 3:26
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Micah 7:7
Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Daily Snack

Genesis 3:6 - So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

Prior to actually eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve “saw the tree was good”… she now had the knowledge of good. Interesting.

In other words, she gained the knowledge of good prior to eating of the fruit of the tree that was going to give her that knowledge.

Jesus taught us in Matthew 5 that the sin of murder and adultery are not limited to the acts of murder and adultery. The sin of murder and adultery start with the mere thoughts of anger and lust.

This shows that principle - the sin occurred prior to her first bite… the sin happened several verses ago the second Eve questioned the authenticity of God’s word.

It's funny to me how the same people who cry foul when it is suggested that their choice to kill a fetus (or as some might call - a baby) should be restricted on moral grounds, say that it is a moral imperative to restrict everyone's choice to use salt because it may at some time in the future possibly have adverse effects on my or someone else's health.  What happen to my freedom to choose what to do with my body?  Evidently salt kills, but killing doesn't kill?  Seems consistent.

Daily Snack

Genesis 3: 4,5 - Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“God was lying; you’re not going to die… He’s just afraid that you will become like Him so he lied to you.”

Once you open the door to questioning the authenticity of Gods Word as Eve did, you open the door for ridiculous lies like this… or maybe… “I don’t care what the Bible says; God is love so He wouldn’t send anyone to hell because that’s not loving.”

If you believe something that directly contradicts what God has said; then you’ve put yourself and your thoughts above God and His thoughts… that will never turn out good.