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.