Truth Seeker

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@neeva_walters “I really thought the elders would do the right thing."

"...but leaders who God calls to a higher standard treated us like garbage."

So many member testimonies over the years have included nearly these exact words.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@DrvingWhileJosh Finally, someone mentions KE. Not just no-bid contracts, but five-figure deals using donor dollars mandated to the Welch group for small projects which could have been done internally at low cost. Speak up with integrity and you are finished. How many others did this happen to?

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Pastor_JVaughn @espinoza_dy You're alluding to Lawson, of course, but he is far from the only one. The traits you mentioned are practically requirements.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@raskolnehkov @neeva_walters Sometimes they vacillate between (a) and (b) and end up landing on (c) simply because there is no way to harmonize the disparate accounts they have already circulated.

What you will almost never get is the unvarnished truth. That's not even in the playbook.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@raskolnehkov @neeva_walters It's all ad hoc. The options when a visible figure leaves/is booted are:

a) Ex post facto discipline or destroy their reputation

b) Publicly praise them + proclaim their long-held desire to pursue another ministry

c) A confusing blend of mixed signals, silence, and obfuscation

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@TheoManBabies Even having witnessed firsthand how they operate, it is still shocking and sickening reading the details of this case.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@neeva_walters @kittyginger0802 All while preaching vehemently against pragmatics in the pulpit. Given a choice between integrity or a perceived boost to the "ministry" (i.e. $$$), they will choose the bucks every time. God is not mocked.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Shawnihensler Oh, hey.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Shawnihensler Such shallow, unnuanced, and misdirected counsel is typical of Rodney, who is director of GMI and responsible for overseeing GCC missionaries and a fellowship group. But, hey, his family has been at GCC for a long time and he's loyal. Those are the only qualifications needed.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Shawnihensler More pastors should listen to RC Sproul who delivered powerful expositions in 30 mins and should focus on making their sermons clearer, not longer. The 30-min sermon is not an inspired standard, but there are numerous examples that they can be done well without sacrificing depth.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Shawnihensler This expectation not always, but often, leads to either (a) disorganized rambling to fill the time or (b) copying and pasting commentary content which the pastor may or may not even understand.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@NaramSinmulacra @neeva_walters @defundthedmv @ModernDayZorro The wisest standard here, of course, is that of Jesus and Paul. Beware the leaven of the Pharisees. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@NaramSinmulacra @neeva_walters @defundthedmv @ModernDayZorro This reminds me of an old analogy used to teach school children. How much poop is too much in the brownies?

Among the elders and institutions of GCC, it's almost all poop. Among the members, there's a good mix of poop and brownies. Yum yum.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@neeva_walters @Pastor_JVaughn "Why are you bringing up passages about false teachers?" they ask. Wolves in sheep's clothing and whitewashed tombs are only found in Covenantal, egalitarian, continuationist churches. Not here, not here.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@neeva_walters @Pastor_JVaughn False teachers are only those with doctrinal positions that we disagree with, not Pharisees or Diotropheses in our own doctrinal camp. Similarly, a lack of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 qualifications for elders is only disqualifying for those guys, not for our own.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@neeva_walters @DrBrandasio @defundthedmv Background research for use in sermon prep? Sure. Writing part or all of the sermon? Absolutely not. Ghost-written sermons are worse than ghost-written books. A section of MacArthur's 'Preaching' is dedicated to the prayer, preparation, and Spirit-filled process of the expositor.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@Askmsdel @defundthedmv I ran into Jack somewhere random not long after he left CBC. He was tight-lipped about why he'd left, but his facial expression said a lot.

[Truth Seeker @S3arch4Truth]

@MtZionAD33 Many still hold to the core doctrines that they teach. What they denounce is rampant abuse, wholesale lying, and sanctimonious, Pharisaical hypocrisy. They don't practice what they preach nor do they allow members or staff to do so.