Those inclined toward CSJ found it inspiring. So here I am, piecing together a years-long scandal for you. The Washington-area megachurch led by best-selling author David Platt has affirmed three new eldersbut only after a public tussle over politics, race, and alleged liberal drift, plus a lawsuit . James MacDonald founded Harvest Bible Chapel in 1988. All rights reserved. They organized a new election for elders in mid-June 2022, using secret ballots. Thus, McLean is spending about $4 million less in 2021 than in 2019. All rights reserved. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Platt said the dissident group claimed it was using the elder vote as part of a constitutional process to retake control of the church. While tens of thousands flocked to campus, school officials met in a storage closet to make decisions that would honor what is happening.. McLean stated in a Q&A on its website that Kelseys son held a poster that read, Black Lives Matter to God.. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Lon Solomon made one statement in opposition to the Social Justice heresy. Strange events are afoot at McLean Bible Church, a multisite megachurch in Washington D.C. pastored by David Platt. In the course, Platt fuses Christian teachings with the worldview assumptions of Critical Race Theory. The letter warned, "Thabiti Anyabwile, despite promoting progressive talking points at the . And he said that there was a group that was trying to take over the church. (Reformation Charlotte) A sad sight to behold is the trajectory that David Platt has been on over the last several years as the Evangelical racial reconciliation movement a movement rooted in Marxist Critical Race Theory has consumed him in nearly every aspect of thought and decision. Plaintiffs hope that a court will declare Sundays election void and require the church to hold a new election. According to course documents provided to the Capstone Report, Injustice like we see in Scripture is evident in and around us today. However, Platts course provides no proof of this assertion but launches into the typical CRT-inspired list of supposed American wrongs including things like discrimination, persecution, prejudicial creation and execution of laws, crises of excessive crime and incarceration, corruption in leaders, suppression of the marginalized, and oppression of the poor.. Longtime member Bill Frazer, 69, believes Sundays election violated the churchs constitution, which states that any member who misses services eight weeks in a row can be designated as inactive. He also warned against letting tensions swell. So wherever possible, we want to work together to move forward together on mission even with our different perspectives.. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Facebook; Twitter; visit the YouTube Channel. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. When longtime leaders and perhaps thousands of members are abandoning the church, what is the lesson David Platt draws? David Platt, pastor of McLean Bible Church near Washington, D.C., and founder of Radical, a resource ministry that serves churches, preaches during the second session of the two-day 2019 Pastors' Conference held June 9-10 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Copyright 2021 NPR. ROACH: On June the 30, McLean Bible Church was to have an election to elect three new elders. You've read 0 of 5 of todays most popular posts. Early life. AD FREE! The Local Church Wins Out in David Platt's Decision. That is not acceptable for the Body of Jesus Christ. A group of five former leaders at McLean including a former elder, former staff member and lay leadership warned David Platt in a letter dated February 3, 2021, about numerous moves by Platt and his elders to divide the church along racial lines. Under founding pastor Lon Solomon, McLean launched a church planting partnership with the SBCs North American Mission Board in 2016 while remaining nondenominational. CBN-backed candidate Mike Stone received 48 percent of the vote in last months SBC presidential election, finishing second to Alabama pastor Ed Litton. We have to address conflict intentionally and face to face, Hannaford said. Critics say the churchs leadership has become woke and has substituted critical race theory and social justice for biblical teaching. Thanks so much. What opponents claim as being Platts liberal or woke politics, supporters see as the 42-year-old preachers commitment to Christ above all. A group of five former leaders at McLean including a former elder, former staff member and lay leadership warned David Platt in a letter dated February 3, 2021, about numerous moves by Platt and his elders to divide the church along racial lines. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Platt went on to call the church to give up everything for the glory of God, echoing the message of his 2010 book, Radical, a bestseller that called Christians to give up the American dream in order to serve Jesus and transform the world. Steven Furtick is the lead pastor of Elevation Church, based near Charlotte, North Carolina. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The truth is that in June Mike Kelsey, his newly appointed Lead Pastor for Preaching and Culture, posted a picture on Facebook of himself at a BLM rally in DC, holding a BLM sign. #302 Falls Church, VA 22042 866-788-7770 Critics say the Virginia church's leadership has . And depending on how the provisional ballots were adjudicated, those elder nominees got either just below or just above the 75% threshold. For Ravi Zacharias, it was the fact that he was having a sexting affair.For Mark Driscoll's latest shenanigans, it was Mars Hill, and before that falling out there were several ignored reports about his leadership.James MacDonald is remarkably similar to Mark Driscoll, with his fall from Harvest Bible Church in . We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. ROACH: It was a tumultuous time. No matter what you've been through or where you've come from, you are welcome here. In a sobering, emotional and occasionally shocking address from the pulpit on July 4, Platt alleged a conspiratorial attempt on behalf of a "small group" of church members to sow misinformation among the congregation with the goal of taking control of the church. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Frazer, who is not a plaintiff, said the lawsuit and controversy at the church were unfortunate and that he hated to see the churchs dirty laundry aired in public. The Saturday evening service fills one of the smaller sanctuaries at McLean Bible Church's new $90 million complex, which officially opens this weekend on 52 acres near Tysons Corner.At a Sunday . INSKEEP: Given that, what makes this story feel like it has a larger significance in your mind? However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Lon Solomon began serving as MBC's fourth pastor in 1980. . 'At the end . NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Despite its elite membership, McLean has long been a conservative theological church populated by politically conservative evangelicals. The post David Platt's McLean Bible Church Teaches "Jesus Had Body Dysphoria" Revoice Nonsense appeared first on Reformation Charlotte. And the candidate backed by the Conservative Baptist Network at the most recent SBC annual meeting got 48% percent of the vote. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". Some church members who had been attending online, rather than in person, claimed their ballots had been disqualified. If you *really* care about gospel unity, racial reconciliation, and the least of these, do better.. However, that is not the only vote of no confidence in David Platts Social Justice Gospel. Platts teaching in his McLean Bible Church Course The Gospel, The Church, Justice and Race (GCJR) highlights a Hegelian-inspired dialectical synthesis between Christianity and Woke Social Justice. No. Nope. (He recently preached one funeral in the building.) Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Meanwhile, leaders like Platt see the pushback as its own sort of coup and remain concerned about the influence of opposition fueled on social media and watchdog blogs. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Similar to Naples, McLean Bible Church recently held a vote to confirm three elders the first vote failed. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A lawsuit brought by McLean Bible Church dissidents on Friday to reverse the results of an election for church leaders (elders) was dismissed by a court in Fairfax County, Virginia. Platts silent embrace of the radical Black Lives Matter movement and the promotion of Kelsey along with Social Justice Bible studies including Platts own book legitimizing Christians who vote for Pro-Abortion Democrats, conservatives are leaving the church for new homes. One former McLean Bible Church member pointed out that Platts preaching is mostly informed by sociological approaches to race through works that Platt read and promoted like Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. Members of David Platt's McLean Bible Church have filed a lawsuit against the church, claiming that leadership violated the church's constitution and used church dollars for controversial financial purchases. The total was either just above or just below 75 percent, depending on whether provisional ballots were counted, so a second vote was held July 18, at which all three nominees received at least 78 percent of the vote. Thousands have fled the church since it was taken over by David Platt. They have several campuses. NO VIDEOS! We glorify God by making disciples and multiplying churches among all nations beginning in greater. McLean Bible which is seen as a conservative evangelical congregation and once had more than 16,000 attendees has long been an important church in Washington with four locations near the . Copyright 2020, Religion News Service. There were some who expressed the thought that David Platt and the other leaders were soft on issues like abortion and sexuality. (RNS) David Platt had a dream for the future of McLean Bible Church. Video screengrab via MBC. March 18th, 2018. But at the same time, he wants to say that there is not one voting requirement for being a follower of Jesus Christ. As Solomon transitioned from leadership following a 37-year pastorate, McLean made major budget changes, scaling back the percentage of income spent on personnel and incentivizing staff departures. Pastor David Platt, left, prays for President Donald Trump at McLean Bible Church, in Vienna, Virginia, on June 2, 2019. Why does church leadership refuse to answer question. Wade Burnett, a pastor on McLeans leadership team, said the congregation decided to move forward together in a difficult time. Rick Boyer, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said his clients plan to appeal. Frazer said the confusion over McLean's relationship with the SBC and the election controversy reflect a bigger problem with the church. All active members were allowed to vote. Back at McLean, Platt and his fellow elders are urging the church in that direction. And the church has not regularly tracked individual attendance for years, he added. It must be an unprecedented group of divisive liars and racists! David Platt is an academic prodigy. And there really were some wild conspiracy theories that came out of that. ], Subscribe to CT
in our church) who have criticized him for acknowledging the hurt his decision caused, and who have even had the calloused audacity to malign those who are hurt, your brash insensitivity is the reason why so many minority and marginalized people struggle to be a part of Evangelical churches. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. On June 30, 2021, McLean Bible Church (MBC) in Vienna, Virginia, held a members meeting to affirm three new elders via vote.MBC is pastored by former Southern Baptist's International Mission Board (IMB) president and bestselling author David Platt. The dispute at McLean may now end up in court. Also, there are close ties to the SBC since the NAMB . But there were some who were concerned about the direction of the church, and they made that elder election an occasion to speak out against the leadership and direction generally. This is a lie. All rights reserved. Often times with disgraced megachurch pastors, there were several warning signs. During a sermon on July 4, David Platt very intentionally addressed some of those concerns. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Platt and his family are members of the Washington, D.C., area church, where Platt also serves as elder. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit objected, saying anyone who joined the church after the June 2021 election should not be allowed to vote. He became a teaching pastor in 2017 and left the presidency of the SBCs International Mission Board to dedicate his ministry to McLean the following year. After new elder nominees failed to be elected for the first time in the churchs history, Platt told the congregation in a sermon in early July that a small group of people inside and outside this church coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church.. And the elder vote was the occasion to speak that. This is extremely important, Platt said with the sound of desperation. The letter describes McLean as a partner with the SBC but not affiliated denominationally with the SBC.. In its Q&A, McLean states that it is not Southern Baptist and links to an undated letter from SBC Executive Committee employee Ashley Clayton stating, The SBC Executive Committee recognizes that McLean Bible Church is an independent, nondenominational Bible church, and they are not affiliated denominationally with the SBC., However, Baptist Press, the SBCs news service, stated in a July 21 article, McLean Bible Church is a cooperating church with the Southern Baptist Convention, yet like all Southern Baptist churches, remains independent and autonomous in its functionality and governance..