However, that is not the only vote of no confidence in David Platts Social Justice Gospel. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Those dissident members argued that church leaders, including senior pastor David Platt, a best-selling author, had violated the churchs constitution. Solomon would forfeit his retirement package if he spoke out about the problems. (UPDATED) Unusual decision draws scrutiny at one of largest Southern Baptist schools. If people were motivated to drive from Maine and Florida to McLean Bible Church in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., to vote against David Platts Woke agenda, maybe the problem is not with the dissidents but with David Platt? Platt chose to ignore those entreaties and promote divisive teachers and divisive concepts like Critical Race Theory. The constitution of the church requires a 75% threshold. In May 2021 following the Social Justice push and Platts book on politics, McLean Bible Church reported average attendance of about 7,300. INSKEEP: Given that, what makes this story feel like it has a larger significance in your mind? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. We're glad to hear from you. The July 18 vote has been surrounded by controversy, with some decrying what they saw as creeping liberalism within the church's . That comes with attendance issues and budget cuts. When Platt began preaching at McLean, the church was identified as an SBC church in press accounts. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. And then there was some question as to who is eligible to vote as a McLean member and who is not. Steven Furtick is the lead pastor of Elevation Church, based near Charlotte, North Carolina. And then even within the Southern Baptist Convention more broadly, there is a group called the Conservative Baptist Network that has charged some convention leaders with advocating critical race theory and downplaying the Bible's sufficiency. Platt was presented with multiple documents from many respected past and present McLean Bible Church members over the last two years that connected concerns about racial identity politics with proper biblical application. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Frazer also believes church leaders disqualified people who they thought would vote the wrong way. Since the ballots included church member names, he said, leaders would know how church staff and other members voted, opening them up to retaliation. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. David Platt, who has been aligning himself and his church closer and closer to the Revoice "gay Christianity" movement over the last year or so, has been making headlines as he continues to partner . And so I think I simply put into words what many people were already sensing.. McLean Bible Church faces a lawsuit over a recent vote for elders from members unhappy with pastor David Platt, who succeeded long-time former pastor Lon Solomon. DAVID ROACH: It is a megachurch in the Washington, D.C., area. Welcome to the Arlington location of McLean Bible Church. Why is that? INSKEEP: I was astonished by some of the conspiracy theories that you described that surfaced during that election campaign. ROACH: I don't think that that is directly the issue, but I think that issue has implications for what has gotten him in trouble. When longtime leaders and perhaps thousands of members are abandoning the church, what is the lesson David Platt draws? If youre the church of Jesus Christ, thats really problematic.. The suit is pending despite the announced vote outcome. Solomon signed the Dallas Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel. The heart of the complaint really comes down to truth, transparency, and a free, open, and uncoerced process, said plaintiffs attorney Rick Boyer. Similar to Naples, McLean Bible Church recently held a vote to confirm three elders the first vote failed. The podcast is two hours on the use of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality at the MLK50 Conference and the T4G Conference sermon by David Platt. Platt, the senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia, is now caught in the middle of a scandal that is reminiscent of events that took place in 2019 at a large Southern Baptist Church in Naples, FL. Putting it off is only going to make it worse. INSKEEP: This, according to your reporting, seems to have surfaced as a conflict in a way that wasn't directly about the pastor but a kind of church election. Three new elders were approved by about 80% of active member votes. In a complaint filed Thursday (July 15), five McLean members allege that Platt and other leaders illegally barred them from voting at a recent congregational meeting to approve new church leaders. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Thanks so much. Strange events are afoot at McLean Bible Church, a multisite megachurch in Washington D.C. pastored by David Platt. And that leadership is not listening, he said. See more. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. McLean Bible Church is one of the most influential churches in the United States. When you dont follow the rules and it has an effect on a consequential vote, you have now created a huge distraction from your mission, Merkle said. [ This article is also available in 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. [Picture was posted on Facebook, but was removed after a couple months]. David Platts dreams for McLean Bible Church sour as members file lawsuit over elder vote, Woke war: How social justice and CRT became heresy for evangelicals. There were not enough provisional ballots to change the outcome, according to an email from church leaders. What opponents claim as being Platts liberal or woke politics, supporters see as the 42-year-old preachers commitment to Christ above all. He claimed people were upset by efforts at racial reconciliation. Copyright 2020, Religion News Service. ROACH: It was a tumultuous time. Attendance is down about 40-percent year-over-year. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit echo Frazers concerns, saying that the ballots used by the church violated McLeans constitution. 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 see throughout Scripture that individuals affect structures and structures affect individuals, so we emphasize both personal and corporate responsibility in matters of justice., And, We do grieve over the existence and effects of racism, and to the extent that we are part of a larger group of people guilty of racism, we appropriately confess corporate sins of racism and take appropriate steps of repentance, much as we do when the Holy Spirit convicts us of any corporate sin. No matter what you've been through or where you've come from, you are welcome here. Similar to Naples, McLean Bible Church recently held a vote to confirm three elders the first vote failed. David Platt asked the remaining Elders to approve the GCJR course curriculum as the main theological underpinning of all other teaching and worship activities at McLean Bible Church. The church in question is a prominent one, McLean Bible Church, where many Washington Republicans worship. Chuck Hannaford, a Memphis clinical psychologist who has helped churches mediate conflicts for 30 years, said McLeans troubles are the latest iteration of a broader conflict between younger Reformed Christians and older generations of white evangelicals. That is not acceptable for the Body of Jesus Christ. Any church member on McLeans inactive list was given a provisional ballot. Some church members who had been attending online, rather than in person, claimed their ballots had been disqualified. Attendance began to decrease significantly after the first class as attendees realized the Woke content. All six elders on the ballot received at least 86% approval. Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month. Lon Solomon the legendary pastor of McLean Bible Church has not set foot in McLean for a worship service since becoming pastor emeritus. He told Religion News Service that the church believes it will prevail if there is an appeal. Yet, even before this course, some noticed David Platts trajectory away from the Bible and into the Woke error. COVID-19 also played a role. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. And rather than try to adjudicate the provisional ballots, they decided the best thing to do would be just to have another vote. The level of suspicion around such leaders appears to have grown during the Trump administration and during the reckoning over racism following George Floyds death last year. But a spokesman for the SBC, while saying McLean Bible Church, like all Southern Baptist churches, is an independent and autonomous local church, confirmed that McLean is considered an SBC church. Net Worth in 2023: $2 million. Their pastor, David Platt, is very well-known among evangelicals. 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. 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. That speaks volumes about the problems in the McLean leadership team and specifically David Platt. Explanation Videos. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. ROACH: On June the 30, McLean Bible Church was to have an election to elect three new elders. In September 2017, Platt was confirmed into the role of teaching pastor of McLean Bible Church (MBC) by a 95 percent approval vote from the congregational members. The letter describes McLean as a partner with the SBC but not affiliated denominationally with the SBC.. 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.. When I first came to faith in Christ in 1971, as a Jewish college student, I never imagined that the Lord would lead me to pastor a church. To some observers, McLeans conflict seems like a replay of other recent episodes from American evangelicalism, where leaders who appeal to Scripture to address social issues are accused of theological liberalism or secular influence even if they continue to hold traditional Christian views. Because of the mass exodus McLean cut spending. Frank gives an insightful answer to this question and analyzes the recent controversy that started when members of a gym said a special workout in support of "Pride Week" was canceled by gym owners that led to an executive at CrossFit was fired for a tweet on his personal account. COVID-19, Frazer said, has made that rule unenforceable. The key problem here is a lack of transparency. Church leaders say the current round of conflict predates Platts pastorate. 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. David Platt is an academic prodigy. The largely conservative northern Virginia church across the Potomac from Washington had grown from a group of five families in the 1960s to a congregation of more than 10,000 spread across several campuses, attracting politicians and business leaders to the churchs evangelical message and values. 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 . Six people are part of the lawsuit, including both members and former members. Platt and other leaders, they say, have abused their power by violating the churchs constitution. He also warned against letting tensions swell. David Joseph Platt is an American evangelical Baptist pastor. (RNS) David Platt had a dream for the future of McLean Bible Church. Platts 2020 book Before You Vote also drew criticism from some church members as being soft on traditional evangelical issues like abortion and sexuality. Pastor David Platt, left, prays for President Donald Trump at McLean Bible Church, in Vienna, Virginia, on June 2, 2019. Some older evangelicals see it as sort of a coup.. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. The plaintiffs also claim a follow-up election at the church this weekend violated the churchs constitution. We have to address conflict intentionally and face to face, Hannaford said. I want you to listen closely to the words I am about to say, he said in his sermon the following Sunday. 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. A follow-up election held this past Sunday was held under new rules. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Platt took a shot at blogs and social media. Last Updated: February 2023. Less than 25 percent of members were part of the vote Wednesday night, Platt said. It must be an unprecedented group of divisive liars and racists! Copyright 2021 NPR. Pastor David Platt preaches at McLean Bible Church, July 11, 2021, in Vienna, Virginia. Things began to change. 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. Controversy at McLean Bible Church boils over as members file lawsuit over elder vote. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. The budget has been cut to $4 million less than in 2019. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Viewarticle. 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. By. 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 . Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. The largely conservative northern Virginia church across the Potomac from Washington had . 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. McLean Bible Church (MBC) was started in the Metro Washington, DC area in 1961 as a non-denominational church. THE EARLY YEARS McLean Bible Church was founded in 1961 by five families in Northern Virginia. I don't think that it was about the specific elders so much as the direction of the church. He was senior pastor at the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, from 2006 to 2014. Welcome to McLean Bible Church in the final rundown to Sunday's surprisingly contentious vote on new elders. March 18th, 2018. Many former elders have left McLean Bible Church since David Platts takeover of the church. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. (He recently preached one funeral in the building.) We want to move forward in unity and we do not believe any appellate court would restrict us from doing that., RELATED: Woke war: How social justice and CRT became heresy for evangelicals, Pastor David Platt preaches at McLean Bible Church, July 18, 2021, in Vienna, Virginia. But a spokesman for the SBC, while saying "McLean Bible Church, like all Southern Baptist churches, is an independent and autonomous local church," confirmed that McLean is considered an SBC church. Platt asserts in the course that the Bible teaches both individual and corporate responsibility and that present systems are discriminatory. Greear and Texas megachurch pastor Matt Chandler, have been outspoken about racism and social justice issues, saying that the Bible teaches them to address those issues. Its first service was held on Easter Sunday at Chesterbook Elementary School in McLean with Pastor J. Albert Ford. So here I am, piecing together a years-long scandal for you. Platt, a bestselling author and speaker, recounted the churchs history in a sermon in the summer of 2019, about a year after he succeeded Solomon as pastor, in whichhe asked: What if our best days as a church are ahead of us, not behind us?. The best examples are the woke church movement, and the takeover of many seminaries by critical race theory. Platt is now the pastor of McLean Bible Church, a flagship evangelical church in the Washington D.C. area. Congregants dance and pray with the church band before Pastor Andy Wood gives a sermon on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2022, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Stacie Wood, the woman pastor at the . 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. 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. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The July 18 vote has been surrounded by controversy, with some decrying what they saw as creeping liberalism within the church's leadership. People who were actively serving at other churches.. If you *really* care about gospel unity, racial reconciliation, and the least of these, do better.. The GCJR will be the focus going forward and all staff will be required to fall inline. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. We glorify God by making disciples and multiplying churches among all nations beginning in greater. We are zealous in the present not to prolong or replicate in any way racial injustice from the past. After graduating from the University of Georgia with two bachelor's degrees, he earned an MDiv, a ThM, and a PhD from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; he completed his education in his early 20s, becoming one of the youngest students, if not the youngest student, to ever earn a terminal degree at NOBTS. Church members were required to show identification, and ballots were labeled with members names. 'At the end . Specifically, Platts course reveals his assumption that disparity is proof of racist systems. This is a lie. McLean Bible Church, originally nondenominational, is a recent member of the Southern Baptist Convention. I think were going to work through this, he said. INSKEEP: Is that part of what seemed to get him in trouble with at least a portion of the congregation? #302 Falls Church, VA 22042 866-788-7770 The church in question is a prominent one, McLean Bible Church, where many Washington Republicans worship.