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Are Evangelical Churches Really “Nondenominational?”

Bruce Gerencser 12 Comments
nondenominational

One way Evangelicals hide their beliefs and practices is to self-identify as “nondenominational.” Sectarian affiliation carries certain baggage that may turn some people off, especially if they have had negative experiences with a particular denomination. Using the nondenominational label gives people unfamiliar with Evangelicalism a false impression of a church or pastor. Nondenominational says to people that a particular church or preacher has no sectarian connection or beliefs. This, of course, is patently untrue.

Most nondenominational churches are independent (or quasi-independent) Baptist assemblies that typically have congregational government structures. All one needs to do is look at a church’s official statement of belief to see that there is no doctrinal difference to speak of between First Baptist Church and Praise Cathedral and Bible Baptist Church and Bada Boom Bada Bing Jesus is Lord Assembly. Each church might be Charismatic, Pentecostal, Calvinistic, or Arminian, or have differing views on eschatology, pneumatology, or other secondary issues, but their core doctrinal beliefs and practices are similar, if not identical.

Evangelicalism is defined by certain foundational beliefs and practices. Thus, Evangelicalism is a Christian sect divided according to peculiar secondary beliefs. And yes, I am aware that some churches and pastors elevate these secondary beliefs to the level of what people must believe to be a Christian. For example, some Calvinists think Arminians are unsaved and some Pentecostals think “Christians” who aren’t baptized by immersion or who don’t speak in tongues aren’t saved either. Evangelicalism is, in every way, a denomination in the same way the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a denomination. Churches may be independent or loosely affiliated, but their beliefs and practices suggest they are denominational.

A common ploy among Evangelical churches is for congregations to drop their denominational names. This is especially true for churches affiliated with the SBC and the Assembly of God. The goal is to give off the appearance of being nondenominational and hopefully lessen the negative opinions people have of denominations.

I have previously shared that while Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) churches are “independent,” they do affiliate with one another, just as Southern Baptists do. (Please see Let’s Go Camping: Understanding Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Camps.) IFB churches have horrible reputations. What better way to distance a church from being viewed this way than to change its name and remove IFB from all church literature and advertising? King James Baptist Church becomes Bible Believer’s Community Church and Victory Baptist Church becomes Faith Bible Church. Nothing changes except the name.

our father's house west unity ohio
Our Father’s House, West Unity, Ohio 1995-2002. We were a nondenominational church in name only. Theologically we were a Baptist congregation, with a Calvinistic twist.

Lifewise Academy — an Evangelical parachurch organization — exploits a quirk in federal and state law to establish release-time Bible classes for Ohio public school students. Currently, over 170 school districts have Lifewise programs! How in the hell did this happen? Lifewise tells two lies to school boards and superintendents:

  • We are a nondenominational program
  • We teach children morals and ethics

Lifewise is, in fact, Evangelical. I mean 100 percent, unabashed Evangelical. Lifewise doesn’t teach generic morality and ethics; it teaches explicitly Evangelical dogma. Internal Lifewise documents reveal that the organization’s number one goal is to evangelize students perceived to be unsaved. If Lifewise is nondenominational, children of all sects would be welcome, and no attempt would be made to “save” them. That’s not what’s happening. Suppose your child is Roman Catholic or attends a Unitarian congregation. Will they be considered “Christians?” Maybe, by some of the teachers, but Lifewise’s internal documents suggest that such children are ripe for conversion. According to Lifewise, there is one gospel (theirs) and one plan of salvation (theirs). A Catholic child who thinks baptism and confirmation “save” her is deceived (by Satan himself). Catholicism is a false religion, the whore of Babylon. The Unitarian child? My God, he thinks all roads lead to God and Heaven and good works are what matter. He definitely is deceived. Lifewise’s grand plan is to make every child a good Evangelical and make sure that they are attending a “good” Bible-believing church.

The next time a Christian tells you she is nondenominational, ask yourself what she is trying to hide? If she is a Baptist or a Pentecostal or a Charismatic, why doesn’t she proudly wear her denominational name tag? What doesn’t she want you to know or see? Don’t take my word for it. Go visit a local Southern Baptist congregation and then visit a church that says it is nondenominational. Set aside music and preaching differences, paying careful attention to their beliefs and practices. Don’t pay attention to secondary issues that separate them. Once the peripheral stuff is peeled back, you will likely find a Baptist church with a congregational ecclesiology. The nondenominational label is little more than a magic trick clerics and sects use to hide their sectarian distinctives. Don’t be fooled.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Breaking News: Baptist Men in Texas Riot in the Streets Over Censorship

Bruce Gerencser 3 Comments
pornhub

Did you see the news today? Southern Baptist and Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) men in Texas are rioting in the streets over censorship. That’s right, these followers of Jesus are upset over being censored. Recently, Texas passed a law requiring users to document their age with a government ID before accessing porn sites.

USA Today reports:

The HB 1181 law primarily passed by Republicans in the Texas Legislature requires companies that offer “sexual material harmful to minors” to ensure its site’s users are 18 or older with an online system that can verify their government-issued identification or another system that utilizes public and private data.

If porn providers fail to verify a user’s age, and a minor ends up accessing their sites, they could be fined up to $10,000 a day and $250,000. Unable to comply with the law, Pornhub — the world’s largest provider of pornography — decided the best course of action was to block all access to their sites originating from Texas. And this has the Baptists upset. How dare Pornhub block their access to porn! What shall these godly men do between Sunday and Wednesday church services — you know the appointed times when men confess their porn habits and seek forgiveness from God? So, these sexually frustrated men have taken to the streets, demanding full, complete access to their favorite fetishes.

Not really, but let me be clear, Texas Baptists have a big porn problem, so I do not doubt that many preachers and congregants alike are upset that they can’t readily access their secret sin. (Never mind the fact that God allegedly sees everything. Evidently, worshiping a voyeuristic God is not enough to keep believers from surfing Pornhub.)

I hope researchers will take a look at VPN use after the Texas law was passed. I suspect that there was a huge uptick in VPN use among Baptist men — an easy way to avoid Texas’ age verification requirement.

According to 2014 survey commissioned by a nonprofit organization called Proven Men Ministries and conducted by Barna Group among a nationally representative sample of 388 self-identified Christian adult men found:

The statistics for Christian men between 18 and 30 years old are particularly striking:

77 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

36 percent view pornography on a daily basis

32 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 12 percent think they may be).

The statistics for middle-aged Christian men (ages 31 to 49) are no less disturbing:

77 percent looked at pornography while at work in the past three months.

64 percent view pornography at least monthly.

18 percent admit being addicted to pornography (and another 8 percent think they may be).

Even married Christian men are falling prey to pornography and extramarital sexual affairs at alarming rates:

55 percent look at pornography at least monthly.

35 percent had an extramarital affair.

jesus better than porn

The Gospel Coalition, the Defenders of True Christianity®, objected to this study’s results, saying:

The first is the Proven Men Porn Survey, a survey conducted in 2014 by Barna Group for Proven Men Ministries, a non-profit Christian organization aimed at helping men with an addiction to pornography.

The survey found that approximately two-thirds (64 percent) of Christian men admit they view pornography at least monthly. Based on that claim, you might be alarmed by the thought that two-thirds of the men who you think are faithfully following Christ are looking at porn at least a dozen times a year. But that’s not really what the survey found.

As with all surveys that rely on self-identification, clearly defining the terms—such as Christians—are essential. Fortunately, Barna does a better job than most other pollsters in this regard.

Barna classifies someone as a Christian if they individual self-identifies as Christian or identify with a Christian denomination (other than Mormons or Jehovah’s Witness). Within that category, Barna identifies individuals as “born again” if they made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today and believe that when they die, they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Barna classifies individuals who do not meet the criteria of Born Again as “nominal Christians.”

Within the subset of the “born again,” Barna identifies “legacy evangelicals” and “non-evangelical, born again.” Non-evangelical born-again Christians outnumber evangelicals by almost a four-to-one ratio, according to Barna. They are less conservative and less traditional than evangelicals, and seven-times as many claim to be advocates for LGBT rights (27 percent). Little more than half of this group (55 percent) firmly believe that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches, and fewer than one-third of this group (31 percent) contend they have a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with those who think differently.

Returning to the survey we find that 64 percent men view porn at least once a month (54 percent for born-again Christian men)

About one-third of all self-identified Christian men do not view porn every month. Of those who do, 10 percent are nominal Christians. Of those who are born again, only about 11 percent would be what we’d consider “evangelicals.” (The survey doesn’t appear to have asked about church attendance or denominational affiliation.)

Were these pervert men “real” Christians? The Gospel Coalition asks. This, of course, is their standard answer anytime a study or article makes Evangelicalism look bad. They aren’t real Christians! Nice try. I suspect that there are Gospel Coalition fellows who frequent Pornhub. Jesus is no antidote for porn use.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Pastor Jamie Steele Charged With Driving While Impaired

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
pastor jamie steele

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Jamie Steele, pastor of East Taylorsville Baptist Church in Taylorsville, North Carolina, was charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard, discharging a firearm in city limits, open container of alcohol, damage to property, carrying a concealed weapon, going armed to the terror of the public, driving left of center, exceeding safe speed and unsafe passing.

The Hickory Daily Record reports:

James “Jamie” Oliver Steele, 53, of Taylorsville, is charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard, discharging a firearm in city limits, open container of alcohol, damage to property, carrying a concealed weapon, going armed to the terror of the public, driving left of center, exceeding safe speed and unsafe passing, Taylorsville police said in a news release.

The crash occurred along West Main Avenue in Taylorsville on Jan. 24. Steele was charged on Friday.

A white Toyota Tacoma truck was traveling west along West Main Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. on Jan. 24, police said. The vehicle veered to the left and struck four utility poles near the intersection of West Main Avenue and Seventh Street SW. The crash broke at least two of the utilities poles and left powerlines strewn across the road, causing the road to be shut down, Taylorsville police said.

While emergency responders were present, the driver of the Tacoma pulled out a semiautomatic pistol, Taylorsville police said. Steele was identified by Taylorsville police as the driver.

“While I was looking at the power lines down, I noticed several first responders and the witnesses running away from the vehicle involved in the accident,” Taylorsville police Lt. Kevin Elder said in the release. “I could hear (Alexander County Sheriff’s Deputy) Caudle yelling on the radio; however, I could not make out what he was saying. I spoke with Adrian Foster who came up to me and he stated that the driver had just pulled out a gun and began to point it at the people around and put the gun to his head.”

Taylorsville police said Steele was threatening to harm himself. Following the crash, the vehicle was surrounded by Taylorsville police officers and the Alexander County Sheriff’s Office deputies, according to the release.

One shot was fired from inside the wrecked vehicle. No one was injured, Taylorsville police said. It was nearly one hour before Steele surrendered to police, Taylorsville police said.

….

West Main Avenue was closed for more than six hours as the utility poles and lines were repaired.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Is the Southern Baptist Convention Growing?

Bruce Gerencser 6 Comments
southern baptist attendance

Today, the Biblical Reporter breathlessly reported:

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) spent 2023 serving Southern Baptists in their efforts to reach North America with the gospel through church planting, compassion ministry, evangelism and chaplaincy.

In 2023, NAMB celebrated a milestone in church planting—more than 10,000 new churches started since 2010—and a record-setting total of $70.2 million given to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® (AAEO).

“If we make the Great Commission the top priority, our best years of ministry are ahead of us,” said NAMB president Kevin Ezell. “As Southern Baptists, we’ve faced challenges within our family of churches and dealt with external pressures from our secularizing culture. We continue to focus on Christ and His mission through it all, proclaiming the gospel and participating in God’s mission to build His kingdom in North America and around the world.”

Every year, NAMB tabulates the number of churches Southern Baptists planted the previous year. In 2023, NAMB noted that the class of 2022 church plants—639 new churches—pushed the total of churches Southern Baptists have planted since 2010 beyond the 10,000 mark.

Wow! The Southern Baptist Convention has planted over 10,000 churches since 2010. Reading the excerpt above might give the uninitiated reader the idea that the SBC is g-r-o-w-i-n-g. It’s not.

In May 2023, Lifeway Research reported:

Within the Southern Baptist Convention, multisite congregations reported 585 campuses in addition to their first location. The SBC saw 416 fewer churches and 165 fewer church-type missions associated with the convention in 2022 than in the previous year.

Fewer churches, not more. The SBC is known for playing games with statistics. “We started 1,000 new churches in 2022! Praise Jesus.” The small print says, “We closed 1,416 churches in 2022, a net loss of 416 churches. Further, a ploy the SBC uses to prop up new church numbers is to close churches and re-open them with a new name. First Baptist Church of Podunk, Kentucky becomes Grace Fellowship of Greater Lexington, Kentucky. Same people (or perhaps more people from a merger with another declining congregation), same pastor (or perhaps a super-duper church planter), and same building.

The numbers are clear, the SBC is in numeric freefall. Having a record Annie Armstrong offering doesn’t change the fact that 13.2 million were on Southern Baptist church membership rolls in 2022, yet on any given Sunday, only 3.8 million people were in attendance at a particular church. Less than 1/3 of Southern Baptist Christians attend church on Sundays. This statistic is the true measure of the health of the SBC.

Membership peaked at 16 million in 2005. That same year, almost 10 million members were nowhere to be found on Sundays.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Pastor Charles “Randy” Free Sentenced to 90 Months in Prison for Theft and Money Laundering

Bruce Gerencser 2 Comments
Randy-and-Michelle-Free

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Charles Randall “Randy” Free, pastor of Cedar Cross Country Church in Alvarado, Texas, was convicted of theft, two counts of money laundering, and one count of misappropriation of fiduciary property, all related to amounts over $300,000. Free was sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison and 10 years of probation. Free’s wife, Michelle, was also indicted but has not yet faced trial.

Ministry Watch reports:

Charles Randall “Randy” Free, former pastor of Cedar Cross Country Church in Alvarado, Texas, was convicted of four first-degree felonies and sentenced to 7 years and 6 months in prison and 10 years of probation, to be served concurrently.

According to Johnson County Assistant District Attorney Tim Good, on December 1 the jury found Free guilty of theft, two counts of money laundering, and one count of misappropriation of fiduciary property, all related to amounts over $300,000.

Free and his wife Michelle were accused of taking control of the church’s assets by making himself the president and registered agent for the Cedar Cross Country Church. The Frees then set up a separate non-profit corporation, Team Heritage International, in order to move the church’s assets and sell the church property for between $1 million and $1.5 million. Some of those funds were apparently used by the Frees to buy themselves a house.

“The tithes went to [Free], and he made his life better off the sacrifices of the church members,” Good told MinistryWatch.

As part of his probation, Good said they want to ensure Free can’t engage in these kinds of financial crimes again. While his terms of probation won’t prohibit him from ministry, they will require he disclose his conviction and prevent him from sitting on the board of a church or nonprofit with control over the finances.

The civil case seeking the recovery of church funds was resolved in May after the receiver was able to acquire and deposit over $1.2 million of the church’s funds with the court. The funds have now been returned to the church.

The district attorney’s office also plans to seek restitution for the remaining $255,000 that was not recovered in the accompanying civil case.

Cedar Cross Country Church lost their building due to Free’s actions, but the Southern Baptist Convention learned of a nearby building that was being vacated by an older congregation and allowed Cedar Cross to use it.

At the trial, testimony was given that Free is still leading Cedar Cross Country Church, but it consists of somewhere between five and 15 people and meets in homes across the area now.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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The End of the Road: Twenty Years Ago, I Pastored My Last Church

Bruce Gerencser 13 Comments
white birch clare michigan 2003-001
House we rented in White Birch, a wooded, gated community north of Farwell, Michigan for $750 a month. At the time, I was pastoring Victory Baptist Church, Clare Michigan 2003

In July 2002, I resigned from Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio, thinking I had pastored my last church. Five years previously, I had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. The disease was manageable as long as paced myself and managed to regularly rest. Polly and I decided to seek out a church to join, one we could help with our money and skills. Eight months later, we were thoroughly discouraged, wondering if there was a church anywhere that took seriously the teachings of Christ. By then, much like an athlete who retires, I started feeling “God” wanted me to pastor again. Of course, “God” was Bruce. The ministry was so much a part of who I was, that it was silly for me to think that I could ever stop preaching and doing the work of the ministry.

In March 2003, I sent my resume to several Southern Baptist area missionaries in Ohio and Michigan. These men quickly circulated my resume among churches looking for a pastor, and overnight my phone began to ring. The first church to call was a small church in Clare, Michigan, Victory Baptist Church. The Sunday before Easter, I went to Clare to preach for them. We were well received by the 40 or so people who were in attendance. Bruce, the entrepreneur saw potential, but I wondered what dysfunction lurked below the surface that was not readily apparent. Churches always hide their dirty laundry from prospective pastors, especially if they really want a certain man to become their next pastor. In retrospect, I should have demanded the congregation empty their proverbial closets so I could ascertain the true condition of the church. Alas, I did not. Bruce, the preacher just wanted to get back to preaching. How bad could things be, right?

Two weeks later, I went back to Clare and preached for the church again. Later the following week, the church unanimously voted to call me as their next pastor. Soon after, we packed up our belongings and moved to Clare, leaving behind our three oldest children.

By late October 2003, Polly and I and our three youngest children returned to northwest Ohio. While we accomplished much while at Victory Baptist — major building remodel, new church sign, increased attendance, refinancing the church’s mortgage, implementation of proper financial controls, and cleaning up church membership roll — institutional dysfunction and conflict with several long-time members, led to me resigning.

I called for a business meeting, hoping to resolve our disagreements. I had warned the church that I would not fight with them. I was at a place in life where I had no interest in conflict. I was naive in thinking I could pastor a BAPTIST church without conflict.

One week before the meeting, a church member asked if she could put some outdoor toys in the nursery for the children to use. I took a look at the toys and told her that they were not safe for use in a nursery with younger children. There is too much risk of injury, I told her, thinking that would be the end of it. A day later, I came to the church and found the toys in the nursery anyway. Angry, I removed them, telling the woman — who saw herself as a preacher, an apologist — that the toys could not be used in the nursery; that they were not safe for young children. She replied we will see about that.

A big crowd awaited me when I arrived at the church for the business meeting. What should have been a discussion about the future of the church turned into a debate about nursery toys. I told the church that someone had to make the final decision on the toys, and that someone was me. Some congregants wanted to have a vote on the toys, which I rebuffed, saying, the toys are not safe for young children. I thought that would put an end to the toys issue, but several members were intent on defending the honor of the offended member. One of the deacons spoke up and said, you are the best preacher I have heard in fifty years, but we can’t allow this to happen. I knew, at that moment, my time at Victory Baptist Church was over. Another member — the church treasurer who hadn’t balanced the church books in five years — let me know that my vision for the church had never been theirs. Her words cut me to the quick. I had been spending 30-40 hours a week on the church remodeling project, spending that $10,000 that the church treasurer didn’t know the church had because she couldn’t be bothered to balance the books. My sons came up several times to help with the project — a new church platform, new carpet and lighting in the auditorium, three new classrooms, new nursery, and repairs and paint throughout. I spent countless hours hanging drywall, wiring lights, and hanging doors. The only extra help I had was a retired church member who had extensive construction experience — a real lifesaver and a great guy — Polly and the kids, when she wasn’t working, and the Tero family that came from Georgia to help with the project. Not one other member meaningfully helped with the months-long project. I should have known then that my vision was not theirs.

I reminded the church that I had told them that I would not fight with them. Since it was evident that the church and I were on different pages, I resigned. Afterward, not one church member contacted us. On the day we moved, we were all alone. Our oldest children came to help us move, a reminder when it comes right down to it, all you have is family. Even the church family of twelve who literally lived right across the street from us — people with whom we were very close — left early in the morning on the day we moved, not saying a word to us. It was as if we didn’t exist.

In retrospect, I never should have pastored Victory Baptist Church. Quite frankly, they didn’t deserve to have me as their pastor. We sacrificed greatly to come to Clare. Polly left her well-paying job at Sauder Woodworking, taking a job at a local laundromat that paid a pittance compared to what she made at Sauder’s. My salary? $250 a week, with no insurance benefits. (We received Medicaid insurance and food stamps while we lived in Clare.) We got by, but it wasn’t easy. Polly and I, along with our children, are survivors. Not one time did anyone ask how we were doing.

Sadly, there are thousands of thousands of Victory Baptist churches in the United States; congregations that chew up and spit out pastor after pastor, believing that these men are the problem, not them. Rarely will they look in the mirror and see that their incestuous dysfunction and tribalism are the problem, not the pastor. (And don’t get me wrong, pastors can be a problem too.)

I never should have pastored this church. As a church planter, I saw Victory Baptist as an opportunity for Bruce to work his magic as he had done several times before. I loved the challenge. I misread the true nature of this church, and for that, I take full responsibility.

As Polly and I drove out of Clare in our U-Haul truck, we decided to drive by the church one last time. As we did, there was the toy lady standing on a ladder with a razor scraper, scraping my name off the sign. And just like that, I never existed. Not long after, several families left the church — including several large tithers — and the church closed its doors.

I would try once again to pastor in 2005 — candidating at two Southern Baptist churches in West Virginia — but my heart wasn’t in it. My preaching days were officially over.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Did I Really Have a Choice to Become Anything Other Than What I Became?

Bruce Gerencser 12 Comments
indoctrination

Recently, my friend and longtime reader ObstacleChick (OC) left the following comment:

I was one of those “saved” kids who had to bite the bullet and give in to being saved. How could I have chosen otherwise?

There I was, 12 years old, in a home where my grandpa was chairman of deacons at a Southern Baptist church, grandma was Sunday school and women’s missionary union teacher as well as in the choir, my stepdad had recently been baptized as an adult to make my mom happy and because his infant baptism in Lutheran church didn’t count, and within the past year I had been sent to a fundamentalist Christian school where we were daily indoctrinated.

Oh, I had tons of questions and doubts, and there was a lot about salvation and hell that seemed unfair to me. But I felt I had no choice but to do it – go down front and get baptized. My family kept bugging me that I needed to “make a profession of faith”. Most of the other 12-year-olds had been or were scheduled to be baptized. Every church service and every chapel service at school ended in an altar call.

Literally, what choice did 12-year-old ObstacleChick have? I had already been shut down at church for asking hard questions. At school, my grades were tied to giving the correct answers, so there was no room for questions. My entire family accepted that This Was The Way – The Only Way. The only other way was ostracized, punishment, eternal hell.

I regret that I was brought up this way. I suffered from this religion. I am so glad I was able to come out of it before subjecting my children to it. As young adults, they can make their own choices, as they should.

Speaking of her childhood indoctrination and conditioning in a Southern Baptist congregation and devoutly Christian family, OC asks, “What choice did 12-year-old ObstacleChick have?” This, of course, is a rhetorical question. OC didn’t have a choice. Everything in her life was focused on OC making THE decision. People not raised in Southern Baptist and Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregations don’t understand the pressure children and teens face to convert. Virtually every day, young OC was reminded that she wasn’t saved, that she was headed for Hell unless she repented and asked Jesus to save her. Is it a shocker that she finally got saved?

And after she finally sealed the deal with Jesus? More pressure. More pressure to read the Bible, pray, attend church every time the doors were open, and keep all the rules, regulations, and edicts to the letter. And if she didn’t? God’s (and the church’s and her family’s) judgment and chastisement awaited her. Is it any surprise that OC is an unbeliever today?

My life took a similar track as OC’s — with a few differences. Unlike OC, I didn’t have any questions or doubts. I was all in. Whatever my pastor, youth pastor, Sunday school teacher, and visiting preachers said, I believed. I was a perfect target for “God” calling me into the ministry. I was saved at the age of fifteen, and for the next thirty years or so, I was a true-blue believer; God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me. My life was set in motion the day my far-right parents walked into Scott Memorial Baptist Church in San Diego in the early 60s and got saved. My path was steady and sure until decades later I pondered THE question: what if I am wrong?

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Jesus Makes a Personal Appearance at Local Evangelical Church

Bruce Gerencser 14 Comments
olive branch ministries

Two miles down the road from our home lies Olive Branch Ministries, pastored by Keith Adkins. One of a plethora of dying Christian churches around us, Olive Branch rebranded itself from Olive Branch [Pentecostal] Church of God, thinking that a fancy new name will magically rejuvenate the congregation and draw new blood to the church. This is a common practice these days by Evangelical churches, thinking if they paint their dying carcass with a patina of bright, shiny colors, Dr. Frankenstein will exclaim, He’s Alive! Granted, many sects are perceived in less than flattering light these days, so I understand why churches might want to trick the public into thinking that what goes on within the four walls of their sanctuaries is new and improved, just what the public is looking for. Southern Baptist congregations are notorious for their rebrands — dropping all public affiliation with the SBC. People uninitiated in the wily practices of area missionaries and church planters might think that a new non-denominational church has come to town, only to find out that the only thing that changed is the name.

I know very little about Olive Branch outside of driving by their building on Sundays and counting the cars in the parking lot. The church had a recent pastor change. Ned Speiser, a local realtor, was the pastor for years before Keith Adkins assumed the pulpit. I do know that Olive Branch is one of the older congregations in Defiance County. I couldn’t find any public information about the church or its pastor. The church has no social media presence. I find it inexplicable for a church in 2023 to not have a quality, informative website and social media presence. (I built my first church website with Microsoft FrontPage in the late 1990s.)

Christianity, by and large, is slowly dying in rural northwest Ohio, with younger adults saying “no thanks,” and boomers and their parents hanging on for dear life, hoping that Jesus is coming soon to rescue them from the horde of unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines amassed at their metaphorical gates. Of course, the Philistines aren’t at their gates. They simply don’t care and have better things to do on Sundays than listen to boring sermons and sing catchy, shallow praise and worship songs. I suspect that by 2050, a lot of local churches will either close their doors or merge with other congregations. When the money dies — think old people — it’s game over.

It is human nature to want to live at all costs. This is just as true for people as it is for businesses and churches. No church wants to close its door, admitting that it failed. So congregations look for ways to regain their glory years; a time when pews were filled with young and old, souls were saved, and offering plates were overflowing. Pastors and other church leaders go to conferences to learn new ways to transform their congregations. One popular method is for churches to change their music. Churches known for hymn singing scrap the old way and start singing praise and worship songs, led by a worship leader/praise team and band (or at least a grandfather with a guitar). Result? Awful music that disconnects parishoners from worship.

Country churches running under one hundred in attendance think they can mimic what they see happening in megachurches; large congregations led by paid professional singers and musicians, using equipment that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. What megachurch wannabees fail to see is this: megachurch services are more about entertainment than worship. Small church pastors think that if they preach entertaining sermons like big-name megachurch preachers, people will flock to their churches. Lost on these pastors is that preaching is an art and that it is unwise to mimic other preachers. We attended a church years ago where the pastor was preaching Rick Warren’s sermons word for word. It took me a couple of weeks to catch on to what this mimic was doing, but once I figured out he was stealing Warren’s sermons, we stopped attending. The church closed its doors several years later.

Churches are free to do whatever they want. However, if their goal is growth, they might want to consider how they are viewed by non-attendees. They might want to survey attendees and ask them what they liked and didn’t like about the service they attended. I have thought about becoming a church consultant; someone who would turn a critical eye to their congregations, looking at every facet of their business — from the parking lot to the bathrooms. (I have also thought about being a restaurant consultant.)

Take Olive Branch. Recently, they planted the following sign in their yard. As you shall see, the sign is way too small to be seen by people speeding down the highway at fifty-five miles per hour. I had Polly turn around so I could actually read what the sign said and take a photograph.

come meet jesus

I suspect the church and its pastor believe that “where two or three are gathered [at 11:00 am on Sundays and 6:30 pm on Wednesdays] together in my [Jesus] name, I am in their midst.” I wonder if the church has ever asked themselves how they know they do anything in Jesus’ name, and how would they know that Jesus is in their midst? Hundreds of churches in the four-county area believe the same thing. Imagine being Jesus’ scheduler. Millions of Christian churches across the globe, yet he allegedly is sitting in the front pew of every one of them. Of course, Jesus doesn’t appear physically at these churches. Instead, he’s there in Spirit. How any church can KNOW Jesus is there in Spirit is never stated. I suspect that generation after generation after generation of church members say “Jesus is in our midst,” that everyone assumes this claim is true.

Pastor Adkins and his congregation believe that non-Christian or wrong-Christian passersby are in bondage to sin; lacking the freedom that only their peculiar version of Jesus can give. How do they know this? Bible verses will be quoted and personal testimonies uttered, but those in bondage to sin will just have to take their word for it. As someone who is a sin-loving heathen, I laugh when Evangelicals tell me I am in “bondage.” I reject their presuppositions out of hand, including the anti-human notion that every person who has ever lived on planet Earth was born a depraved sinner, headed for eternal damnation and Hell unless they repent of their sins and put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

I left Christianity in 2008. I found that religion was bondage, not life; that I spent fifty years in servitude in Egypt, and once I escaped, I found the Promised Land — a land that flows with reason, common sense, and skepticism.

I wish that Jesus was making public appearances at Olive Branch Ministries at 11:00 am on Sundays. I have a lot of questions I would like to ask him. Alas, I know Jesus will not be appearing at any church this Sunday. He can’t. Jesus was buried two thousand years ago in an unknown Judean grave; all that remains is an idea, one that became hopelessly corrupted by organized religion. If Jesus does make a personal appearance at Olive Branch this Sunday, I suspect he would be a first-time visitor.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Update: Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Student Pastor Daniel Mayfield Charged with Voyeurism and Sexual Exploitation

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
daniel mayfield

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Daniel Mayfield, a student pastor at First Baptist Church of Gowensville in Landrum, South Carolina, stands accused of secretly video recording a woman while she was taking a shower. First Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention

Fox Carolina reports:

The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office said a youth pastor admitted to videotaping a woman while she was in the shower on Saturday.

According to an incident report, a woman told deputies she was showering at her mother’s house when she saw a light outside the bathroom window. When she went to look, she said she saw 35-year-old Daniel Kellan Mayfield standing in the backyard alone.

The woman and her sister told deputies they confronted Mayfield about the incident to which he initially denied. He then admitted to taking a video of her while she was showering and gave her the phone to look at the video, according tot he report.

Deputies were contacted and responded to Mayfield’s home to speak with him. After admitting to law enforcement, he was taken to the Greenwood County Detention Center and charged with voyeurism.

First Baptist Gowensville, which is located in Greenville County, confirmed that Mayfield was employed with the church as a student pastor.

He was fired from the church on the day of his arrest.

First Baptist immediately fired Mayfield, but makes no mention of him and his alleged crime on their Facebook page or website.

After this story was published, more allegations were leveled against Mayfield.

Fox Carolina reports:

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office announced that an Upstate youth pastor is facing new charges after allegedly videoing girls in the shower of an Upstate church.

Deputies said they began investigating the situation on May 30 after they received information from the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office.

The Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office said the youth pastor, 35-year-old Daniel Kellan Mayfield, admitted to videotaping a woman while she was in the shower on Saturday, May 27.

Following this incident, deputies in Greenville County investigated and discovered that Mayfield allegedly filmed multiple girls in the bathroom of Gowensville Baptist Church in Landrum. They added that they’ve identified six victims so far and that they are as young as 14 years old. According to deputies, Mayfield reportedly set up and recorded video inside the restroom on at least three occasions dating back to July 2022.

First Baptist Gowensville confirmed that Mayfield was employed as a student pastor. However, he was fired from the church on the day of his arrest. Deputies said they believe Mayfield acted alone and don’t believe anyone from the church knew about his activity. On June 1, the church released the following statement on the incident.

The charges keep on coming for Mayfield.

Yahoo reports:

A former youth pastor at a Landrum church faces additional charges for criminal sexual conduct, according to arrest warrants provided by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office.

Daniel Kellan Mayfield, 35, now faces a total 14 charges for filming underage girls and women in the bathroom of Gowensville Baptist Church while still in his official capacity as a youth pastor for the church.

Mayfield was previously charged with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, first degree, as well as one voyeurism charge. At the time, investigators said at least six victims were involved, as young as 14-years-old.

Mayfield now faces five additional counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and three voyeurism charges, according to warrants filed Thursday, June 8.

Warrants allege Mayfield filmed the victims “in a closed bathroom … where (they) had a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office warrants allege that Mayfield admitted to recording underage girls during an interview with Greenwood County deputies. The videos were allegedly found on his phone.

The alleged crimes occurred on five different dates between May 2021 and September 2022, according to the fourteen separate warrants.

Mayfield faces an additional voyeurism charge in Greenwood County according to public court records.

Mayfield was arrested at his Boiling Springs residence on June 1. He is currently detained at the Greenville County Detention Center and pending an initial court appearance, according to the jail’s website.

“Investigators do believe Daniel Mayfield acted alone and do not have reason to believe anyone from the church had knowledge of the unlawful activity,” Lt. Ryan Flood of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said in a June 1 email.

According to the Christian Post, Mayfield is facing 35 counts of criminal sexual conduct in Greenville County while he is facing an additional 11 counts in Greenwood County.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Black Collar Crime: Southern Baptist Pastor Daryl Stagg Accused of Rape and Oral Sexual Battery

Bruce Gerencser 0 Comments
daryl stagg

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Daryl Stagg, a prominent Louisiana Southern Baptist pastor and denomination leader, stands accused of three counts each of oral sexual battery, first-degree rape, aggravated crimes against nature (felony), and indecent behavior with juveniles.

KALB-5 reports:

A prominent Louisiana Baptist leader in the Central Louisiana area has been arrested.

Daryl Stagg, 60, of Pollock, was arrested on June 8 and is being held at the Grant Parish Detention Center in Colfax.

Stagg has been charged with three counts each of oral sexual battery (felony), first degree rape (felony), aggravated crimes against nature (felony) and indecent behavior with juveniles (felony). Bond has been set at $500,000. He remains in jail at this time.

The Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office said that there will be a press conference on Monday, June 12, at 11 a.m. to discuss a recent investigation involving sex crimes with young children as victims. Sheriff Steven McCain said that he is concerned that there may be other victims related to the case. The Union Parish and Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Offices will be at the press conference as well.

The Louisiana Baptists confirmed that Stagg has been the Associational Mission Strategist for the Big Creek and CenLa Baptist Associations.

The Roys Report adds:

Daryl Ray Stagg, 60, of Pollock, was arrested last Thursday in Grant Parish, Louisiana, on 12 felony sex crimes. The initial charges included

three counts each of first-degree rape, oral sexual battery, aggravated crimes against nature, and indecent behavior with juveniles. On Monday, authorities in nearby Union Parish announced a fourth count of each of these felony crimes had been added to charges against Stagg, following another alleged victim coming forward. Stagg is being held at Grant Parish Detention Center on a $500,000 bond. A Third District judge set an additional retainer of $950,000 in Union Parish, if Stagg were to make bond in Grant Parish. At a press conference on Monday involving sheriffs from three area parishes, Union Parish Sheriff Dusty Gates stated the crimes involved “young children.” Gates said: “These are very heinous crimes. We want to work hard to get this individual off the street and not have him be able to return to society.” The current allegations go back “several years,” but not decades, he added. 

….

In the 2021 Annual Report of the LBC, Stagg’s name appears multiple times, including as a member of the LBC’s Church Site Corporation Committee.

Prior to his current role in Louisiana, Stagg served in a similar role in an SBC association in central Missouri, according to his LinkedIn profile. From 2005 to 2012, he served as a domestic missionary in Lake County, Illinois, for the SBC’s North American Mission Board (NAMB).

He previously served as a pastor for 19 years prior to his role as “pastor to pastors,” according to a 2018 article. Stagg was a pastor in a succession of three Louisiana churches and pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.