McLean Bible Church Elders and David Platt claim victory in vote; however, many conservatives promise to hold Platt accountable for violations of the Church Constitution and his lies.
In a desperate bid to maintain power, David Platt and his Board of Elders at McLean Bible Church purged many faithful members just prior to the elder confirmation election held Sunday. Sunday morning, multiple members of McLean Bible Church, some active members since 1997 who were faithfully attending, were denied ballots. At least four such members were denied ballots, according to persons with knowledge of the situation.
“The Lord will have the final say, not David,” said Jeremiah Burke, a leader of the Save McLean Bible Church movement. “It is far from over. We’ll remain faithful to the Truth and restore the vision for which MBC was founded.”
Burke said this was a fight to force David Platt, the Elders and McLean Bible Church to do the right thing and abide by the McLean Bible Church Constitution and church precedent.
David Platt and the elders Larry Cooper, Wayne Fujito, and Patrick Lee have been trampling the Constitution by affiliating with the SBC and then renominating the same (rather than “additional”) three elders that the congregation just voted down on June 30th, according to the Save McLean Bible Church group.
McLean Bible Church claims it got about 78% vote of approval for its slate of elder nominees. Though, as one longtime MBC insider said, the claim is “sketchy” given that no numbers were provided of actual ballots and the long list of voting irregularities intended to deny conservative MBC members their right to vote.
Also, open ballots were used as an intimidation technique to halt staff from voting against the elders whom they and the congregation deemed unqualified at the June 30 meeting. Since 1961, the church has never used an open ballot until Sunday, July 18, 2021. So, the entire church history stands in contrast to this desperate move.
The church claimed an independent third-party counted the ballots; however, the group of McLean Bible Church conservatives claim it was not an independent group but the church’s own law firm handling the ballots.
The business meeting at McLean Bible Church during the Sunday morning worship service featured a wild confrontation, which was applauded by the congregation, with one ministry leader attempting to ask questions and raise a point of order, which the presiding officer Elder Larry Cooper ignored and refused to recognize.
The confrontation lasted about seven minutes with church security demanding the well-respected ministry leader leave the church. While the confrontation was unfolding, the business meeting live feed to the satellite campuses was cut—hiding the chaos in a move worthy of the Soviets.
The entire elder nomination process was one where church leadership refused to answer questions.
In fact, another confrontation during the meeting highlighted a persistent David Platt lie—that nobody raised biblical objections.
“We sent tons of emails,” exclaimed another member from the floor—who was also ignored by the presiding officer.
The Next Phase of the Fight to Save McLean Bible Church
Pleadings before the Virginia Circuit Court now are expected to center on the arbitrary and capricious manner of eliminating voters planning to oppose the slate of nominees. There are already court precedents in Virginia allowing for courts to intervene in disputes involving Congregational-led churches to hold fair business meetings and to enforce compliance with church constitutions.
Also, since these same nominees were rejected at the June 30 meeting, there is expected to be a constitutional challenge that the resubmission of the same names violated the MBC Constitution.
According to the McLean Bible Church Constitution Article 3, Section 4, declares, “If as a result of the election, the Board of Elders fails to consist of a minimum of six (6) elected elders, in addition to the pastor-teacher, the elders shall submit additional nominations to the congregation for approval within ninety (90) days after the June Congregational Meeting.”