The law firm representing McLean Bible Church and who oversaw the balloting June 30 is the same law firm that sent cease and desist letters to dissident members of First Baptist Church of Naples, Florida during its congregational turmoil.
Holland & Knight represented McLean Bible Church for years and was tasked with overseeing the vote, according to this blogger who attended the congregational meeting. A different lawyer with Holland & Knight sent Naples dissidents this cease & desist letter.
Now, let us be clear, there is nothing wrong with the law firm. The point is that it is a very good and very expensive national firm. What it highlights is that these megachurches are big business. Their practices from law firms to Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) mirror the secular world far more than the New Testament church. And the situation in Naples illustrates this.
For those who do not remember, FBC Naples leadership ran off its longtime pastor and attempted to replace him with someone conservative members of the congregation believed was Woke. The result was Big Evangelical (Big Eva for short) celebrities labeling these people racists.
It was a uniform condemnation of the church members by people who did not bother to get both sides of the story.
That’s another similarity to how Big Eva celebrities reacted to the issues with David Platt. Big Eva is reflexively defensive of any criticism of those admitted to its ranks.
There is another interesting similarity to the tale of Naples the tale of McLean Bible Church—the handling of the legendary former pastor by sketchy businessmen turned church leaders.
Julie Roys posted an extensive story on the background to how FBC Naples treated Hayes Wicker in March 2020. This is highly recommended reading since it provides both sides of the story and background information.
Of note, FBC Naples stopped paying Wicker his severance package at the time it excommunicated 18 members for allegedly racist conduct in opposing the Woke pastor nominee. As we noted at the time, the Neo-Marxist of Big Eva turned Stalinist when people voted the wrong way, and by the wrong way we mean against them.
One more similarity to note is the claim at McLean Bible Church and Naples of using a church email list without authorization.
We should note here that MBC never had a policy for giving out its contact list and we were told by many insiders the list was handed out like candy to anyone and everyone in the church wanting it for ministry use and even outside ministry events. MBC’s repeated attempts to scare the congregation that someone had hacked or inappropriately accessed the information illustrates how disingenuous David Platt was. Later, Platt told the church it wasn’t hacked but someone inside the church gave out the information.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but David Platt is a liar.
It was a similar ploy at Naples, which resulted in detectives visiting the home of the daughter of the former pastor over an email sent to church members. (See the Roys story linked above for more details.)
What stands out in both situations is how church leaders reacted to an event that did not go their way. Naples turned to news releases to smear church members and David Platt at MBC turned to his Sunday sermon to attack nameless forces “inside and outside” the church coordinating a takeover attempt.
Of course, Platt’s rhetoric of takeover ignores the fact that MBC belongs just as much to those dissidents inside the church as it does to him—which is to say, despite Platt’s narcissism, in congregational polity, the little people have just as much of a right to a voice in church government as the greatest in the assembly.
A key complaint among MBC dissidents is the lack of accountability and transparency from church leadership. For example, nobody except a handful of people know how much David Platt is paid—and this includes many elders!
So, the very people tasked with oversight of David Platt and McLean Bible Church business were not able to do that job.
What does that tell you?
Why are secular institutions more open and honest about salaries than many churches?
This is especially interesting given that McLean Bible Church purchased a home for Platt that cost over $800,000 and pays him a salary well into six-figures. As we noted before, in Lifestyles of the Rich & Radical, Platt and other Big Eva celebrities enjoy the best of life including first-class airfare.
This is similar to other issues in Big Eva.
This type of conspicuous consumption seems to be something of note now First Baptist Church of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The lavish spending and exotic tastes of its recently hired pastor James Welch drew concerns from the congregation. Overspending was a key concern among dissidents who were worried about the church’s health. Also, the longtime and award-winning Christmas pageant was replaced with an exotic car ministry.
How did James Welch respond to the challenge?
Mass excommunications.
Do you detect a trend here? These megachurch pastors will have no opposition. Their whim is law. Also, there is another item staring us in the face—each of these stories involved someone who is Woke.
Platt is Woke. His embrace of Critical Race Theory is now exposed.
Welch is Woke. His sermon in New Orleans many years ago show he already adopted the language of CRT that claims disparity is proof of racism.
The rejected pastor at Naples was allegedly Woke—and we have reason to suspect the allegation was true given how many Woke SBC celebrities attacked the dissident church members.
Woke pastors are causing church splits. The congregations are split by the Woke lies and Social Justice heresy. It was David Platt, James Welch and others who are dividing their churches.
The so-called dissidents are only standing on God’s timeless truth.