MondayMorningInsight - Leadership & Encouragement for Church Leaders

Group Opposed to Bellevue Leadership Forms a Board of Directors

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Mon, January 29, 2007
Viewed 161
(66) comments so far

We’ve talked about the Bellevue situation numerous times (here, here, and here) at MMI. We’ve also talked about the growing propencity of people to air their grievances with church leadership over the web through websites and blogs.

Again, someone ups the stakes with an official, chartered group within a church taking their fight for ‘integrity’ public. How will churches deal with individuals who feel “compelled to sound its voice, take necessary measures, and use all available resources for seeking the truth concerning questionable events and actions”

Admirable goals, I guess. But to do so publically… I’m not sure.

More from their website:

Integrity Does Count, Inc., (IDC) consisting entirely of Bellevue Baptist Church (BBC) members, announces its charter and aims to bring truth to both the unanswered questions as well as to the non-disclosed facts and records of the current administration. Members of IDC, Inc. have been carefully following the events as they have occurred over the past 18 months at Bellevue Baptist Church under the leadership of Senior Pastor, Dr. Steve Gaines.

Integrity Does Count, Inc. will hold a church-wide meeting away from the campus of BBC on or before February 16, 2007, where it hopes to address the above concerns as well as to establish a congregation-approved framework for church governance that will include up-to-date bylaws and regulations. An attempt was made to seek approval for an on-campus meeting. A further attempt was made to obtain a mailing list of church membership in order to inform each member of the upcoming, church-wide meeting. Both attempts were futile, and IDC’s requests were denied by BBC staff members.

The church administration has willfully neglected to uphold the State of Tennessee Statute, T.C.A. 48-66-101 et. seq., that governs Not-For-Profit organizations and leaves this incorporated group of BBC wondering what the church administration stands to gain by locking its doors and closing its books.

Realizing the necessity for following God’s design as illustrated in Matthew 18, and missing the fellowship of faithful members who are choosing to worship in sister churches, Integrity Does Count, Inc. is even more compelled to sound its voice, take necessary measures, and use all available resources for seeking the truth concerning questionable events and actions within Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee.

A few questions, I have…

1. When does this kind of thing (if ever) become necessary?

2. When is it time to just let go and leave?

3. How, particularly in a Baptist, congregational rule church, does a group all of a sudden become convinced that nearly every leader in their church (most of whom they’ve elected) are all evil and lack integrity?

4. If you’re a member of the leadership in this church, what do you do with members who go on the record and start a splinter group from within the church to fight your leadership?

5. Is anything EVER gained for the cause of Christ through this kind of exchange?

Please understand… I am by no means saying that all that has happened (particularly with the recent staff firing) was done correctly or incorrectly; and I’m not taking sides on which side is actually correct… my question is more: how far should a congregant (or a group of congregants) go to get the outcome they feel is correct? And how much of this is fueled by a ‘this is MY church’, ‘this is OUR church’ type thing?

Please… help me understand better be telling me what you think? Take a few minutes to answer the above questions. I think it’s valuable to do so, if only because this very well could happen in your church in the near future. It seems to be a growing trend…

Thanks,

Yes, that's correct... there is now a group of members of Bellevue Baptist that has formed it's own group officially opposing the church leadership. On their new website (integritydoescount.com) they say... "It is not uncommon for leadership changes within a church to result in some discontent and even discord within its membership. But, for a group of members inside a church of 30,000 to incorporate themselves, form a board of directors, and set out for the sole purpose of instilling accountability in its own church government and leadership is unusual and perhaps unprecedented."

Comments

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smatha on Fri, February 02, 2007

Followup-1. When necessary?-maybe never in a church this large. The situation is now that the IDC group will be actively trying to “take down” the leadership @ the church. At no time has this been done well by either side, to a degree. The pulpit and leadership has failed to acknowledge that there is opposition. I’m to the point that I think they should just take each accusation and have a meeting of explanation that is open to all and then shut it off. The fact is that in a church this large, there is no way a staff can lead in any direction if they have to stop and explain every move they make. 2. Let go/leave-I’m of the opinion that if I don’t like a church any more, I leave. I was in a liberal church and I’m not quite that way so I thought well maybe I can change some minds/hearts, nope-just a lot of arguments about doctrine. Time to go. Same deal here. They are saying we won’t go and we’re going to drive Gaines away if it kills the church. The fact is that any bad publicity prior to the child molestation thing was “church stuff” that never should have been public. 3. I have no answer to that, I’ve wondered it myself. 4. Don’t know, I think the church is handling it rather badly at that but again I don’t know how else they could operate if every time 100 members or 1000 members didn’t like the soup on Wed nights or the preaching on Sun morning that group became an official protest group. 5. I don’t see a gain for the cause, it make our church look like exactly what the world says about the church, behold how they smear the reputations of one another, gossip, accuse publicly, demean and ridicule, and generally act like politicians. The Saving Bellevue website says it all in one of their little links-Bellevue Members—You have rights…..If that’s not worldly I don’t know what is.
Laura on Tue, March 27, 2007

I ran across your site and began reading. This Easter Sunday will be the 29th anniversary of our family joining Bellevue. However, it will probably be our last. People are saying,“If you’re not happy,” or “If you can’t trust the leadership…. just leave.” I do not agree with this and that is not why we are leaving. We are leaving due to the effect this conflict is having on my dad’s health.

I say that I do not agree with this, because this isn’t about not liking someone because of style or because of music styles or preaching styles. This is about standing for what God’s Word says. If I may ask a question - What should church members do today if pastors preach whatever THEY wish and interpret the Scripture however THEY saw fit for that particular moment or circumstance and a week later take the same Scripture and make it say something totally different the next week if the opportunity called for it. What do church members do when a pastor says from the pulpit that, “You are NOT born lost.” ? (This was one of Steve’s sermons).

I have grown up around conservative SBC preachers (5 of whom are family members), and I have ALWAYS been taught to stand for TRUTH no matter who might agree or disagree.

I believe this issue is past Bellevue. This is something that effects every Christian and church. We must take a stand by any means . I feel that “just leaving if you’re not happy” is allowing Satan to creep his way in the church. It is very evident that there are numerous “seeker sensitive” churches today that do not call sin - sin because they don’t want to offend anyone. The road is narrow not wide. If we don’t stand for our church - who will?
Shane Montgomery on Thu, April 05, 2007

Can someone give me a Biblical method to deal with this crisis?

I see accusatons and back-bitting, no humility and grace. Maybe I am nuts, but the Bible may be the authority in this matter and both sides need to examine their actions and heart aginst the standard of scripture and confess their sins to the body, repent of the grevious actions they have commited and begin an accountability relationship with someone (say the Peacemakers Ministry) who does not have an axe to grind. My supicion is thaat this new board doesn’t want reconciliation in any way with the leadership - they seem to only want vindication.
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