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Calvary Chapel Albuquerque Update
Orginally published on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 9:13 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Christianity Today has just published an update on the CC ABQ situation that we've blogged about a couple of times...
Members of one of the largest churches in New Mexico are fighting to bring accountability to church elders who they believe are mishandling church property, misusing their authority, and covering up misbehavior.
Two groups formed after Pete Nelson resigned in February as senior pastor of the 14,000-member Calvary of Albuquerque, affiliated with the Calvary Chapel network of 1,300 independent churches, mostly in the West and Southwest. Nelson said he wanted "to pastor and lead a church and to be accountable to that local church." He was unable to do that with the "current structure" at Calvary of Albuquerque.
Nelson's sudden announcement on a Sunday morning took church members and staff by surprise. Nelson has not been in touch with the congregation or spoken publicly since he left. But it wasn't Nelson's disappearance that shocked them. Nelson's resignation letter, which was leaked to the press, alleged the church's former pastor Skip Heitzig was exercising behind the scenes control two years after he had left to pastor another Calvary church in California.
Heitzig had retained his position as chair of Calvary of Albuquerque's elders board, which included a significant number who did not live in Albuquerque. These were all loyal to Heitzig. According to Nelson's letter, Heitzig, as chair, forced off or blocked local church members from joining the elders board. Heitzig did not return calls requesting comment. Assistant Pastor Chris Lusko told CT, "I think there were some inaccurate facts in his resignation letter." However, he declined to comment specifically.
Heitzig attempted to place Calvary of Albuquerque under the jurisdiction of a "mega-board." That structure would permit Heitzig to manage Calvary Albuquerque, the church's two radio stations, and his Calvary church in Southern California. (The church's stations are not part of the Calvary Satellite Network, the broadcast arm of the Calvary organization.)
Under the Calvary structure, pastors and elders have little or no requirement to disclose finances or decisions to church members. At Calvary of Albuquerque, little information was disclosed publicly. The church says members who wanted information were allowed to set up private, one-on-one appointments with the pastoral staff.
Click here to read the entire article...
It just goes to show that transparency and accountability are even more important when your church grows to be large and influential. :(
Todd
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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 11:02 AM
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Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 9:32 AM
Post Your Comments:As I see it there has to be accountability in church leadership to:
1. God first and foremost, (do nothing unbiblical)
2. Each other as leaders
3. The person in charge
4. The congregation (keep them informed of decisions and direction)
5. The community (it helps keep a good testimony)
I love the part where they hired a PR firm to quell the storm… Maybe we should set aside a tenth of every “Large” gift to hire ‘spindoctors’ for our church conflicts…
I am ranting here, but shouldn’t this tell us something? PLEASE, people, drop the pretentious crap and humbly admit you messed up!
I think it is called confessing. And unlike hiring a PR firm, I do find it in Scripture.
I remember worshipping one Sunday evening at Calvary Chapel ABQ back in the late 1980s...when it was still a medium sized church.
Accountability is a PRECIOUS commodity. And if Skip Heitzig is guilty of all the accusations, he has no credentials to be shepherding anyone…
Anywhere.
A new survey has just been created to gather information on Calvary Chapel leadership abuses. It can be found at http://ccsurveys.com.
“Under the Calvary structure, pastors and elders have little or no requirement to disclose finances or decisions to church members. At Calvary of Albuquerque, little information was disclosed publicly.”
I’m interested in what others think of an elder led church with a structure like this. Our mega church members do not assemble for even a yearly meeting, do not vote on anything, and are given very little input into the direction the church is moving. We can get financial info in one on one meetings if we ask the right questions but is that maintaining accountability? Our church claims to be biblically accurate in its form of government. What level of accountability would scripture indicate the church should provide members (and even the world)? Just wondering how others see this issue.
Jackie - CCABQ is not “elder led” - their form of church govt is actually called “elder rule”. Elder led is a form of congregational government - Elders are elected by the congregation and take spiritual leadering of the church. “Elder rule” churches have an elder board that perpetuates the leadership by selecting its own elders to replace or add to the board. They do not seek or need the congregation to vote on anything.
There is nothing wrong with either form. Just as there is nothing “wrong” with a presbyterian or episcopal form.
But the church needs to be consistent with its form.
I attend Calary Chapel South Bay (pator Steve Mays) and like any church I have learned take in the good and throw away the bad,after all not all seed produces good fruit;be it as it may,if this is true I think leaders of this mega church movement should fall flat on their face and repent just as you and me should also do;causle christianity is like taking a long warm bath,it makes you relaxt and even take a napp-God help us and have mercy on sinners saved by His everlasting Love and grace.
absolute power corrupts absolutely. they have to answer to nobody, which results in absolute power. They seem to forget though, that God sees all.
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