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‘WolfWarning’ Keeps Pastors Ahead of Church Troublemakers
[Lark News] -- When Brent Libby started attending Green Valley Baptist church, he was surprised at the icy reception he received. The reason: the pastor knew all about Libby. He'd read about him on WolfWarning.com, a website which chronicles bad behavior by local church-goers. Libby's file included a photograph and comments written by his former pastor that said, "Argues with me over minor doctrinal points after every service. Thinks he knows Greek. Not interested in maturing, just debate. Wolf rating: 3."
“This site is our advance warning system,” says pastor Jeff Wheeler of Green Valley Baptist. “It’s long overdue.”
WolfWarning was started in 2006 by a pastor in Corvallis, Ore., who was tired of seeing troublesome Christians bounce from one church to another, causing the same types of problems. The website now has local chapters in 112 cities.
“When pastors hear about this, they latch on real quick,” says the founder.
WolfWarning is restricted to members and is full of dossier-like “files” on people who’ve been identified by a pastor as a wolf. The pastor gives that person a “wolf rating” to indicate how troublesome he or she was. A rating of 1 or 2 means a minor annoyance; 9 and 10 mean a bona fide church-splitter.
Premium members get an alert each time a new wolf is posted.
“It can be addictive,” says one pastor who slips out during Sunday morning worship if he sees someone in the audience he suspects of being on WolfWarning.
A perusal of WolfWarning files finds comments that range from “Distracting, flamboyant worship style,” to “Always complains, never volunteers,” to the more serious “Tries to seduce lonely single mothers.” A typical post from January reads, “She prophesies in a harrowing wail, usually at end of worship time. Accuses pastor of quenching spirit if stopped. Wolf rating: 5.”
A pastor in Austin recently changed his sermon because he recognized someone from WolfWarning in the pew on Sunday morning. The “wolf” reportedly would join a small group and take over discussions to preach his own version of the prosperity message. The pastor remarked during his sermon that anyone who spoke more than 3 minutes total in their small group meeting was “probably full of pride.” He encouraged people to set an egg timer to keep people from going over time.
“That guy never came back to our church,” he says. “WolfWarning helped me protect my flock.”
Pastors who belong to the growing WolfWarning community adhere to a code of ethics that includes “no ax-grinding,” and “no posting until you have honestly tried to shepherd this person for 6 months, or until they leave.”
Read more on this story and other great ‘news’ at LarkNews.com Now...
TAGS: Church humor
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This post has been viewed 932 times and was added on January 05, 2007 by Todd Rhoades. Filed under: Miscellaneous Church Leadership Humor Share this post with a friend right now! View reactions to this post at other blogs... You can really help us out by subscribing to our free RSS feed with your favorite feed reader, or here at Bloglines. Also, you can add us to your favorites at Technorati.
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I'm Todd Rhoades... the MMI guy. I'm also on the team at Leadership Network (although that doesn't mean that they endorse everything I write here). In my past life, I was the founder and developer of a website named ChurchStaffing.com.
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Friday, January 05, 2007 at 7:37 AM
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 5:38 PM
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Posted by Brian La Croix
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 7:52 PM
Post Your Comments:I need that!
But I want to know if they can spot a wolf in sheeps clothing - - - those guys (and gals) are really tough to spot!!
Wendi
Where do we sign up for this and how much is it?!?!?!?
This is shameful. I hope it is a joke! Pastors be shamed in your arrogance that you would abandon the gift of discernment in your own spirit and look for another “pastor’s” interpretation of a man’s character. This is an open door of stupidity that pastors walk right through while the enemy howls with laughter at the slaughter.
Chris, maybe you’re new around here. Friday posts usually are jokes! The tag listed above is “church humor”.
Whew, (deep sigh of relief). Okay, my righteous idignation has subsided. Thanks for letting me know. Is there a way you can make it more obvious that this is joke? I’d like to forward some of your materials but never do because of things like this. I know it is perhaps meant as humor, but it is too easily mistaken for something serious.
So, were those other people being sarcastic in their postings, saying they needed this wolfwarning site? Okay, call me dumb. Is this MMI site for a circle of people that already know each other and “understand” the humor?
Thanks.
SIMPLE MAYBE WE ALSO SHOULD HAVE A WOLFWARNING SITE ABOUT PASTORS THAT ARE TRULY OUT OF LINE OF GOD’S WRITTEN WORD...I AM A PASTOR ALSO
It’s okay Chris, I’ve done the same thing, and sometimes I read stuff and my blonde roots show!
I know this is a joke, but the sad thing is that we face people like this every week.
We have one guy out to get us, who is a former pastor (in a different church) and has never left a ministry happy. He’d be at the top of my wolf list!
But the flip side is that we are called to love these people. It’s pretty hard to love someone who you just want to take a baseball to ...
Hi Chris!
The story is from a place called Larknews.com, a Christian parody site. It’s a bit edgy at times, but it’s fun.
And I’ve been “caught” by these before as well.
There was another great place (I can’t remember the name - it has been down for a while) that offered the same type of fare. I borrowed one of its stories - about a church that expelled all members who wouldn’t read “The Purpose Driven Life” and posted it to an e-mail group I owned. I wanted to see how many would react before checking it out, and there were a few.
Have a great night!
Brian
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