Hi jesuschristismydelight,

I do not know anything about the organization that David Luster is leaving to join. All of the folks that I was friends with a Turning Point have either left or turned their backs on all of us who left, so I have no clue how anything works at TPC any more. The church we now attend fills our lives with friendship and fellowship that I haven't really thought about TPC in quite a while. I would say that is a good thing.

I am not sure what goes on inside TPC anymore or how it is being run. But if it is being run as it was in the past, then it will eventually die. God will not allow his people to be misused and abused the way we were under Mike and Jeff. I don't see the doors on that place staying open for very much longer if that is the case. People wake up and smell the coffee and leave, after all that is what happened when we all left.

As for the post about Elder Shad in Skagit County:

If Shad is calling out people on facebook and choosing to use that social media to chastise members of the church then the other elders on the board should ask him to step down as an elder and if he refuses to do so they should vote to remove him from his position as elder. He is wrong. Shame on him!! If he has a legitimate reason for calling a member of the church to account then it should be done in private, it should never happen in such a way as to humiliate or demean a church member. If the other elders don't step up and do something then shame on all of them too!!!!

D of D



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2011 06:59AM by Daughter of Dorcas.

I believe TPCWOC wants to become a Rick Warren and Casey Treat kind of church! I do not have any inside information just the thought that they sent staff down to Rick Warrens special conference geared to young people and their attachment to Casey Treats Church. I was hoping that they would seek out sound doctrine and become the church that God wants them to be!

Perhaps TPCWOC needs to want to be God's church, look to Jesus for their answers, and walk in the way of the gospels.

D of D

From Wikipedia

Nelson Searcy Biography

Personal life and education
Nelson Searcy grew up in North Carolina. He started a computer programming business at age 13 and was selected as one of the nation's Top Ten Young Entrepreneurs while in high school.
Searcy met his wife, Kelley, on a blind date while they were in college and the two were married in 1994. They have lived in North Carolina, Southern California, and currently reside in Manhattan. They have one son and are long time bulldog owners.
Searcy received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He received his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from Duke University and has pursued additional study at North Carolina State University, Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Early Ministry
After becoming a Christian while in college, Searcy entered full time ministry in 1990, Searcy served with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and pastored churches in North Carolina from 1990 to 1999.
Searcy went on staff with Rick Warren in 1999. There he was the founding director of the Purpose Driven Community at Saddleback Church, with more than 5,000 member churches, and a key architect for Warren's PurposeDriven.com.[5]

The Journey Church of the City
Searcy and his wife, Kelley, moved to New York City in late 2001 to start The Journey Church of the City.
On Easter Sunday of 2002 a handful of people gathered in two Manhattan locations as The Journey launched weekly services. From the very beginning, The Journey was one church that met in multiple locations - on the Upper West Side on Sunday mornings and in the East Village on Sunday evenings.
From there, The Journey has steadily grown in numbers and ministries . Over the years the church has met in comedy clubs, church basements, off-Broadway theaters, public schools, hotel ballrooms and even in larger concert venues. As of March, 2011, The Journey meets in four locations in the Metro New York area.
Most recently, The Journey launched a new campus in Boca Raton, Florida, on February 13, 2011.
The Journey has always been a diverse group of people united by their desire to give people the best opportunity to become fully developing followers of Jesus.
Over 1,200 people attend services each Sunday and over 1,400 people get plugged into a Journey Growth Group each semester.[6]
Church Leader Insights
Searcy is the founder of Church Leader Insights (CLI), an organization that provides training and resources to pastors and church leaders. His bi-weekly Church Leader Insights newsletter (formerly known as Evangelism Online) is distributed to more than 46,000 pastors each month.[7] Searcy has personally trained more than a thousand church planters through his seminars.
CLI hosts live training events throughout the United States and online through webinars, and offers resources for pastors in the following areas:
• Assimilation
• Church Planting
• Evangelism
• Growth Barriers
• Leadership
• Sermon Series
• Small Groups
• Stewardship
• Strategy
• Worship Planning
Honors
• 2004 Purpose Driven Church Health Award
• 2008 Alumni of the Year - Gardner-Webb University
• 2006 Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in the US (Outreach Magazine)
• 2007 Top 10 Most Innovative Churches in America (Outreach Magazine)
Conference Speaking Highlights
• Willow Creek Community Church
• Saddleback Church
• Fellowship of the Woodlands
• Outreach Convention
• On Target Evangelism Conference of the California Baptist Convention
• Assembly of God National Church Planting Conference
• Baptist Convention of Ohio
• Florida Baptist Convention Pastors Conference
• Southern Baptist Convention Pastors Conference
• Church Planters.com National Conference
• Easum Bandy & Associates
• Purpose Driven Church Conference
• Preaching for Life Change Conference
• Liberty University Convocation Speaker
• General Baptist Convention
• National Servant Evangelism Conference

I don't know why it continues to surprise me, and I know I am preaching to the choir here, but Learning Point's post just reinforces our observations that there are very few pastors/churches preaching the simple pure gospel and teaching people how that gospel applies to every area of our lives. It needs to be heard every Sunday and we need to preach it to ourselves on a daily basis. For most churches it continues to be all about numbers and growth -- a business model. It seems most pastors ARE ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is with the "Purpose Driven Church" crap. What IS their purpose actually. The churches I know that follow this model just want people to come and they tell them how wonderful they are and that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives BECAUSE they are so wonderful. That's not the gospel. And so the heresy continues and pastors must not be reading their Bibles or studying the theology of the Bible and the true historic Christian faith. It's a "new" Christianity -- and it's not Christian.

Quote
WonderingNow
I don't know why it continues to surprise me, and I know I am preaching to the choir here, but Learning Point's post just reinforces our observations that there are very few pastors/churches preaching the simple pure gospel and teaching people how that gospel applies to every area of our lives. It needs to be heard every Sunday and we need to preach it to ourselves on a daily basis. For most churches it continues to be all about numbers and growth -- a business model. It seems most pastors ARE ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is with the "Purpose Driven Church" crap. What IS their purpose actually. The churches I know that follow this model just want people to come and they tell them how wonderful they are and that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives BECAUSE they are so wonderful. That's not the gospel. And so the heresy continues and pastors must not be reading their Bibles or studying the theology of the Bible and the true historic Christian faith. It's a "new" Christianity -- and it's not Christian.

yes wondering this must be the different Jesus being taught , that paul talked about. the wealthy one, the one who gets what he wants, I remember mike teaching us that Jesus had lots of wealth, and mike used something about his robe being so expensive as an example. Like he knew how much it cost. and how Jesus got it.. thses pastors are gifted in the ways they can twist the bible to mean exactly what they are trying to accomplish. what has been bugging me latley is what was posted on radiant life cult page. about how tony didnt pay the mortgage on their building because the roof leaked. this made me think on how mike, jeff and david luster all let their houses go back to the bank. they taught prosparity, and positive faith and you will have all you need. and yet they all lived way above their means.. I am now thinking the prosparity doctrine is just and excuse for excess. what I cant figue is mike and cyndi brought home 16000.00 a month in salary, soma salary, speaking extras. what did they do with all that money. they taught us about excelence, and being responsible. that leaders are held to a higher standard , and yet they couldnt even meet up to the minimum standards of a human being, I know these are troubled times. and there are those who are in a position where suddlenly they lose their jobs and cant pay their house payments. and they sadly have to give them up. but these are people who were making a good salary, and seemingly joyfully ready to give up thier responsibilities. to pursue thier own ambitions. this really sucks, when youve been hammered by them to be responsible , to do the right thing, to take the high road, to sacrifice your desires for the church, for God, and they seem to easily walk away from their so called calling to pursue what they say is another calling, leaving wreckage in thier wake. I wonder how these kind of people will fare if the times comes in our lives, that we have to make a stand for Christ and die. or deny Him and live. they seem to not be able to now make a stand for truth, and deny thier own reputations, and ambitions. I know personally in my heart I have love for Jeff barnes, but am so dissapointed in his unwillingness to just declare the truth, especially about jackie. and I dont mean to us but to everyone. and I have no expectation of turningpoint to ever succeed, when lead by those who wont do so also. In the evidence meeting we went to, jackie being gracious, stated it was sloppy bookkeeping, and being over that dept it was her responsibility. this is what the leaders of turningpoint, used as an excuse to not be forthright to the congregation. it didnt take long into the meeting till is was quite obvious that this evicence was contrived . debbie bowman, seemed quite egar to prove jackie was a thief. she pulled out a bank deposit statement that said the deposit was 500.00 short. and then stated that since jackie paid somones rent that month for them she must have taken the money from the church. and these are the statements shown to those at the meeting where she was accused.. but debbie wasnt very prudent at only bringing the statements that were short. right under the statement which said the deposit was short , was a statement for the next week that said the deposit was over 600.00 . also she pointed out that certain funds were spent on jackies credit card from turningpoint. when asked for jackies check requests which explains what each payment was for, jackies requests were all missing, luckliy emily maston was at that meeting and she was the one who turned in jackies check request, so she knew they exisited,,, everyone elses were there but not jackies.. at this point in the meeting david reche stopped the discussion, and stated they owe this faimily an apology. now it would have been great to have this apology public, but it turned out to be private, I believe that since they had a professional church problem guy thier , the advice was to minimize everything... this is my opinion, not fact. anyway I got way off track wonderingnow, but the facts are we are all sinners , we all sin. but we should all confess our sins, not hide them or minimize them. especially leaders. men and women who say they are followers of Christ.. they can hide thier sins to the congregation, but God will NOT be mocked. any house built on dishonesty, will not stand

what I forgot to mention and was going to is jackie used our credit cards to pay the churchs bills to buy supplies, she put 25000.00 or so on it for the phillipeens trip, this practice alway made me mad, I would tell her cant the church pay its own bills. use its card, I thought i was just being selfish I was worried that if anything happened we'd have to pay it. she said the church didnt have enough credit thier level was lower then our cards. she said churchs have a hard time with banks. so I just figuured I was being a selfish jerk and stopped asking, the fact was that Jackie took responsibilty for turningpoints ability to make it financially. there were times we had to wait to pay our cards cuz tp didnt have money in the biggining. it really made me mad when debbie bowman used that fact that we paid someones rent or car payment and proof jackie stole, becasue I would sometimes have to pray dilligently for God to remove my fear and selfishness to do this stuff, I believed God wanted us to help those in need in our church but I didnt like it. I wanted mine first. and sometimes God would put it on my heart to pay someones payment. and I would tell jackie and just take a step of faith doing so. so to have this action brought down to a proof of dishonesty, especially by someone who was always going to jackie with her problems and jackiie would take time away from her family and her life to help. I would haer her talking to debbie , fixing fires created by debbie, and consoling her all the time. just to get slapped in the face, by her at least she didnt do it with a kiss

I would think that the building could use some freshening up ,a coat of paint would go a long ways towards making it look more respectable IMHO!

Folks the only advice I can give; please return to the gospel, set aside all your works and deeds and reflect upon the the teachings of Jesus. Be on guard for the wolf in sheep's clothing, who are ravenous wolves! Be on guard and test everything according to scripture, keeping the text in context.

Jackie NEVER helped me with finances