Ok, I have confirmed that all the questions are in fact a yes.
Thank you for your interest in Eastgate, and come and visit the church on day, you will be blesssed.
I am closing off from this thread.

Blessings
Barry

Quote
rrmoderator
Since you both are well-acquainted with the church you should easily be able to answer these questions.

Is the church democratically governed through an elected board that serves fixed terms according to its bylaws?

Is their an annual budget, which discloses in detail all salaries, compensation and expenses paid out from church funds?

Can the pastor be fired by the board and is his salary set by the board?

I can speak to how these issues played out with the same staff when they were in California. Although the answer to the first question would be "yes" on paper, in reality, it was just for show. The pastors would decide who would be on the "elected board," would tell the congregation that these were the board members selected by God and then the congregation would "vote." There was no alternate choice (e.g., vote for Brad or Collin), though members could vote against the selected board. However, the climate in the church made it very difficult to ever go against the pastor.

As to the second issue, please see the post by freefromcharismania. Financial disclosure (when provided at all) has historically been less than accurate. I don't think I've ever seen a disclosure of salaries.

As for the third, I don't know if the pastor could technically be fired by his board, but again, I'd refer you to freefromcharismania's post. Historically, elders, associate pastors and the like have been fired, forced out of the church or just fled on their own when they have challenged the pastors.

I am speaking from my knowledge of the Houtsma pastors from when they were in California. Have all of these things dramatically improved with the Houtsma family's re-location to Georgia? I hope so. However, I am a bit skeptical, especially as they have never admitted wrongdoing. If I'm wrong, and Eastgate is truly a healthy church, looking into these matters shouldn't be a problem.

recoveringfromchurch I found the same answers as the previous poster. I cannot speak nor have knowledge of the previous experiences you have encountered. As you know God can change people…..Eastgate is a wonderful Church. I have been going here for almost a year and half now.

I was around for the 1999 and 2001 split which is when I left. It was pretty ridiculous what Nathan Houtsma was accused of. The audacity of the Houstsma clan to not own up to it and then slander those who left because of it was the kicker. The sad part is that the girl in involved moved with the Houtsma clan to Georgia as her dad was on the board. I won't release his name to protect the girl as I'm not sure how involved she is in the church.

Do what you like but watch your backs there. Christian Life Church had some great people, some of which I'm still good friends with today and have gone on to great things. The reality of it is that you're stepping into the well-charted waters of the Houtsma family business and if you're not for them, you're against them.

The place may change but people rarely do.

I attended Northside, during its beginning, before the name change to Eastgate. On the surface everyone is very kind. But in a leadership role, I was almost set up to fail....they cannot let go of any control and yet won't help when needed. I saw favoritism to the wealthy, it was very obvious when one was added to the board after only 6 months when there were better choices. Also a problem accord and they sided with this family so as not to lose them. I left very hurt. As have two other families I knew during this time and left later. I could never put my finger on just one thing, it was just several odd things that kept adding up. One was the almost violent reaction from Roger over my praise of Benny Hinn. A jealous comment about, how Benny was "impressing" his churches in India. ( I thought, aren't we all on the same team) The anger in his eyes really botherered me, but I let it go. I believe in divine healing, but some of their stories of miracles healings just didn't add up. No evidence just stories. One, ok, but several, after a while I began to doubt. Their interpretation of certain bible stories, not neccesarily off but added description that could not have been known. One family had terrible judgementel comments made to them, because their adult son had sinned. Roger did not keep counseling appointments with one of their other sons...they left very hurt, not over just a few of these things but many. The woman became my prayer partner at the behest of the pastors wife, who I now beleive didn't want to deal with her. She was foriegn. This is the first time I have said anything since leaving....something prompted me to do a search....and I felt led to say something.

Seeing this thread, I also felt a need to post something....
In 1983, I moved from San Francisco to Marin County to join Marin Christian Life in Novato. I had never attended a Pentecostal Charismatic church before, and part of the reason we (my significant other and I) wound up there was our prior relationship to Pastor MacKay's wife, Donna. Thankfully, I was able to break away, but in my time, I saw many things that would lead me to counsel others to be careful about joining a ministry led by the Houtsma's. At the very least, any individual who has a somewhat fragile psyche needs to be careful here - you may come for healing, but walk away even more broken. I was introduced to someone who was supposed to be the "perfect friend" for me....at that time, I didn't know the phrase "love bombing" - it was terrible, and a weaker person might have thrown themselves off a bridge. Roger was obsessed with money - he wanted to build a new church that would impress other "wealthy" inhabitants of Marin County on a level they could relate to, or so he said from the pulpit. I'm sorry, in a church that is considered militant even by other charismatic churches for their adherence to the word - that kind of talk has no place. Criticism was not tolerated - if you didn't toe the line, you were ostracized from the group. Another problem were the local revivals vs. those in India. Healing comes in many forms, and doesn't necessarily mean the blind see and the lame walk. Those kind of healing were never seen in any of the many services I attended - yet Pastor Houtsma claimed these very things happened thru his personal ministry every time he went to India. He's a self-serving snake oil salesman and ppl need to know. As thankful as I was when I first found this church, was nothing compared to how good it felt to be free. After reading the OP's posts, and those following it, seems I wasn't off the mark - seeing that Mike Horn, and David MacKay would leave confirms things - these men were wonderful preachers, and lovely human beings. I'm not very good at writing, so sorry if I ramble - just wanted to add my 2 cents...