The Calvary network is an affiliation of independent churches, founded by Chuck Smith, founder and pastor of Calvary Chapel. Chuck Smith has been an important influencer of the modern evangelical movement in the US, including the Vineyard movement, Willow Creek, and contemporary worship. Smith believes in head pastor authority, local congregations, and church independence—in other words, ecclesiologically he is the opposite of Anglicans.
Other churchgoers say Calvary Chapel pastors also don’t like to be questioned. During the investigation for this article, Smith cautioned CT’s reporter: “The Lord warns, ‘Don’t touch my anointed. Do my prophet no harm.’ I think that you are trying to do harm to the work of God. I surely wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.”
One Calvary Chapel member, Andrew Holt, received a humiliating lesson in church power politics at his congregation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Holt claims the pastor of his former church tried to commandeer the prison ministry he ran by reportedly telling the ministry’s board members and supporters that Holt was unfaithful to his wife. Holt denies the allegation.
Roger Ulman is pastor of Calvary Chapel of Kalamazoo and a former board member of Living Stone Counseling and Consulting Center, a prison ministry run by Holt. Holt and his wife attended Calvary Chapel for several years. When the couple went through marital difficulties, they went to Pastor Ulman for counseling. But, Holt told CT, “Ulman took that as an opportunity to divide my wife and me and to try to subsequently take charge of this ministry. He went behind our backs and started to talk to all the board members.”
Holt says Ulman told his wife to leave the marriage. He says Ulman told board members, financial supporters, and ministry clients to quit associating with Holt, because Holt wasn’t faithful to his wife.
It wasn’t long before donations dropped from an average of $2,500 per month to $1,000. “You couldn’t attack us any worse than what they did,” Holt says. He believes Ulman wanted to take control of the ministry and bring it under the auspices of the church. (Ulman declined to be interviewed by CT, saying he wanted to move on from the incident.) Holt was rebuffed when he tried to resolve the situation through Calvary Chapel’s oversight process.
Accountability for network pastors is provided by Calvary Chapel Outreach Fellowships, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Senior pastors are asked to oversee regions assigned to them. The ministry is currently run by Paul Smith, Chuck’s brother. Bill Ritchie, pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, Washington, watches over Calvary Chapel pastors in churches in the Pacific Northwest. A veteran church leader, Ritchie pastored Methodist churches and worked with the World Council of Churches before joining the Calvary Chapel system.
Ritchie says the accountability system has limits. It is voluntary for both the overseer and the pastors. Then again, he says, there is no foolproof system of accountability. “I’ve seen travesty in every form of governance that exists.”
“Frankly,” he says, “you will be accountable for what you will be accountable for.”
Though its system of accountability may have weaknesses, Calvary Chapel pastors have been asked to step down and occasionally have been removed from the association.
But one 20-year veteran pastor says that while leaders are willing to enforce standards on a host of issues, sexual immorality is treated differently. This pastor, who has been senior pastor at several Calvary Chapels as well as an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, says pastors have been removed from ministry for dancing or for abusing drugs, yet while he was on staff at Costa Mesa, he saw a pastor talked out of stepping down after admitting to an addiction to pornography. The pastor says follow-up counseling was done only occasionally.
Sexual License
Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa sometimes hires pastors who have recently been removed from their churches for misconduct and immorality.
In 1992, the board of Calvary Church, Santa Ana (which is not affiliated with Calvary Chapel), removed its then-prominent pastor, David Hocking, for having an affair. Within three months, Chuck Smith had hired him. At the time, Smith told CT, “This man is a gifted Bible teacher. And if he doesn’t resume his teaching, I’m afraid he’ll be literally and totally destroyed.” Hocking’s church complained that Smith had interrupted the restoration process they had established.
In 2005, Calvary Chapel of Laguna Beach, California, fired pastor Joe Sabolick, accusing him of embezzlement and adultery. He denied the charges and sued the church and its board. Smith then hired Sabolick to lead worship in Costa Mesa. Sabolick later dropped the suit.
Former pastors and board members say Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa doesn’t only prematurely restore pastors to ministry; it also covers up the sexual sins of its own pastoral staff. In 2003, John Flores, then a Costa Mesa pastor, was arrested and later convicted of having sex with a 15-year-old girl, the daughter of another pastor at the church.
Knowledgeable church insiders say Flores had been fired previously from a Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa ministry for having sex with an adult woman on church grounds. Other sources familiar with the situation confirmed that Flores had, in fact, been fired twice previously from Calvary ministries, both times for alleged sexual misconduct. “They all knew that this man had been fired,” a former church member says of Costa Mesa’s church leadership, “and no one said, ‘Stay away from him.’ ” Two former board members independently confirmed these details to CT.
During a lengthy interview, Smith told CT that Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa had never had problems with sexual sin among staff members. But when asked about Flores, he admitted the incident had occurred and said the church had cooperated with the police investigation. Smith denied that Flores had been fired previously for sexual immorality, however. He said Flores had been fired from the radio ministry, The Word for Today, simply for failing to do his work. “It wasn’t anything sexual,” he said.
Last year, another episode occurred, about which the facts remain in dispute. Jeff Scheller, a former Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa pastor, says a 12-year-old churchgoer asked his wife for advice in dealing with inappropriate touching by a pastor. As required by law, Scheller reported the incident to the police. But Scheller’s boss denied that the pastor in question had misbehaved, even though he had previously been accused of inappropriate behavior toward minors.
Scheller says he paid a price for sounding the alarm. “They started to make changes without talking to me,” he says. “It was obvious to me that I was being cut out.” Scheller, who was talked out of resigning when Smith hired Sabolick, resigned for good after this incident.
Scheller’s boss, Brian Broderson, did not respond to requests for an interview. When asked about the incident, Smith told CT he couldn’t remember it. Later, when asked again, Smith said Scheller was disgruntled. He said the church cooperated with a police investigation that cleared the pastor, who remains on staff. Santa Ana police told CT that interviews with girls at the church could not verify that anything illegal had occurred.
Smith says he practices restoration and that pastors who have been restored to ministry after sexual sin have gone on to run successful ministries. “If they repent, we do seek to restore in a spirit of meekness, considering ourselves lest we be tempted,” Smith says. “We feel that we have a biblical basis [for doing so].”
If pastors repent and enter counseling, Smith says, they should not be forced to leave the pulpit permanently. “I can tell you of many ministers, great ministers, whom we’ve been in the process of helping restore, and fortunately the problems never became public and so people are not even aware of them. I feel that that’s an honor to God.”
Smith’s approach is at one extreme of typical evangelical views on the restoration of sexually immoral pastors, says Dave Edling, senior ministry consultant of Peacemaker Ministries. He believes restoration should always include a public rebuke for the benefit of the pastor and the congregation. He says that while situations vary, it’s best for a pastor to step down for at least three or four months.
“As a leader of God’s people, a pastor needs to reflect a deep heart change,” he says.
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Chuck Smith, Calvary Chapel, and the Problem of Church Discipline
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After a year-long sojourn with a Calvary Chapel in Stafford, I left the body with an aching sense that it was a cult of personality to its pastor, and to Chuck Smith.
[1] Posted by aterry on 6-20-2010 at 06:29 PM · [top]
First let me say shepherding a flock is difficult, sheep bite. Second you may have someone like me in the congregation (I’ve been on SFIF long enough that folks may know my good and bad attributes), just a few days ago I offended one using a low-brow colloquialism I’d use at work without thinking about it (I do the same the other way, but at work they’re not offended they just tease me for using words they do not understand), but then in a congregation, you have the high brow, the little old lady, the young student and called to be a priest to us all. So the job by it’s nature is difficult.
Some useful verse on Pastoral leadership: Matt 20:25-28, Luke 22:25-27, 1 Cor 11:1 [or 1 Cor 4:16 ] Luke 9:23.
I’ve seen quite a share of craziness inside the Church.
I’ve mostly seen exclusivity in Anglicanism (I once was ask to leave a group because I live too far [odd, another member lived even farther and still welcomed (I ended up worshiping not too far from there with two other from that group, I heard they no longer are meeting)]. This area is probably the sorest area for me, there are so many gifted or “name brand” people who come to DC for a short season, that I’m kind of unsupported in ministry and rarely given a chance unless a group is really struggling.
The second bit of craziness is just negligence of duty. Do you know what it’s like sitting at a table, not wanting to go into all the psychodrama, trying to find a short-cut reason for leaving a parish they love and saying it was a lack of pastoral care, then have everyone around the table share their story of the same priest, who has the title which would include that?
Very recently, I’ve seen this issue [meaning other than the actions of 815 this decade and most specifically under KJS, I don’t think this subject has been much an issue inside Anglicanism]. However recently, this topic has been on my mind as I’ve encountered it head long, okay that’s a overstatement, but I ended up in quasi-discipline because someone else failed to provide pastoral care and in my opinion is very insecure (coming into Anglicism from other tradition after not being able to find a job in that tradition and planting a parish) & reacting by over-control.
All this to say, I am parish hunting (prayers of SFIF always welcome, I’ll assure you Jesus is glorified in answering prayers from those I’ve not met on this Earth, yet, in a darker time in my life, the request is a “safe place” but also maybe able to accept those like me as Jesus is opening those door [remember also, not necessarily a bad thing since I am an “unity boy” and actions of “top brass”]). Mainly I have ONE who example.
I just don’t think this is a topic in Anglicanism that our “Corporate Culture” lends itself towards and why all the recent actions are so shocking to us.
Basically, I have thought a great deal about this subject but only because of the one situation, however, I’ve had tons of input from a few convert from the same denominational background as this one priest and and a dear Pentecostal brother of mine who seen so much abuse such as this, but still in the fight. More or less, as I talked, other people would open up and share their stories.
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My situation in a nutshell, priest was ordained from outside the Anglican tradition, we’re already on a collision course (our first trouble was a product endorsement during “Prayer of the People” {rememberJames 2:1-13 and I work construction in a lawyer/doctor denomination, so maybe hypersensitive} then something about some article some PK from same tradition wrote about how we should not fast during Lent as his Lenten message {another cradle Anglican had a few things to say on that one}). So situation loaded (important, because I want folks reading post, not to side with me or against me—there is a strange trust, in God, that He wants us to think about this stuff, I am a rotten sinner, so is this other guy and actually everyone in this story).
The presenting issue was a Bible study with Rev. Tim Keller on Genesis , which much of Keller’s+ typology argument contradicted John Stott+‘s position (which is the hermeneutic I was taught by two Richards+ [one Truro the other MCF, both of whom I trust & thing the world, sorry I’m not moving]. This set a ball in motion.
Summary, I had four meetings with three people (another from that tradition, who left because of their ecclesiology, said they like meetings), meanwhile I had a friend whose brains were shot out (murder trial in August, not intent to shock but to give SFIF readers a sense what we’re dealing with - ZERO, zip, nada pastoral care, AT THE VERY SAME TIME as this other issue). One friend called it cultist, another (Baptist) responding to “your not respecting my high office” responded “oooh, that would never happen, we’d vote him out of office” [another Baptist gave the charge of what would be brought before the deacons, “a lack of humility”].
I once was much more favorable to this denomination, but now will fight any incursion as I’ve seen the love of orthodoxy without love that their orthopraxy is seriously lacking.
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Please forgive me if I go too deep and feel free to delete.
While I’ve pushed things on SFIF, I can only recall two post which were deleted “with prejudice,” one was a chain of events where I was left with the feeling of being misunderstood & whatever I did dug me in a hole even deeper and the first is where Matt+ deleted one saying what I charged was “professional negligence” and an such accusation would not tolerated on SF?IF (by grace I’m posting this), well, said Anglican Presbyter let me yell at him for fifteen minutes about his failings, did not offer any defense (retracted when tempted) and in computer terms bit flipped in my mind from low to high opinion.
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That last bit is important in my thinking.
[Praise Jesus!!! I’ve had two Presbyter, ever, apologize to me face to face for something significant {not every priest needed to apologize, even with their humanity}, but sadly the unrighteous bosses I’ve had, seem to embody more leadership by example than priest I’ve know, but hey, if I am in a greater, two shown me a better path].
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So my ONE example (of what I perceive as an over compensation of an insecure priest, outside his tradition), mixed with quite a few anecdotes of support for me—I think I can with confidence say those who are all “uppity” on Church discipline seem to lack a faith the Third Person of the Trinity, forgetting Scripture calls Priest to emulate the Second, and Jesus, NEVER ask me do do anything He has not already done or willing to do Himself (as I pick up a cross, I’m FOLLOWING Him with that bloody backside going to Golgotha).
While I think my problems One and Two (favoritism or merely neglect) are FAR more problematic in Anglican “Corporate Culture,” I think Baby Blue’s recent post “A House Divided” has the right attitude about Church discipline. She seems to understand the necessity of CANA’s actions to separate, named by 815 a defendant of the legal action, but earnestly heartbroken over the whole situation.
That may be a key to true Godly attitudes towards this sensitive subject, because in none of my experiences nor those I’ve heard about has there been a sense of sorrow. Jesus certainly felt sorrow over Jerusalem, in fact that is the verse contemporaries want to twist into “mother god,” yet in context it is a lament of both realities.
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So my take is some what to be commanding general, thinking they are the Holy Spirit (this is what others have said, I was not there, so I can’t comment, but here is what I think is YOUR problem in this situation [Err ... does that violate the law of non-contradiction?]), but too few are willing to act like Christ so us dumb sheep can emulate their actions, not just their words.
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Today, I’m kind of thankful that the other issues I raised are more an issue in Anglicanism [due to one experience I’ve learned “heresy trial on heresy trials,” while we need to do ore to prevent Pike and Spongs, kind of happy we’re not that far as some converts have shared].
My two cents on the matter.
[2] Posted by Hosea6:6 on 6-20-2010 at 07:52 PM · [top]
If my above post seems disjointed, it because I may have run into this before so confused. I think so antithetical to our “corporate culture” that I really am unsure what to think (but it’s been great tool open discussions - one friend gave an example of laying out a string and pushing it from the back (Command & Control model) verse pulling a string from the front (leading as Jesus did).
In a healthy small group, very mixed, we are doing the Church Fathers and in discussion of Clement and Ignatius of Antioch, a Protestant member asked how we felt about the calls for the laity to submit in what we were reading and a Roman Catholic group member gave me a most useful rubrics: “If it is on a point of conscience we are not required to submit, but if it is on a point of preference, we should.”
This healthy group was going on at the same time as the unhealthy situation which was provoking me, I can only conclude Jesus wants me to ponder these things, even if not generally Anglican issues.
I really am liking that rubric as a personal guide line.
[3] Posted by Hosea6:6 on 6-20-2010 at 08:13 PM · [top]
As someone who has a great deal of respect for the Calvary Chapels (and a number of their Pastor/teachers), I will simply say that as long as the body of Christ consists of fallible human beings - and if I read my Bible correctly, that includes ALL of us - you will not have a situation where ecclesiastical discipline is administered perfectly; certainly, no specific church polity will ever be a foolproof safeguard for this very reason.
[4] Posted by GSP98 on 6-21-2010 at 12:38 AM · [top]
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