For a good overview of this blog post I recommend first reading a short article titled “Leadership rift sidelines three pastors at The Chapel: ‘Our church is in crisis,” by George W. Davis of the Akron Beacon Journal. (Alternate link on The Wayback Machine.)
“The Chapel” consists of seven campuses around the Akron area. The events I am covering involve 3 men from 2 “Campuses.” Tim Armstrong and Jim Mitchell are from the Akron Campus while Mike Castelli is from the Green Campus. Armstrong has been with the church for seven years while Mitchell has been there for 30 years and Castelli has been a pastor for 21 years.
Additional Campuses are Cuyahoga Falls, Kenmore, Medina, Nordonia, and Wadsworth.
The following is a description of events taken from “The Chapels” website:
Q. What happened?
A. On Thursday, May 20, Pastor Tim Armstrong (Senior Pastor) asked for the resignation of Pastor Mike Castelli (Campus Pastor, Green). When Pastor Mike declined, Pastor Tim ended Pastor Mike’s employment at The Chapel. Although further details surrounding the specifics of Pastor Mike’s termination are not immediately available, we can unequivocally state that there has been no impropriety of a legal, financial, or sexual nature.
On Friday, May 21, and Saturday, May 22, the Chairman of The Chapel’s Board of Trustees called a committee to conduct an inquiry into the events that transpired, in accordance with Constitution Policy C-19. (This policy can be reviewed in its entirety at the link in the Resources section below.) At that time, the Trustees placed Pastor Tim, along with Executive Pastor Jim Mitchell, on a voluntary administrative leave. In their absence, Pastor Mike was reinstated and also placed on administrative leave while the inquiry runs its course.
Source
The Chapel has been tight-lipped concerning the initial reason Senior Pastor Tim Armstrong asked for the resignation of Pastor Mike Castelli. In a video I have watched from May 23, 2021, Green Campus assistant pastors Jeff Martell and Happy Peterson have adamantly stressed the unimpeachable character of pastor Mike Castelli. The Green Campus congregation seem to agree with Martell and Peterson as they gave a standing ovation to the absent Castelli when Martell stated that he knew they all loved Castelli.
When pastor Mike Castelli refused pastor Tim Armstrong’s request that he tender his resignation Armstrong fired him. This seems to have caused widespread resentment and anger among the Green Campus staff and membership. Martell, referring to the firing of Castelli, stated that some things you have to go to battle for, and this they apparently did. The uproar at Green Campus over the firing of their dearly loved pastor was effective, Trustees admitted their original communication was poor as it appeared they sided with Armstrong, saying he had the constitutional right to fire staff without the approval of the Trustees. Whether their original intent was to leave it at that – case closed, or their communication was just poor is open to debate. But they invoked a constitutional right the Trustees have in special cases to thoroughly investigate the termination of Castelli. As you read above, the initial actions of the Trustees were to place Armstrong and Mitchell on administrative leave and reinstate Castelli, placing him on administrative leave as well.
Unclear to me, and I assume most members of The Chapel are on what grounds did Armstrong fire Castelli and what exactly the role of pastor Jim Mitchell is in this affair. The Trustees have stressed patience as they have hired an outside group to thoroughly investigate the matter and have promised to be transparent with the findings. In the meantime, the Trustees and pastors at both the Green Campus and the Akron Campus are exhorting all members not to engage in gossip or slander. This always seems to be the institutional response to leadership scandals; I think the wiser course of action is to be transparent throughout the entire process.
One observation I have made in researching this story is there seem to be two narratives coming out. On Sunday, May 23, 2021, as I stated above, Jeff Martell and Happy Peterson have stood by their pastor, Mike Castelli while Josh Lough, an assistant pastor at the Akron Campus was clearly shaken up by the loss of their two primary leaders, Tim Armstrong and Jim Mitchell. I have made a video clip (see below) from his sermon where Lough states:
“Is what is happening to this church an attack from Satan? Yes. Is sin involved? Yes.”
This video clip was taken from the Green Campus on May 23, 2021. The congregation gives the absent pastor, Mike Castelli a standing ovation.
This clip is also taken from May 23, 2021. It is apparent by the comments of Jeff Martell that there was some animosity expressed towards Armstrong and perhaps the Trustees.
This clip is also taken from the Green Campus on May 23, 2021. A statement is read which can be viewed on page 2 of the Scribd document below.
This is a video clip taken from the sermon of Josh Lough on May 23, 2021. Lough is an assistant pastor at the Akron Campus.
Now I would like to move on to why I am interested in this story. You may recall that slightly over one year ago (June 26, 2020) the Cedarville University Board of Trustees reinstated Thomas White as president. White had hired Anthony Moore with, in my opinion, full knowledge that Moore had been fired from the Village Church for secretly recording videos of his assistant pastor while he showered. The Village Church declared Moore unfit for ministry. Moore and White were good friends while at Southwest Theological Seminary.
To my knowledge, only two members of the Cedarville Board of Trustees voted against reinstating Thomas White. These two were Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Mark Vroegop, lead pastor of College Park Church in Indianapolis. Both men were so disturbed by the vote to reinstate Thomas White that they resigned their positions from the Board of Trustees.
Here is Akin’s letter of resignation:
Vroegop issued a similar statement on his website, saying he “could not support” the direction of the board, and that he did not “believe these steps are sufficient in light of what the report revealed.
Guess who else was/is on the Cedarville University Board of Trustees?
Tim Armstrong apparently had Thomas White’s back in the vote to reinstate him. And why not? Hunting buddies stick together through thick and thin.
By the way, @armstrongwired was Tim Armstrong’s Twitter account, but it’s now closed.
Tim Armstrong has spoken at Cedarville University several times since his hunting buddy has been the President of the institution:
“There’s something about this place, it has a spiritual vibe, like really, no other place on earth.”
-Tim Armstrong, speaking at Cedarville University, November 3, 2016.
Tim Armstrong, Senior Pastor of The Chapel and a Trustee on the Cedarville University Board of Trustees speaks at a chapel service at Cedarville University on November 8, 2018
I must admit, all this has me wondering just what is going on at The Chapel.
1
“I think the wiser course of action is to be transparent throughout the entire process.”
I agree. Do you think the Trustees do not know why Mr. Armstrong wanted to be rid of Mr. Castelli? Maybe Mr. Mitchell knows? (I’ll bet their secretaries know!)
I think it’s interesting that Mr. Castelli had been with the church much longer than Mr. Armstrong has.
Fifteen years ago my church hired a new senior pastor who never really bonded with the congregation. However, with his recommendation, he led the charge to have the two staff members who were probably the most in tune with the needs of the congregation dismissed. On the first, the reason was his “vision” didn’t fit the needs of the church. With the second, it was finances, and that seemed more believable. However, she was even willing to work part-time if they would keep her. End of story, the pastor was out within the year after the second staff was let go due to his failure to pastor (i.e connect) with the congregation effectively. We lost about a 1/3 of the congregation over the previous two dismissals, and we have just begun to recover. Whatever is going on at The Chapel may cause a lot of feet to head to other churches.
There are some leaders whose actions burn down the institutions they serve, but these leaders persevere, so that in the end, they may be in control of the ashes.
Ava Aaronson,
That just about summarizes it… and remember how quick they are to be all “spirtually”..
I also love how time and again, they “situations” are handled poorly, and hush hush, but heaven forbid the pew peons talk about it.. despite the fact they are paying the bills… the arrogance never ceases to amaze me..
Grifters.
So, no women in any leadership positions at the Chapel and none on the special Committee. Fail and fail.
And the old “don’t talk” rule rears its ugly head. Just trust us men.
For what it’s worth, a church crisis referred to as an “attack of Satan” does not abdicate the leaders of their responsibility or oppose anything this site intends to accomplish. At least I do not think it does. Sometimes both are true…. Like in a marriage. That is why we are called to be “sober minded”.
“He would burn the entire world if he could be King over the ashes.”
— Lord Varys, Game of Thrones
Remember once you get outside the Christianese bubble, “SPRITIUAL = NOT REAL”.
Lord Varys says it better.
I went to this church as a child. I remember how they taught that interracial marriage was not part of God’s plan, that Rev. Dr. King was probably not saved, and that we were in spiritual warfare with other religions and Judaism in particular. This was the 1980s.
I see the finest minds still run the place.
A couple of other things of note here: Tim Armstrong is an ’89 alumnus of Cedarville U; that means he was a student under Dr. Paul Dixon when the school was tied to the GARBC, a fundamentalist, separatist Baptist organization. One of the required qualifications of being a CU trustee is to still be a “separatist.” Second, Armstrong has twins attending CU right now; that means he isn’t paying any tuition, as trustees all get the benefit of a tuition waiver for every child they have attending CU. This is one major reason why Akin and Vroegop had the luxury of resigning from the Board of Trustees. Vroegop’s last child had already graduated from CU, and Akin’s children are much older (Akin has a dozen grandchildren at this point). Those men may have resigned regardless, but the fact is, they didn’t have any financial incentive holding them back either. And neither man objected to the additions to the school’s doctrinal statement, the censorship policy, the misogyny, the purge of the Bible department (which was unethical and abusive) and the toxic culture White built. Many CU trustees have children attending CU, and if they’d opposed Chip Bernhard and Lorne Scharnburg, the two trustees who have served as chairmen, who are cut from the same cloth as Paige Patterson (who also used to serve on the board), and who ran the investigation into White’s hiring of Anthony Moore just for show, they would’ve lost the free tuition they were enjoying as well as the fun hunting trips. Other trustees enjoy those hunting trips, too: Rob Wynalda hosts annual bear hunting trips, for instance. In fact, on June 8, 2014, White posted a photo on Facebook of him with a slain bear in front of him in Buffalo Narrows, SK, Canada, joking, “This bear was stung by a Yellow Jacket from Cedarville, Ohio.” Other hunting trips involve Armstrong, English, Dykema, Jenkins, and Petek in additon to Wynalda and Armstrong. Dykema works for Wynalda, too. So talk about conflicts of interest! Other trustees travel with the Whites on lavish trips–to Belize, Cayman Islands, the Grand Turks, Florida Keys, etc. When Gina Hedrick was a trustee for a short time, she hosted them at the island she and her husband own. Such trips include former trustees like Michael Loftis and Ron Becker as well a trustee emeritus Al Stevens and present trustee Dan Petek (Loftis, as you may recall was involved in the cover-up of ABWE missionary doctor Donn Ketchum’s pedophilia). In short, many trustees and influencers had financial incentives to keep White on. Whatever may be going on at the Chapel, we do know this about Armstrong: He likes being wined and dined as a trustee and loves the free tuition at CU. No wonder he likes the vibe of the place! In other words, he can be bought. And so can 9 other trustees who had 10 children attending CU last summer. (Now we know why the number is 9 and 10 because Armstrong has 2!)
“… we walk a careful line between full transparency and … wise restraint …”
How often has transparency been tossed out by church leaders in favor of restraint? Restraint to keep folks in the pew, restraint to keep the offerings coming, restraint to protect reputations … when laying-it-on-the-line transparency right out of the chute would have been the appropriate thing to do for church members. How often have we seen in these situations that church elders weren’t so wise after all. Somebody better step up to the plate and exercise some wisdom soon before nickels and noses start leaving The Chapel. It’s not transparent enough at this point to sort out the good guys from the bad guys.
Oooooo, The name, Thomas White sounded very familiar. I finally googled the name. He was involved with Paige Patterson in covering up and contorting the rape of Megan Lively at SWBTS!
“I must admit, all this has me wondering just what is going on at The Chapel.” (Dee)
I guarantee you that when it’s all said and done, the good people who attend The Chapel will know that the world, the flesh, and/or the devil were involved.
You reckon the Body of Christ at large is getting sick and tired of this stuff? Perhaps sick and tired enough to humble themselves, pray, repent and seek God’s face for a new day? Sick and tired enough to yearn for revival in the church and spiritual awakening in the nation? Sick and tired enough to stop doing church without God?
Seeing those names in the same sentence made me feel slimy.
Do you really expect anything else from a ManaGAWD?
Agreed. The “attack of Satan” argument also distracts. It terrifies church members, while bragging, because Satan only goes after the best Christians.
Moreover, when people think they have detected Satan’s presence, it’s always in people. Folks sometimes get very violent against the “satanic” person or group.
Vigilance by leaders is supposed to keep the devil at bay.
“Be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around … seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 AMP)
This pretty much says it all about where their heads are at.
Comeuppance would be rich if a hunter from space stalked and made trophies out of them guys.
Sweet arrangement to keep the trustees in your pocket! That sort of “pay to play” would not be acceptable at most institutions of higher learning (of course, it’s debatable how much of the learning at CU is “higher”).
Max,
I feel sorry for any trustee’s kid who was told they could only go to Cedarville, so don’t even dream about applying elsewhere.
Some colleges (at least used to) offer a tuition discount to children of faculty, who typically don’t have very high salaries.
Is it standard to offer free tuition to trustees’ children? I thought trustee was a part-time obligation, often unpaid.
Wow! Amazing what “important” lessons they are teaching to children… Both sad and scary. And where is God in the lives and teachings of the leaders?
For sure. Our last child will be applying to college this fall, but I wouldn’t let her anywhere close to that college!
My hubby works at a University – kids would have gotten 1/2 tuition if they’d chosen to attend there, which none of them have. Not sure about trustees at most colleges.
“The plot thickens”, as Snoopy the writer, in the Peanuts’ comic strip, used to point out, with his typewriter atop his doghouse.
This admin-dude seems to have 2 things going, in spades:
-a lot of bravado
-a lot to hide.
In contrast, Jesus ran His mission, His discipleship of His followers, and His own life without much bravado & with nothing to hide.
So, who is this admin-dude working for? Who is he following? Why would anyone in their right mind and with a healthy soul ever be under his administration, either formally or informally?
The admin-dude seems to be a pillar supporting predation. Bravado, but never brave. Bravado is the cosplay of a childish churlish coward.
Especially for young ladies who long to be free from religious gender oppression. CU is not exactly female-friendly.
Females are a subspecies. We can interbreed, but we can’t live in the same habitat.
I’m OK with tuition breaks for children of college faculty and staff. But to extend that to trustees poses a conflict of interest, IMO. These folks are supposed to be the governing body of the college and need a degree of separation to make unbiased decisions. Free tuition for children could influence decision-making by Daddies who lean a bit that way … and Lord knows we’ve seen plenty of failed religious boards in recent years (think Hybels, MacDonald, Driscoll, etc.).
RZ?
JO?
https://medium.com/james-finn/the-trans-man-the-pedophile-and-the-pastor-e4002407ef85
Sycophants?
Any old-school SF types here?
Does the word “Kzinti” ring any bells?
Did they teach the Blood Libel (the Deep State Illuminati Satanic Panic of its day) or teach from Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
According to YouTube comment threads about a certain current NY State prosecution, this is an old Mob trick to keep the “trustees” loyal to the Don. By getting them in so deep that when the Don asks “a favor in return” they cannot refuse. Else all their freebies go away or worse.
The isangoma flicks his flywhisk at them to mark them as a Witch, and they are immediately mobbed, dragged away, and impaled.
An “offer he can’t refuse” shouldn’t be going on in the Christian Industrial Complex; but, sadly …
“Our Church is in crisis” is happening across the American landscape, but few in the pew see it.
Many male leaders in church are not even human the way they treat others.
Man-Kzin wars – Jerry Pournelle’s Known Space Universe
Oops Larry Niven – Pournelle’s frequent collaborator.
And do you remember Kzinti females (Kzinreti?)
How they were non-sentient animals, having had the intelligence bred out of them by the males?
Males who were all murderous hypermasculine aggression on a hair trigger?
(“You scream and you leap.”)
Sounds a lot like a theoretical end state of Biblical Complementarianism, doesn’t it?
Yes, it really does.
We’ve discussed this before Max.
So long as the potlucks are still on, and the social events calendar is not impacted, the pews couldn’t care less who’s in the pulpit, or what he blathers on about.
Except the kzin always got their tales kicked. At least in all the volumes of Man-Kzin wars I read.
A lot of sci-fi from that era tended to be more focused on “traditional” roles. Try reading “Lucifer’s Hammer” with a 21st century eye. That book hasn’t aged well.
These folks yearn for a golden age that never was.
Read “Planet of the Apes” for the first time this spring. The treatment of Nova is something I just wish I could erase from my mind. Love sci fi, but my poor female brain just can’t handle those older books anymore.
From the moment of White’s arrival at my, and my spouse’s, alma mater, I had an uneasy feeling. The mishandling of the Donn Ketchum/ABWE/Michael Loftis trustee mess was revealing of White’s character, as was his close relationship with P. Patterson.
I never knew of that particular tuition perk for children of trustees. Aren’t trustees usually people of wealth and power..not “needing” free tuition? The trustee I know is very wealthy.
And, allowing people to walk around campus carrying guns…I was appalled by that risky decision.
Something is seriously wrong at CU. There are secrets. We knew three graduates this year and are glad they are out of there. All three are lowly women…as Cedarville views women.
Justice Collective,
my word….. i’ve observed so many instances of absolute corruption in evangelicalism in the last many years.
(corruption: lack of integrity, dishonesty, unethical practices, no moral compass, self-dealing financially and in other ways, destroying human beings who stand in the way of them getting what they want, greed, self-entitlement, whining when they don’t get what feel entitled to…)
well, a lot of this is just immaturity. like, they never grew up beyond 11 or 12.
Exactly. When you put a man in the pulpit who suffers from adolescence on-hold, coupled with spiritual immaturity, you have a recipe for disaster … or as The Chapel Church calls it “crisis.”
Wealth and power perhaps, but not necessarily integrity.
There are no lowly women in the Body of Christ, only lowly men who view them that way. “In Christ” there are no distinctions in race, class or gender … you’ll only find that “In church” (which, of course is not ‘the’ Church).
Give us Barabbas!
The Kzinti were Aggressive Hypermasculinity taken to the point of absurdity.
“You Scream And You Leap!” does not lend itself to long-term anything.
Exactly.
as well as:
RZ
MD
DW
JO
Hybels
Savage
JP
etc.
Applause from the mob that chooses a predator over Jesus.
From the words of an old song: “Lost and undone without God or His Son”
The Chapel trustees are using The Center Consulting Group for their independent investigation. Does anyone have experience with this firm? Impressions?
Hopefully, they don’t have any ties to Cedarville University.
An investigation cannot be independent if one party chooses a single investigator and also pays that investigator.
Family court sometimes has one party pay for their own representation and for the representation of other parties. For example, a wealthy married person who wants a divorce might have to pay for attorneys to represent an indigent spouse and also minor children. The indigent spouse might choose their own lawyer, and the judge might appoint a guardian ad litem for the children.
I’ve posted this idea before but feel like it needs to be repeated. Victims need their own representation. If they can’t afford it, the church should be forced to pay.
Agreed. There should never be “victims” in a church … but, if it happens and they have been victimized by church leaders, then the church should indeed be responsible for paying for an investigating organization of the victim’s choosing and/or an attorney to represent them with this activity as well as in criminal court if it comes to that. The victim seldom gets as much support as the abuser in these situations … it’s upside down.
In reading TWW over time, I’ve grown more and more worried about victims who place all their hope in the investigation carried out by the church. Then the hope is dashed. Instead of finding comfort and justice, the survivor experiences a new betrayal and a lack of resolution.
Which, of course, provides ample evidence to the victim that they had not been attending “the” church … just a 501(c)3 non-prophet organization.
Some of them will even turn around and tell you (generic you) that it’s ‘Biblical’.
“Seldom”, Max?
According to Boz T, in all his years as a prosecutor specializing in child sexual abuse cases, he NEVER saw a church side with the victim. Always “RALLY ROUND THE PEDO, BOYOS! GAWD SAITH!”
Read the book back in 78′ shortly after it hit the stands.
I don’t recall anything even remotely extolling ‘traditional roles’.
I thought it was a great sci-fi yarn.
From the pic for this article on the TWW marquee:
Never trust a guy who grins like a possum eatin’ poo.
I know we are not to judge by “outward appearance”, but some folks just look the part, don’t they? If the slime needle climbs when you are first exposed to certain church leaders, it’s the Spirit within warning you to beware.