The Wartburg Watch » C.J. Mahaney

Young, Restless, and Reformed (YRR) – RIP?

deb — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:56:41 +0000

“I’ve been pondering a post on this thing that’s been called Young, Restless, and Reformed. What’s good? What’s bad? What needs to be celebrated? What needs to addressed? For starters, it may be time to retire the name.” Kevin DeYoung (DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed) Jonathan Edwards (Wikipedia) I will never forget that day back in 2006 when the September issue of Christianity Today arrived in the mail. Dee called and said: “You really need to read the article on the front cover called: "Young, Restless, Reformed: Calvinism is making a comeback – and shaking up the church”. (link) As I write this post, I'm looking at that CT issue featuring a guy in a yellow t-shirt with a picture of Edwards on the front along with the words: JONATHAN EDWARDS IS MY HOMEBOY. Much has transpired in the YRR crowd since Colin Hansen wrote that article. Before we get into that, here is a little background information. In early September 2003, a friend and I went Binkley Chapel on the campus of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to hear John MacArthur address the students. He had come to our area for two reasons – to speak at Southeastern as well Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Dec 21 2011.

Categories: Acts 29, Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Together for the Gospel, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Rewriting History: SGM/SBC Style

deb — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:56:07 +0000

"Those who tell the stories also hold the power." Plato The Colosseum (taken by Deb) Five months ago many were surprised by the reconciliation of C.J. Mahaney and Larry Tomczak. LARRY WHO? We would imagine that this was a typical reaction of newcomers in Sovereign Grace Ministries. Kris over at SGM Survivors recently explained: (link) "Prior to early 2008, there was NOTHING anywhere online (except for the comments to that one now-defunct blog post where the subject of SGM had come up) that connected SGM to Larry T. All of SGM’s carefully sanitized history made it sound like PDI sort of popped up in the early 2000s as a fully-formed “family of churches” that had been founded by CJ alone." (Comment 109) Sidney, who sometimes comments on the SGM Survivors blog, chimed in with this startling remark: "I just checked with one of my “peeps” who’s still at CLC. They told me that at some family meeting this summer, the question was asked about Larry being “removed” from history. Josh said that he was, that was wrong and that he would be put back in history and they won’t be doing that anymore. Good move, CLC pastors, for having Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Dec 05 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Larry Tomczak, New Reformed Theology, SBC pastors, SGM, Southern Baptist Convention, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Tomczak Sets the Record Straight

deb — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:55:58 +0000

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) Larry Tomczak The departure of Larry Tomczak from PDI (renamed Sovereign Grace Ministries) has always been somewhat of a mystery until now… For those not familiar with him, Larry Tomczak took a young C.J. Mahaney under his wing back during the Jesus Movement (1970s) and together they founded a Bible study in the Washington, D.C. area called "Take and Give". They attracted a large following which numbered into the thousands and eventually started a church in Gaithersburg, Maryland that is now called Covenant Life Church. Mahaney became the pastor of the church. They also established an outreach ministry called People of Destiny, which focused on church planting, and Tomczak led this effort. He also served as pastor of Fairfax Covenant Church before relocating to Atlanta. (SGMers, if I don't have the history correct, please let me know.) Next year Tomczak will be marking his 40th year of full-time ministry. This milestone must be extremely important to him because he has finally decided to "tell the story of Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Dec 02 2011.

Categories: Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Church conflict, Church discipline, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Idiot Sheep or Beloved Children of the Shepherd King?

dee — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 02:57:47 +0000

"But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Matthew 9:36 US Sheepherding Experiment Recently, TWW was criticized from the pulpit of a well-known mega-church regarding a post from over 2 years ago in which we believed that a pastor was misusing a metaphor about sheep. Said pastor made sure (in a rather loud voice) that we now understand that he considers himself one of the “idiot” sheep. We are gratified to hear that said pastor counts himself amongst the idiots out here but that is not the only point we were trying to make. We do not believe that the metaphors of sheep and shepherd in the Bible were meant to convey that God thinks we are a bunch of idiots. In fact, we do not see any Bible verses in which God’s dearly loved children are called dumb or idiotic sheep. The Scripture is replete with verses of how a concerned and loving shepherd will guide his sheep. In fact, He will run after even one sheep who has gone astray. When my son was about 18 months old, he preferred to Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Nov 28 2011.

Categories: Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista

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Tim Challies: Deleting Both Scripture and Hurting People; A Request from SGM Refuge

dee — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:24:13 +0000

"You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness." CS Lewis Interacting Spiral galaxies-Hubble/NASA I know I say this regularly but I believe it is worth repeating. I learned how to look at life differently within the first week of my MBA program. One of those lessons was about the rules of the game. Not merely the written rules but the more important, unwritten rules that lurk underneath any successful business. All of you have been there. If you want to get something done in your company, your boss may not be the one with power. It is actually Fred who is about to marry the CEO’s daughter. So you learn how to do end runs around your boss and make nice with Fred. This past week, a couple of readers shared their common experience of having comments deleted from Challies.com. Tim Challies is a Neo-Calvinist who talks a pretty good game of theology, Reformed-style. However, Challies has what appears to be an unwritten agenda and we think we know what it is. We are smart, as well as glamorous. But, before we get to Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Fri, Nov 04 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, New Reformed Theology, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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The Genesis Code, Challies.com, T4G, CJ Mahaney, Prayer and Twitter

dee — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:56:41 +0000

"I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self." Martin Luther Giant "Twisters" in the Lagoon Nebula- Hubble Today marks an important occasion. “On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to Albert of Mainz, protesting against the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his "Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences," which came to be known as The Ninety-Five Theses.” (Wikipedia). This blog is named after the castle in which Martin Luther was sequestered to protect him from the Pope’s murderous intent. In the last 1000 years, we at TWW believe that Luther, more than any other religious leader, profoundly affected the course of human history. Now there was a guy with some staying power! *************************************************************************** There is a new movie being released on November 4th called The Genesis Code. Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Oct 31 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Together for the Gospel

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C.J. Mahaney – Back So Soon?

deb — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 02:09:15 +0000

"And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh." Jude 22-23 (ESV) Sunset in Beaufort, NC (Taken by Deb) Prior to taking a leave of absence three months ago, C.J. Mahaney was busy making the rounds with his latest canned sermon – When Someone Doubts – based on Jude 22-23. I have listened to several of these messages and found it interesting that on more than one occasion C.J. stated that he invited himself to speak at these churches. Here are just some of his speaking engagements where he delivered that same spiel earlier this year: March 6 Grace Community Church (Ashburn, VA) March 13 Covenant Life Church (Gaithersburg, MD) March 20 Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA) April 3 KingsWay Community Church (Midlothian, VA) May 8 Grace Community Church (Kingsville, MD) June 26 Resolved Conference 2011 (Palm Springs, CA) I have probably missed other churches Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Mon, Oct 03 2011.

Categories: C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Carolyn Mahaney, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Sovereign Grace Ministries Captures the Media Spotlight

deb — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:23:37 +0000

Le Mont Saint Michel (taken by Deb) “We as a family experienced a pattern of spiritual abuse, hypocrisy, harshness, deceit and some unfortunate threats that were not righteous for Christians and need to be repented.” Larry Tomczak in a Washington Post article published on September 6, 2011 Since morphing themselves into Sovereign Grace Ministries, C.J. Mahaney and his lieutenants have been trying to capture the world’s attention with their distinctive brand of Christianity. At long last all that clamoring has attracted the attention of The Washington Post; however, this time this cadre of neo-Calvinists, accustomed to having complete control, have absolutely no control over the free press. These Calvinista leaders, who took full advantage of a new communication tool called the internet, have built a movement by promoting themselves while maintaining strict control over their own press (websites and blogs). Michelle Boorstein, a Washington Post reporter, has been investigating Sovereign Grace Ministries, and her findings have just been published in an article entitled “Sovereign Grace Ministries, riven by conflict, seeks to change”. You can access Boorstein’s piece here. The Post article begins as follows: “When C.J. Mahaney took a leave of absence this summer from the helm of his 100-church Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Sep 07 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Spiritual abuse

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Dave Harvey – Give Me One More Chance

deb — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:35:30 +0000

“I am amazed that a group of men that have called so many to repentance (for) over 30 years still don’t understand it on a personal level.” Irv (a former SGM pastor) The Colosseum (taken by Deb) Dave Harvey, acting President of Sovereign Grace Ministries, has recorded a video in which he addresses specific questions that have come to the fore (more on that in a bit). I decided to check out Harvey’s credentials for leading this “family of churches”, and here is what I found at the SGM website. (link) “Dave Harvey is responsible for church care, church planting, and international expansion for Sovereign Grace Ministries. He has served as a member of the Sovereign Grace Ministries leadership team since 1995. Dave has been in pastoral ministry at Covenant Fellowship Church (Glen Mills, PA) since 1986, was ordained in 1988, and served as senior pastor from 1990 to 2008. He has served on the board of the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation since 2006. Dave received a Master of Arts in Missiology from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1989, worked toward a Master of Divinity from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1993 to 1995, and in 2001 became a graduate Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Aug 31 2011.

Categories: Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, CCEF, Dave Harvey, Mark Dever, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Ambassadors of Reconciliation: Let’s Take A Closer Look

deb — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:47:51 +0000

As many of our readers know, the Ambassadors of Reconciliation have just released their Consultation Report to the Board of Directors of Sovereign Grace Ministries. (link) The report was prepared by Ted Kober and Ed Keinath. According to Dave Harvey, "this plan includes three areas where they and others will be involved in helping us: 1. Adjudication of allegations against C.J. Mahaney 2. Group reconciliation with others who have offenses 3. Follow-up consultation and recommendations" Instead of analyzing the report itself, I decided to investigate the organization that authored the report, the Ambassadors of Reconciliation. Why look closely at AoR? I believe that impartiality is of utmost importance in this process and that transparency is crucial. When Dave Harvey first named the Ambassadors of Reconciliation as the organization selected to help resolve SGM’s debacle, he described AoR as “a ministry that primarily serves Lutheran churches”. Fair enough. However, at that time I decided to investigate whether there were ties between Ambassadors of Reconciliation and Peacemaker Ministries (which has an established relationship with SGM). Furthermore, C.J. Mahaney and Ken Sande are friends as we have previously established here at TWW. In fact, Mahaney endorsed Sande’s 2004 revised and updated edition of Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Aug 26 2011.

Categories: Ambassadors of Reconciliation, American Scientific Affiliation, C.J. Mahaney, Peacemaker Ministries, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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