The Wartburg Watch » SGM

Is the Sun Setting on YRR – aka New Calvinism?

deb — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 04:58:15 +0000

"Our chief concerns have to do with immaturity, instability, and inconsistency in the YRR movement." John MacArthur Beaufort (NC) Sunset (Taken by Deb) The Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement (YRR) gained much notoriety five years ago when Collin Hansen coined his catchy description of a new trend in Christendom. The emergent church movement, so prevalent decades before, waned while the YRR movement, also known as "New Calvinism" advanced at rapid speed. We believe advances in technology are largely responsible for YRR growth. Websites, conferences, blogs, podcasts, Facebook, and Twitter have been highly utilized by the New Calvinists to promote their brand. So many young, serious-minded Christians have fallen in lock step behind those leading the movement, and until recently there seemed to be no stopping the popularity of YRR leaders. Remember the 2009 TIME ranking of Top Ten ideas changing the world? (link) "The New Calvinism" came in at number three. A mere two years later, there appear to be problems afoot within the movement. Perhaps C.J. Mahaney's stepping down as president of Sovereign Grace Ministries in early July triggered a panoply of voices. The internet, which popularized New Calvinism, appears to be a driving force for the movement's Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Dec 22 2011.

Categories: Calvinism/Calvinista, John MacArthur, Kevin DeYoung, New Reformed Theology, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries, Submission, 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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SGM and Confusion in the Camp

deb — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 04:24:17 +0000

"For God is not a God of confusion but of peace." 1 Corinthians 14:33 (ESV) What in the world is going on in Sovereign Grace Ministries? We are totally perplexed. The SGM leadership is causing confusion in the camp, and it is wreaking havoc throughout this "family of churches". Remember, God is not the author of confusion. In our previous post, we featured Mickey Connolly's admonition to the CrossWay congregation at a recent Family Meeting. He warned them not to read anything written by Brent Detwiler or the anti-SGM blogs IF it would cause them to fall into temptation. Here is what he said: "From our biblical study, which we have presented to you tonight, and our prayerful perspective, we believe, sadly, that Brent clearly fits the definition of a man who is causing divisions and because of his refusal to cease has the potential to cause even further division and therefore must be marked as divisive. Having nothing more to do with him, or avoiding him, would include not discussing these things with him personally, reading any of his materials on blogs or Facebook. That means if you have to defriend him to avoid the temptation, do that, or following the Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Fri, Nov 18 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Mark Dever, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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Today is ‘National UnFriend Day’

deb — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:35:15 +0000

"A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17 (ESV, NASB, NIV) Happy November 17th everybody! Did you know that today is National UnFriend Day or "NUD"? If you're not on Facebook, then you probably have no idea what the term 'unfriend' means. Those with Facebook accounts have a cadre of friends that can sometimes number into the hundreds or even thousands. In order to become someone's Facebook friend, you must submit a 'friend request', which can accepted, rejected, or ignored. In some cases Facebook users are friends with people whom they have never met or even heard of. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is stymied by how many people are on Facebook, and he sees it as a complete waste of time. However, for those who are hooked, he came up with a national holiday last year that encourages Facebook users to whittle down their friends to a manageable number. In case you missed it, this clip shows Kimmel announcing the National UnFriend Day. Here is a scenario that illustrates the importance of this national holiday. Let's say you are a member of CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, and your pastor proclaimed the following at a recent 'family meeting': (link) "From our biblical Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Nov 17 2011.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, SGM, Sovereign Grace Ministries

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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 Boasts About Its Pastors College

deb — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 02:18:53 +0000

"Oh yes, I'm the great pretender, pretending that I'm doing well…" The Platters Photo by Deb Despite the firestorm that is engulfing Sovereign Grace Ministries, it appears the Board is pretending everything is just fine. In case you haven’t been reading SGM’s most recent blog posts (the last three to be specific), the Pastors College is back in session. SGM leadership appears to be dodging its serious problems by shining the spotlight on its future leadership and the brilliant theologians who are being hired to teach. Since the SGM board wants everyone to focus on its Pastors College (PC), let’s take a closer look. Perhaps you will recall that last year the PC had only three students. That might explain why this year’s class is much larger with twenty-three students. SGM pretends everything is hunky-dory by making these kinds of pronouncements. (link) “Today marks the beginning of a new Pastors College academic year. We’ll introduce the students in a moment, but first, here is the class by the numbers of 23 students: • Ages range from 24 to 56 years old • Twenty-two are married, with marriages ranging from 3 to 31 years • Ten states are represented, as Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Sep 08 2011.

Categories: Pastors College (SGM), 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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