Dee Continues On Her Pilgrim’s Progress Recap: Mike Lee of SBC’s Hope Community Church Joins the Conga Line of Fallen Pastors

Conga Line: Creative Commons

““It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”  ― George Washington


I don’t know how many of you are familiar with The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.

Often disguised as something that would help him, evil accompanies Christian on his journey to the Celestial City. As you walk with him, you’ll begin to identify today’s many religious pitfalls. These are presented by men such as Pliable, who turns back at the Slough of Despond; and Ignorance, who believes he’s a true follower of Christ when he’s really only trusting in himself. Each character represented in this allegory is intentionally and profoundly accurate in its depiction of what we see all around us, and unfortunately, what we too often see in ourselves. But while Christian is injured and nearly killed, he eventually prevails to the end. So can you.

Over Thanksgiving, my husband and I talked about our strange journey that began with the molestation of teen boys at Providence Baptist Church. From there, we went to an Anglican church that rejected us until we “reconciled” with PBC. Then onto  Chapel Hill Bible Church and now Hope Community Church which was a stealth member of the SBC. One stop on the journey was promising, and that was The Gathering. It was too far away for us to be involved.

I wrote about our experience at Hope CC in Hope Community Church, Raleigh: Another SBC Megachurch; Another *Adulterous* Relationship. So Tiresome and Common.

There was something more. Pastor Lee was the main face of Hope Community Church. This decision seemed rather sudden. Sadly there was more. His wife posted in Facebook that he was having an affair. There supposedly was much detail. That detail has since been removed. Mike admitted that he was having an affair. Eventually, the leaders of the church told the congregation.

However, I found the following presentation to the members rather concerning. Watch for yourself. Please go to the time mark. 18:47 to listen to Jason Gore, a long-time pastor and now the apparent lead pastor, discuss the situation.

When Storms Hit – Service from Hope Community Church on Vimeo.

I also wrote:

…I have heard it claimed that this relationship began while he was on Sabbatical. I have heard otherwise. However, while on Sabbatical he was still the lead pastor of Hope so it doesn’t let him off the hook. It is my understanding that this person had connections at Hope. As many people know, a counselor who has sex with his/her client can be arrested and put in jail. Some states, such as Texas are passing similar laws for clergy. Was this clergy abuse?

Mike, who is erroneously called by one of the misled, “one of the greatest Bible teachers the world has ever known,” supposedly repented, and the church was going to help support Mike and his wife. It was obvious to me that things weren’t good.

Mike Lee remarries and starts a “Bible Study.”

That post was written in 2021. Here’s how things went in 2022. I have been told that this is the person with whom he had a “relationship” while he was still pastor.

Mike and a younger and hotter new wife. link

Here is the message “Cowboy” Mike wrote:

cowboymikelee
A new chapter begins… “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23

He fell off the “marriage and church” restoration bandwagon.

He has written a book called Death by Church, Life Through Christ: Hope for The Hopeless, and is having a cracking good time with his new wife.

He is imitating Tullian Tchividjian and the “I’m imperfect” excuse. Here is how it is described on Amazon.

Have you ever blown it? Or failed miserably? Have you felt that your fellow Christians and your church have been your harshest critics? You’re not alone. Throughout history, God has tapped the shoulders of the most flawed people in the Bible to impact the world on His behalf, and yet that’s not what many of us experience from our fellow Christians when we stumble or fall. But did you know that God has a different protocol for us? There’s hardly a man or woman in the Bible who didn’t fail greatly that God used for His glory. And if God can use them, then He can certainly use you. Despite your past. Despite what people say about you. Despite the magnitude of your transgression. We are not called on to be perfect but to be perfected through Jesus. Mike Lee walks us through one of the most painful chapters in his life and through biblical truth he lays out the framework for how we move forward from sin to where we can ultimately accept and offer forgiveness not only for ourselves but in our relationships and in our churches. Come along as Mike guides us to a better understanding of what God intends when He welcomes home the prodigal, uses the harlot, or anoints the murderer. When we are at our worst, God is at His best.

Even better, he says this about his book.

If you feel like churches can and should do a better job of representing Jesus to our world, this book is for you.

Ummm, Mike, in my opinion, you are a leading example of how not to represent Jesus to the world.

Ohhhh! He’s trying to say that he’s walked through one of the most painful chapters in his life. I’ve got news for him. Mike Lee rejected his first wife. His church was sold a story of repentance and now sees that it didn’t turn out how they hoped. Mike’s having a blast, traveling thru Italy and Israel and showing pictures of his new wife. Read his Instagram page. 

He started a well-attended Bible study at Rey’s restaurant close to Hope Community Church.

There are evangelical suckers everywhere, and many shall willingly part from their money to help an “imperfect pastor” teach nonsense. It probably makes them feel better about themselves. According to his Facebook page:

‘According to Mapquest, Rey’s restaurant is .5 miles from Hope Community Church. I’m sure he didn’t plan it to be an “in your face” to Hope Community Church.

So, Dee is glad she got the heck out of there and began to look again for a church that quietly and beautifully lives out its mission. She found it. No big promises of changing the world.” Instead, let’s care for our neighbors and live out our faith in a less flashy and bombastic fashion. I am convinced that God planned this path for me. It taught me much about the failures in the evangelical church, which has helped me to say when someone calls me, “I believe you. I’ve experienced it or seen it.” I’m grateful for the eye-opening path I walked, but I feel so sorry for those whose molestations and harassment have hurt.

Old guys shouldn’t wear skinny jeans with boots and pretend they are cowboys. I lived in Texas for ten years, and Mike Lee should be ashamed.

Comments

Dee Continues On Her Pilgrim’s Progress Recap: Mike Lee of SBC’s Hope Community Church Joins the Conga Line of Fallen Pastors — 70 Comments

  1. Just skimming this post about his antics ellicits a good amount of revulsion – the photo even more so.

  2. “Mike’s having a blast, traveling thru … Israel and showing pictures of his new wife.”

    Not the first false prophet to visit the promised land.

  3. When a pastor gets up in front of his congregation and claims he had NO IDEA about the shenanigans of a fellow elder my jaw hits the floor.

    Seriously people??? Wake up

  4. First he writes “…that he’s walked through one of the most painful chapters in his life. I’ve got news for him. Mike Lee rejected his first wife.” Then he starts a Bible study within spittin’ distance of his prior church? How repellent, to put it mildly. Ugh.

  5. Hopefully the first Mrs. Lee is managing to find a measure of healing in the midst of all this.

    Having an affair is a far cry from “not being perfect.”

  6. Old guys look silly chasing chicks young enough to be their daughters.
    They never really grew up did they?

  7. Am I the only one that finds it funny that Rey’s Restaurant, the location of his “Bible” study, has a “Voodoo Lounge”??

    How appropriate for a witch doctor and his black magic masquerading in the tradition of “an angel of light”. (2 Cor. 11:13-15)

  8. Iwoots: How appropriate for a witch doctor and his black magic masquerading in the tradition of “an angel of light”. (2 Cor. 11:13-15)

    Some cultures term this as Western or American polygamy, only when taking a younger wife (over and over), the older and older guy abandons his former wife (wives). Moving from one to the next, younger and younger. Leaving the former(s) in the dust. He dumps the former, moves on to the next.

  9. It seems their website has been hacked (or there is stuff on it that really shouldn’t be there) though a bit hidden away.

    I also note that careful playing down on their SBC connections.

  10. Muff Potter,

    And the younger woman is looking for a daddy figure? I guess the father-daughter heartthrobs find each other. Meanwhile, is wife #1 then the only adult left standing, the only adult in the room?

  11. So, Dee is glad she got the heck out of there and began to look again for a church that quietly and beautifully lives out its mission. She found it. No big promises of changing the world.” Instead, let’s care for our neighbors and live out our faith in a less flashy and bombastic fashion

    I am so sick of all the Christainese hype… and associated implications…

  12. Luckyforward: One would perceive that situations such as the one reported here, along with so many others on TWW, explain the decline of Christianity.

    The American church in many places continues to give the world more reasons to say “See, there’s nothing to it.” But there is a Church still alive and well in America, whether it goes to “church” or not.

  13. Iwoots: Am I the only one that finds it funny that Rey’s Restaurant, the location of his “Bible” study, has a “Voodoo Lounge”??

    That would be appropriate. Funny? … I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  14. Muff Potter: Old guys look silly chasing chicks young enough to be their daughters.
    They never really grew up did they?

    Oh, but man, he can sure preach! (don’t people realize how weak this defense is). Unfortunately, there is a segment of the American “church” which prefers a “pastor” like this, who lives no differently than they do … it makes them feel better about themselves.

  15. The Rev in the reptile jacket: We are not called to be perfect
    Bible: Be ye perfect (in Holy Spirit trust)
    Verily, a greater than these! He doesn’t even not try.

  16. Ava Aaronson: Some cultures term this as Western or American polygamy, only when taking a younger wife (over and over), the older and older guy abandons his former wife (wives).

    For a younger and younger trophy wife.
    As Young as Possible.
    Because the younger she is, the more he can convince himself “I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! REALLY! I AM! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG!”

    Who was it that preached “As a man gets older, his eye turns to younger and younger women. Which is why God sends him daughters?” Guy was a really big name in Biblical Family Values circles…

  17. Max: Oh, but man, he can sure preach! (don’t people realize how weak this defense is).

    And HE $AVED $O MANY $OUL$!
    HOW MANY SOULS HAVE YOU SAVED? HUH? HUH? HUH?

  18. Ava Aaronson:
    Muff Potter,

    And the younger woman is looking for a daddy figure? I guess the father-daughter heartthrobs find each other.

    “As a man gets older, his eye turns to younger and younger women. Which is why God sends him daughters.”
    Anybody remember that ManaGAWD’s name? My brain keeps blanking on it.

    Meanwhile, is wife #1 then the only adult left standing, the only adult in the room?

    No, she’s in the discard pile.

  19. FreshGrace: When a pastor gets up in front of his congregation and claims he had NO IDEA about the shenanigans of a fellow elder my jaw hits the floor.

    “I KNOW NOTHINK! NOTHINK!”
    — Sgt Shultz, Hogan’s Heroes

    Who at least had the reason he was trying to stay alive in a dictatorship that was losing its war and looking for scapegoats under every bed.

    Johann Banner of Vienna, I am getting so much mileage from your best-known character tag line…

  20. Old Timer: Then he starts a Bible study within spittin’ distance of his prior church?

    Sheep Rustling?
    New Church Plant (with Visions of Mega dancing in his head)?
    More Sheep Rustling?

  21. Bridget:
    Muff Potter,

    That’s what I think. He looks like he could be her grandpa. Ugh!

    “I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! REALLY! I AM! SEE? SEE? SEE?”

    At least MY mid-life crisis was minor. I just traded in my econobox hatchback for a two-seat sports coupe and started streaming a lot of My Little Pony.

  22. On a positive note – I thought that guy wearing the fedora and singing at the beginning of the video was very talented.

  23. Todd Wilhelm: On a positive note – I thought that guy wearing the fedora and singing at the beginning of the video was very talented.

    Agreed! He essentially preached the Gospel through those lyrics. It’s sad to think about all the folks drawn to that ministry, some spiritually gifted, and the confusion and disillusionment they must have felt when they learned they have been deceived by “one of the greatest Bible teachers the world has ever known.”

  24. Muff Potter: It was Voddie Baucham.

    Yeah. I remembered it while running an errand about four hours later.
    Wasn’t Voddie a football jock as well?

  25. Max: there is a segment of the American “church” which prefers a “pastor” like this, who lives no differently than they do … it makes them feel better about themselves.

    I’m not 100% certain that’s the reason, but what you are describing is called “Rule Through Vice”. (Coined by YouTube’s Extra Sci-Fi channel when diving into Frank Herbert’s Dune, specifically House Harknonnen.)

    In Rule Through Vice, the one in Authority’s behavior gives Sanction from On High to do what is normally forbidden, to act and be like the Authority figure setting the example. Underlings have to toe the Authority figure’s line, but get to indulge themselves in the same behavior. “He’s Doing It and Getting Away with it – So Can I!”

  26. Noted in the 2020 Orlando Exponential conference speakers list:
    Mike Lee: He and his wife, Laura, have 2 sons, two daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.

    And now this new addition…..

  27. Headless Unicorn Guy: Muff Potter: It was Voddie Baucham.
    Yeah. I remembered it while running an errand about four hours later.
    Wasn’t Voddie a football jock as well?

    Yes he was. He spoke to our Saturday men’s prayer breakfast in Dubai many years ago. He manged to weave in a few stories from his college football days. (See “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen.)

  28. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    John Banner was born to Jewish parents in Stanislau, Austria-Hungary (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine). He studied for a law degree at the University of Vienna, but decided instead to become an actor. In 1938, when he was performing with an acting troupe in Switzerland, Adolf Hitler annexed Austria to Nazi Germany. Banner emigrated to the United States, where he rapidly learned English.

    In 1942, Banner enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps, underwent basic training in Atlantic City and became a supply sergeant. He even posed for a recruiting poster (before he became portly). He served until 1945.

    According to fellow “Hogan’s Heroes” actor Robert Clary, who was a Holocaust survivor himself [and died a few days ago, in his 90s], “John lost a lot of his family” to the Holocaust.

  29. Headless Unicorn Guy: “As a man gets older, his eye turns to younger and younger women. Which is why God sends him daughters.”

    To violate? Marry? Sick. Evil. Criminal.

    So a church board hires and pays a pastor who in theory is their employee.

    Then this pastor employee turns around and tells the people paying his wages what to do and how to live. He’s the boss, and has no boss, no accountability himself. Oh, he is accountable to God, in theory. But he speaks for God, so there’s that.

    Wow. Some gig.

    Back in the day, when pastors answered to the church board, one would hear rumors of the pastor trash-talking the church board and vocal church members as if they felt threatened regarding their job or employment. That doesn’t seem to be the case any more. Pastors rule. They’ve figured this out. Together, for the Gospel, they circle the wagons with their leadership BFFs.

    The church Everyman can go along with it or leave.

  30. NW Hiker: Noted in the 2020 Orlando Exponential conference speakers list:
    Mike Lee: He and his wife, Laura, have 2 sons, two daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren.

    And now this new addition…..

    Yeah… I wonder what his 7 grandkids think.

    I don’t get it. I’m nearing 40, and I cannot imagine being attracted to a man who is old enough to have 7 grandkids outside of unusual circumstances (guy adopted teenagers when he was in his 20s, comes to mind). I just do not get it. I really dislike it when people focus exclusively on the female half of an affair. But men like this could not get away with trading in their wives for a new model if younger women were not in some way willing to get involved with them. And I just don’t understand why. What does he offer? Is this grooming?

  31. ES,

    Re: the date your daughter deal and the marry a daddy figure deal, IMHO, normal everyday people don’t think like that, so they don’t go there. But maybe that’s just my perspective.

  32. Ava Aaronson,

    I agree normal people don’t go there. I just still cannot comprehend what is attractive. Of course, I had a tendency to stick with a very tight 2-3 year age range myself. Anyone older was simply an authority figure and I wanted none of that. And anyone younger felt to, well, young, and like I was their elder rather than peer.

    I guess, what I’m getting at, but not stating very well, is that some of this daddy complex may be a direct result of teaching women they should be looking for an authority figure for a husband rather than a peer. And the same with men. If you are chronically told, taught or focused on being in charge, as you age, you find you have more authority with the young, but you are still a peer to your peers. So if you’ve been told that your manliness derives from your authority, but the woman you married grew up and doesn’t really need one anymore because she has found her own. And then your kids grow up and don’t need one, you might just find your sense of manliness eroded because it was based on exterior rather than interior.

  33. Michael in UK:
    The Rev in the reptile jacket: We are not called to be perfect
    Bible: Be ye perfect (in Holy Spirit trust)
    Verily, a greater than these!He doesn’t even not try.

    Well said – Thank You

  34. “Death by the Church…” I find that title to be almost blasphemous. I would expect that from an unbeliever, but certainly not from a follower of Christ, much less a former “pastor.” The Church is Christ’s idea. He bought her with His blood. She is referred to as His Bride (yes – she has spots and wrinkles and is made up of sinners who have been redeemed and still seek to live faithfully to Him). But one day she will be presented to Christ “… in all her glory, without spot and wrinkle or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27). And so Christ desires us to live “holy and blameless” until that day. Seems to me that Mike Lee is blaming the church, of which he was a part and had a big platform and financial remuneration, for not celebrating his adultery.

  35. Don Jones: Seems to me that Mike Lee is blaming the church, of which he was a part and had a big platform and financial remuneration, for not celebrating his adultery.

    Big whigs in big pulpits get no free pass in the Kingdom of God … even though some of preacher-scoundrels do in the kingdom of men. (much of the institutional church – not the Bride of Christ – fits the latter category)

  36. To make matters worse, he’s old and wearing skinny jeans while pretending he’s a cowboy.

    i.e. The goat-roper version of Polyester Leisure Suit, Shirt Open to the Navel, and Cocaine Spoon Dangling on a Neckchain into Dyed Chest Hair.

    “I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! REALLY! I AM! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG! I’M YOUNG!”

    Another spectacular Mid-Life Crisis?
    Tip: Do what I did. Trade in your car for a sportier model (within reason) and become a fan of My Little Pony. Much less spectacular, but much less hassle.

  37. ES: I guess, what I’m getting at, but not stating very well, is that some of this daddy complex may be a direct result of teaching women they should be looking for an authority figure for a husband rather than a peer. And the same with men.

    There may also be a form of arrested emotional development in play.

    I heard somewhere (probably on the Web) that a man is attracted to women of the same age as his emotional/personality development age. If true, Voddie and his disciples are still somewhere in high school (like a RL Married with Children).

    I just turned 67 and I seem to have a trope towards 30-somethings, i.e. my age when I broke up with Ann and haven’t had any sort of relationship since. I seem to have time-stopped at that point, with an internal image of myself somewhere in the 30s. (My last driver’s license picture around 2010-2015 was quite a shock compared to the previous one from about Y2K.)

  38. Headless Unicorn Guy,
    Some addenda from my personal experience:

    I was a Cold War Kid Genius, diagnosed and fast-tracked around first grade (three years after Sputnik), with Nerd personality long before STEM Geeks became chic. I have long suspected I have very low-end autism.

    What I’ve noticed is some sort of “Conservation of Neurological Energy”, where the more your IQ runs ahead of your body’s physical age, the more your personality and emotional development lag behind your physical age. This can be compounded by an upbringing where adults only see your IQ, never realizing there’s a confused overwhelmed scared kid connected to that Giant Brain floating in mid-air. Resulting in an extremely late bloomer.

    When my mother died in 1975, I was 20 years old with an emotional/personality age (outside my IQ) of 6 to 10. When I first met Ann in my mid-20s, my emotional/personality age was somewhere in high school. When we broke up, it was somewhere in my 20s. Now at 67, it seems somewhere in my 30s. (At least where a neurotypical would be in their 30s.) My life has always been not only a day late and a dollar short but years late and bitcoins short.

    At IPMS (plastic modelmakers club), I am known as the “distressed kit guy”, building simpler kits almost as old as I am instead of today’s hyperdetailed expensive ones that can stand up to a microscope.

    In FRP gaming (pencil/paper/funny dice, NOT collectible cards, NOT electronic/video), I’m the “orphan game guy”, working with first-generation Old School rulesets like Old School D&D and Classic Traveller. If I had the understanding back then like I do now, I would have been a major name in the FRP Game community with a paying market for my articles and design tweaks instead of online fanzines dealing with “Orphan Games” nobody knows about.

  39. “Despite what people say about you. Despite the magnitude of your transgression. We are not called on to be perfect but to be perfected through Jesus.” (Mike Lee)

    That’s a cute defense which almost sounds Scriptural. But Mr.Lee will find no examples in the New Testament of pastors who failed morally being restored to the pulpit. He should have already been perfected through Jesus before he represented himself as a representative of Christ, before he let the “magnitude of his transgression” trip him up.

  40. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Taking both above comments into consideration, have you ever worked with Somatics in any way? I understand what you are saying. I appreciate that you are aware and analyzing what is going on in your own life. I just notice that most of the time, a man in his 60s can state he is attracted to women in their 30s, but he cannot state why, so he comes up with a “reason” like Vauddie Bachman’s or usually something about women and fertility. The sort of honest ones will talk about getting a woman who is young enough to be molded into what he wants her to be. But rarely will one be honest enough to recognize how their own behavior and foibles is playing a role in who they are attracted to. Attraction to them is absolute and outside them, when reality is that beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, and says more about the beholder than the beholden.

    But you talk about disconnect. Internal and external disconnect that seems to have relevance to significant events, or themes in your life, and I just cannot help but wonder if some form of Somatic body work or therapy might help you find the connection/maturity that you describe is missing. IE, maybe it isn’t maturity you are lacking but rather a form of trauma that is preventing the internal connection.

    As to maturity – I hate when people reduce maturity to one or two markers. One of my nieces is a stereotypical responsible eldest child with an academic bent. Everyone thinks she is mature because she excels academically and can talk like an adult. I love this about her, but maturity is so much more complex. Her sister most likely has ADHD, and I really struggle watching family members refer to the elder as mature and the younger as cute. The younger one has some very mature qualities about her in terms of empathy and connecting with others, and the ADHD will most likely prevent her from ever exhibiting the organizational maturity her older sister has had since practically birth. That doesn’t mean the younger is lacking in maturity. And organized people can lack maturity in other ways. The older niece has had a long uphill battle in understanding socialization, and also understanding perseverance when things are not easy. But the adult conversations surrounding them is full of “elder mature, younger struggle” comments. Meanwhile, I have two wonderful nieces, each on their own track to maturity, who are going to bring different qualities to this world.

    It’s okay to be un-evenly mature. We all are in some way. We just live in a society that is easily fooled into thinking maturity is simple when it really is very complex. Like the fruits of the spirit, some have one and others have another, but none is better.+

  41. Don Jones: She is referred to as His Bride (yes – she has spots and wrinkles and is made up of sinners who have been redeemed and still seek to live faithfully to Him).

    I like your analogy. 🙂

  42. Headless Unicorn Guy: Some addenda from my personal experience:

    I was a Cold War Kid Genius, diagnosed and fast-tracked around first grade….with Nerd personality long before STEM Geeks became chic. I have long suspected I have very low-end autism….This can be compounded by an upbringing where adults only see your IQ, never realizing there’s a confused overwhelmed scared kid connected to that Giant Brain floating in mid-air.

    Thank you for sharing more of your story, Headless Unicorn Guy. I’m so, so sorry no one saw you for who you really were and are.

  43. From a purely worldly point of view, they seem to deserve each other: he has an abominable choice of clothing, she has a terrible choice of man.

    She seems to have made the worse bargain:
    a) It’s easier to get rid of clothes than a husband.
    b) He may have “helped her along” in making this bad choice.
    c) Her mitigating factor may be lack of maturity.

    I am not against divorce (sometimes it’s the only solution to a bad situation, and often it’s the least bad option in a list of terrible alternatives). Nor am I against remarriage. I know a number of second marriages that work really well. So, considering the circumstances, and not forgetting the abandoned first wife, I wish them well.

    Nevertheless, I have a feeling this is not going to end well for her. He doesn’t seem to be a caring husband. I really do hope I am wrong.

  44. Don Jones: The Church is Christ’s idea. He bought her with His blood. She is referred to as His Bride (yes – she has spots and wrinkles and is made up of sinners who have been redeemed and still seek to live faithfully to Him).

    Can I be honest here?
    I can get the ancient middle-easternish-cultural ‘bride’ metaphor, but beyond that, to me it’s creepy, referring to believers throughout human history as a ‘bride’.

  45. There’s some irony in a bunch of Christians getting together to trash talk a fallen pastor. There’s no defense for Mike, but reading comment after comment trashing the church and Mike, I’d imagine in the eyes of God this behavior wouldn’t be seen as much different from Mike’s.

    There’s a reason young people and those just “searching for truth” are turned off by the Church and the behavior here perfectly epitomizes those reasons

  46. Off Topic:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20221201014316/https://praisegodbarebones.blogspot.com/2022/11/a-statement-on-johnny-hunts-restoration.html

    I picked this statement by Bart Barber (A Statement on Johnny Hunt’s “Restoration”) off Dee’s Twitter….I thought his statement was so good I wanted to post the link here.

    I don’t know if anything in the Southern Baptist Convention will actually change, but Bart Barber’s statement contained some things that sound – at least to me – like he meant what he said (which can’t be said about many people who’ve held the position of President of the Southern Baptist Convention).

  47. Chris,

    Quite a few people seeking the truth come here and are encouraged that people are exposing what is going on in today’s churches. It appears to me that you may have known Mike since you used his first name. I am sorry that he let everyone down by disobedience to the Scripture, as found in Timothy. He should repent from what he did and do so to the congregation at Hope Community Church. People are looking for acts that prove a deep and abiding faith.
    His book, Death by Church, is ridiculous. Mike was paid well and had bodyguards walking around with him in the church. He was the superstar. Now, he will say that the church is not treating him well, which is just BS.

  48. researcher: Bart Barber’s statement contained some things that sound – at least to me – like he meant what he said

    SBC ain’t going to get any better until more folks like Barber get sick enough about the mess and do something about it … like challenging the “inner ring” of elite that have been trampling the precious name of Jesus in the street.

  49. Chris: There’s some irony in a bunch of Christians getting together to trash talk a fallen pastor.

    You’ll find no “trash talk” here … blog moderators won’t allow it … just an open and honest discourse about what is going on in the American church. Many commenters speak from personal experience about being used and abused by church leaders, of encountering pulpit narcissists, of suffering through aberrations of belief and practice. Hope you come back, many of us have learned a lot here.

  50. Max: “Despite what people say about you. Despite the magnitude of your transgression. We are not called on to be perfect but to be perfected through Jesus.” (Mike Lee)

    Why are so many circles of Christendom so obsessed with perfectionism?
    Whether ‘called’ to be perfect, or in some mystical process which leads to ‘perfection’, I still don’t ‘get it’.
    As a father and grandfather I don’t demand ‘perfection’ from my progeny, but only ask that they do the best they can with what they have.

  51. Muff Potter: As a father and grandfather I don’t demand ‘perfection’ from my progeny, but only ask that they do the best they can with what they have.

    Same here. I’ve told my children and grandchildren, “You don’t have to be the best, just do your best.”

  52. Muff Potter: Why are so many circles of Christendom so obsessed with perfectionism?

    Because God will Punish You if you slip up even one jot or title short of Absolute Perfection In Everything.
    And they even have a Verse:
    “Be Ye Perfect, even as I Am Perfect.”

    The fear of the Great White Throne and Eternal Hell (with or without divine wrath sent in this life) can be quite a motivator.

    I grew up with the expectation of Absolute Perfection (in a family/school context).
    After a couple years, my response became
    “If you never attempt anything, you can’t catch hell for doing it wrong.”
    I just turned 67, and it’s still often an uphill struggle to motivate myself to begin.

  53. Muff Potter,

    I knew of people who had been told they were going to get “inserted into” the church . . .

    Headless Unicorn Guy: the same behavior

    Including when the boss couldn’t be bothered himself but had just been talking salacious to wind the underlings up. Handlers and minders love that!

  54. His latest “confession” on facebook. I truly believe he is planning on starting a new church 2023… right down the road from his old haunt…

    “What a difference a year makes. A year ago at Christmas, I was as low as a human can possibly be. Because of decisions I had made, my world came crashing down around me. I lost everything: my family, my friends, my job, my reputation, my security, my self-respect. I had destroyed every important thing in my life. There’s an old saying, “If you have your health you have everything,” but I had lost that too as I was in a battle with cancer. To make matters worse, it was Christmas. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Christmas. I love giving gifts. I love decorating the yard to the point that you can see it from space. I love the parties and the good cheer. I loved doing all of the Christmas Eve services at church. No matter how many services we did, it was never enough. The more, the merrier. Last year there was none of that. It was life at its worst. I woke up on Christmas morning in a one bedroom apartment all alone. What few friends I had were busy with their own families. There were no Christmas Eve services. There were no gifts. There were no parties. There was no place where I was welcome. To add to my woes, I spent a good part of Christmas day in the emergency room due to complications of my cancer. On that day, I fought off the darkest thoughts I had ever had in my life. They were thoughts that I didn’t know that I was even capable of having. Solomon nailed it when he said, “The way of the transgressor is hard.” On Christmas Day, 2021, I was ready to grab a bottle of bourbon and pull my car into the garage, close door and end it all…but God. Don’t get me wrong, things didn’t change over night, but over this past year I have experienced the faithfulness of God like few people will ever experience it. I learned firsthand that when I am at my worst, God is at His best. Don’t just read those words; let them sink in. It was through all the mess and chaos that I had brought on myself that God showed up in ways I never dreamed possible. It’s why I chronicled the journey in my book, Death by Church; Life Through Christ. I can attest to the fact that there is hope for the hopeless. Whatever situation you find yourself in this Christmas God has not forsaken you; He has not given up on you; He is not finished with you. He is drawing near to you even if you have drawn away from Him. He is leaning into you even if you are leaning away from Him. He has a plan for you. He has a future with your name on it. It may be different than what you had planed but maybe that’s a good thing. I promise you this: If God is in it, it will be your best life because it’s His best life for you. God gave us a Savior that first Christmas, not just to save us for eternity, but to save us now. Let Him rescue you. It’s His specialty. Merry Christmas – Mike Lee

  55. Ray Wickham,

    Thank you for your comment. I can tell you what I think about what Lee wrote. He doesn’t get sin.
    He claims he was low because of some decisions he had made. This left him at Christmas without friends.

    Well, Mike, there are consequences to sin. Talk to King David and Abraham.

    Mike is in desperate need of something and I doubt he will do what it takes. He must solemnly confess his sin, make reparations to those he hurt, like his wife and former church, and then go to a church in which he can get help as opposed to starting a church.

    Mike needs to confess and take himself out of a teaching role. He should go work in a homeless shelter or work with alcoholics and substance abusers who also made “decisions” that caused pain and suffering, as it should.

    His response was to marry the “babe,” who I believe will find herself in a world of hurt before long.

    Mike doesn’t know me so if he starts a new church, I will report with boots on the ground.

  56. dee,

    it is sad to see the comments on facebook praising, not Jesus, but Mike Lee for his courageous story. Narcissist to the core. His latest post has a snapshot of he and his new bride sitting in his cowboy truck smiling and telling folks to come on out, get up and come to “his’ bible study! It’s half a mile from his former church! Oh that we would have discernment in the church once again.

    The one pic that sums up ego is where Mike is where a tshirt that says: “I’m the boss… that’s why!”

    God help us all!

  57. Ray Wickham,

    and it gets worse. an hour ago today he posted this on facebook: We had our first Be Renewed Christmas party last night and it reminded me of just how much of a family this Bible study has become! If you’re avoiding church this Christmas season and you’d like to try something new and refreshing, check us out on Sunday mornings at 9:30 and 11:00 at Rey’s Restaurant on Buck Jones Road in Cary.

    below that are wealthy, white happy folks that Mike is attracting for his new start!! Please, please don’t follow this guy! Ego run amok!

  58. Ray Wickham: o see the comments on facebook praising, not Jesus, but Mike Lee for his courageous story. Narcissist to the core. His latest post has a snapshot of he and his new bride sitting in his cowboy truck smiling and telling folks to come on out, get up and come to “his’ bible study! It’s half a mile from his former church

    He isn’t courageous. He is a man who is sinning, knows he is sinning, and pretends it was all just because a church that paid him well, provided him with bodyguards (I saw that one myself) and gave him all sorts of perks. This man and many others have forgotten the word “sin.”
    Also, as one who lived in Texas for ten years noticed: Wearing a cowboy hat, skinny jeans, and boots do not make you a cowboy. In my opinion, it looks like a man who is playing a role, something he has been doing for a long time.

  59. dee: Also, as one who lived in Texas for ten years noticed: Wearing a cowboy hat, skinny jeans, and boots do not make you a cowboy.

    “All Hat and No Cattle”?