Lon Solomon Ministries 8116 Arlington Blvd. ], Subscribe to CT It quickly became one of the 50 largest churches in the country, with over 12,000 . This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Video screen grab via MBC. Lon Solomon is American evangelical Christian pastor and the founder of Lon Solomon Ministries, a non-profit ministry.. See more. Attendance is also suffering under the Platt regime with many longtime church leaders and members leaving, according to numerous letters and e-mails received complaining about the Woke teaching at McLean Bible Church. No. Facebook; Twitter; visit the YouTube Channel. And that leadership is not listening, he said. Why is that? According to Dr. Baucham in his book Fault Lines, David Platt, then head of the Southern Baptist Conventions International Mission Board, delivered a message from Amos 5, then repented in tears for his white privilege, silence, and inaction. It's little outside of Washington, D.C., in Virginia. It couldnt be that David Platts Woke rhetoric has driven about 40% of church members to attend church in other non-Woke evangelical churches in that part of Virginia! NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to journalist and pastor David Roach about an ideological rift at a Washington, D.C.-area church that highlights similar divisions in evangelical groups across the U.S. We have a story now of divisions within a single church that suggest wider divisions in many churches. Platt said the dissident group claimed it was using the elder vote as part of a constitutional process to retake control of the church. In June 2019, then-President Donald Trump showed up at a worship service and Platt prayed for him from the stage, an action that drew criticism from some in the church. While the church is slashing spending on a variety of things including missions, discipleship, outreach, and church plants, one area of increased spending in 2021 is in the Senior Management salaries. For Ravi Zacharias, it was the fact that he was having a sexting affair.For Mark Driscoll's latest shenanigans, it was Mars Hill, and before that falling out there were several ignored reports about his leadership.James MacDonald is remarkably similar to Mark Driscoll, with his fall from Harvest Bible Church in . David Joseph Platt is an American evangelical Baptist pastor. COVID-19 also played a role. (UPDATED) Unusual decision draws scrutiny at one of largest Southern Baptist schools. Platt, the author of Radical, is known for his passionate call to evangelism, missions, and Scripture. Platt also accused the dissident group of being racist. He became pastor-teacher at McLean Bible . However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. That follows the 2020 budget being about $1.5 million below the 2019 budget, according to a member of McLean Bible Church. RELATED: Southern Baptist mission board to cut 800 positions, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Platt said during the prayer, quoting the biblical Book of Proverbs with his arm around Trumps back. At Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, the successor to influential pastor John Piper resigned over the summer after ongoing internal conflicts in the church and a school Piper founded. Once the first vote for the elders failed, Frazer believes that Platt and leaders should have stopped and listened to the congregations concerns. In a complaint filed Thursday (July 15), five McLean members allege that Platt and other leaders illegally barred them from voting at a recent congregational meeting to approve new church leaders. In response, Platt accused his critics in a sermon of spreading disinformation and stuffing the ballot box with votes from former members and inactive church members. I don't think that it was about the specific elders so much as the direction of the church. Also, there are close ties to the SBC since the NAMB . The constitution of the church requires a 75% threshold. David Platt is a famous US author and preacher. What happened? (Reformation Charlotte) A sad sight to behold is the trajectory that David Platt has been on over the last several years as the Evangelical racial reconciliation movement a movement rooted in Marxist Critical Race Theory has consumed him in nearly every aspect of thought and decision. A small group of people, inside and outside this church, coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church., Pastor David Platt preaches at McLean Bible Church, July 18, 2021, in Vienna, Virginia. In fact, Platt's sloppy moral reasoning was one point of controversy in a letter to leadership from five long-standing members of . But then you have some of the younger evangelicals who say, look. Financial needs: If you would like to request help with . That is not acceptable for the Body of Jesus Christ. Further he made the absolute statement that nobody on MBC staff supports Black Lives Matter. Platt, the senior pastor of McLean Bible Church in Northern Virginia, is now caught in the middle of a scandal that is reminiscent of events that took place in 2019 at a large Southern Baptist Church in Naples, FL. Wade Burnett, a pastor on McLeans leadership team, said the congregation decided to move forward together in a difficult time. No Celebrities Except Jesus: How Asbury Protected the Revival, After Pushing for UMC Unity, Former Bishop Joins New Denomination, The Kings College Faces Threat of Closure, Southern Baptist Convention Disfellowships Saddleback Church, left the presidency of the SBCs International Mission Board, With Gossip of the Gospel, the Church Grows in Nepal. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Former President Trump even . It never goes away on its own.. This internal document was a response to Platts promotion of The Gospel, the Church, Justice and Racism whitepaper. People came here this night that were recruited by this group to vote that night who had moved away to other states, Platt alleged. Just like the Democrats blame racists, so too David Platt. But he argued that Virginia law does require churches to follow rules outlined in their constitutions. Platt is now the pastor of McLean Bible Church, a flagship evangelical church in the Washington D.C. area. But there were some who were concerned about the direction of the church, and they made that elder election an occasion to speak out against the leadership and direction generally. Longtime member Bill Frazer, 69, believes Sundays election violated the churchs constitution, which states that any member who misses services eight weeks in a row can be designated as inactive. Platt is a polarizing figure. OK, so a local megachurch is having a catfight. degree in chemistry (1971) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Th.M. Many Christians look at the Bible and then look at the picture of American Christianity around them and think, This doesnt add up. The church teachings were theologically conservative under its previous leadership, the legendary Lon Solomon. Platt and other church leaders declined to respond to specific questions about the lawsuit and disputed church election. We urge you to sign upto receive our FREE need to read articles. McLean Bible, seen as a conservative evangelical congregation that once had more than 16,000 attendees, has long been an important church in the Washington, D.C., area. The largely conservative northern Virginia church across the Potomac from Washington had grown from a group of five families in the 1960s to a congregation of more than 10,000 spread across several campuses, attracting politicians and business leaders to the churchs evangelical message and values. The Washington-area megachurch led by best-selling author David Platt has affirmed three new eldersbut only after a public tussle over politics, race, and alleged liberal drift, plus a lawsuit filed by dissenters. Putting it off is only going to make it worse. In fact, this book was required reading for Platts course. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Platt plans to hold a called special business meeting to affirm the elders on July 18 during morning worship services, he told the church. Thanks so much. Many of its members come from the top ranks of government, media, and business. (The Roys Report) McLean Bible Church, the multisite megachurch in McLean, Virginia near Washington, D.C. where David Platt pastors, confirmed three new elders Sunday in a revote where members labeled their ballots with their names. David Platt, the President of our International Mission Board, recently became the preaching pastor at the Mclean Bible Church, a megachurch in the DC area. By. A group of five former leaders at McLean including a former elder, former staff member and lay leadership warned David Platt in a letter dated February 3, 2021, about numerous moves by Platt and his elders to divide the church along racial lines. All rights reserved. We praise God for our church familys affirmation of new elders, and we would deeply appreciate your prayers for all of McLean Bible Church as we move forward in our mission.. In May 2021 following the Social Justice push and Platts book on politics, McLean Bible Church reported average attendance of about 7,300. The conflict at McLean Bible Church is significant not only because of the congregations size and influencewith several thousand attendees and a prominent place in the DC church landscapebut also because the incident marks the latest salvo in an ongoing clash within American evangelicalism. What opponents claim as being Platts liberal or woke politics, supporters see as the 42-year-old preachers commitment to Christ above all. Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church said many of those within his congregation were 'hurt' with his decision to pray for President Donald Trump on stage during Sunday's service. Rumors had begun to circulate around the church that Platt and other leaders planned to sell a church building to a local Muslim congregation for a mosque. It took repeated requests from a few conservative Elders to take down Facebook photos of staff holding BLM signs. But its pastor says a group . He became pastor in 2018 after resigning from the IMB, where his tenure had been disappointing and included the loss of almost 1,000 missionaries to resignations and early retirement. Platt chose to ignore those entreaties and promote divisive teachers and divisive concepts like Critical Race Theory.