Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

SGM-Mahaneygate: Holy Moly! Another Gem from Detwiler Re: Charlotte, NC SGM Church

SGM's method of dealing with
opposition.  Download and read very
closely the 600 plus page data-dump
at http://www.scribd.com/sgmwikileaks.
Dave Harvey calls it a "faithful narrative
of a sad tale."  Josh Harris, a SGM rock star,
wrote Detwiler, 19 Oct 2010,
that he was glad Detwiler
wrote his documents.  CJ, the narcissistic abuser, put the
historic boot to the neck of dozens and dozens
of opponents. 
Holy moly, another gem by Detwiler on his FB page that didn’t appear at his website, http://www.brentdetwiler.com. This one was 1 Nov 2011, 0836 EST. https://www.facebook.com/notes/brent-detwiler/some-advice-for-the-crossway-pastors/300497986644439 Here’s the text. :spin:scratch
——————————-
Some Advice for the CrossWay Pastors.


by Brent Detwiler on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 at 8:36am

I’ve said very little about Mickey Connolly and CrossWay Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina but here is a recent interchange with Joe Lechner who serves as one of the pastors. Joe has been timid over the years in dealing with Mickey (and he’s not the only one) but he is a good guy and I trust he has grown in courage. I appreciate his honesty with me and his willingness to disagree with Mickey on the issue of C.J. preaching at the church.


Joe wanted his comments posted on BrentDetwiler.com. My reference to the Aldridge’s is not a slam. Because of my silence it has taken a long time for people to begin to figure out what really happen at Grace Community Church. Many are still in the dark.


From: Joseph Lechner
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 2:21 PM
To: Brent Detwiler
Subject: blog post

Brent,

I was going to leave this as a comment on your blog, but then realized the comments were turned off. So I just figured I’d email it to you. I’m really hesitant to send this.

Not sure if it will be helpful at all. Who knows… anyway, here it is.

In grace
Joe


Brent, I have no desire to join the fray of mass emails and blogosphere commentary, but someone showed me the statement below on one of your recent posts and I felt compelled to respond to it. The statement is underlined and highlighted below:


I hasten to add, however, there are a growing number of pastors who have very serious concerns for C.J., Dave, and SGM in general. They are holding back on giving $ to SGM, they are considering whether to leave the movement, they are not certain they’ll show the upcoming SGM Mission Video if it features C.J., and they are not allowing C.J. to come and speak at their churches. Even Mickey Connolly in Charlotte, NC was voted down by the other staff pastors when he wanted C.J. to visit and preach.


The way this is stated is misleading. If somebody from CWCC read this it could give them an impression that really isn’t accurate. We did not vote Mickey down. It was not him against us or us against him. We don’t work that way. The fact is C.J. was scheduled to visit and preach here in September. That date was on the calendar long before any of the documents, etc., etc., were released this summer. Mickey wasn’t pushing to get CJ scheduled to come in, it was already on the schedule.


In light of the current situation we had an open, honest, thoughtful, considered conversation as to whether or not it would be best for C.J. to come at this time. We weighed the pros. We weighed the cons. We took our time to think and talk. Some of us thought it would be good to have him come. Some of us thought it would be good to wait. We were perfectly united in our primary desire to make a decision that we thought would best serve the folks in CWCC. We worked through it and made a decision together that we believed it would best serve CWCC to wait – - to wait until the adjudication process was complete and all the official assessments and evaluations had reached their final conclusions. We agreed it would be best to let these things play out first, and at the end of that if CJ was deemed qualified for ministry and restored to his position of president of SGM, then we would be more than happy to have CJ come.
We believed that this decision would also enable the folks at CWCC to receive C.J. with freedom of conscience and the confidence that a due process of adjudication and evaluation had taken place (I’m well aware that you think this process has not been fair or just, but that’s beside the current point). We agreed that having C.J come in September (regardless of what any of us may have personally believed about his fitness for ministry) may tempt some folks to believe that we were short-circuiting or circumnavigating the adjudication and evaluation process prematurely. We didn’t want to do that. Some folks still had a variety of honest, sincere questions concerning C.J. and SGM. We wanted the time to continue to pastor people through those things. So in the end we agreed together to wait to have CJ come. We didn’t have to fight Mickey on that. He didn’t have to fight us.


I wouldn’t want anyone to have that impression because it simply wouldn’t be right. I’m not trying to be a jerk or argumentative when I say this, but do you think it’s possible not to post things about what happens in our staff meetings unless you’re actually present during them or talk to one of us about it first? I’m not sure how somebody could write about it accurately unless that happened.


Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing the mission presentation. I believe that God is at work in and through SGM – even with all her faults and weaknesses. We continue to give financially to SGM as a church. I’m happy to support that decision as a pastor here. I personally give to SGM financially every month and am happy to continue to do that and plan on continuing to do that.


I pray for you, CJ, and SGM every day. Jesus will build his church and work all these together for her good and His glory. I pray every day for reconciliation between all those involved in what is happening. I’m comforted by the fact that even if it never happens in this life, it will certainly happen in eternity. So whether in this life or the next, a day is coming when all of us as brothers and sisters will be reconciled in the perfect peace and joy of our Lord.


Thanks for listening

Joe


From: Brent Detwiler
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 2:43 PM
To: Joseph Lechner
Subject: RE: blog post

Joe

I understand it wasn’t a war but you did vote down Mickey’s proposal [to have C.J. preach as scheduled]. He wanted C.J. in. You thought it was unwise. Furthermore, Mickey described the process to others as being “voted down” and lamented it was not like the old days when his vote constituted 51% of the total vote. I didn’t put that in the blog post [see "Get Out of Jail Free Card for C.J." from Oct 29 at BrentDetwiler.com]

Love you buddy.

Brent

From: Brent Detwiler
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 3:22 PM
To: Joseph Lechner
Cc: Mickey Connolly; Larry Malament; Jeremy Oddy; Jonathan Shea; David Moore;
Mike Seaver; Jim Hawkins
Subject: RE: blog post

Joe,

Mickey has not been open and honest with the church about C.J., SGM, Grace Community, etc. People are figuring it all out. Even people like the Aldridge’s. Mickey slandered my documents by calling them slander – that was really dumb and one of the oldest tricks in the SGM play book. No originality there. And to describe C.J. actions as “disappointments.” As they say in the Far East. Holy cow.
Listen, you guys need to shoot straight with the people. It won’t be long before they discover the truth. It’s coming to a town near you. If you don’t speak up against the seriously problems in SGM and make open and honest changes in CW you will be like Richmond or Orlando or Ashburn. C.J., Dave and others sins are growing each day. People won’t be conned by Mickey forever. I’ve gone very easy on you but that won’t continue forever.

When Mickey came by on August 24, I confronted him on his [claim of] sinless perfection again. No change. Five years running now. You and Gene ambushed me February 28, 2009. It was a horrible display of abuse. Our meeting was supposed to be a time of discussion. This is just one example. But you are all content to live with guilty consciences.

Before you ask, I am not willing to meet until you are honest in print. I am taking the same approach with you as with C.J. Write first, meet second. Tell me how God has convicted you and what you are willing to do about it. And Mickey, please don’t write me again maintaining your absolute sinlessness. I trust Joe and the other guys far more than you.

Brent

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