That was an uncomfortable phone call. If you, dear reader, are unaware a dust up has occurred around the Acts 29 church planting network. They recently kicked out a church in Colorado for what seems to boil down to being too conservative and asking too many questions. Now this isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened. There have been rumblings in the distance about similar scenarios. This time is different because the pastors of the church, Chase Davis and Matt Patrick, recorded the phone call where they were excised, and then released the audio.
Now in an attempt to be charitable to A29 I want to make sure not to lionize Davis and Patrick nor demonize A29, as they will still come out of this not exactly glowing. It does seem on the call that Davis and Patrick are being a little obtuse. They keep asking for specific examples of their offense and insisting that they have said nor published (up to that date) anything critical of A29. And while that is technically true, it is very much a keeping the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law. They had made very pointed comments where the math was pretty simple, something akin to 2+2. When you add the voluminous amount of these things. I do not think it is unfair for the A29 guys to take umbrage while also not being able to give, “specific examples.” That said…
Davis and Patrick are more right than they are wrong when it comes to the problems with A29. For a full rundown of their thinking you can read this on American Reformer where they lay out their concerns/grievances. But what has stood out to me is the long shadow cast over A29 and this scenario left by Mark Driscoll. The irony being that A29 has managed to keep the worst of Driscoll’s tendencies while jettisoning his best.
It is apparent that A29 is now a more feminine organization. The call outing Davis and Patrick is very concerned with feelings. How the leadership feels about them and their comments, they didn’t “feel” like they were a good fit any more, at one point Doug Moody starts to cry because he feels hurt, A29 doesn’t like Davis and Patrick’s tone while technically being unable to argue against the facts presented about the networks failures on basic doctrinal issues. A29 is more than willing to allow churches with ladypastors, promoting trans lifestyles, and shoving CRT down parishioners throats. But they will not allow a church that rightly points out the failure, or more accurately cowardice, of the leadership on these issues because again, it might offend someone. The big example was that apparently it is an unwritten rule that Russel Moore can not be critiqued but John MacArthur can get whacked like a piñata any day of the week all day. This is the kind of brand conscious, thin skinned behavior that made Driscoll such a “toxic leader.” Or as Davis and Patric put it:
“Cross the leader, and you will find yourself sidelined at best. Although Acts 29 postures as a decentralized network with multiple levels of leadership, it is in fact governed arbitrarily without clearly defined convictions and regulations.” – Chase Davis and Matt Patrick, Acts 29 and the Big Sort
As I seem to recall these were the Mike Cosper approved people who said Driscoll and Patrick were power hungry. But for some reason I have this vague memory of something about a bus and being thrown under it that they said was just evil…
The part of Driscoll that was sent right out of the airlock was the masculine, doctrinal, no room for theological squishiness. Why did the leadership hate him, well he didn’t have any truck with their soft lady like ways. He got in peoples faces when they were wrong. He understood that some people needed to be kicked out because they were teaching heresy, and that it might not be a bad idea to back the bus up over them.
A29 under Driscoll was not a healthy organization. But it is painfully obvious that it is still unhealthy having swung the pendulum to the other side. And while it would be nice to see them find a proper manly, place that wasn’t an organizational bulldozer, I would still say I preferred the former over what we currently have clutching it’s pearls and diving for the fainting sofa because two pastors of a small church dared to point out the obvious.
Southern Reformed Smoker 