I think that the important thing is to remember that NO ONE is without sin. "I was brought up in a very religious, traditional Midwestern home," he told Ed Stetzer, a Wheaton College professor, in a 2013 interview for a video series. In January, two families claimed their sons were dismissed because of medical conditions. Coy's preaching career ended with shocking speed, but his sex scandal was far from the first for Calvary Chapel. I had come to respect his wisdom and leadership in his church and in the community. An officer noted the information and called the victim, who was then a teenager. (Flores was eventually convicted of sex with the minor.). The governing board of the church is providing counselors and ministers who will help guide him through the process of full repentance, cleansing and restoration.". It's October 2017, and Bob Coy hunches over a laptop in a far corner of the Funky Biscuit, a dimly lit club in Mizner Park in Boca Raton. To donate, click here. "It was attractive on both sides, for the Christians who hadn't really gotten into the drug culture but were younger and wanted something new and for the people who had come through '60s free love and drugs and needed some stability.". Cancel culture at its finest. In 2011, The Lord provided our current location at 603 S. Valencia Avenue in Brea. I started attending a Calvary Church 18 months ago. Ask questions later. Whatever happened or didnt happen is none of our business. Coy, who was never charged with a crime, lay low after leaving Calvary but recently turned up at Boca Raton's Funky Biscuit, where he helps manage the club. Gray said the Applegate elder told the woman at the meeting that he believed her story, involving lots of private meetings with Courson. "We learned of this report after it was disclosed and reported to the appropriate authorities," says Michael Miller, a church spokesman. the fact of the matter is that my friends and family who are agnostic, atheist, muslim, hindu, and buddhist have higher personal integrity standards for themselves than many christians. Smith was among the first pastors to make a startling discovery: Many of the hippies and disaffected youth who'd come for the Summer of Love had realized psychedelic drugs and the Grateful Dead weren't filling the holes in their lives. Even worse, they said church officials knew full well he was a pedophile: He'd been kicked out of another Calvary youth ministry in California after being charged with sex crimes there. I wrote him and his son a warning about what was going on. It is my understanding that Joe Stroble resigned. So crazy that I became addicted to cocaine.". Recent Sermons. The response was essentially to ignore all of it and to move on, Gray said. (My dad was one of the men who went to Guy Gray for help in the Biblical steps of confronting a sinning brother.) Yet, Gray told The Roys Report that Applegate refused to discipline Courson, and instead kept his sin private. Yet, regardless, the Lord deals with people individually. He attempted to pass it on to his family which has been a disaster. for a job at Calvary Chapel Marin, a 160-member church that . In this case, a lot of time has passed since the 1980s (roughly 40 years now). I pursued change so that this church (and others in the system) could not ignore or dismiss victims in the future. The only side that we should take is the side of the Lord (*as the angel told Joshua in Joshua 5:13-14). They all are reading from the same book. The church Coy helped build has moved on without him, but the national Calvary organization has struggled. I attended ACF from 1981 to about 1985-86 While I was shocked and pleased to see this article, I have to say Jon did bring the allegations of sexual misconduct to the congregation and he did apologize to all of us. (It's unclear if he worked there.) The Church, marriages, families, it left all of us reeling. It has to be a policy that is strong and pushed from the Board and Elders down to the senior pastor all volunteers or anyone such as staff working with congregants. The leaders also said they had prayed against the spirit of sensuality that had descended on the church, Gray said, and believed this would take care of the problem. The rock band that usually played raucous hymns to start services was missing. And Coy turned out to be a charismatic preacher. "I took a polygraph." Just show up and follow the book and do the rituals and collect the donations. Many women have been harmed by the Coursons indiscretions throughout the years and families have been destroyed.. Especially your leaders as the Bereans tested the greatest apostle ever lived! In 2009, Calvary of Albuquerque was listed as one of the 15 largest churches in America, with an average weekend attendance of 13,000. "Everyone was visibly upset," she wrote on Facebook, according to the Christian Post. He had invited KP Yohannan, the billion dollar conman, to his church where I saw him. @Cindy, A pastor who sexually abuses someone in his congregation is disqualified from being a pastor, no matter how long ago it was. Dont get involved with a married man might be a good place for the first no. SANTA ANA The Rev. Follow the policythe well-trained experts will be able to figure this out, is what you are trained. . Its training on how to best protect everyone including staff. Do these pastors take a class at seminary on how best to gaslight congregants and misuse scriptures to cover their sins?? Welcome to America.. Jon is no Saint! The founder's son-in-law, Brian Brodersen, left the network of Calvary churches and started his own organization with many of the chapels, including Coy's old church in Fort Lauderdale. Any kind of suffering, any kind of personal conflictthats the rug we slipped it under, because we would do anything for the expansion of the Gospel.. I laugh now, but back then it was no laughing matter. Idle hands are the devils workshop:idle lips are his mouthpiece Applegate culture and sermons tended to be works-based mixed with a lot of end-time prophecies Jon did teach about Prophesy, esp. 8:00AM. Why is that? His popularity soared. The next year, he raised an insane $103 million in donations the most by a single megachurch to date. "I was brought into the Lutheran church without a choice that's where I learned what a religious environment was like, but I was missing the spiritual thing.". Long before his epic fall from grace, the pastor used his own struggles with sex and drugs to preach that anyone could find redemption in Jesus. It does occur in smaller churches, again where church government invests most of the decision making with just the pastor who chooses his own successor. "They do what they feel is right based on the evidence they have.". After all these are just allegations at this point. I do feel bad for what you went through. Not all mega churches have this church government. 6 Dana Hills. This is ridiculous. Megachurch Pastor Bob Coy abruptly resigned Sunday afternoon, ending his 30-year leadership at one of the largest churches in the country. "There were no other allegations," he says. After the announcement, the congregation had a prayer and worship service. The Scandal of the Church. In your opinion rather than being a saint I would think youd consider Pastors including Jon a con man. Why? The perpertrator (associate pastor) eventually resigned. Their congregation consists of approximately 20,000 members. Founder of Florida's Biggest Megachurch Accused of Molesting a 4-Year-Old. I think youll find it eye-opening: https://julieroys.com/podcast/untwisting-the-scriptures-wolves-hypocrisy-sin-leveling/. If you are 50+, join us September 18-22 for a Royal Caribbean Cruise! The doctrine is Christ focused and Bible based and is sound. Heater also warned his congregation against division and warned that God would come against anyone who would come against His church.. 1 Corinthians 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. John 3:16-17. The New Jersey-based folk-rock band Driftwood is still a few hours from taking the stage, and a handful of early arrivals sip beer and laugh over the canned blues soundtrack. Coy himself was not present at the Sunday announcement in which his resignation was announced, but church elders read a statement and answered parishioners' questions. Coy became a key endorsement for local Republicans, including conspiracy theorist U.S. Rep. Allen West, whom Calvary hosted as a keynote speaker at a conference to train more than 100 local conservatives to run for office more effectively. Former staff, deacons, and members of a 2,000-member Texas megachurch associated with the Calvary Chapel movement are accusing the senior pastor there of lies, bullying, manipulation, blacklisting former members, and abuse of power. But he declines to share the results of the test, which he says was not done for the police. He sat on a U.S. presidential advisory board and received weekly updates straight from GOP mastermind Karl Rove. These abhorrent behaviors are a result of non-discipleship. Jon remained unrepentant and the elders defended him entirely. According to Western seminary adjunct professor Guy Gray, Applegate leaders knew of an inappropriate romantic relationship between Jon Courson and a female staff member in the 1980s. But the one time I tried to be a part of a church and my son was unjustly accused as a young child basicly of something that was just silly. Coy certainly paid a heavy price for his infidelity: His family has broken to pieces, and his chapels packed with thousands of adoring fans have been replaced with a half-full nightclub in Boca. Leadership was not happy. "I can't discuss it on the record," he said, before adding cryptically: "If you're foolish enough to go through with this story it would hurt a lot of people.". The only cure is Christlike character. That kind of policy includes reporting procedures. And somewhere along the line, Coy slipped right back into his old life. -. christian culture produces people who are more concerned about their own sinlessness & advancing the gospel than they are about taking a stand on right and wrong and the consequences that bring harm to others. That was 35 years ago! Coy's flock, which had followed him for decades as the church became Florida's largest, was devastated. Except that it DOES have such a policy. What are your secret sins that you think are not as equal to accusations in this article? It was Calvary Church, perhaps the most prominent church in town, with a massive cathedral-like building on a major thoroughfare. Several former Applegate members have also come forward with concerns spanning decades that centered on Jon Coursons control of staff, church members, and church finances. In 2007, Christianity Today published a blockbuster story investigating charges that Calvary Chapel was lax in punishing financial and sexual abusers within the church, laying the blame on an. (Liberty University via . Theres no way of putting 24 people up here, Skeen said he told Applegates leaders. None of you. People like Jon and his son Ben will come and go, but Jesus is forever. It would be highly illegal.. With his tale of drug addiction and strip clubs, the newly redeemed Coy was a perfect fit for Calvary's edgier message. Bob Coy, at Liberty University's convocation in 2013. "We need to stop him. Despite the allegations against both Jon and Ben Courson, church pastors havent responded to The Roys Reports multiple requests for comment. To "avoid substantial injury" to Coy's former employer Calvary Chapel according to the court file. He received probation before judgment, but he is not allowed in the banking industry the remainder of his life. He had a staff of 13. Even though these didnt pan out, Coughlin said Courson wouldnt apologize. This is not true in my 20+ years of following Jons teaching; I never heard him set dates or claim to be making a prophesy. At the time, Jordan said he and his wife, Teresa, rolled with it and kept working for the church in other capacities. It did not go over well. In the second century, the Church faced its first great heresy: Gnosticism. In fact, he says Capitol Records paid him to party. Encore - Catalina/Ensenada Cruise. That lent itself to a very youthful, crazy, wild lifestyle. Registered in England and Wales 5090917, Christian Today, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN, 'Hidden' Bible chapter sheds new light on the Gospels, Former Harvest Bible Chapel pastor James MacDonald charged with assault and battery, Rick Warren reveals 'debilitating' autoimmune disease battle, There's a reason every hit worship song sounds the same, Orthodox Anglicans meet in Rwanda to discuss their future in the Communion, 'Unique' Christian wall paintings discovered in Sudan, Tributes paid to 'trailblazer' OM founder George Verwer, Responding to the NHS strikes in a Christ-like way, Cathedral visitor numbers rebound after pandemic, Police drop 'excessive' bail conditions for pro-life charity worker. Former Applegate member Charleen Trimmer confirmed Grays story about Courson. Thank you, Guy Gray, for being the man of integrity youve always been. The Roys Report reached out to Heater for further comment, but he didnt respond. 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