Stumble on Split...
And you know what I found? By the time I got to the church’s website, pastor Mike was no longer there, but there were a “transitioning team” in place. So where did he go? Did he fell away in disgrace? Or did he move on to even bigger place? Some more digging and I found a painful situation. Pastor Mike’s church is going through a church-split. He spoke the last message there at the church in late March, only two months ago. Apparently he wanted to fire an Associate Pastor of his, and the whole administrative conflict boiled to a big explosion, ending in his departure. Pastor Mike is heading up a new church and it will open for its first service two weeks from today.
Who’s right and who’s wrong? I don’t know because I am just a web surfer stumbled upon the whole thing. My speculation is that parts of the problem would be on his shoulder. He was just too gifted, with many ministries, and a lot of success: perfect environment for a collapse. After all, why would anyone like to have a PastorMike.com for a web site for a church? But hey, this is purely speculative judgmental from an outside web surfer any way. It’s sad for the insiders though...
posted by mar13 at 5/26/2005 10:49:00 PM
8 Comments:
I saw a post by you over at 21 century reformation. I hear the hart of a man of the spirit of God keep your heart focused on Him! http://equippersnetwork.blogspot.com
Hi there! I went to Mike's church at the time and don't even know what happened, but I am very grieved. Can you give any more info?
Hi Stephanie,
It was great to get a question like this from the net – I thought that no one would ever read my blog...
Anyway, what information I got from the split came from what I gathered from the net only, all from a blogger who is a member at Pacific Coast Church. You can read about the tidbits I got from him from the following links:
* http://lakeadjacent.blogspot.com/2005/03/problems-at-church.html (March 08, 2005)
* http://lakeadjacent.blogspot.com/2005/03/breakin-up-is-hard-to-do.html (March 17, 2005)
* http://lakeadjacent.blogspot.com/2005/03/miscellany.html (March 22, 2005)
Since I am not following Lake Adjacent’s blog I don’t know what else happened since then except the announcement on http://pastormike.com of his new church on http://www.compassbiblechurch.org and a series of my former professor Tod Bolsinger on the general church conflict issue (which can be found at http://bolsinger.blogs.com/weblog/church_musings/index.html ), Tod is the pastor at San Clemente Presbyterian Church near by).
Perhaps you may want to send an Email directly to Lake Adjacent’s blog for more eyewitness information.
thanks so much for your response! and I do read your blog often...it is a blessing! May the Lord continue to bless you & your family...
Hello pastor Tom,
This is Bumble over in California - I think we can learn from Mike Farabez book because of the content and regardless of the author. God often accomplish his purpose regardless of the people involved.
Mike is now the Sr. Pastor of Compas Bible Church, which he started after the split. It's located 15 miles north of his former church. It's in Aliso Viejo and we are about 1200 strong. Mike's messages can be found through his radio ministry "Focal Point."
I am a former member at Pacific Coast Church in San Clemente and I wanted to shed some light on the question(s) of why Pastor Mike is no longer preaching in San Clemente. It was an issue centered in the definition of Pastor Mike's role - meaning, does the Sr. Pastor have the ability to choose the staff for his chuch. It is true that Pastor Mike wanted to fire Mark Ambrose, but only after he spoke with Mark and suggested that Mark start a church plant (fully funded by PCC). Mark declined, stating that he did not feel that God was calling him to a Sr. Pastor role in ministry. Mike informed Mark that he felt that the two could no longer work on the same staff and that he wanted Mark to pray and consider the offer. Mark, not wanting to leave the paradise of San Clemente, felt threatend and then began to "rally" support from the so-called "elder-board" and divided their loyalties. After several months of internal striff, Pastor Mike offered to be the one to go plant a church in the Ladera Ranch area of Orange County. The Elder Board, realizing that most of the 3500 people who attended the church would follow Pastor Mike to the Ladera church plant, refused to let him plant the church. So, feeling like he could no longer lead or supervise his own staff, Pastor Mike resigned his position at Pacific Coast Church. The simple fact is this - because Mark was unable to submit to the authority of his Sr. Pastor, he purposed to divide the church through misinformation and often times silence - not answering direct questions from congregants because the truth would have exposed the scheming that was going on behind the scences with the Elder Board and some of the staff. I could write about 50,000 words on this issue, because I was very close to the situation. There was a lot of ugly things that occurred - but I can say before you and before God - Pastor Mike took the high road trying to save the unity of the church for the congregants, thus resigning. He began to candidate for jobs as far off as North Carolina and was very close to accepting a job in NC - when about 1500 of his congregants begged him to stay in Southern California to continue to be their Sr. Pastor. After much prayer, Pastor Mike felt that God was calling him to remain with his flock and Compass Bible Church was started - www.compasschurch.org.
I feel strongly that everyone should know the truth, because there are about 800 people left at PCC that have been mislead about the reasons why Pastor Mike left. The elder board has actively allowed people to believe that Pastor Mike abandoned them and that he was caught up in sin. That isn't the case, and never was the case. So if you are still at PCC, and you want to know the other side of the story - please contact someone who attends Compass.
We all miss PCC and we continue to pray that God would re-establish a Godly man in the pulpit. Because of right now, there is an unqualified Pastor preaching at PCC (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy).
It is a shame that people post such hurtful things in a blog anonymously. If they used their name, then perhaps you could talk to them and even help them.
As Christians I think it would be safe to assume that we are all striving for truth and love. Truth and love in all aspects. The anonymous rant is not that. It is a subjective truth and lacks love and understanding. Which is rather unfortunate because the person believes it to be objective truth and love.
If you are a Christian please pray for the unity of these two bodies to be restored.If you are in one of these two bodies of believers, please prayerfully consider your thoughts and actions. From the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Where is your heart? Think about the impact it has on the Body of Christ as a whole and the witness it is bearing to unbelievers. In the end we all have the same goal, to help unbelievers come to repentance in affect maximally glorifying God.
In the book of Acts there was an argument which can be extremely significant to us in this situation. Instead of splitting the church, they split the ministry. Let us as Christians follow that Apostolic lead, when we come to a place we cannot agree upon, let us split the ministry. There are plenty of fish to be caught, even in South Orange county. If we spend our spare time ragging on denominations and churches that are doing the Lords work, then we have indeed let Satan get a foothold. However, if we spur each other on towards love and good deeds...then we understand the two greatest commandments.
I love Mike, Maggie, Pete, Mark T., Bob, Diana, Mike H., Susan, and the rest of the staff at Compass and I pray that God continues to provide them with fruitful ministry in Aliso Viejo and wherever they plant. Having gotten phone calls and e-mails from some of them I know that they are praying the same.
--J.B.
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Posted by JB Smrekar to I12know at 3/07/2006 12:28:41 PM
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