In a major shake up for former Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church pastor Tullian Tchividjian, Willow Creek Presbyterian Church pastor Kevin Labby told me via email that today is Tchividjian’s last day on the staff at Willow Creek. Labby said the church will issue a more formal statement soon. Amid controversy, Tchividjian joined WCPC in September 2015.
Furthermore, Labby has stepped down from the Liberate Network’s Board of Directors. In addition, other resigning board members include Lana Trombly, Cathy Wyatt, Dwayne Williams, and Barbara Juliani. This is five of the original nine board members. Currently, no names are listed on the Liberate Network website.
Tchividjian’s dismissal appears to be related to new allegations of wrong doing involving another inappropriate relationship prior to the affair which led to his resignation at Coral Ridge. Also, the woman with whom Tchividjian had an improper relationship has accused him of owing money to her husband and of fooling his counselor while still pursuing her. Although the details are unclear, other new problems have surfaced which have been communicated to members of Liberate’s board.
Pastor Kevin Labby indicated that a statement would come soon from the Liberate Network board.
Yesterday, I twice asked Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church’s new pastor Rob Pacienza for comment concerning rumors that current Coral Ridge board members knew of Tchividjian’s prior indiscretions. Thus far, there has been no reply.
UPDATE: Just a bit ago, Willow Creek Presbyterian Church released this statement:
I reached out to Tchividjian via Twitter but have heard nothing back. He did provide a statement to Christianity Today pledging to remain committed to repentance. He also asserted that he takes responsibility for his actions. Read the full statement at CT.
Year: 2016
Tonight Donald Trump's Campaign Denied Credentials to Politico Reporter; Once Gave Credentials to White Segregationist
Donald Trump is popular with voters but his treatment of the press is appalling. In addition to the alleged incident of assault involving a Breitbart reporter, Trump is being accused tonight of excluding a reporter who wrote an article about that incident.
Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger was denied admission to Trump’s speech after the GOP primaries tonight. According to a Politico report, Schreckinger was given credentials by email but was then denied them 10 minutes later. When he showed up at the event, he was escorted off the premises.
Schreckinger’s report reminded me that Trump’s campaign once provided press credentials to James Edwards, a white segregationist who covered a Trump event for his radio show, the Political Cesspool.
Trump has also said he would like to expand libel laws to make it easier to sue journalists for negative stories. Apparently, until he can get the laws changed, he is just going to strong arm those who write truth about him.
Liberate, Founded by Tullian Tchividjian, Relaunches Amid New Allegations
In June 2015, Tullian Tchividjian stepped down from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church after admitting marital infidelity. He announced later in the year that he filed for divorce.
Not long after the divorce papers were filed, Tchividjian reemerged as a staff person at Willow Creek Presbyterian Church in Winter Springs, FL. Tchividjian took a non-ministry position according to Willow Creek Pastor Kevin Labby. Initially Tchividjian and Labby were criticized for moving too quickly to restore Tchividjian to a ministry position. Labby later clarified that Tchividjian’s job did not involved preaching and teaching.
Then, on February 19 of this year, the relaunch of Tchividjian’s ministry called Liberate was announced by the board of directors. The directors said Tchividjian would not return to the board at present but that his restoration process “is going remarkably well.”
For his part, Tchividjian appears to have started his comeback. Recently, he spoke about his struggles on the “These Go to 11” podcast. On March 4 and 5, Tchividjian spoke at Spring Hills Community Church in Santa Rosa, CA to promote his book, One Way Love.
After the Liberate announcement, problems began to surface. Some evangelical bloggers (e.g., Janet Mefferd and Spiritual Sounding Board) have wondered aloud if again Tchividjian is moving too quickly.
On the Liberate Facebook page, a woman identifying herself as Tchividjian’s affair partner posted a pointed rebuke to Tchividjian and Liberate. The post, which was promptly removed, referred to a unpaid financial debt owed to the woman’s husband who has left his wife and the church. The woman also suggested that Tchividjian may have fooled his counselor, specifically naming Paul Tripp, while carrying on with her.
While I have not been able to verify all of the details revealed in the Facebook posting, I have been told that Liberate board members are taking the allegations seriously along with new information recently learned. A new statement from Liberate is in the works.
From the Board of Directors
Dear Friends:
It is with much excitement that we announce the relaunch of LIBERATE.
As many of you know, LIBERATE was founded in 2011 by Tullian Tchividjian as a resource ministry whose mission was to connect God’s inexhaustible grace to an exhausted world through books, conferences, television, radio, social media, and a variety of other mediums. Over the next several years, LIBERATE grew to become a unique and vibrant ministry.
In light of what has transpired with both Tullian and LIBERATE over the past year, you may be asking, “What will Tullian’s involvement be as LIBERATE moves forward?” Today, Tullian continues an encouraging season of rest and healing as a part of the Willow Creek Church family in Winter Springs, FL. The elders of Willow Creek Church are presently overseeing a care plan for him, one involving routine worship, prayer, fellowship, study, professional counseling, and more. The process is going remarkably well, and we are very encouraged by his honesty, humility, repentance, and commitment to healing.
Our prayerful hope and expectation is that Tullian will join us fully in this great work one day. In the meantime (and in keeping with his care plan) he is presently on sabbatical from the board of the Liberate Network.
Thankfully, the Liberate Network is ultimately about the message of the gospel, not any particular messenger, and so we’re moving forward together. To God’s glory, we look forward to the Liberate Network sharing the good news of God’s inexhaustible grace to an exhausted world for many years to come.
Please be sure to connect with us on Facebook (facebook.com/LiberateNetwork) and Twitter (@LiberateNetwork) for exciting news and ministry content.
Sincerely,
Board of Directors
Liberate Network, Inc
Dr. Chris Crawford, M.D. – Partner, Dallas Associated Dermatologists
Dallas, TX
Mrs. Barbara Juliani – Editor, New Growth Press
Philadelphia, PA
Rev. Matt Popovits – Lead Pastor, Our Savior New York
New York, NY
Rev. Kevin Labby – Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Church
Winter Springs, FL
Mr. Peter Ouda, J.D. – Peter Ouda Law
Somerville, NJ
Ms. Lana Trombly
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Mr. Dwayne Williams – Executive Vice-President, Frontline Insurance
Winter Springs, FL
Ms. Catherine Wyatt – Vice President of Development, Key Life Network
Winter Springs, FL
Rev. Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl – Retired Episcopal minister and author
Winter Garden, FL
Former Mars Hill Church Executive Pastor Sutton Turner Comments on RICO Lawsuit
Mark Driscoll and Sutton Turner are the defendants in a RICO lawsuit filed by two former Mars Hill Church couples. Driscoll recently spoke out and called the charges “false and malicious” and “without any merit.”
This morning, co-defendant in the suit — former executive elder Sutton Turner — responded to the matter on his blog. About the suit, Turner said:
As time has passed, I have watched the pursuit of legal actions by my brothers and sisters towards the Church and former leaders. I empathize with them and hurt with them. After recently being named in a legal proceeding, but having yet to be served, I have reached out to the plaintiffs directly. They were probably unaware I was willing to meet with them directly. I hope to meet with them, empathize with their hurt, pray with them, apologize to them, and clear up anything I can.
I have been contacted by many news organizations to make a comment on the lawsuit. In the past two weeks, I have prayed. I have reached out to the plaintiffs directly to communicate my willingness to meet. And I continue to hope that Christ will walk us through this difficult but necessary process in a spirit of reconciliation.
Turner’s reaction to the suit is different than Driscoll’s. Rather than criticize his accusers, Turner seems to sympathize with them.
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a series of blog posts to help me heal as well as to bring clarity to others for their healing. I wrote about my involvement in Result Source and my involvement in Global. The history and culture of Mars Hill is one of both a lack of trust and transparency. Lack of transparency breeds distrust and distrust causes less transparency. It is a perpetual cycle that can exist within any organization or relationship.
Turner says he has yet to be served the suit.
David Barton Condemns Guilt By Association Now That Ted Cruz Is The Target
Once upon a time, Ted Cruz Super PAC head David Barton believed Marco Rubio’s gay-marriage-supporting staff would cause Rubio problems with conservatives.
Now that Ted Cruz is being associated with dominionists and Pentecostals by Matt Drudge, Barton now thinks guilt by association is “ridiculous.” This evening, Barton was featured in a damage control piece at Cruz Net Daily:
Barton condemned any use of “guilt by association” tactics on the Right, by anyone, and was equally critical of similar attacks that might be levied against Trump, Marco Rubio and other candidates.
“Look at Rubio’s funders; so many of them are supporters of gay marriage,” said Barton as an example. “So do we read into that that Rubio is a pusher of gay marriage? No, that’s not a fair read. You’ve got 330 million people in the United States. Are we going to look at every voter who might vote for Trump, or Rubio, or Cruz, or for Kasich and say, ‘Well, look at what this voter believes, that’s ridiculous.’
Recently, Barton did not object to Bryan Fischer’s negative characterization of Rubio’s staff who support gay marriage. Watch:
A little closer to home for me is Barton’s love of guilt by association when he attempts to discredit my debunking of The Jefferson Lies. About me, he told World Net Daily:
Reflective of the change in Throckmorton’s overall philosophy is the fact that he currently writes for the progressive Huffington Post,[22] even though in 2008, he attacked that site as being part of the “far Left.”[23] He also now regularly contributes to Salon,[24] another of the nation’s most progressive and liberal news organizations. Furthermore, two of the nation’s most secular groups, “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” and People for the American Way’s “Right Wing Watch” praise Throckmorton’s current writings and cite him as an expert in promulgating their beliefs.
Barton says I am a liberal because I have written for HuffPo and Salon (and it is a stretch to say I ever “regularly” contributed to Salon). He has to turn me into a liberal to sell his false narrative about The Jefferson Lies being the victim of liberal attacks. As I have written previously here, that story is false. For the purpose of defending his book, guilt by association is Barton’s operating procedure.
On the specific point of Cruz’s beliefs, I wish reporters would ask him about his various “anointings.” His religion is not a Constitutional barrier to seeking office but his beliefs might make some people think twice about voting for him. Given the views of his advisors (including his father), it is only fair to know how he believes those beliefs will guide him as president.