Do You Know Anything About This? I'm a Little Confused
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In this life there are many things on which we place value. For a Christian the most valuable item he can possess and is often forced to protect is his personal testimony. It is regretful that I have to write this but in order for me to protect my family and my testimony I must provide documentation to assist those asking questions on how to make informed decisions on what to do about what has taken place over the past few months. There is an abundance of photos, documents, testimonies, and video to support the subject of this letter. Please, carefully read the following document with the understanding that I am forced to respond to these issues quickly.
Since coming on staff at CFB I have not been given the responsibility of the children’s ministries. Children up to the age of 5th grade have been the responsibility of the education department of the church and I was responsible for the children 6th to 12th grade. I do believe you have seen great things happen in the teen department and over the course of three years statistics will prove that the majority of salvation decisions at our church have come from the ministry of the teens. There has always been confusion over what is going on with the children’s ministry. The past three years that ministry has been continually passed off to volunteer workers and not been led by a pastoral staff member. With all the frustrations of watching something continually formulated to a substandard, I offered my assistance, experience, and creativity several times. The volunteer workers also asked me about the programs the church wanted and I responded by stating that we should start by building a strong Children’s church where workers could be trained and then move these workers into the aspects of more detailed and labor intensive programs such as AWANA, RAs, GAs, etc. I also stated in one of these meetings that there were men on staff that had time to run the children’s ministries on Sunday night and that I could not because of the effective 6pm program I was doing with the teens. Because of the continued rescheduling, reorganizing, and excessive change of ministry leaders of the children’s ministry this, many people thought that it was negligence on my part. When approached by concerned adults I did my best to direct them in the direction of expressing their issues with the appropriate party.
In April of this past spring, a couple of deacon’s wives with an unethical agenda started spreading discord through the church’s e-mail list, the prayer chain data base, and personal phone calls. To give a clear understanding of one of these mothers, neither she nor her husband (who is a deacon) attended the Wednesday evening services. Instead, she would jog from her house through the church parking lot in what most of our elder women consider being inappropriate attire. One of the e-mails was sent to one of my teenager’s parent and she forwarded it to me with a note expressing her confusion on the content. The following is a copy of that e-mail without any editing of the grammatical errors. NOTE. Received mail will be in RED and the response I or Amy sent will be in BLUE.
Chuck,
Do you know anything about this? I'm a little confused. ~Susie~
----- Forwarded Message ----- From: Jennifer and Jason Woodcock
Can you all make a Youth Planning Meet for the months of June and July, this Sunday at 6? You can bring your youth with you as well for their insight (this is not only for the bigger kids, we also planning stuff for the smaller children). I personally have came up with some great ideas and I ask you all do do the same. Jot them down and bring those with you. I would love to see everyone there so we can get this going. Please let me know if you all can be there asap.
God Bless, Jennifer Woodcock
*Heal my heart and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my heart for what breaks yours Everything I am for your kingdoms cause As I go from nothing to Eternity
*"Find your way home with GPS, God, Prayer, Salvation."
* When Satan comes knocking at your door just ask Jesus to answer that for you!
As your can see by the content of her e-mail, there is no consideration for the established program of the church (6pm youth meeting, church training, and children’s programs) that would be taking place during the time of her meeting. This is in defiance of the church constitution and covenant. If these families were faithful to Church training or other established Sunday night programs they may have been fulfilled in their spiritual walk. Yet, I did not react or retaliate by launching a massive e-mail campaign. Tim was sick at the time and LZ was in charge. Though I thought placing someone in charge of the church that does not have years of experience with ministry related issues was not a good idea, I submitted to protocol of positional authority and forwarded the message to LZ and attached the following note:
LZ, Susie sent this to me with questions because she received it from Jennifer. I do not believe that Jennifer sends e-mails to me and I do not know if you have received it yet. From my last recollections, I believe we were to set down as a staff and schedule events then take item to parents for discussion and coordination. As of this date, Jennifer has not had a child that has participated in youth activities, teen Sunday school, or regularly scheduled meetings of the church program (Sunday Evening and Wednesday). (We may later discuss conflicts between Faith, Katie, and Alivia) Though Faith has been invited and asked to participate in things that would pertain to her age group, Jennifer refused or Faith just didn't want to come. How she became a voice as to what is going on or is not going on is something that I know should be taken care of swiftly. Tim set a divide between the children's ministry and the youth and I believe she may be confused on the terminology of the two. Yet, she has now become the self appointed organizer of the youth ministry and its direction? I believe that we may have created a problem by not addressing the past and giving clarification of what the future will possess for out ministry. This reminiscence of critical comments was not dealt with in the past and has cropped up again to become something that will complicate our VBS, Camp, and other items which take preeminence over her desire to take her children to work on houses in Nashville for the habitat for humanity.
I am sending this to you believing that your leadership and experience will have insight to a prevailing problem that we often ignore in the church of today. We want to build strong families and that is only done by building strong men. We sat in a meeting and listened to a woman (who does not have a teen in the youth group) voice her displeasure of that ministry while her husband sat silently beside her. His position as a deacon demands his ability to lead his house and keep his wife in submission. ( I Tim. 3) It is my fault that I did not address him instead of Jennifer in that meeting. As a fellow staff member I must admonish you to consider statistical data that proves conflicts of this nature are not won with diplomacy. Between us as men, we are considering the opinion of a woman that constantly complains about the auditorium being too cold while she chooses to dress in string strap tops without bring a sweater or shaw to compensate for the temperature. Though activities like cleaning the shrubs, playground, and the graveyard were announced from the pulpit, there was still no participation on their part. Jennifer wanted to scold me for scheduling VBS during a week that Nissan would be on vacation or out of work. I may have offended her by simply telling her that I could not schedule the events of the summer by Nissan's schedule. I may have farther offended her by suggesting that "off work time" could be spent getting things ready for VBS. Nevertheless, I believe she will cause a great disturbance among the parents of the future children that will move into the youth group. I would suggest that Jennifer be addressed and told to stop using her "ministry" of the pray chain to imply that there is a problem to the membership of CFB.
I had to hammer this out quickly while at work with a cooperative attitude and personal confirmation of the Holy Spirits leadership. What do you suggest? Chuck
"I can individually reach the multitudes..., if I will first reach a multitude of individuals." -----Original Message----- From: Susie Dial [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2011 10:49 AM To: 'Chuck Holcomb' Subject: Fw: Youth Planning
There was no reply to the e-mail that I sent LZ. Time went by and I was burning the candle at both ends trying to keep teens working for camp money, organizing VBS, activities, and working at Deutsch. It is evident she wanted to demonstrate her rebellion to pastoral advice and counsel as she chose to jog to the church each Wednesday night through the months of June and July. LZ chose to give her a platform to speak from by having a meeting where he presented himself as the ambassador of good will, me as the obstruction, and allowed her to suggest for the teens to work in the Habitat for Humanity in Nashville (instead of helping those in Huntland that lost everything) and work in soup kitchens. Nevertheless, when the meeting was over LZ agreed with me that the staff would make the decision on what activities we would schedule and support. This did not suffice her. More badgering and discord prompted me to once again follow the established protocol of church polity. I sent LZ the following comment and suggestions:
Howdy, Good morning. I had a quick note to shoot at you concerning the phone conversation I had with Jennifer. First, she stated calling Amy several times at work on Friday but Amy is not able to leisurely talk on the phone during work hours nor is she willing to talk with Jennifer concerning something she does not have the authority to change. She then called me just as I got home and was working with the kids cleaning our VBS work area in the barn. Her conversation started off with questioning me as to why I could not be at the meeting Sunday night. She also told me that I was the one who scheduled the meeting?? I do remember suggesting in our meeting on the 15th that if parents would attended the Sunday evening 6pm youth meetings we could discuss some ideas while they were present. Essentially, she was attempting to turn this into my "changing what was said". Yet, you and I both know she and Jason were present on the 18th before the business meeting when we discussed the calendar, went over the events you had typed out, and voted on Ann singing at 6pm this Sunday and us all going home since it was a holiday weekend. This reaction should stand as evidence of misrepresentation, manipulation, and murmuring taking place through her leadership.
Discernment says that, if neither of us were on the email list of this announcement that she sent out... then she was trying to coordinate some hidden agenda. I am sure you followed through and contacted her concerning our conversation. Her response by questioning me as to why I had changed "their" plans is disturbing. I was very confrontational in our phone conversation and told her that I would rather speak to Jason. I also stressed to her the need for her and Jason to attend faithfully the established programs that the church provided, build onto that foundation, and I would be more receptive to listen to her input. You have seen my ideas, my reaction to good ideas, and you also know I will embrace any program that will effectively reach the lost and increase our membership. We are dealing with an individual who congregates in the fireside room with other bystanders during the main event times of our special activities and services. As you have stressed to me, there is only her and maybe one other parent who is not happy with what is going on with (the thing they are not involved with) the youth. Yet, she is still acting as the spokes person for some "collective" group. I think if was the church historian Elmer Towns who once said, when there is the excessive use of impersonal pronouns (we, us, many, or someone) in the conversation of an individual, then you have the individual who has spent too much time seeking collective influence to support their own cause.
I support your leadership in dealing with this situation. I believe this is an attack to hinder what will could take place this summer and know that it is another indicator of the lack of manhood and leadership in our homes. Pray for God to supply wisdom and insight to us all. Must go, see you later this morning. Chuck
Still, no reply form LZ came to my in box. It was also at this time that Jennifer became the host of the prayer chain and her and Jason was promoted by Bobby Clark to run the church web site through life way. I have built a couple of web sites. One site was on the web from 2000 to 2008 and received thousands of hits. While serving on the Nominating committee, the subject of having the Jennifer and Jason serving on the promotional committee was brought up. Knowing how she was acting without positional authority I told the members of the nominating committee that it would not be a good idea. Instead Jo Ed, Trixie, LZ, Bobby Clark, Ann Glover, and Deborah Carnly trusting my judgment and insight on the problem, they over-ruled me and proceeded like I was not there. I could understand this because a couple of the trouble makers for the youth ministry were setting there at the table. This is why Amy and I submitted a letter to “stay the vote” on the nominating committee’s recommendations until the pastoral staff met to discuss its content. Amy and I both stood up to vote against the list on a Sunday Morning service.
Yet, I also perceived there was a problem with the e-mail Jennifer received from Lifeway stating that they had chosen our website as the perfect small town church website and wanted to display it as a model for others to see. I questioned this because Lifeway link builds the site and all the church does is add in the text and post pictures. Also, no professional company would hold up a site that is riddled with misspelled words, dangling articles, and white text over an off-white background as a standard for others to follow. Since the e-mail that Jennifer received from Lifeway was never posted on the bulletin board with all the other church accomplishments, I felt it necessary to investigate. I simply called Lifeway to ask a question and this is what they sent me:
Chuck,
As a general rule of thumb LifewayLink does not make it a practice to email customers requesting permission to use their site as an example for potential customers or current customers. In fact we have our own example site you can view by visiting http://lifewaylink.com/learn . Click the thumbnail image in the right column to take you to the example site. One reason we do not link to customer sites is essentially the control factor. We know exactly what is on the example site we created and we know exactly what changes are made to it and when they're made unlike with a customer site.
As far as Lifeway Resources is concerned I cannot speak as to what their policies and procedures are concerning this. I did speak to the support representative who spoke with Jennifer. He remembered the call in part because the situation was so unique as far as a customer contacting us indicating that Lifeway Resources emailed them requesting permission use of their site. The support representative talked to our marketing guy and our customer support manager and neither had been made aware that Lifeway Resources was doing this so the support representative was given the number of a contact at Lifeway Resources for Jennifer to call and verify if the information she received was indeed legitimate and from Lifeway Resources.
We never heard back from her on this issue nor did we receive a copy of the email she said she received from Lifeway Resources.
If of course you have any questions or if we can be of any further assistance please let me know. Thanks
SDG Casey Trawick Customer Support Representative 1-877-241-0540 This is an example of promoting something that has not been verified or thought through. Yet, if the e-mail that she received (that neither we nor Lifeway has seen) was simply a spam letter trying to get personal information, when she did try to verify its authenticity she found out something quite to the contrary. I never heard any retraction concerning the previous acclaims of the website’s achievement. Lifeway also offers us multiple e-mail accounts that can be backed up and kept for church leadership to review if needed. Their system of checks and balances help to insure that a 501(c)3 does not overstep boundaries that could become illegal activity. This same mentality continued with an onslaught of slander, defamation of character, and libel statements sent out from the prayer chain e- mail list that are from a personal e-mail account. As the “promotional committee chairman” she finally decided to show up the last two days of VBS and took photos. I have never been given these photos and also found it disturbing that she had deleted them when I requested photos to make a brochure for the teens to pass out at Poly Crockett. The continued comments, e-mails, text messages, and phone conversations only mounted until Bobby Clark sent out the following:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I'm sending this correspondence out concerning our Church email. Our email was set up so our Church membership could be informed of those who are in need of prayer, ill, in the hospital, going into the hospital, the death of a member or death of a family member or friend, or any other need. It was also set up to offer praise when the Lord has answered our prayers. The Church email is also a tool for informing our members of opportunities for worship, study, and ministry. I don't believe the intention was for the Church email to be used as a forum to discuss pros and cons of Church decisions that are going to be discussed or have already been discussed and voted on by our Church in an open meeting. The Church email should also not be used to express personal opinions or political views. There are several venues to voice your concerns and questions. * You can contact the Chairman of a standing committee or a member of that committee. * You can contact the Pastor, Associate Pastor, Youth Director, Sunday School Director, Church Training (Discipleship) Director, or one of the Deacons. * You can attend the monthly business meeting. For the unity and harmony of our Church, I implore you by the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that whatever we say or write be done in a loving way. I implore you to consider the feelings of others before we consider our own. As Christ loves the Church, let us love one another. Bobby Clark Chairman of Deacons
Still, this message was sent out through the personal e-mail of Jennifer and Jason. It became evident that Bobby had been approached by Jennifer concerning the replies she received and not the messages she had been sending. The women that responded to Jennifer were appropriate, considerate, and compassionate. This event elevated into the deacons scheduling a meeting about its content. Our church’s covenant states “That we will seek divine aid to enable us to walk circumspectly and watchfully in the works, denying ungodliness and every worldly lust.” The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary (considered to be the Pinnacle of American word etymology) defines circumspectly by its usage as a noun “circumspection” by stating: CIRCUMSPECTION, n. Caution; attention to all the facts and circumstances of a case, and to the natural or probable consequences of a measure, with a view to a correct course of conduct, or to avoid danger. Ann Glover e-mailed me the time the meeting would take place but Bobby Clark called me aside that Sunday morning and told me he did not want me in the meeting. I told him this was highly unethical, unscriptural, and would cause trouble. (Circumspectly??? I think not.) This also in direct defiance to the Covenant and Constitution of Cowan First Baptist. He assured me they were going to take care of “business” and stop a lot of the talk that has been going on. He told me that our family was a valuable asset to the church and that he was going to fix the situation. He said that he was not a confrontational man and did not want arguing in the meeting. Wanting to trust Bobby, I conceded to his request.
That afternoon was the largest gathering of deacons I had ever seen. Many of those who do not regularly attend the services of the church somehow found time to attend on a Sunday night…no wait, many of them left after the deacons meeting and still did not attend the evening service. I stood outside the door to shake hands as they came out of the meeting. No one gave me any indication that the problem had not been fixed. Two weeks later I preached on a Sunday night after the teens had done a few things. After the meeting Steve Young, Charles Hix, and Larry Tims came to me at the offering table and wanted to tell me that the deacons were in full support of me and what I was doing. They went on the say that they were blessed to see many people getting saved and knew that the Lord was doing a great work. Then, Steve said that they wanted to move forward and put the “past in the past”. I responded by saying that the past should be dealt with or it will simply happen again. The Nominating committee did not listen when I tried to voice disagreement to a couple of individuals suggested to fill a committee position. Having submitted a request for a postponement of the vote on the list of Committee members (until the pastoral staff) could meet and discuss the potential problems it would cause and the splitting of the Sunday school classes of the teen (LZ said he knew nothing about?) The date of this letter was August 27th and we have still not been answered by anyone in leadership concerning its request, content, and the attached documentation proving the need for the pastoral staff to intervene in the matter. I also said to the Charles, Steve, and Larry that I was not someone who simply took a correspondence course in Theology and then went straight into a leadership position without completing apprentice program and proving to have the skills as a full fledge journeyman. Upon telling them that I followed the Biblical protocol and was ignored by the individual(s) in charge, I assured them that the issue would happen again and that our leadership needed to deal with the past. “From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future.” JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1825. I explained that I did my four years of Bible College, built bus routes, taught Sunday school classes, and have twenty years successful ministry experience. I emphasized that I had led people to Christ and taught others to do the same at CFB and the Lord would take away His blessings if we do not deal with those who obstruct His work. The deacons met again without me and instead of discussing the slander and misuse of the e-mails they discussed youth activities. Accusations were made that I had taken teens to an Independent Baptist Camp, that I would not teach the Lifeway Sunday school material, and that I would not allow anyone to come in to the youth to see what I was teaching. Well, I’m sure that Libby Hampton, Kelley Henely, Dianna Perry, Maria Reynolds, Suzie Dial, and Chris and Ashley Stephens are not considered church members???? I have personally talked to several of the deacons concerning what was discussed in the meetings in which I was not allowed to be present. Each of them was shocked to know what the true evidence (circumspection-from our covenant) revealed and the treachery that was being orchestrated to end a three year productive ministry. Someone is at the root of an agenda that plans to expand the government bureaucracy, incorporate the input of unqualified/disqualified advisors, and implement personnel that do not have the credentials for ministry effectiveness. Bobby Clark e-mailed me a list of things they wanted to discuss in the deacon meeting on 10/15. He called me Saturday afternoon to see if I had received the e-mail. (posted as received) Chuck The decons are planing on recomending to the church at business meeting Wednesday evening the following. We would like for you to attend the decons meeting Sunday afternoon at 4:30 to get your input.
Yous in christian love Bobby Clark CFBC YOUTH MINISTER
* Provide leadership to CFBC youth * Lead and train youth ministry workers * Be in charge of youth services at CFBC * Plan youth programs and activities frequently * Oversee youth ministry budget and youth fundraisers * Serve as head of the Youth Planning Committee * Develop healthy relationships with parents and guardians of all youth. * Provide resourses to parents and guardians of youth that will help them in their development and grow as Christian parents. Yes, this is exactly as it was received. If you will carefully compare this e-mail to the one that Bobby sent out about the prayer chain, you will see that this e-mail with its gross grammatical errors did not come from Bobby. Instead, it is an e-mail sent out by the individual who can not communicate on an adult level. In reference to the statement “get your input”, what is your definition on the statement? Evidently, it did not mean that there would be any discussion, cooperation, or time to evaluate the implications. There was an agenda in the background and I tried to prepare something to present to the deacons about the job description given to me by Bro. Tim. There was the discussion over the constitution and I informed the men that it was unethical for them to meet without me being able to face my accuser. (Biblically must have been two or more) This infuriated Bobby Clark and he told me that I would submit to a parent committee that would plan and approve youth activities. He said that I would be over the committee but LZ is over the nominating committee. This only led me to believe that the same lack of discernment would lead to someone being placed on that committee that would have conflicting values, morals, and ethics. Bobby Clark was addressed by Kenny Pierce, Doyle Coulson, and Carter Smith concerning his reactions in the meeting. The scripture tells us to be slow to anger and it was obvious to me that my 20 minutes of response time was cut short and Bobby (and someone else) wanted a committee. Bobby asked me for a yea or nay if I would submit to a committee. I tried to discuss the topic further but he demanded (acting angrily and out of the character that I knew him) an immediate answer. I said yes for I was under duress. (Look up the legal term)
Wednesday night came and I had been able to think through the curve ball that was thrown at me the previous Sunday night. When Bobby made a motion to form a committee I thought it might be wise to clarify what the constitution stated as a job description and thought the church might want to clarify what the “paid staff” were actually required to do. When I mentioned the constitution, Bobby shouted out that he withdrew his motion. After the meeting he told me I would regret “going back on my word” even though I only offered a question and not an opposition. Amy did not go to choir practice as usual. I was loading up Katherine when I noticed Amy and Bobby in the parking lot talking. I made the kids watch Katherine and walked over to enter into the conversation. It was evident that Bobby had said some interesting things to Amy and after presenting some of the facts (that Bobby evidently did not know or want to know) he emphatically told me “our church does not care what an individual does on Saturday night, he just wants a big crowd here on Sunday morning.” He stated, “we don’t do church discipline”. We told him that we don’t tolerate blatant disregard to the scriptures or attacks on a ministry that is being effective. He told me that if I would approach LZ and suggest that the parent committee was a good idea and submit to it everything would be alright. We did our best to complement Bobby on his manhood, character, and friendship. I also explained several things that were done to disrupt the teens and salvation decisions.
Leaving there Wednesday night made Amy and I felt maybe Bobby now understood what many of the core issues were. Yet, Sunday morning Bobby told me that he needed to see me and LZ for just a second after the service. Who would have know that LZ would not show up for the meeting. Bobby, Steve Young, Charles Hix, and Steve Cole were the only men in the office. Bobby said that: 1. “This” just isn’t working 2. All 20 of the deacons were not happy with me 3. That they were the authority of the church 4. They wanted my resignation 5. I was suspended from all my duties 6. I would get my last paycheck on the 31st of October. I shook my head that I would not resign. Bobby said that was all they had to say and we all left the office. Essentially, I became the disruption because I tried to address the disruptors. God help us when our government follows along the same decision path that the leadership of our church takes…for it will be our children that will suffer the most. This move by the Chairman of the deacons was not constitutional and the deacons are subject to the vote of the church on this matter.
As God is my witness, what I have written to you is true. A former President of this country made a couple of awesome quotes that I love to use. He said, “An informed patriot is what we want.” “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is our problem.” And lastly, “We do not think our liberal friend are ignorant, we just think that know so much that is not so.” Someone has set up too much administration at our church, an information system that has a different standard than that of the scriptures, and to many people in authority that do not have the visible evidences necessary for trustworthiness. May the Lord see fit to inform and arm his people to protect the innocent lambs of Cowan First Baptist Church.