My family first came to CLBC in 1988. I was 8. My memories were of happy times & a close church family. In ’91 we were sent to Hawaii by the Army. A year later we were back. Then a year after that (’93) we moved to western NC. We visited every few months because the church was like home to us.

Then in 2000 my dad found a job opportunity in Fayetteville & jumped on it. I was going into my junior year at BJU (yes, I’ll admit it & even though I consider myself a former-fundy, I’m still not ashamed to call it my alma mater). Anyway, by then things weren’t the same anymore. The pastor (not the current one) was different. Or maybe he wasn’t but we finally opened our eyes & saw how controlling he was. “Deference to the pastor in all matters” exactly describes how things were.

My brother had to spend his senior year of high school at the church’s school. He was the only graduating senior. During that year he joined the Army reserves. Fayetteville is a major military city, with Ft. Bragg army base & Pope Air Force Base there. So of course much of the congregation is connected to the military in one way or another. Once a month he was required to be on duty. Well, when one of those weekends fell on one of the school’s special Sundays (the students sing songs & recite verses in front of the congregation), Pastor Smith did not approve. Apparently the handbook basically says the only way you can miss one of those Sundays is to be on your death bed. My parents tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t have it. My brother had to ask the Army to allow him to miss his required weekend.

One Sunday the pastor even used my family in a sermon illustration. He didn’t name names but everybody knew who he was talking about. And my parents, brother, & sister were all right there!

I was away at college thankfully. Ironically I was the only one he didn’t have a problem with because I was going to his alma mater. Believe me, he had nothing to do with why I was there!

After my brother graduated my family finally left. They would have sooner but didn’t want to have my brother switch schools with 3 months left. They still belong to another fundy church. Bummer.

The current pastor was assistant pastor for years & finally took over only a couple years ago. I had hoped he’d be different but from the looks of things all those years just trained him to be just like Pastor Smith.

at the end of the article I explained “The church description I started with was from a listing on the BJU church placement service website as part of an advertisement for an associate pastor position.”

One suprising statement was their committment to expository preaching. Most churches like this do not preach that way. Of course you have to wonder what their definition of “expository” is.

Aren’t “deference to the pastor in all matters”, and “a church-led government” opposites? When you see this kind of double talk, you can be sure the “church-led government” part is a fantasy, and that self serving leadership is in “control” mode.