By God’s grace, our church family is joyfully unified in our devotion to Jesus, our love for one another, and our mission to reach the world around us with the gospel. As elders, we aim to shepherd, guard, and care for God’s church faithfully (Acts 20:28-32). As servants of the church, we do not want to be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting opponents with gentleness, with hope that God may perhaps grant them repentance that leads to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:24-26).
As we have shared multiple times over the past four years, a small group of well-resourced individuals from close to and far away from McLean Bible Church has launched a coordinated and sustained effort filled with countless false accusations concerning our church leaders and continual meritless lawsuits concerning our church’s constitution, all of which have either been denied by the courts, are in the process of being dismissed by the courts, or have been withdrawn by the plaintiffs. This group’s stated aim has been to disparage and ultimately remove church leaders, including our Lead Pastors, Mike Kelsey and David Platt, our Executive Pastor, Wade Burnett, and our other elders, pastors, and staff leaders who together are committed to leading the church according to God’s Word instead of this group’s personal ideologies. Our church family has seen this group’s harmful attacks and unbiblical tactics for what they are, and church members have voted on multiple occasions and in overwhelming fashion to affirm the direction and leaders of our church.
Specifically in light of how this group has targeted their attacks toward David Platt, we want to communicate as clearly as possible that our elders and pastors stand by David without any reservation. He has consistently demonstrated the highest integrity, deep humility, and a profound dedication to God’s Word. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply not what we have experienced as we have served alongside him. At every step, through division and personal attacks, David has exemplified what it means to be above reproach in both his life and his leadership of our church family. We honor David and we thank God for his leadership in our church and across the broader church, celebrating the amazing work God has accomplished and is accomplishing through his ministry. It is our joy to serve alongside him, knowing him to be nothing but trustworthy.
If you have more questions or would like more information, you can find years of updates here on how our church family has walked through this together. We have tried to pursue peace with this group in good faith, yet they have repeatedly declined or ignored our offers. Even as we lament the deception this group has spread, we sincerely desire the good of all people, including those in this group, and we continually pray for God’s grace over them.
Meanwhile, our church family is happily focused on following Jesus together, gathering each week for worship that is driven by His Word and going out each week as witnesses to Him in the world. By God’s grace during these four years, our church membership has increased, our outreach in our city and around the world has grown, and we are in a much greater position of biblical health. We invite any brothers and sisters in Christ who want to follow Jesus in fellowship with us to be a part of McLean Bible Church. At the same time, we realize that many followers of Jesus will choose to carry out His mission in other local churches for many different reasons, and we love, support, and pray for such brothers and sisters in Christ, their churches, and their leaders as we work together for the spread of the gospel in our city and around the world.