The contents of this book started with a personal study on false teaching early in 2015. This developed into a multi-month family devotional for my family in 2017. In turn, this led me to re-evaluate my Ordained Minister licensure through the Church of God (Cleveland, TN). After decades of various roles within the local church and a strong sense of a Pentecostal identity, I began comparing many of these Pentecostal precepts against what I found within the Scriptures. This was after receiving a B.A. in Pastoral Theology and Criminology from Lee University (Cleveland, TN) and an M.Div. concentrating in Cell Church Leadership from Regent University (Virginia Beach, VA). Until this personal study on false teaching, I had not evaluated my Pentecostal identity. I discovered that Pentecostalism had created a breach that needed to be healed. This breach is observed by the following: 1) Confusing the clear nature and purpose of tongues in Scripture, 2) Fostering a two-tiered Christianity by dividing into “baptized” and “unbaptized,” 3) Replacing the clear mandate for decency and order with freedom and spontaneity in worship, and 4) Elevating personal experience above the superiority of Scripture. This ultimately led me to seriously question retaining my ordination and to earnestly pray about and search for a new local church.
This process led my family into a local Southern Baptist Convention church. Yes, an ordained Pentecostal minister was faithfully attending a local SBC church. The church was partly chosen because it was doctrinally sound, financially responsible, missions-minded and welcoming of the giftings of all of my family. Little did I know the ugly underbelly of the Southern Baptist Convention would quickly be revealed. Then I found myself in a similar theological position where my local church is affiliated with an organization that I began to distrust and grew unsure of my association with it.
This growing discontent was observed through a few years of what can only be viewed as “church hopping” or using my discontent with the broader SBC as an excuse to not fully engage in the goings on at any one particular local church. After an unexpected move in 2018, we found a solid and nearby local church we could settle into. This resolved the “hopping” issue.
As we settled into the local church, I felt increasingly convicted about the retention of my Pentecostal ordination. What began as a brief letter of resignation to my denominational leaders turned into a book. So, in the fall of 2019 I voluntarily surrendered my ordination and forwarded to my leaders a letter along with a copy of my book, “Healing the Breach: Reflections on a Pentecostal Identity.”
This was the same year the Houston Chronicle revealed allegations of sexual abuse and suspected cover-ups within the SBC. This was also the same year of the controversial Resolution 9, “On Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality” and the firestorm that followed. Things did not seem to improve during the 2020 convention either. The Conservative Baptist Network was formed in February as a direct backlash. All of these developments caused me to see the proverbial writing on the wall and seriously question my affiliation with a local SBC congregation.
The pending 2020 convention included the appointment of David Uth, a gay-affirming pastor of First Baptist Church in Orlando, as the president of the Pastor’s Conference. Included in the speakers’ list was David Hughes, the controversial pastor of Church by the Glades in Coral Springs, Florida. I remembered Hughes from my earlier false teacher studies. Hughes has had outrageous musical numbers on Sunday mornings such as Stormtroopers (2016) and Harry Potter (2017) and had referred to former church members as human excrement in 2014 (Watchdog, Fbcjax. 2014. “David Hughes Refers to Ex-Church Members as Human Excrement.” Vimeo. November 19, 2014. https://vimeo.com/112286504.) and those who want more doctrine taught at his church as “big, fat spiritual babies” in 2015 (“Church by the Glade: Foodies: Business is Good.” August 12, 2015. cbglades.com, 43:40).
I decided to wait and see what occurred at the 2020 convention to make a final determination to stay or leave the SBC. I had hit my breaking point when, in the fall of 2020, Ronnie Floyd released his book promoting the false teaching of tithing, TEN PERCENT: A Call to Biblical Stewardship (Nashville: Convention Press and Ronnie W. Floyd, 2020). I became determined to write a response to his book to be released prior to the 2021 convention. As my concerns regarding the direction of the SBC grew, the events surrounding the pending 2021 convention became equally concerning. Then, the 2021 convention confirmed all of my worst fears regarding the trajectory of the convention.
Instead of viewing the presentation of a required at least 10% required tithe as an isolated event disconnected from other issues, I began to connect the dots. I soon realized that the newly formed push to uncharacteristically insist on tithing was actually just a symptom of a broader decline within the SBC. This symptom was merely a part of a more comprehensive set of commonly used man-made fallacies used to distract the membership of the convention from the actual purpose of the executive leadership. It seems the intention is to sacrifice the truth of Scripture for reliance on tone and presentation.
My observations and resulting concerns of the events surrounding these conventions are detailed within this book. The intent of this book is to provide a framework to identify and deal with these symptoms of decline within the SBC. In line with this, my hope is to assist others in the pursuit of identifying and dealing with false teaching by providing the framework to assess their own local church or to find a good local church.
As a result of my continued personal study through the Scriptures, after much prayer and communication with church leaders, it is my personal conviction that I cannot continue to attend a local church that remains affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Even though this local congregation is theologically sound and financially stable, I can no longer condone affiliation with a denomination that is not. As of the publication of this book, my family has become active participants of a local church not affiliated with the SBC or any other network or denomination where the doctrine or practices are contrary to the truth of the Scriptures.
All of my Christian life, since high school and through marriage, four kids and five grandkids, I have attempted to use the talents and abilities God has granted me to do all I can for His glory. I admit that not doing my due diligence regarding my earlier church affiliations caused many years of error that I have since repented and have strived to amend. My desire is for others to also return to a focus on the truth of Scripture and forsake any reliance on man-made traditions or beliefs, regardless of their personal sentimentality or perceived importance and to not fall into a similar error. May we all be followers of Christ and do our best to press on toward the mark:
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. (Philippians 3:7-16)
Also, in the wise words of the late Carman’s 2014 song, “I Did My Best”: “Lord, I did my best. In spite of all my faults you know I tried. Whether I was right or wrong you saw inside, and knew that you had all of me. Lord, I did my best.”
In, Through and Because of Christ,
Michael Hartschenko
Midlothian, VA
Spring 2022