Indicators and Warnings of McLean Bible’s Theological Hijacking that Would Culminate with David Platt Becoming the Teaching Pastor: An Overview of the Changes Chronicled by The Wondering Eagle from 2015 Until 2017; Plus What I Believe is Coming Down the Pike

This post is an overview of the issues that popped up at McLean Bible (MBC) a mega church in the Washington, D.C. area in the 2015 until 2017 time-frame that revealed MBC was being theologically hijacked. The Wondering Eagle picked up on many of the issues over the course of time. This post also contains a list of questions that need to be answered and what I believe is going to happen to MBC in the 2018 to 2020 time-frame. 

“When your actions towards acquiring leadership in any country portrays blatant mischief orchestrated towards disregarding the concepts of the constitution, you do not only become guilty of hijacking power which rightfully belong to the people, but also, you are guilty of violation of the rights of freedom of the same people that you purport to want to lead. Like any match, elections is competition towards democracy, and all competitions have rules that set guidelines in that particular competition. Any violation of such rules renders that competition invalid. True democracy does not condone compromises. True democracy upholds and adheres to the rule of law, for it is the rule of law that can explicitly define democracy.”

Akuku Mach Pep 

“You may fool all the people some of the time, you can even fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.”

Abraham Lincoln 

Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.

Deuteronomy 13:4 NLT 

Evidence of a theological coup at McLean Bible 

***Corrected an error and changed the new members added in the congregation meeting from 300 to 200 10/10/2017***

On September 27, 2017 David Platt was elected as the Teaching Pastor of McLean Bible (MBC). He was elected by close to 95% of the congregation. It sounds like MBC added 200 new members in part to be able to put David Platt through. So what actually happened is reminiscent of Chicago politics, and the Richard J Daley machine. In my mind the theological coup at MBC is complete. But the question remains. How did MBC get to this point? What transpired and took place? I used to be involved in MBC years ago, and as I am based in the D.C. area I have been writing about this mega church. Over the past two years there have been many indicators and warnings that bothered me deeply that revealed that MBC is being hijacked. Let’s re-visit those warnings from the 2015 until the 2017 time frame. Afterward I am going to list a number of questions that The Wondering Eagle would like to see answered. And finally let’s look at what is coming next to MBC in the 2018 to 2020 timeframe. For those who used to attend MBC or those who are still there I heard from one of my sources in the Virginia area that the Acts 29 churches now consider MBC to a SBC mega church. They also believe that MBC is now becoming “healthy.” I guess what that means is that under Lon Solomon it was not. Don’t you just adore Neo-Calvinist theology? 

 

Joining The Gospel Coalition in 2015 

On November 7,  2015 I published a post about MBC joining The Gospel Coalition. You can read that post in “Not a Sermon Just a Blog Post; McLean Bible’s Affiliation with The Gospel Coalition.” The Gospel Coalition was founded by D.A Carson and Tim Keller. The Gospel Coalition is notorious for their behavior in the Sovereign Grace Ministries lawsuit that dealt with child sex abuse. Plus The Gospel Coalition promoted Doug Wilson from Christ’s Church in Idaho. Doug Wilson had married a convicted sex offender and another person after only two dates. The sex offender Steven Sitler allegedly got sexually stimulated when holding his infant child. The state of Idaho has intervened last that I heard. As The Gospel Coalition has no concern about sexual assault I ask the question in that post..why would a person who has been the victim of sexual assault want to call MBC home? These are the questions that The Wondering Eagle would like to answer in time.

1. Who at MBC was instrumental in wanting to join The Gospel Coalition? 
2. Was the congregation informed or even allowed to vote on it? 

 

McLean Bible’s New City Network Partnering with 9 Marks in Late 2016 

On September 30, 2016 I wrote another post that bothered me deeply. The post dealt with MBC’s New City Network partnering with Mark Dever’s 9 Marks at a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) North America Missions Board (NAMB) conference. I wrote about this issue in “Why is McLean Bible’s New City Network Promoting 9 Marks’ Church Revitalization Conference?” This issue bothered me deeply for several reasons. When I was involved in MBC from the 2005 until the 2009 time frame I had heard that Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) had looked down on MBC and didn’t believe them to preach that Gospel. I also heard that people who were allegedly kicked out of CHBC found refuge at MBC. I looked at these issues about MBC at the time with puzzlement, and knowing all that I was stunned when I saw that MBC partnered with 9 Marks. This is the first time that this has happened. The questions for me is how did this happen? I know where Lon Solomon stands in regards to Calvinist theology. So the question to ask is who else would be responsible for this shift? Could that key person who moved MBC in this direction be Dale Sutherland? So with that frame of mind these are the questions that The Wondering Eagle has.

1. Does Dale Sutherland have a business relationship or some other type of relationship with Mark Dever of CHBC?
2. Was Dale Sutherland a svengali type of character to Lon Solomon?
3. Kevin Hawkins is Dale Sutherland’s right hand man, did he play a role in any of these decisions? 
4. What is it about 9 Marks that MBC was attracted in? 
5. Was Mark Dever interested in MBC due to the wealth of the church? Is that why 9 Marks suddenly popped up on the radar? 

 

McLean Bible’s New City Network Partnering with Fellowship Memphis (A Church that Allegedly Destroyed Child Pornography) to Plant Kenji Adachi’s All People Community Church in 2016

Then in December of 2016 I noticed that MBC’s New City Network was working with Fellowship Memphis out in Tennessee to plant Kenji Adachi’s All Peoples Community Church in Fairfax, Virginia. I wrote about that issue in “When Neo-Calvinist Church Planting Becomes Idolatry: Kenji Adachi and All Peoples Community Church.” For those who do not know The Wondering Eagle actually broke the story about John Bryson’s Fellowship Memphis. I actually have another post I need to do in the next couple of weeks. But at Fellowship Memphis the worship pastor Rick Trotter was allegedly into voyeurism and recorded females in the church restroom. In the process a couple of the victims were underage and the church allegedly destroyed some “Gospel Centered Child Pornography” when the church’s lawyer allegedly told the leadership to “throw the tapes into the Mississippi River.” I broke the story on this blog and clashed with Bryan Loritts online. You can see Bryan’s comment and the story I broke in “The Sordid Tale of Rick Trotter, Bryan Loritts, John Bryson and Acts 29 Fellowship Memphis and Downtown Presbyterian Church“ You can also read the open letter I wrote to Bryan Loritts right here. I used to listen to Bryan Loritts in Campus Crusade for Christ.  So with that history I became puzzled as to why MBC would work with Fellowship Memphis? There are many questions that remain that The Wondering Eagle would like to answer in time. 

1. Is MBC aware that alleged child pornography was destroyed at Fellowship Memphis? 
2. Where does Kenji Adachi stand on the issue of the alleged destruction of child pornography at Fellowship Memphis?
3. Did members of MBC know that New City Network was working at Fellowship Memphis? 
4. Does Clint Clifton who directs the New City Network know about the alleged destruction of child pornography at Fellowship Memphis? 
5. How much money was used in planting All Peoples Community Church? 

 

Churches Such as Eric Simmons Redeemer Arlington and Garrett’s Kells’ Del Rey Baptist Join the New City Network in 2016

Another indicator of the warped direction of MBC was the types of churches that joined the New City Network in 2016. For example let me illustrate two that I have written about. This blog follows and writes about issues with Eric Simmons and Jordan Kauflin’s Redeemer Arlington. This blog actually was born out of an incident of psychological trauma when I was unsuccessfully recruited into Redeemer. I wrote about the history of Redeemer Arlington in “The History of Eric Simmons’ Redeemer Arlington: Formerly of Sovereign Grace Ministries now of Acts 29.” When I was at MBC in the 2005 and 2009 time frame C.J. Mahaney’s Sovereign Grace Ministries was viewed as a cult, and really no different than the Mormons. I heard less than complimentary things about SGM, but didn’t connect the dots until I was being recruited to Redeemer Arlington. So why would MBC’s New City Network take in Redeemer Arlington? I wrote about that topic in “Eric Simmons’ Redeemer Arlington Joins McLean Bible’s New City Network” Then there is also Garrett Kell at Del Rey Baptist. Or should I say Kel Rey Baptist. (Hint if you want to know what that means ask Garrett…) I was puzzled as to why the main daughter church of Mark Dever’s Capitol Hill Baptist Church would join the New City Network. This probably was in motion due to the prior 9 Marks connections. I wrote about Del Rey Baptist in two posts which you can read. “A Critique on 9 Marks’ Del Ray Baptist Church’s Sample Statement on Church Attendance” and “Garrett Kell, the Role Campus Crusade for Christ Played in his Coming to the Christian Faith; Plus the 9 Marks Elephant Standing in the Corner.” There are a number of questions that exist which need answering.

1. If Mark Dever was involved did Dever encourage Jordan Kauflin into the New City Network? We know that the Kauflin family is close to Dever. After all that information I believe came out in the failed marriage between Meagan and Kerrin which was written about at SGM Survivors. 
2. What is the relationship between Del Rey Baptist and MBC? 
3. Is Garrett Kell involved in the indoctrination or training of any staff behind the scenes? 

 

The McLean Bible Staff in 2016 and 2017 Experiences Large Layoffs…

Last week I had a close friend in Washington, D.C. I refer to him as James Crestwood who calls Salina, Kansas his home now and have written open letters to him here, here and here. I hung out with him on the D.C. waterfront and was talking with him and some other people that I know from Mark Batterson’s National Community Church (NCC). As I spoke with one individual in the process I mentioned my history with MBC. This guy turns around and says, “Have you heard about the massive layoffs at McLean Bible these past two years? What is the deal with that?” I realized then and there that the purging of the staff is an open secret here in the Washington, D.C. area and the discussion of other churches. You can not deny that there has been a massive change in staff. And to illustrate it let’s look at MBC’s staff page through the internet archive. I love the internet as information lives on it forever. You just need to know when and how to research and look. Here is the staff page of MBC in 2015. Here are some of the people who are no longer at MBC. 

1. David Sheets appears to have left in June of 2016, and is now doing Marriage Matters according to his LinkedIn. David was at MBC for 13 years. 
2. Fran Smith who was the Director for Adult Activities for Access Ministries also appears to have left. I see them at the 2015 MBC website, but not a trace in the current one. 
3. Jane Daniel who once did the Tysons Director of Discipleship also appears to be gone. There are traces of her in 2015 but as I poke around and research the current MBC website I see no evidence of her. 
4. Jim Supp also is no longer at MBC. Jim according to the 2015 website was on staff at MBC since May of 1997. The last position Jim had was as the Loudoun Campus Pastor. Jim went on staff at Reston Bible Church in May of 2017. You can read Reston Bible Church’s announcement. 
5. Ken Sun also is no longer on staff at MBC. I remember popping up at a couple of Ken’s Bible studies at the Tyson’s Campus. In the 2015 website it states that Ken leads the MBC Bethesda Campus. Today Ken Sun is on staff at Chinese Bible Church of Maryland where you can read his profile here. 

I could go on, but I believe I have made my point. There is another key staff change as well which took place at MBC. That is the transition of the Associate Senior Pastor. That changed from Denny Harris to Dale Sutherland. You can see Denny’s role in this archived MBC webpage from 2014. There are many gaps and questions that The Wondering Eagle would like to answer in time. These are some of the questions that exist. 

1. How many people left MBC in the 2016 to 2017 time period? Was it 50, 75 125, 150 or more? 
2. How were people selected? Were they targeted for their theology and the fact that they were not into Neo-Calvinism? 
3. Were people also selected due to their age? Many of the people above are older. Were people in the 50’s and greater selected so that they could not prevent a theological coup at MBC? 
4. MBC is a little smaller than Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Seattle. Mars Hill used non-disclosure agreements to keep people silent. You can read what Warren Throckmorton has written about that here. Did MBC also use non disclosure agreements to keep people silent? Is salary or retirement benefits attached to any non disclosure agreement? 
5. Did the reduction on staff at MBC mirror the processes that were done at the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB) when they had to reduce the workforce to bring the budget in the black? I only ask that as David Platt was involved in both organizations that went through massive staff reductions. 

 

…While Neo-Calvinists Such as Nate Crew, Eric Saunders, Justin Orr, etc… Are Added to the Staff Mostly from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary 

In the previous section I wrote about the change in staff that took place. As you study the current MBC staff page you can see the changes but especially the incoming people from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS). These are some of the examples of the people who were hired out of SEBTS

• Eric Saunders who graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2013 became the campus pastor of MBC Arlington. He did this when Nate Keeler left and went up to Delaware. 
• Justin Orr also came from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. 
• Nate Crew graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and came on board at MBC to lead Citywide. 
• Jordan Thigpen who is the Director of Training and Resources at New City Network came from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as part of this hiring surge of Neo-Calvinists. 
• There is also Dave Young who is also part of this coup at McLean Bible. Dave Young who came from Steve King’s Cherrydale Baptist was a pastoral intern at Mark Dever’s Capitol Hill Baptist Church in the spring of 2014. Dave is under Mike Kelsey at MBC in Montgomery County. 

These are the questions that The Wondering Eagle hopes to answer one day. 

1. Given the close relationship between 9 Marks and SEBTS, did 9 Marks or Mark Dever play a role in hiring of individuals like Eric Saunders, Justin Orr, Nate Crew, etc… at MBC?
2. Why SEBTS? Why not a place like Trinity Evangelical Divinity school in Deerfield, Illinois? And not other seminaries? Is it do to the role that SEBTS plays in the SBC with Neo-Calvinism? Or is a Kool Aid drinker like Eric Saunders guaranteed? 

 

Late 2016 McLean Bible’s Statement on Calvinism Disappears from the Church Website

In late 2016 early 2017 the statement on Calvinism disappeared from the MBC website. In other words as a coup was going on, someone on staff took it down. I wrote about the removal of the statement on Calvinism in “Preserving McLean Bible’s Statement on Calvinism.” I saved a copy which is preserved in that blog post. These are the questions that The Wondering Eagle would like to find the answers. 

1. When did that statement on Calvinism come down from the MBC website speciffically? 
2. Who took that statement on Calvinism down? Did they do so themself or were they told to remove it? 
3. Why wasn’t the church told that the statement on Calvinism is being removed. Its a massive shift in my view. 

 

The Pastoral Search with David Platt Becoming the Interim Teaching Pastor in February 2017

In early 2017 the Pastoral Search team was looking for a replacement for Lon Solomon. In the process they seemed to become fixated on David Platt. MBC was moving in this direction despite theological conflicts with David Platt. Plus there are many problems that exist with his book “Radical.” I wrote about much of this in the following post on February 21, 2017 called “McLean Bible is Looking for a New Senior Pastor, and Deep Concerns About its New Interim Teaching Pastor David Platt; Plus Here is the Problem with Being “Radical”.” There are many questions that The Wondering Eagle has during this time, if you know the answer please contact me. 

1. How did David Platt get involved in the Pastoral Search? Who contacted who? 
2. Why weren’t questions asked about David’s theology on Calvinism? Why was that ignored? 
3. Where was Lon Solomon in all this? Was he boxed in, or was cognitive dissonance going on? 
4. Why the obsession with the celebrity pastor? 

 

McLean Bible’s Growing Alliance with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2017

There were other questions as well. As I wrote above I have a source that has been connected to the Acts 29 network who told me that MBC is now viewed as a SBC mega church. How did that happen? I wrote about the growing relationship between MBC and the SBC on September 15, 2017. Someone gave me an internal SBC email to publish which was done so. You can read that post asking about MBC and the SBC in “Is McLean Bible in the Process of Joining the Southern Baptist Convention?” There are many questions that need to asked about the relationship with the SBC. 

1. Is Dale Sutherland responsible for contacting the SBC? 
2. What documentation or agreements were signed that created the New City Network? 
3. As we know how Acts 29 in Virginia views MBC, what about other SBC churches in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area?
4. How can MBC partner with the SBC especially as it goes against the church’s constitution? 
5. Are there any financial agreements that would benefit MBC? Any financial transactions involving the SBC that are not on the books. You have to remember that there is a lot of money involved at MBC. 
6. Who hired Clint Clifton? 

 

The Incompetence of Larry Cooper, Tom McMahon and the Elder Board, Plus the September 21, 2017 Town Hall Meeting 

In writing this blog I attended the September 21, 2017 Town Hall meeting which bothered me greatly. I have participated in a lot of church meetings in my life, but this was one of the most authorterian, controlling, and disturbing ones I attended. The meeting was controlled and the questioning process screened. There was too much that went into pulling off he meeting, so much so that it became a farce. I wrote about the meeting in two posts which you can read. The first one is “An Overview of McLean Bible’s Townhall Meeting; Plus is McLean Bible Controlling the Question Process?” and “The Theological Coup Taking Place at McLean Bible and Why The Wondering Eagle is Calling for David Platt to be Rejected for the Health of the Church.” At the meeting the answers given by Larry Cooper and Tom McMahon were painful, off the mark and off base. I saw that Lon Solomon appeared to be trapped by what was going on. I also noticed that there was an emphasis to force David Platt through. With all the problems you could not even have an honest discussion or question and answer about David Platt’s theology. These are some of the questions that The Wondering Eagle has which I would l like to answer in time.   

1. Were the questions for the Town Hall pre-selected before the meeting by the Elders and David Platt? 
2. How did the Elder Board process work over these past few months? I highly doubt there are meeting notes or minutes that can be released to the public to show the practices and procedures over the last few months. 
3. What were the background negotiations with the IMB behind the scenes? 

 

Gaps and Questions Related to the McLean Bible Situation Which The Wondering Eagle Would Like to Find the Answers 

These are the list of questions that The Wondering Eagle would like to answer in succeeding blog posts in the course of time.  They are the questions asked in the post above. They deal with many of the issues explored above and are questions that need to be answered. If you have information on any of these questions please contact me at wonderingeagle261@gmail.com 

1. Who at MBC was instrumental in wanting to join The Gospel Coalition? 
2. Was the congregation informed or even allowed to vote on it? 
3. Does Dale Sutherland have a business relationship or other type of relationship with Mark Dever of CHBC?
4. Was Dale Sutherland a svengali type of character to Lon Solomon?
5. Kevin Hawkins is Dale Sutherland’s right hand man, did he play a role in any of these decisions? 
6. What was it about 9 Marks that MBC was attracted in? 
7. Was Mark Dever interested in MBC due to the wealth of the church? Is that why 9 Marks suddenly popped up on the radar? 
8. In regards to Kenji Adachi’s All Peoples Community Church, is MBC aware that alleged child pornography was destroyed at Fellowship Memphis? 
9. Where does Kenji Adachi stand on the issue of the alleged destruction of child pornography at Fellowship Memphis?
10. Did members of MBC know that New City Network was working at Fellowship Memphis? 
11. Does Clint Clifton who directs the New City Network know about the alleged destruction of child pornography at Fellowship Memphis? 
12. How much money was used in planting All Peoples Community Church? 
13. If Mark Dever was involved did Dever encourage Jordan into the New City Network? We know that the Kauflin family is close to Dever. After all that information I believe came out in the failed marriage between Meagan and Kerrin which was written about at SGM Survivors. 
14. What is the relationship between Del Rey Baptist and MBC?
15. Is Garrett Kell involved in the indoctrination or training of any staff behind the scenes? 
16. Given the close relationship between 9 Marks and SEBTS, did 9 Marks or Mark Dever play a role in hiring of individuals like Eric Saunders, Justin Orr, Nate Crew, etc… at MBC?
17. Why SEBTS? Why not a place like Trinity Evangelical Divinity school in Deerfield, Illinois? And not other seminaries? Or is that to guarantee a Kool Aid drinker like Eric Saunders? 
18. How many people left MBC in the 2016 to 2017 time period? Was it 50, 75 125, 150 or more? 
19. How were people selected? Were they targeted for their theology and the fact that they were not into Neo-Calvinism? 
20. Were people also selected due to their age? Many of the people above are older. Were people in the 50’s and greater selected so that they could not prevent a theological coup at MBC? 
21. MBC is a little smaller than Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Seattle. Mars Hill used non-disclosure agreements to keep people silent. You can read what Warren Throckmorton has written about that here. Did MBC also use non disclosure agreements to keep people silent? Is salary or retirement benefits attached to any non disclosure agreement? 
22. Did the reduction on staff at MBC mirror the processes that were done at the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB) when they had to reduce the workforce to bring the budget in the black? I only ask that as David Platt was involved in both organizations that went through massive staff reductions. 
23. When did that statement on Calvinism come down from the MBC website specifically? 
24. Who took that statement on Calvinism down? Did they do so themself or were they told to remove it? 
25. Why wasn’t the church told that the statement on Calvinism is being removed. Its a massive shift in my view. 
26. How did David Platt get involved in the Pastoral Search? Who contacted who? 
27. Why weren’t questions asked about David’s theology on Calvinism? Why was that ignored? 
28. Where was Lon Solomon in all this? Was he boxed in, or was cognitive dissonance going on? 
29. Why the obsession at MBC with the celebrity pastor? 
30. Is Dale Sutherland responsible for contacting the SBC? 
31. What documentation or agreements were signed that created the New City Network? 
32. As we know how Acts 29 in Virginia views MBC, what about other SBC churches in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area?
33. How can MBC partner with the SBC especially as it goes against the church’s constitution? 
34. Are there any financial agreements that would benefit MBC? Any financial transactions involving the SBC that are not on the books. You have to remember that there is a lot of money involved at MBC. 
35. Who hired Clint Clifton? 
36. Were the questions for the Town Hall pre-selected before the meeting by the Elders and David Platt? 
37. How did the Elder Board process work over these past few months? I highly doubt there are meeting notes or minutes that can be released to the public to show the practices and procedures over the last few months. 
38. What were the background negotiations with the IMB behind the scenes? 

 

What is Coming in 2018 Until 2020 at McLean Bible; From Church Covenants, Church Discipline, Official Membership in 9 Marks, and Free Labor for T4G

With the rise of David Platt and the other issues going on at MBC this is what I believe is coming next from the 2018 until 2020 time period. The first and most important aspect is that there will be a lot of spiritual refugees. The flow is underway and people are leaving as I am hearing. Other people will realize what is going on and will also leave in time. The Wondering Eagle will give a platform for any former MBC members who want to explain their anger or frustration with the theological situation now at MBC. With the flow of refugees there will be other disturbing changes coming to MBC. One of them will be legalistic membership covenants. MBC is a little smaller than Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Seattle when that was in operation. Mars Hill was aggressive with membership covenants. I expect to see that to occur with MBC. To understand and grasp the problems with Neo-Calvinist membership covenants I wrote an old post that explains the issues with them. “Neo-Calvinist Membership Covenants: The New Berlin Wall Amidst a Theological Cold War?”  Another change I expect to see is for MBC to become an official 9 Marks church and to be on the 9 Marks church search. While it is under the influence of 9 Marks now, it is not an official part of the 9 Marks network. That will also come in time. To read more about the problems with 9 Marks go to “9 Marks: What is it? How Mark Dever Undermined it and Made it Worthless.” Other problems that will occur in time at MBC is questionable church discipline. Some of the bizarre and strange goings on that occur at Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) or The Village Church down in Texas will replicate itself at MBC. If there are any problems in this area The Wondering Eagle will gladly be a platform for people in need. Finally as David Platt participates in T4G there will be another pool of free labor to draw from. I know CHBC uses members of CHBC to work at T4G, so I expect that to occur from MBC as well. The coup that took place at MBC is sad to be honest with you. MBC really deserves a funeral as its becoming a place that I no longer recognize. The shifting situation at MBC highlights why blogs like this one are so vital and needed. That is it for the day, please know that you are loved.