Very brief so much more could be said
My Story
My wife and I are 1982 Auburn graduates. After graduation were very successful in the corporate world and moved several times within Florida and then to New Jersey. We both received Christ in 1988 while attending a conservative Methodist Church. After several years of struggling with the doctrine of the Methodist church we left to attend an Independent Baptist church in South Jersey. It was at this church that we were discipled and grew doctrinally. The love for Christ and others was present in this fellowship. We heard little to nothing about the hot button issues:
- Women wearing pants
- KJV
- Music
The messages from the pastor were biblical and strong but also expository and never at one time was there a camp meeting type preacher. At that time, we just thought all IFB churches were like ours. If some of the philosophy and methods were present like I have heard on your podcast we would have left immediately. Our pastor loved us and our children, and we loved him and the church.
In 1996 we felt the call to leave the secular business world and go into the ministry. I attended a well-known bible college and received my master’s degree. It was at this college where our eyes were opened. Some of the students and staff were off the charts in cultish like beliefs and standards. We had never seen this type of behavior before. Some items were:
- No mixed bathing
- KJV only ugliness
- No pants for women
- Suits and dresses for just about every occasion
- A constant drum-beat of how bad other Christians are
- A degrading of working woman
At 38 years of age my goal was to get my degree, keep my head down and graduate. I never got involved in the church or the latest IFB hot button issues while attending bible college. I just wanted to graduate and move on to pastor a church. The president of the college and pastor of the church treated me with respect and was gracious to me and my family. However, it was at bible college that I was exposed to a side of the IFB that was legalistic and at times mean spirited.
After graduation I joined the staff at my home church under the direction of a father-like, loving pastor. After two years the pastor and I worked together to find a church for me to pastor.
In 1999 I was called to pastor a small church in the western part of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, even though the church grew the first ten years I bowed to local IFB pressure not be who we really are. Looking back at these years, we now know there were missed opportunities that stunted the church’s growth numerically and spiritually.
In 2012 I started to realize that almost 100% of our young people that went off to bible college and families that moved away did not land in an IFB church when they got settled in a new town. They attended churches that were biblically and doctrinally solid, but used a different translation of the bible and the music was more contemporary. So, all it took to walk away from our music standards and translation was a relocation. This was a wakeup call.
It was then that we stared to pivot. I moved slow but steady. First, we started by putting messages and music on the digital screen. From there we moved to conservative newer contemporary music mixed in with hymns. Lastly, we changed Sunday PM services to small groups. Our church is more alive now than it has ever been in the 21 years I have been the pastor. We now have two morning services and a casual Wednesday service with an active teen and kids’ ministry.
We have grown to six paid staff members (four full-time, two part-time.) We just recently paid off 575k of capital debt and the ministry is now debt free.
Lastly, as I have said to our church on numerous occasions, I feel that the millennial generation wants truth and sincerity, not rules and obligation. Even though I never was a part of the IFB movement as defined by some of your podcasts, I played around the edges for far too long to my shame, all because I bowed to legalistic pressure. But thanks be to God we pivoted, and the best years for our church and community are ahead by God’s grace and through His leading.
Our website:
Our Small Group promotion
http://wcbaptist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Faramurz-213-Mod-19-Oct-2020-1080p-201019.mp4
I can understand that you could block any negative comments, but no positive ones either? Hmm, quite telling.
Attended this church in Ayers early years.
Left when He shifted to being the “Holy Ghost” for everyones sanctification.
Later after getting saved and called to preach we rekindled some friendship/fellowship.
I was an assistant pastor at a church and discovered the pastor was pursuing an affair with my wife and grooming her. I counseled with Ayers about this and he wrote my resignation letter. Upon resigning my full time position in ministry, Ayers invited this corrupt pastor and his singing group to his church and in a sense promoted / protected him while joining the “brethren” in “shunning” my family and I.
Ayers is an opportunists at best and an a false teacher at worst. Definitely not a biblicist as he often claimed, for if he had been a biblicist to his core he would have overcome the tristate “brethren” “pressures” and not swung from one ditch to the other completely missing the mark of Christ centered truth.