Saturday, March 11, 2006

"We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott!"


Several have heard about me from the days I was famous/infamous. I made many headlines! This excerpt below about me...in another life! ....from an old Christianity Today article opens several questions re: church, wineskins, loyalty,connection, renewal from within, lawsuits between believers (or so-called believers), hierarchy, church government, shift etc . Many are asking, "What thoughts do you have for the the many still in the mainline boat?"

Well, first of all is:

The thoughts become prayers.

Secondly:

Most days, I wouldn't go back.

Thirdly:

I know I wouldn't handle everything the same way again...my hindsight is 20/20...For some fumblings about how I might do things differently, here's an audio radio interview with me a few years ago )...More later...For anyone wanting more background on what we went through, click this. (just beware, most press articles lack context. I finally refused interviews where I had little control over context) .

I actually got a comment once, "I'm so glad you don't have any fags in your church!" He didn't like my answer! On this note, for a good time, read: Pastor Sends Sodomites to Island; gets stoned!

Anyway, the CT article:


CHRISTIANITY TODAY: Not all conservatives/evangelicals have vacated their California-Nevada Conference buildings. David Wainscott, 41-year-old pastor of St. Luke's United Methodist in Fresno, says he and his 680 members want to stay in their current building (owned by the denomination) after they break away from the UMC.
Wainscott, one of the "California six" who signed the open letter in March, was suspended by Talbert without warning in August "for encouraging an all-church vote to leave the denomination."
"That is just not true," Wainscott tells CT. The pastor says he was following orders from Vickie Healy, his district superintendent, to poll his congregation about who would stay and who would leave. The next thing he knew, a new pastor had been appointed to his church.
"[Healy] left a message on my cell phone," Wainscott says. "There was no warning."


His congregation responded by changing the church's locks so that Doug Norris, the newly appointed pastor, could not get into the building.
Conference leaders took St. Luke's to court in September in an effort to get a restraining order on the congregation. Their request was denied.
Beverly Shamana, the new bishop for the California-Nevada conference, now oversees the conference's 360 churches."We've done everything we can to work with Rev. Wainscott," Shamana tells CT. "We did not want to take it to the secular courts, but he chose to disregard the decision."St. Luke's members see the conference decision to suspend Wainscott as invalid because they were not consulted before the suspension—another violation of the Book of Discipline....

yada yada:http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2000/013/21.28.html

5 comments:

  1. Worthy News Feature

    Methodist Pastors Being Disciplined for Taking Stand Against Homosexuality

    By Fred Jackson, AFR News, August 18, 2000

    (AgapePress) - Some pastors within the United Methodist Church are paying a big price for opposing same-sex unions and other liberal church policies.

    The Fresno Bee newspaper says the pastor of one of the largest United Methodist churches in the Fresno Valley was suspended and replaced this week. The move against David Wainscott came just two weeks before some in his congregation of 680 people were poised to quit the denomination over differences with its leaders.

    The action was taken by Bishop Melvin Talbert, head of the California-Nevada Conference.

    In an interview with The Bee, Talbert said, "The pastor, David Wainscott, is either unwilling or unable to provide the kind of leadership to continue our United Methodist witness. He is to discontinue all services to the congregation immediately."

    "I’m at a loss for words," Wainscott told the newspaper. "If my key still fits the door, I’ll read the bishop’s papers."

    The newspaper says Wainscott is the fifth of six consecutive pastors in the Fresno Valley to be disciplined or to quit this year after withholding assessments from the denomination. All were protesting what many see as an increasing liberal stand when it comes to homosexuality.

    Some of the pastors have been leaving the denomination over the issue and forming independent churches.

    Copyright 2000, Agape Press. Used with permission.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I had sort of forgotten this stuff...or blocked it. Whatever. God has done much and you have endured.

    You are loved, brother.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i had forgotten/stuffed/moved on. Denail not just a river in Egypt. Anyone reading this blog will guess i might have done differently

    like these posts:



    "the only Christian response to AIDS is..."

    ====


    Sigur Ros @ Church: is there a problem with that?
    more to come

    have holy fun

    ReplyDelete
  4. You choose the road less traveled. You stood Tall. I hope when my time in the fire comes I will be as strong. I would love to talk about baptism because I am a repeater several times.
    But the issue is Satan trying to call the shots.
    You are the man of men. Praise God. We have forgoten a lot. Lucy

    ReplyDelete

Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!