Praise The Lord!!!

On December 6, 2010 a man by the name of Hal Henderson read a slanderous letter about me to the congregation at Ocean Hills.  This letter placed my wife and I in a very bad light and suggested that I had an affair.  I received numerous calls from all over the country asking me if I had in fact committed adultery.  It was a dark and painful time for my wife and I.  I recorded this letter as it was being broadcast over the internet.  I would be within my rights to sue for defamation of character and slander, but have chosen not to out of obedience to the Lord.

Recently, I was approached once again by Jim Nicol.  The church under his leadership has suffered tremendous loss.  He wanted to meet over three issues.  (1) A false accusation concerning my son.  I asked him to stop using family and friends to broker a meeting.  It was unbecoming of a senior pastor.  (2) An event that a colleague of mine wanted to do.  I have an ongoing relationship with this person and I told him to have the person call me if he wanted me involved.  (3) A former staff member who I opposed who turned out to be a rapist and child molester.  I told him that his position to defend this person was not something I couldn’t understand and challenged him to think more about the victims than about his own personal reputation.  I agreed to meet with Jim Nicol and his board as Jim has not proven to be trustworthy.  I have also been advised by my mentors to not meet with Jim Nicol alone based on his reputation.  I received one response to my three emails that ignored my request to meet. 

In my exchange of emails between myself and the board, I reached out to Hal Henderson.  He was the gentleman that read the letter under the direction of Jim Nicol.  On a Saturday morning, I received a call from Hal Henderson.  He apologized for what he did against me and admitted that he acted on the information that he received from Jim Nicol and apologized for doing so.  We had an amazing time of reconciliation and our friendship is restored.

I reached out to Jim, but it is clear that he is unrepentant and unwilling to reconcile.  Any man that is unwilling to meet with his board has something to hide.  I approached each member of his board individually to go over the misinformation he distributed about me.  Rick Cazessus, Marty Goebel and Jeff Wade either refused or ignored my request to meet in violation of Matthew 18.  It is clear that these men do not have the integrity to fulfill their role as elders.  I’ve since discovered that Jim has a reputation of creating false accusations and slanderous remarks.  He did this to a pastor in Scotland and also led a divisive church split.  All of this is verified by great men of God.  A man’s reputation follows him and Jim has made a name for himself.  I rejoice over my restored relationship with Hal.  I grieve over Jim and his board’s continued divisiveness.  Jesus is not honored by such men.

My final communication to the Ocean Hills Board simply acknowledged their unwillingness to reconcile.  I also affirmed that God has called my wife and I to pastor a growing work in San Clemente.  As churches Worship Life and Ocean Hills are going in two different directions and that I have nothing against Jim or the board at Ocean Hills and that we will have to agree to differ and move on.  I also stated that I don’t see our churches working together with their current views of Worship Life and my family.  I encouraged them to speak well of Worship Life and committed to them that we would speak well of Ocean Hills.

My wife and I continue to pray for God’s blessing on Ocean Hills.  We also pray for that blessed day when each individual board member will speak to me face to face concerning the misinformation they’ve been given.  Finally we pray for Jim Nicol that he would have a face to face encounter with Jesus that will fill him with God’s love and grace.  We pray for the day when we will be able to be truly reconciled as friends.