For the formerly IFB-where did you go after leaving?

tmjbog

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Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?
 
Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?

Not a member, but occasionally attend a small conservative baptist church that has about 20 members with 16 being over 80 years old and a couple pushing 90. No drama there..people too old for typical IFB shenanigans.
 
Wondering what churches those who have left the IFB moved on to? Did you look for a conservative church without the Fundamentalism or did you go for something wild and crazy by comparison?
. I was 18 when I left. Didn't darken the door of church except for weddings and funerals until I got married at age 30. Wife insisted we go somewhere. Went to a SBC church until we moved to a new town in the county. Then went to a formerly independent Baptist church that had joined the SBC. Old habits die hard and it got where we were embarrassed to tell anybody where we went to church. It seemed that nobody in leadership except the pastor could keep their pants on. We moved again to the largest city in the county and started going to the large SCB church. We've been there almost 20 years. Now the wife and I lead a young married and almost married small group. Who'd of thunk it?

Jubal Sackett
 
Left an IFBx church in 2010 pastored by a HAC grad - heavily invested members for about 15 years. First went to a church that I would say is reformed Baptist. Had listened online to the sermons for months. Since my wife had grown up IFBx, it was very tough on her, so we kept looking. Visited several IFB & IFBx churches, an SBC church, but never felt at home. My son began playing basketball with a guy whose dad was assistant pastor at another IFB and he (the dad) had the sweetest spirit about him and unlike any other IFB pastor I had ever met. We decided to visit there, and when I was pulling into the parking lot that Sunday, I thought to myself, why bother. We had visited so many other churches. But on the way home after the service, my wife and I both said we felt at home there. It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years. It was quite a drive for us, and because of rush hour traffic, couldn't really make it for Wednesdays. It was what we needed though at the time. Currently looking for another church. I'd like to find one close to home so we can help minister to the local area, but having a tough time finding a biblically sound church nearby. Definitely will not be going back to any KJVO, IFBx church. Would prefer a more reformed, baptistic church that isn't looking at the newspaper to interpret Revelation.
 
We started to attend non-IFB affiliated churches when we went RV full-timing in 2011.

Our favorite churches were:
1) Presbyterian in Brighton, MI
2) Evangelical Free in Gaylord, MI
3) Sherwood Baptist in Albany, GA
4) Grace Community Church, Glenrose, TX

EVERYONE of the churches above used the Bible and we understood it better having left the services. We didn't avoid Baptist (in-name) churches. We just couldn't find many that used the Bible and helped us understand it better. We did hear a lot of illustrations and anecdotes.
 
We started to attend non-IFB affiliated churches when we went RV full-timing in 2011.

Our favorite churches were:
1) Presbyterian in Brighton, MI
2) Evangelical Free in Gaylord, MI
3) Sherwood Baptist in Albany, GA
4) Grace Community Church, Glenrose, TX

EVERYONE of the churches above used the Bible and we understood it better having left the services. We didn't avoid Baptist (in-name) churches. We just couldn't find many that used the Bible and helped us understand it better. We did hear a lot of illustrations and anecdotes.
I have recently been visiting an evangelical free church recently. For some reason I thought the denomination was Charismatic so I avoided it. For some reason I started checking one out researching the denomination, that's when I discovered they are not.
 
Very much like a Bible church. They are also called “Swedish Baptists.”
 
Here is what Bob Ross' grandson Jesse (Stone) Jackson did.

He left the IFB's and OBC/Windsor Hills were his grandfather (Ross) was on staff. He left in 2009 to be a Church of Christ member and joined one of their colleges. He then moved to Dallas and is now a fitness model/trainer/World Famous Bodybuilder and now he's a full fledged liberal who supports BLM and Joe Biden and voted for Biden to be President.

Jesse is definitely a worldly Christian as he made several videos on "Don't Judge Others" when Ross came under investigation for coverup at his church. Jesse also made posts that were Pro BLM and Pro Biden.

Also Mr. Stone (Jackson) worships at Elevation Church in Frisco. That church is Word of Faith/Prosperity/Pro Abortion/Pro Liberal/Seeker Sensitive/Men wearing feminine clothing etc. The "pastor" of that "church" is Keith Craft who worships Paul Crouch and Joe Biden. Jesse is also the personal trainer of Craft the false teacher.

Sadly at Windsor Hills under the leadership of the Vineyards a lot of people left. Several of their college students besides Jesse left the IFB movement to be seeker sensitive liberals and go mainstream. One of Jesse's partna's was Joel McCarty who also left the Vineyard camp and he's now a seeker sensitive liberal hipster megachurch pastor who credits false teacher Steven Furtick as his mentor.

You know old Tommy and Jimbo don't like it when people leave their empire, especially to go liberal. Thank God Jim Vineyard isn't alive to see Biden as President.

Thankfully there was World Famous Evangelist Caleb Garraway who remained loyal to the Vineyards and the IFB's. Caleb has expressed a love of politics and may enter politics because Tommy Vineyard is also up to date on Politics. It would be great if Caleb decided to run for President in 2024 as he'd have all the big wig IFB's behind him.

Just think Caleb Garraway 2024....He's Pulling America away from Biden and the racist BLM's and the seeker sensitive feminine "fake" Christians at Hillsong.

Caleb is Pulling America.
 
I have recently been visiting an evangelical free church recently. For some reason I thought the denomination was Charismatic so I avoided it. For some reason I started checking one out researching the denomination, that's when I discovered they are not.
As FSSL suggested, they're very much like Baptists, perhaps a bit more latitudinarian given that they formed as a merger of a few smaller denominations and independent churches. The Canadian branch founded Trinity Western University, the largest (and probably most influential) private Christian university in the country. My own denomination considered a merger with the E-Free Churches of Canada a few years back, though it didn't happen.
 
As FSSL suggested, they're very much like Baptists, perhaps a bit more latitudinarian given that they formed as a merger of a few smaller denominations and independent churches. The Canadian branch founded Trinity Western University, the largest (and probably most influential) private Christian university in the country. My own denomination considered a merger with the E-Free Churches of Canada a few years back, though it didn't happen.
They seem independent (I like that), but there is some oversight so if a pastor starts to wander into crazy land there is someone to sound the alarm. The Bible teaching seems solid. They are one of the rare denoms that is made up of those with an Arminian leaning as well as those with a Calvinist leaning. What I find interesting at the particular one I'm looking at is both the assistant pastor and pastor have a PhD (a real one) and neither refers to himself with the title of "Dr.". You have to read their bios to even know they have them.
 
Left an IFBx church in 2010 pastored by a HAC grad - heavily invested members for about 15 years. First went to a church that I would say is reformed Baptist. Had listened online to the sermons for months. Since my wife had grown up IFBx, it was very tough on her, so we kept looking. Visited several IFB & IFBx churches, an SBC church, but never felt at home. My son began playing basketball with a guy whose dad was assistant pastor at another IFB and he (the dad) had the sweetest spirit about him and unlike any other IFB pastor I had ever met. We decided to visit there, and when I was pulling into the parking lot that Sunday, I thought to myself, why bother. We had visited so many other churches. But on the way home after the service, my wife and I both said we felt at home there. It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years. It was quite a drive for us, and because of rush hour traffic, couldn't really make it for Wednesdays. It was what we needed though at the time. Currently looking for another church. I'd like to find one close to home so we can help minister to the local area, but having a tough time finding a biblically sound church nearby. Definitely will not be going back to any KJVO, IFBx church. Would prefer a more reformed, baptistic church that isn't looking at the newspaper to interpret Revelation.

Why can't you just keep driving to that church? What you're talking about is rare.
 
In our area of NC there are many IFB churches that are very balanced and appear to be thriving.
They are too Southern Gospel, “ah-shucks, y’all come“ in their atmosphere for me, but that’s just me.
 
Left an IFBx church in 2010 pastored by a HAC grad - heavily invested members for about 15 years. First went to a church that I would say is reformed Baptist. Had listened online to the sermons for months. Since my wife had grown up IFBx, it was very tough on her, so we kept looking. Visited several IFB & IFBx churches, an SBC church, but never felt at home. My son began playing basketball with a guy whose dad was assistant pastor at another IFB and he (the dad) had the sweetest spirit about him and unlike any other IFB pastor I had ever met. We decided to visit there, and when I was pulling into the parking lot that Sunday, I thought to myself, why bother. We had visited so many other churches. But on the way home after the service, my wife and I both said we felt at home there. It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years. It was quite a drive for us, and because of rush hour traffic, couldn't really make it for Wednesdays. It was what we needed though at the time. Currently looking for another church. I'd like to find one close to home so we can help minister to the local area, but having a tough time finding a biblically sound church nearby. Definitely will not be going back to any KJVO, IFBx church. Would prefer a more reformed, baptistic church that isn't looking at the newspaper to interpret Revelation.

This is similar to my story; we attended an IFBx church pastored by a HAC grad in the style that JH had taught. It was pretty cult-like, and there was (with the wisdom of hindsight) very little that was Biblical about the church... they claimed to do preaching from the Bible, but it was actually the pastor's philosophy propped up by some Bible verses. Very few people there were mature spiritually, but they did browbeat a lot of people into going 'soul-winning' - even if the ones 'saved' under this method had zero evidence of any real change in their life. Loyalty to the pastor was ALL.

God, being gracious and loving, woke us up to what was going on, and we escaped there. We didn't fit the mold at the old church, so we tended to be ostracized... Most people were willing to boast of what they had done for God that week, but they didn't want to discuss the Scriptures. We found a church where the people genuinely love each other, and the pastor doesn't seem to by in any "camp" -- he just preached what the Bible said, and allowed the Holy Spirit to work in lives... quite a change from the heavy manipulation we had experienced.

That new church is IFB, and they probably believe the same things as the old church, but it is not a litmus test of being accepted or a good Christian.
 
This is similar to my story; we attended an IFBx church pastored by a HAC grad in the style that JH had taught. It was pretty cult-like, and there was (with the wisdom of hindsight) very little that was Biblical about the church... they claimed to do preaching from the Bible, but it was actually the pastor's philosophy propped up by some Bible verses. Very few people there were mature spiritually, but they did browbeat a lot of people into going 'soul-winning' - even if the ones 'saved' under this method had zero evidence of any real change in their life. Loyalty to the pastor was ALL.

God, being gracious and loving, woke us up to what was going on, and we escaped there. We didn't fit the mold at the old church, so we tended to be ostracized... Most people were willing to boast of what they had done for God that week, but they didn't want to discuss the Scriptures. We found a church where the people genuinely love each other, and the pastor doesn't seem to by in any "camp" -- he just preached what the Bible said, and allowed the Holy Spirit to work in lives... quite a change from the heavy manipulation we had experienced.

That new church is IFB, and they probably believe the same things as the old church, but it is not a litmus test of being accepted or a good Christian.
I personally will probably avoid IFB's in the future. However, it's a mistake to broad brush them all as the same. Certainly there are some that are more Biblical than others. Part of the initial appeal of the IFB for me was the focus on the Bible. After several years with them I realized that in many cases rather than focusing on the Bible, what they are actually doing is utilizing the Bible to find anything that appears like it may support the key fundy doctrines. Went to one church in the DC area where the pastor would preach and when he was just about done he would catch his second wind and spend about another 25 minutes on each key fundy doctrines. So he would preach a sermon, then another one on women don't wear pants, don't be gay, be in church every service, go soul winning, respect your pastor, tithe, and certainly a few more I left out.
 
Not sure why this is sad... it's good when people run away from bad leaders.


What's sad is that Bob Ross' grandson Jesse Jackson (Stone) left the IFB's and went liberal and seeker sensitive. But when Ross was busted for the cover up at his Church, Jesse lashed out on Facebook and made "Don't Judge" videos. Jesse is now a professional bodybuilder and his new "pastor" is Keith Craft, a prosperity/pro abortion/anti American pastor. Jesse left OBC/Windsor Hills in 09 and the Vineyards never forgave him for it. Also Jesse won't speak to Michael Shaver or Caleb Garraway anymore. A lot of IFB's are hoping Garraway runs for President in 2024 as America is going to hell with Joe Biden as president and yes Jesse Jackson (Stone) voted for him.

Jim Vineyard's legacy lives on and it's sad that Jesse never made peace with his former Master. I'm sure Tom would welcome Jesse back as well Joel McCarty who's now a seeker sensitive liberal megeachurch pastor who promotes BLM and worships Steven Furtick.

To think, those boys studied under the Vineayrds and Jim tried to install good Christian and conservative beliefs in them only for those boys to go full liberal.

You can thank Jesse Jackson (Stone) for helping Joe Biden become president. Thank God Jim Vineyard isn't alive to witness this.
 
"I personally will probably avoid IFB's in the future."

I suspect that by now, there are multitudes of former IFB's, including myself, who will probably avoid IFB churches in the future, based on our past experiences with that movement. It's getting to the point where IFB's will have to start relying on first-time customers who don't know what they're getting into, heh heh.

I don't see how the Old Paths IFB's have much of a future, as long as they emphasize a return to the "good ol' days" of the 1950s - the dress codes of the 1950s, the hair styles of the 1950s, the music of the 1950s, the Bible version that was used in the 1950s, the general worship culture of that decade. Not too many Millennials want to adopt the lifestyle of their grandparents. But it's not as bad as the Amish who want to go back to the 1890s - I don't think they get very many converts, nor will churches that want everybody to go back to the 1950s.

Of course, there are some IFB churches that are willing to operate in the 21st Century and allow their adherents to live in that century. If you find a good IFB church, not cult-like, not endlessly harping on women's apparel or the AV1611, not ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio, not using the daily newspaper to interpret Revelation, and that has good expository preaching and with pastors and elders who want to serve the people, like back in the First Century, instead of ruling over and bullying them, then by all means go for it.
 
I was researching the entire dressing up for church a little while back. It's interesting that it's a relatively modern thing to expect members to dress up. In the Methodist societies of John Wesley's day if someone showed up to a meeting dressed up they would send them away. They took it that the person was trying to make a statement that they were superior to the others in attendance.
 
It is an IFB unlike any other IFB I've been at. Wasn't part of any camp. Preaching wasn't just ranting about what the preacher heard on talk radio that week. The people weren't living by a checklist or trying to make sure you lived by their same checklist. We attended there for about 6-7 years.
This is what I would like to find. They are rare indeed.
 
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