Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Something needs to be said about this.

When did a church become a family business to pass down to your children?

Recently in Oregon, Jesse Parker at Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Lagrande installed his son as pastor. This guy has been arrested 5 times in the last 6 years. I get it. People change. But maybe he needs a few years at a qualified seminary before being asked to lead a flock?

If I was a long time tithe paying member of this church, I would be going else where. Something smells fishy about this. I guess these churches are too profitable to just hand off to someone who might be a qualified pastor and offer a semblance of oversight and accountability. Did the church members even have a vote?

When will the unqualified acts of nepotism stop? Hunter Biden might as well be VP.

I don’t live in the area and I have no association but this is not fair to the faithful members of this congregation.

https://www.ucmugshots.com/name/jame...parker?match=1

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

And how dare Jess give it to someone else and not you! C'mon man, if it's not of God then it won't matter, if God is in it then it will. Period. That church has a board of elders who had to approve it, apparently they didn't see it like you. Roll on and find another place to Pastor so you can do the same thing when you retire.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

That's why he has a board of elders and the government of the assembly ratified it. You don't have to agree with it but you don't matter in this issue.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

The board of elders in most Apostolic churches is a rubber stamp for the pastor wishes.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Oneness churches are the worst on this kind of thing. But Assemblies of God ain't far behind. That is one thing I admire about the Southern Baptists. They even the playing field for those seeking a church.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

No association? Never attended Elder Parker’s meeting? Yeah something does smell fishy....this post. Sounds like something a disgruntled preacher would post. Besides that, all liars will have their part...get a prayer life and get over it.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

:thumbsup

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Even if he has a board of directors, they would be too afraid to vote him down. That how is how they got there in the first place. Kim Jung Un has advisors as well, look what happened to the last one that told him no...

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

:nuke

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

No one has to be disgruntled to call out religious corruption.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

I copied and txted your post to an elder that is good friends with Bro. Jesse Parker. In fact, this elder is the one that started the church in Lagrande and handed over the reins to Bro. Parker.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Does he have a board with voting privileges made up of members who ATTEND his church?

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

I know of several churches that seem to have been passed down through the generations, and just as many that have found others capable of pastoring and leading a congregation on in Biblical truths.

Almost all of the churches that I know of that have been handed down the generations seem to have backslid and changed their doctrine. But that isn't necessarily the fault of the new leadership, that's something the former leaders condoned beforehand. Silence is permission.

There is a rather large church I know of in Florida where the elder and his wife turned their congregation over to another preacher and his wife some two years ago. This preacher nor his wife are related to them, but they are good people that will carry on what the elder taught and stood for.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Yep I agree, I am willing to bet the AG and Oneness churched might be neck in neck.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Would that have been the Pentecostals of Gainesville?

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

:bolt

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

But that was only because none of his sons wanted the church.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

According to the Elder.

His son was out of church when those offensives were done. He has not been in jail or trouble with the law for about 5 years. He has recently been married with 2 very young children. He has been preaching in the local assembly, the local church is behind the transition, they have experienced growth and excitement.

Just like Tjjj said, if God is not behind this, it will fail.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

And some devil thinks it’s a good idea to come posting on here and bring up a good brother’s past and post pics of his pre-conversion mugshots. An absolutely despicable devilish thing to do! I have never met Elder Parker personally, but know him to be nothing but an upstanding man of God who is facing very serious health concerns. If God isn’t behind this, certainly it will fail but this thread will still have been inspired out of the pits of hell!

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

In regards to the bold italics: If you think about the OT example of Samuel and his sons, it was actually that Samuel made his sons judges. So it’s been happening for thousands of years at least.

1Sam.8

[1] And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
[2] Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beer-sheba.

So nepotism is certainly not new. Neither is people being upset about it.


[3] And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
[4] Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
[5] And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.

So . . . It seems that some believe it’s based on O T law. To be fair, it doesn’t always happen that a pastor passes the church to their son.

Sometimes they don’t have a son. In this case they often pass the church to their son in law. :heeheehee

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Why not conduct a serious pastoral search vs. installing your son who has ZERO experience and lack of seminary education? This was a knee jerk decision to keep the $$ flowing in the family. Zero oversight and now these poor saints will suffer. I’m sure they are great people. Never met the guy but there is no way the general church body was consulted. At least ship him down to Wilson’s Bible school for a few years to see if he will complete something.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Alright. Anything said is over your head. You can’t wrap your brain around the fact that it’s simply none of your business. Too bad you weren’t consulted I guess. If you want to do something about religious corruption, start working on the guy in the mirror, because you’re full of it man. I’m done here.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Seminary education is not necessarily a good thing.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Yeah, that's what I figured also. Ol lefty is either a person in that district who is jealous of La Grande or he has family there who is feeding him. His posting speaks against him.

Guys like that rail against others and then turn around and do that or worse.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Posts like this is why Saul needed to change his name to Paul.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Well. . .

It seems like y’all have it figured out!

Leftcoast1? Would you like to verify that you are indeed a preacher? And that you aspired to pastor this church?

The implication is that you are a liar. Could you respond to these accusations?

As far as his opinion mattering, or not, a preacher should have a sound reputation, within as well as without the church. His opinion matters. Not as much as the members opinions. But still . . .

In what world does the opinion of the brethren not matter? I don’t think this opinion stands up to the scripture.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

It all depends on what you call "failure."

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

The goal of this thread is not to disparage any one person. When I discovered this specific case, I felt it was important to shed some light on a real problem in Apostolic churches; the founding Pastor treating the church like it is a personal business to pass down to the next generation.

If finances are not a strong motivating factor, why make such a quick move towards installing your son as pastor? Even if, God forbid, Elder Parker passes away tomorrow, let the church board conduct a thorough and thoughtful Pastoral search. Setting some of Parker Jr's misgivings aside, it would still be highly inappropriate and somewhat disingenuous to some of the long term saints to install your son as Pastor with no formal leadership experience.

Some of you have been playing the same fiddle for years and I get that. Any time someone speaks out against the status quo, this person must be disgruntled or has a bone to pick. Think out side the box for five seconds and you just might agree with me. . . secretly of course.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

It is the age-old question.

Is that he pastor God’s gift to the church?

Or is the church God’s gift to the pastor?

I know we call it Brother So&So’s church. But isn’t it supposed to be God’s church?
And weren’t the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers given to the church? (God’s gift to the church?)

Sometimes it seems we have it backwards. The pastor is given to the church, right?

Not the church given to the pastor.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Commenting in the bold red text.

I agree with you.

Yet, are you implying, that this young preacher doesn’t have a sound reputation? Did he have trouble with the law years ago? Yes he did, leftcoast even provided pictures (mugshots) for all of us to see.

Yet, the founding Apostle to that church said, he hasn’t been in trouble ever since 2016. Furthermore, he didn’t start preaching right away after he was released from jail. He wasn't used in the “pulpit ministry” for 4-5 years after. He was used in other forms of leadership roles.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

This has been a topic of discussion for years. If God tells him to give it to his son to Pastor, are you going to tell him he’s wrong? Why not pray about it and ask God for yourself if this is the right thing to do? Are you afraid God won’t hear you? Or are you afraid of his answer?

Bro. Parker from what I understand made a good living with the tree cutting business he started when he first came to La Grande. That business is still in operation today, after over 30 years of starting it. What does that matter? His son is operating the business, so I would venture to say, financial reasons are not going to be the motivator here.

Church boards? Ive seen those same church boards, “choose” a Pastor form a state over a thousand miles away, and ordain him and his family. Only to let him go after a month because he preached too hard.

I don’t mind thinking out of the box. Yet, you’re accusing Bro. Parker of treating this as a family business. Yet, on the other hand you’re suggesting that they look for a Pastor as a business would?

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

How did it become HIS possession in the first place to be bestowed upon someone else at his will?

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Because he is the established leader of that assembly.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

One thing you and everyone else has to realize. Many of those saints there have been there for years. I believe when a Bro. Parker was given the church to Pastor back in 1988 or so, there was only 10-20 people. I believe there around 100 or more. They have multiple generations in the church. I’m not saying this just about you, yet, there are still churches, that still have saints, that still have trust in their Pastor or their leaders.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Brethren, please change the course of this thread to more generically discuss the merits or lack thereof regarding pastoral nepotism, and leave off the specifics and personal names of the church in question, or I will lock the thread.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

Thank you.

This thread ought to just go away as it is offensive.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

I wondered what triggered this thread in the first place. So I went to checking.

The founding pastor of the original church there told me that just last week Bro Booker installed the son as the pastor officially. Said Bro B did a phenomenal job.

So west coast went to the meeting, heard what was going on, so on and so forth.

Yes, West Coast is a preacher. This thread is a result of his going to the meeting and seeing what is going on.

The church is growing, baptizing people every week.

Over 400 sounds like in attendance.

Now you know the rest of the story.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

If Pastors did not have so much autonomy over church finances and pushing their saints to essentially give up 10% of their hard earned income, I would venture to say Pastoral nepotism is not that big of a deal.

Generally speaking, most families are convinced to donate their hard earned income to pastors who travel from meeting to meeting and THEN sacrifice again when it comes time for expensive and over the top “pastor appreciation” celebrations. This is is why the CHURCH should at least have a little say in who is going to be spending their $$$-after all, the common folk are financing the operation.

Abstain from the very APPEARANCE of evil. What a difference a like can make.

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

You going to answer TJJJ?

Re: Sons Inheriting Churches from Fathers $$$
 

None of the above.