Countryside Community Church has reached their time of choosing – encourage them to choose wisely.
“For most people, the idea of communing with people of other faiths has been the least disconcerting thing about the Tri-Faith issue. The biggest problem has been the way this has all happened.
As was said in one of the early meetings, why does it feel like we are having to defend the position of having a church where we have always had it for 50 years?
The presentation was one-sided from the start. The leadership shaped everything exactly in their favor. And then, when they were accused of taking a position, rather than letting the congregation decide, they denied it.
But the marketing in favor of moving has been undeniable.”
The above words come from the blog of Countryside Community Church, written by a member of the Congregation who is pleading with his fellows to eschew the lure of “free money” and instead to value the lasting treasure of life-long bonds, like friendship and community. The writer continues –
“It is no secret that the Tri-Faith for Countryside has one or a few very generous donors. Again. Free money. And lots of it. In the booklet that the Tri-Faith Committee put out, there is a promise of 12 million dollars.”
“Another 2 million dollars was pledged by someone if, and only if “we” choose a particular architect. What?? Does that scream back-door deal? Why would we do that?”
“Are we to expect the $12M donor(s) to have more say in all the decisions of how the building is laid out, or used?”
It is an open secret that the major donor involved is Susan Buffett, daughter of billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
She is also thought to be the “non-Muslim anonymous donor” who has pledged to give the Mosque partner of the Tri-Faith the money they need to fund their portion of the project.
She admitted as much at a recent Mayoral Town Hall where she told anyone who would listen that “she would make sure the Mosque had all the money they would need.” Susan Buffett is a member of Countryside Community Church.
Reverend Elnes, the Senior Pastor at Countryside, has a burning desire to join the Tri-Faith Initiative, and has already shown a willingness to deceive his congregation to make it happen.
I wrote of this nearly a year ago, (that piece can be read here) and from many accounts, Pastor Elnes’ hubris has only grown between then and now.
I wrote then –
“Pastor Elnes wants to buy into the project, but is constrained by the hesitation of his congregants. Forced by their resistance to abandon a quick decision, his fallback position was to enter a 40 day period of “discernment,” during which the Church is to pray and discern the will of God relative to this move.”
Another poster at the Countryside Community Church blog made particular note of this part of the process, saying
“When the announcement was made for the June 2014 Congregational Meeting and it was extremely unclear what the question was up for a vote, many of our membership became uneasy. The vote was to be on the subject of Tri-faith, but exactly what we were voting on changed several times (and was even unclear an hour into the meeting.)”
To facilitate this investigatory period, Pastor Elnes initiated a lovely little section on the Countryside website titled “Tri-Faith: A “New thing?” patterned after Isaiah 43:19, Behold, I am doing a new thing…
A brief examination of the content in this section leaves no doubt as to the good Pastor’s position.
In this space, Pastor Elnes makes his case for joining the project, under the guise of “informing” his congregation of both sides of the question.
Continuing from my piece in 2014 –
In a post titled “Question: Who are ISNA & CAIR?” Reverend Elnes copied and pasted (literally!) the “About Us” sections from both group’s websites. Of course he altered the format a bit, so it might appear to be spontaneously written, perhaps even mistaken for being the result of the Pastor’s exhaustive research (read: non-existent!) into the groups to which he plans to join his flock.
Despite being made aware of the mounds of evidence against CAIR and ISNA, Reverend Elnes has chosen to put his blinders on tightly.
Nowhere in the post does he mention any controversy surrounding these groups, intentionally omitting any reference to the reams of evidence from the Holy Land Foundation trial (which revealed extensive involvement on the part of CAIR & ISNA in the scheme to launder money through charities in order to conceal cash transfers to terrorist groups in the Middle East) or the disturbing refusal of the Tri-Faith Initiative to simply renounce association with known bad actors of radical Islamism.
Many Countryside members feel marginalized and outcast simply for asking prudent questions. Again, from their blog –
“But, with the promise of free money tied to one specific project, we are now looking at NO other options. We have been presented with one and only one option. When some have dared to speak of a possible satellite church, or a sister church, a sanctuary only, or maybe a community building to start with, they have been met with absolute no. Our leaders will be awarded no feathers in their caps for something so small and insignificant as that. They want what they want and will not even allow any reasonable discussion of anything else.”
This Sunday, April 12th, the assembled congregation of Countryside Community Church will hold their final vote on whether or not to join the Tri-Faith Initiative. There are reportedly hundreds of families who will leave an already dwindling congregation in the event the move to the Tri-Faith campus is approved.
If you know anyone who attends Countryside Community Church, share this article with them immediately. Urge them to attend the vote, and to cast their ballot with the future in mind – the future of their church, and of our city.
There have been entirely reasonable and prudent questions raised over many facets of this project, from the involvement of known radical Islamic elements to the egregious bullying and intimidation that has become the hallmark of the Countryside leadership’s sales pitch.
It is important to question the value of an endeavor that can only be achieved through deception and intimidation. As the Countryside blog writer said –
“The ministers have pushed their opinion into every facet of this issue. And have been very effective in making those who don’t agree find the exit door.
Is this really the kind of leadership we want at Countryside? Agree with me or else?”
Ask the members of Countryside this question before Sunday. Before it’s too late.
The author is the Director of Communications for the Global Faith Institute and may be reached at communications@