david_macadam (david_macadam)
04-25-2005, 02:25 AM
A friend of more than 30 years, Jim Faucett, suggested that I share my story on this website, informing me that a good number of friends we have known in the past have posted here. Some might be interested in our story.
A number of people have told me that Carl Stevens said that I was guilty of ‘a sin unto death’ when I left ‘The Bible Speaks’ more than twenty years ago. In the words of Mark Twain, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.
By God’s grace, my wife, MaryEllen, and I have been wonderfully blessed over the years and continue to serve the Lord joyfully in whatever way we can. I have served as a pastor for thirty years with my wife as my best friend and partner in ministry. Our three children are all knowing the Lord and making Him known. Our exodus from ‘The Bible Speaks’ was gradual, beginning when we left to minister in England, where we had to unlearn many of the things we had absorbed in our particularly American experience of Christianity, until the early eighties, when the final ‘coup de grace’ took place.
MaryEllen and I were married at the little chapel on the small campus of the North East School of the Bible in South Berwick, Maine, in May of 1975. Tom Schaller was my best man. Mary Chardon (Hennessey) was MaryEllen’s bridesmaid. (They still keep in touch and pray for each other on the phone). There were at least 24 in the wedding party and a wonderful assembly of people with whom our hearts were knit; our stories intertwining with laughter, faith, tears, struggle, zeal, answered prayer, fond memories and, most importantly, a love for Jesus. A good number of us had graduated from Bible College the night before. The love for God was real and was reflected in the way we loved and served one another.
Fast forward to the summer of 1983. After eight years overseas, on a short visit to the States, I am meeting at a fast food restaurant in Lenox, Massachusetts where TBS relocated. I am asked by a Carl Stevens devotee: “Who is your shepherd?” “The Lord is my shepherd” is my response. That wasn’t good enough. What was this strange doctrine of being “baptized unto a man?” (1 Corinthians 10:2) Surely they didn’t believe this man was Carl Stevens?
I have no regrets about saying ‘Adieu’ to a place where the ground of fellowship had become something other than the merits and shared life of Christ. I sensed that misplaced loyalties and affections were not only encouraged but they were expected.
Sectarianism, as I see it, is when your ‘group identity’ eclipses your ‘gospel identity’; where ‘who you are in relationship to the group’ becomes more important than ‘who you are in relationship to Christ’.
The Apostle Paul’s story was different. In his letter to the Corinthians he wrote, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)
I once saw these men as signposts to Jesus. But somehow they had turned, or been turned. It’s no wonder that those who were looking to them to find their way were losing their bearings and spinning off the road.
Our visit to Lenox in 1984 was like a trip into the Twilight Zone. Those with whom we had shared years of friendship now shunned us, feared us, or slandered us.
Paul’s admonition to the believers in Rome was one that we took to heart: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” It was clear that under the circumstances, it was no longer possible to walk with TBS without compromising our beliefs and our God-given personhood. We never returned.
There were clues of an unhealthy sectarianism and peculiar ‘goings on’ way back in the early days of 1972- 75. There were many who exercized their conscience to be void of offense, and challenged the teaching and yet were shot down by being maligned. As a spiritual novice I watched this happen. Already the glorious truth of the body of Christ was distorted to the degree that all inferences were that ‘the body’ meant ‘The Bible Speaks’ and ‘the ministry’ referred to being under Carl Steven’s ministry rather than our free partaking of ‘the ministry of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ within’ which we mercifully receive by grace (2 Cor 4:1). And why did Carl Stevens need a doctorate from a diploma mill? “The Body’ became ‘the life’ instead of Christ Himself being celebrated and shared as the common life of the body. There was a progressive ‘eccentricity’, a going off center. And how could anyone permit the Book of Miracles to be printed? But at the time many of us were unfamiliar with the larger spiritual landscape and as young drivers did not have the experience to skillfully negotiate these bumps in the road. Nor could we see clearly what was ahead.
In 1975 I had expressed that we had not gone to England to start a Bible Speaks franchise, even though, an American brochure had been printed with a message to the contrary and we were therefore perceived as such. My statement was not rebellion, arrogance or pride, but an expression of the facts that I can detail at a later date. Our going to England was the result of our involvement in a regular Friday night prayer for world missions, and our writing letters to non-Bible Speaks missionaries and hearing back from them. There were no TBS teams gone out from South Berwick yet apart from the short term excursions with Operation Mobilization. (Plans were underway for a team to go to Finland with Deanna Stoddard and Jaqui Gough who previously served there). Our prayer was that we would all discern how we can best serve the purposes of God in our generation.
Our work has always been, and continues to be, one of evangelism and discipleship. Over the years this has resulted in church planting and mission. By God’s grace we are consistently greeted with the encouraging news from various parts of the world that good fruit remains. For the past eighteen years we have been based in a church we planted in Concord, Massachusetts, where we live next to Walden Pond, and have sent missionaries to Asia, Europe, South and Central America, The Caribbean, The MiddleEast, and most recently Kyrgyzstan. We have started a number of missions including New Life Fine Arts, a ministry of and for Christian performing and visual artists, that specializes in producing full-length musical dramas in theaters. Our original Christ-centered musicals have been produced in Israel, England as well as here in New England. (It is a joy to have had Glenn and Joanne Gray and their nine children involved.)
We never regretted saying ‘goodbye’ to the eccentricity. In hindsight, we regret we did not leave earlier when we had so many warning signs and misgivings. We apologize to all we encouraged to participate in something that would eventually cause so much hurt and disappointment. I was 19 years old when I got involved and 22 when I left for England. As I tell our kids, “Your brain is not fully formed until you are 25!” (All kidding aside, I regret anytime I have not been a signpost to Jesus and in anyway have been a stumbling block to anyone.)
Anytime the Holy Spirit is robbed of His rightful place as the Sovereign Lord of the individual believer’s conscience by the influence of another, you have some form of spiritual abuse. We cannot allow that to happen. Fear God and not men. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
Dmacadam@newlife.org
(Message edited by David_macadam on April 24, 2005)
(Message edited by David_macadam on April 24, 2005)
A number of people have told me that Carl Stevens said that I was guilty of ‘a sin unto death’ when I left ‘The Bible Speaks’ more than twenty years ago. In the words of Mark Twain, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated”.
By God’s grace, my wife, MaryEllen, and I have been wonderfully blessed over the years and continue to serve the Lord joyfully in whatever way we can. I have served as a pastor for thirty years with my wife as my best friend and partner in ministry. Our three children are all knowing the Lord and making Him known. Our exodus from ‘The Bible Speaks’ was gradual, beginning when we left to minister in England, where we had to unlearn many of the things we had absorbed in our particularly American experience of Christianity, until the early eighties, when the final ‘coup de grace’ took place.
MaryEllen and I were married at the little chapel on the small campus of the North East School of the Bible in South Berwick, Maine, in May of 1975. Tom Schaller was my best man. Mary Chardon (Hennessey) was MaryEllen’s bridesmaid. (They still keep in touch and pray for each other on the phone). There were at least 24 in the wedding party and a wonderful assembly of people with whom our hearts were knit; our stories intertwining with laughter, faith, tears, struggle, zeal, answered prayer, fond memories and, most importantly, a love for Jesus. A good number of us had graduated from Bible College the night before. The love for God was real and was reflected in the way we loved and served one another.
Fast forward to the summer of 1983. After eight years overseas, on a short visit to the States, I am meeting at a fast food restaurant in Lenox, Massachusetts where TBS relocated. I am asked by a Carl Stevens devotee: “Who is your shepherd?” “The Lord is my shepherd” is my response. That wasn’t good enough. What was this strange doctrine of being “baptized unto a man?” (1 Corinthians 10:2) Surely they didn’t believe this man was Carl Stevens?
I have no regrets about saying ‘Adieu’ to a place where the ground of fellowship had become something other than the merits and shared life of Christ. I sensed that misplaced loyalties and affections were not only encouraged but they were expected.
Sectarianism, as I see it, is when your ‘group identity’ eclipses your ‘gospel identity’; where ‘who you are in relationship to the group’ becomes more important than ‘who you are in relationship to Christ’.
The Apostle Paul’s story was different. In his letter to the Corinthians he wrote, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.” (2 Corinthians 4:5)
I once saw these men as signposts to Jesus. But somehow they had turned, or been turned. It’s no wonder that those who were looking to them to find their way were losing their bearings and spinning off the road.
Our visit to Lenox in 1984 was like a trip into the Twilight Zone. Those with whom we had shared years of friendship now shunned us, feared us, or slandered us.
Paul’s admonition to the believers in Rome was one that we took to heart: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” It was clear that under the circumstances, it was no longer possible to walk with TBS without compromising our beliefs and our God-given personhood. We never returned.
There were clues of an unhealthy sectarianism and peculiar ‘goings on’ way back in the early days of 1972- 75. There were many who exercized their conscience to be void of offense, and challenged the teaching and yet were shot down by being maligned. As a spiritual novice I watched this happen. Already the glorious truth of the body of Christ was distorted to the degree that all inferences were that ‘the body’ meant ‘The Bible Speaks’ and ‘the ministry’ referred to being under Carl Steven’s ministry rather than our free partaking of ‘the ministry of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ within’ which we mercifully receive by grace (2 Cor 4:1). And why did Carl Stevens need a doctorate from a diploma mill? “The Body’ became ‘the life’ instead of Christ Himself being celebrated and shared as the common life of the body. There was a progressive ‘eccentricity’, a going off center. And how could anyone permit the Book of Miracles to be printed? But at the time many of us were unfamiliar with the larger spiritual landscape and as young drivers did not have the experience to skillfully negotiate these bumps in the road. Nor could we see clearly what was ahead.
In 1975 I had expressed that we had not gone to England to start a Bible Speaks franchise, even though, an American brochure had been printed with a message to the contrary and we were therefore perceived as such. My statement was not rebellion, arrogance or pride, but an expression of the facts that I can detail at a later date. Our going to England was the result of our involvement in a regular Friday night prayer for world missions, and our writing letters to non-Bible Speaks missionaries and hearing back from them. There were no TBS teams gone out from South Berwick yet apart from the short term excursions with Operation Mobilization. (Plans were underway for a team to go to Finland with Deanna Stoddard and Jaqui Gough who previously served there). Our prayer was that we would all discern how we can best serve the purposes of God in our generation.
Our work has always been, and continues to be, one of evangelism and discipleship. Over the years this has resulted in church planting and mission. By God’s grace we are consistently greeted with the encouraging news from various parts of the world that good fruit remains. For the past eighteen years we have been based in a church we planted in Concord, Massachusetts, where we live next to Walden Pond, and have sent missionaries to Asia, Europe, South and Central America, The Caribbean, The MiddleEast, and most recently Kyrgyzstan. We have started a number of missions including New Life Fine Arts, a ministry of and for Christian performing and visual artists, that specializes in producing full-length musical dramas in theaters. Our original Christ-centered musicals have been produced in Israel, England as well as here in New England. (It is a joy to have had Glenn and Joanne Gray and their nine children involved.)
We never regretted saying ‘goodbye’ to the eccentricity. In hindsight, we regret we did not leave earlier when we had so many warning signs and misgivings. We apologize to all we encouraged to participate in something that would eventually cause so much hurt and disappointment. I was 19 years old when I got involved and 22 when I left for England. As I tell our kids, “Your brain is not fully formed until you are 25!” (All kidding aside, I regret anytime I have not been a signpost to Jesus and in anyway have been a stumbling block to anyone.)
Anytime the Holy Spirit is robbed of His rightful place as the Sovereign Lord of the individual believer’s conscience by the influence of another, you have some form of spiritual abuse. We cannot allow that to happen. Fear God and not men. “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
Dmacadam@newlife.org
(Message edited by David_macadam on April 24, 2005)
(Message edited by David_macadam on April 24, 2005)