Our church was in grave financial condition and about to close. Without discussing the issues with the church the pastor started talking with another group making concessions to dissolve ours and for the other group to come in and basically take charge, as if like a corporate take over. Also in the picture was the need for our church to foot the down payment for opening a thrift store, which supposedly would be the main source of finance for the new adventure.
It's sort of complicated, so I hop this makes sense. We were a Baptist church and the other group is supposedly non-denominational but which follows mainly Pentecostal beliefs and ways. The main issue was how everything was done behind our backs and we were told we had no choice in what was happening. We were given no time for prayer, basically told it was not needed. We (those of us who were not 100% with the idea) were also treated very nasty for even questioning what was happening.
Our church was very small to begin with. There were only on average 9 adults and half of these were my family. When it came to a vote, only 3 people voted. There was so much tension in the air that night and the pastor was acting like a spoiled child because he was not getting his way. He was hollering at us when we asked questions, threatening to quit if we did not vote it through and even got so mad he walked out of the meeting. For me a dead give away something was wrong.
It went from Spring Creek Baptist Church to Spring Creek Set Free Ministries. Set Free Ministries is not a church, but an organization focused on counseling to drug and alcohol addicts. The thrift store along with auctions and whatever other fundraising can be done are to be the main financial support of the new organization.