CALVARY CHAPEL PASTOR IN CARY, NORTH CAROLINA, RODNEY FINCH, ABRUPTLY RESIGNS AS HE HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF DRUG ADDICTION, MISUSING FUNDS, BULLYING AND NOW FINCH AND THE SO-CALLED “ELDERS” ARE BEING ACCUSED OF PUTTING THE $11 MILLION CHURCH UP FOR SALE WITHOUT THE CHURCH KNOWING
PICTURED: Pastor Rodney Finch preaches at Calvary Chapel Cary in Cary, North Carolina. (Photo via social media)
DANIEL WHYTE III, PRESIDENT OF GOSPEL LIGHT SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL, SAYS IT APPEARS AS THOUGH THE DEVIL IS CAUSING MANY PASTORS AND SO-CALLED ELDERS TO LOSE THEIR COLLECTIVE MINDS. AS DANIEL WHYTE III’S FATHER, DANIEL WHITE JR. USED TO SAY, “IF IT AIN’T ONE THING IT’S ANOTHER.” WHYTE SAYS FURTHER THAT THERE’S A DEVIL LOOSE IN THE CHURCH. NO WONDER GOD SAYS “JUDGMENT MUST BEGIN AT THE HOUSE OF GOD.” WHYTE ALSO SAYS THAT AS THE PASTOR ABRUPTLY RESIGNED ON SUNDAY, THE SO-CALLED ELDERS NEED TO RESIGN IMMEDIATELY. THE PEOPLE OUGHT TO SELL THE CHURCH AND SPLIT THE MONEY UP AMONG THEMSELVES, AND THE PASTOR AND ELDERS OUGHT NOT TO GET A DIME AS THESE JUDASES ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO STEAL THE CHURCH FROM THE PEOPLE.
An embattled Calvary Chapel pastor, who quietly put his church building up for sale last month, resigned abruptly Sunday, after 30 years of pastoring there.
Calvary Chapel Cary Pastor Rodney Finch—who has been accused of bullying, misuse of funds, and alleged drug addiction—announced to his North Carolina church Sunday that this would be his last Sunday. Finch also apologized that he and his elders didn’t tell the congregation before putting the $11 million church property up for sale in July, a decision that drew questions online from former staff. By last Wednesday, the listing was no longer available.
“We made a decision, the five of us, that we could wait until we actually had a real deal, a real buyer, and then tell the church,” Finch said in Sunday’s church service. “I will tell you, please forgive me. On behalf of the board, forgive me. That was not the right thing to do.”
Calvary Chapel Cary’s services are usually livestreamed and posted to YouTube, but Sunday’s service was not. However, The Roys Report (TRR) obtained a recorded copy of the service.
Three years ago, TRR reported on allegations of misconduct against Finch by several former staff and church council members, many of which were reported to the Calvary Chapel Association as early as 2018. Finch’s son, Rodney Finch Jr., had also alleged on social media that his father had abused two of Finch’s daughters, which Finch denied.
Despite the allegations, Finch remained senior pastor.
The church applauded Finch’s apology Sunday and his parting words thanking the congregation for their support.
“Sometimes I showed up and messed up, but I showed up,” Finch said. “I think that’s all the Lord requires of us.”
Assistant Pastor Ralf Stores said the church itself wasn’t closing but may change locations. Stores asked the congregation to ignore criticism about the matter on social media.
“If I could wave a magic wand and ask you to get off of anything you’ve seen or heard on social media and blanket from your mind in the last 72 hours, I would wave that wand right now,” he said. “Please do not allow the external things that have been going on to influence what is a family matter.”
Meanwhile, Stores asked the congregation to “pre-empt gossip” and to be patient with the leaders.
“Do not allow the enemy to come in,” said Stores. “Do not panic. . . . Do not make any snap decisions.”
Going forward, Stores promised to “over-communicate.”
“We will be available,” Stores said. “We will be approachable. We will be accessible. And we will be accountable.”
TRR has made several attempts to contact Finch, the elders, and Stores with questions about the church sale, Finch’s resignation, and the church finances, but has not yet received a response.
Financial problems and allegations of abuse
Finch said in church Sunday that last year, God moved his heart to be “dissatisfied with where I am here in the ministry.”
Finch said he told the board in January he planned to resign sometime in 2025. He thought that would give the church time to plan the transition.
Since Finch has been the church’s lead pastor for 30 years, he said he and the elders worried that some members would leave when he left, creating financial problems. He said they worried the church’s large mortgage would be difficult to pay. So, they decided to put the church up for sale without telling the church until they had a buyer.
Then over a five-week vacation in July, Finch said God told him he needed to resign now.
“Knowing that the church was going to need to relocate, knowing that I would not be a part of that relocation, it would be important for the leaders to now begin to set their plans in motion, to begin to congeal as a group of men, and begin to set a course together without Pastor Rodney in the mix,” he said.
Kyara Crayton, Finch’s stepdaughter and a former Calvary Chapel Cary employee, told TRR this week that Finch beat her with an extension cord when she was 15.
Crayton’s brother, Rodney Finch, Jr., stated on social media in 2021 that his father had abused him and two of his sisters. But this is the first time Crayton has publicly confirmed she was one of the abused sisters.
Crayton said she thinks her parents count on people, who’ve heard them say and do “horrible things,” to never speak up. She added that in 2009, when she raised a concern about her stepfather, the church abruptly fired her from a volunteer role.
Crayton said normally Finch is “very strategic,” but she believes “his hand is being forced.”
“Whoever noticed that real estate listing really threw a wrench in his work,” she said.
Former staff previously told TRR the church has had financial problems for years due to Finch’s poor decisions and lack of accountability. They said they watched Finch raise money for big projects that never materialized and spend money on projects overseas without any oversight.
When TRR previously asked for financial records, the church initially agreed to provide them but asked TRR to give the church time before publishing a story. Later, the church withdrew its offer to provide the records.
In 2021, several members with financial means left the church, Crayton said. Attendance has been dropping ever since, she said. Last year, Crayton attended her grandchild’s dedication at Calvary Chapel Cary and said the once 2,000-member church had a much lower attendance.
“They were down to two services, which is wild,” she said. “The second service was always jam-packed. There were maybe 30 people in there.”
source and to read more: https://julieroys.com/embattled-calvary-chapel-pastor-abruptly-resigns-days-trying-sell-church/
IF YOU WERE TO DIE TODAY, WHERE WOULD YOU GO: HEAVEN OR HELL? IF YOU’RE NOT SURE, “BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED” FOR JESUS CHRIST SAID THE MOST IMPORTANT WORDS EVER SPOKEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WHEN HE SAID, “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.” READ FURTHER RIGHT HERE:
THE BIG QUESTION
GOSPEL LIGHT MINUTE X #447 WITH DANIEL WHYTE III
This is the “Chief of sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, with the Gospel Light Minute X Podcast #447 titled, “The Big Question” I’m here to remind you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me.
“HAVE YOU BEEN BORN AGAIN?”
The question is not “Have you joined a church?” or “Are you trying to do your best?” or “Do you have religion?” but “Are you twice-born?” Jesus Christ said in John 3:3, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”.
We enter the physical world by birth. Spiritual life likewise is entered with a birth. We become members of a human family by birth; we become members of the family of God by birth, by being “born again.” There is no other way to get into the human family except by birth, and there is no other way to get into God’s family except by the new birth. Neither education, nor cultivation, nor reformation, nor “turning over a new leaf,” will accomplish this. What is needed is not a new “leaf” but a new “life”! “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
A New Nature Needed
By physical birth we become partakers of human nature; by being born again we become “partakers of the divine nature”. A Christian is the product of a divine “begetting”. The second birth is not an improvement of the old nature; it is the imparting of an entirely new nature. The old nature is hopelessly corrupt and incapable of ever being made fit for His presence. The new birth requires a creative act of the Holy Spirit. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature”.
Not “Trying” But “Trusting”
“Trying to follow Christ” is not Christianity. Christianity is not imitation of Christ, it is the indwelling of Christ. Christianity is not trying to do anything. It is trusting Christ Who has done it all! He has “finished the work” and there is nothing left to do but simply to receive and trust Him. He shed His precious blood on the cross and the work is all done once and forever! Cease trying and begin trusting! Believers will progressively become more and more like Christ, but by His power, not their own.
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Simply “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”. The Bible says in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”. The Bible states in John 1:12,13, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.
You are born again, you become a Christian by trusting a Person—receiving a Person. The very moment you do this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and life begins!
What Is Meant By “Believe”?
To “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” means more than simply believing the historic facts concerning Him. Intellectual belief about Christ is not sufficient. The belief that brings salvation must be “with the heart,” that is, with the whole being. This belief also includes repentance: “Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”. The Bible states in Acts 17:30, “God … now commandeth all men every where to repent”.
The faith which saves, then, includes the necessity to repent, and to receive Christ as Saviour and Lord, to rest upon Him alone for salvation. It means to trust Him so utterly and completely that, if He should fail, there would be no hope at all!
May I Know That I Am Born Again?
This is an important question. We know that we are born again by the testimony of God’s Word. God says in John 5:24, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life”. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as explained by God’s Word? If so, then you are saved, you are “born again,” you have “passed from death unto life.” God says so! Take God at His Word, and go on your way rejoicing!
One Final Word
You may “belong to a church,” you may be “trying to do the best you can,” you may be “striving to live right.” Your outward life may be the model of moral correctness, and you may be looked up to, honored, revered, and respected. Yet, if you have not been “born again” you are just as lost as if you had never heard of Christ. Yes, you may teach in the Sunday school, read the Bible, sing, shout, “feel happy,” and all the rest—but if you have never been “born again” you are still in your sins and a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ!.
If you want to be saved from the wrath to come and from an eternity in Hell, and if you believe that Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead and you are willing to trust Jesus Christ with all of your heart so you can go to Heaven, please pray with me what is called the sinner’s prayer: Holy Father God, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and I admit that I have sinned against You and that I have broken Your Ten Commandments. I have lied before. I have stolen things before. I have lusted after people and things before. I have dishonored and disobeyed my parents. I have taken Your holy Name in vain. For Jesus Christ’s sake, please have mercy and grace upon my soul and forgive me of all of my sins, my failures, and my faults. As I now believe in Your Holy Son the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He suffered, bled, and died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to repent of my sins past. Help me to turn from my old, evil life and follow You in the new life. For it is in Your Name I pray. Amen.
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