Ep. 201: Venue Church Foreclosed, and What Is Spiritual Abuse?

On today’s program, we look at spiritual abuse.  At what point is a difference in opinion, or a disagreement with the pastor, real abuse?  It’s a question lots of churches, pastors, and church members are having to grapple with.  Also, we look at an online ministry that started as a hobby, but is now generating more than 100-million page views a year from people wanting answers to tough spiritual questions.  We begin today with news about a Tennessee megachurch that has defaulted on its building payments.  The building that housed Venue Church is set to be auctioned off from the steps of the local courthouse Aug. 24, just six months after a video surfaced allegedly showing its head pastor kissing a woman who was not his wife.  A notice of foreclosure that appeared in The Chattanooga Times Free Press said Venue Church has defaulted on payments on the more than $2 million the church owes on a property at 6401 Lee Highway in Chattanooga, its main campus. A reminder that if you make a donation to MinistryWatch during the month of August, you’ll receive a free one-year subscription to WORLD Magazine.  We made this offer last year, and got a great response.  But I know that we have a lot of people listening to the podcast today that weren’t with us a year ago – I know that because the podcast has nearly doubled in size in the past year.  So if you’re new, this is a fantastic opportunity to pick up a subscription to WORLD and support our work at the same time.  Just go to MinistryWatch.com and hit the DONATE button at the top of the page. The producers for today’s program are Rich Roszel and Jeff McIntosh.  We get database and other technical support from Cathy Goddard, Stephen DuBarry, Emily Kern, Rod Pitzer, and Casey Sudduth. Writers who contributed to today’s program include Jesse T. Jackson, Alejandra Molina, Steve Rabey, Kim Roberts, Bob Smietana, Anne Stych, Christina Darnell and Warren Smith. Special thanks to Church Leaders for contributing material for this week’s podcast. Until next time, may God bless you.