Hi James.... wow.... okay. Where to begin? Wow. Okay...

First, most of the people in the church I serve are wonderful. But most pastors will tell you it's the vocal minority over the years that can make life very challenging.

Unfortunately, the nature of church is such that the vocal minority is sometimes (often?) more amplified and even given a platform, whereas that would not always be the case in other organizations.

Second, I shared some of my experiences in this article, but the overall article was driven more by observation of the church overall. There are many pastors (as I mention in the article) who have it much worse than me. Much, much worse.

Third, some of your critique of what the church looks like today is valid. I think it goes too far overall, but some of what you say is valid.

Finally, the New Testament model for church is I Corinthians 12 with the parts of the body. If the body's parts all function as they are supposed to, it's a beautiful thing. It's when body parts stop functioning or start attacking each other that you have problems. And that is the church today. (Not referring to any one church in particular, just the church overall).

Blessings!