So…rumor has it that Doug & Donna Lasit will be moving to Denver to start thier own church.
A friend of mine mentioned that and said "It had to be Denver. With all the scriptures in the Bible that talk about rivers and mountains there really isn't much choice".
Which really is funny. I ran a quick Biblegateway search and its amazing how many "confirming scriptures there are" (i.e. Genesis 22:14 "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.")
Personally, I think this is a big loss for City Bible Church. A lot of people really like Doug and Donna and I think CBC's image takes a hit when they leave. I mean really, if I'm going to be honest, I'd have to say that even I like Doug, we may not agree on much, but from a strictly social standard I've always like Doug and he has always treated me well. I don't know Donna from a Prophetic Violin so I can't speak to that, but I like Doug.
Of course, this may not be true…after all…how many CBC rumors are actually false…oh thats right…none.
Well Doug/Donna… happy trails.
This of course begs the question: Who's next in line to take over the great big hype maching that is Generation Unleashed?
It’s not a rumor. I got an email from the desk of P. Frank. They are going to help start a church plant. If thats what the Lord is calling them to do, I’m happy for them. I wish them the best.
Man I knew this was going to happen. Pope, you are such a good investigative jounalist. The cycle at CBC is pretty predictable – youth staff, assistant you pastor, youth pastor, leave to start own church. Guess it’s time for Asim to step up to the plate. I give him 10 years before he goes out to start his own one as well. Wonder who they’re going to raise up under him? Kinda low on people with brown skin these days, aren’t they?
Good for him. It’ll be interesting to see if Generation Unleashed remains as successful without him. My guess is, no.
Hasn’t Asim already reached Elder status? Why in the hell would he want to be youth pastor?
I’m really pulling for Peter & Becky…come on guys, you can do it.
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Yeah for Pacific Islanders! (I’m from Hawaii)
Nina, any chance of getting the details of that email? Inquiring minds want to know!
Why Denver?
“Helping” to plant a church? Not pastoring?
Speaking of history, I can’t think of a single time when sending one of CBC’s staff on a church plant was PF’s original idea. To hear people tell it, most threatened to leave with or without his blessing, and eventually he’d give it. Very few had a proper send-off for such an event, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see if Doug ends up leaving as quietly as the others.
If you think of City Bible as a business (and I do) my guess is Doug asked for a raise, Frank said no, and Doug was like, “Welp, time for me to move on then.” That’s how this works in most businesses, and I suspect, CBC is no different.
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I’d bet money that this is the case – it’ll be interesting to hear the spin they put on this.
This is what I’ve heard: Doug & Donna are going to plant a new MFI church in Denver and pastor it. Donna’s brother (David) & sister-in-law (Melissa) are going with them to co-pastor. They’re planning to make the move next summer. Doug & Donna have always aspired to plant & pastor their own church. While there are masses of churches in Denver, there isn’t an MFI church, and it’s a beautiful spot…
I also hear that Donna’s brothers (David) wife’s (Melissa) parents (Kinnan’s) will be joining. They are leaders in a MFI church in Richmond, VA. They go to Steve Stells church (Apostolic Team MFI). I think I heard they are right hand people. MFI Connections!!! Gotta love it
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Ahhh, just what the world needs….another MFI church.
Here’s the letter.
Dear Congregation,
Greetings! I trust you have enjoyed your summer and taken advantage of the great weather to spend time with friends and family. As we are starting into our Fall season we have a lot of things happening. One of the important things I need to let you know about is an announcement I made at church yesterday regarding a transition that will be happening with one of our staff pastors.
There are always mixed emotions when the church sends out leaders from our church to plant a church or go to the nations of the world. We would love to keep them because of the love and relationships, yet we know our mandate from God is to send out our branches over the wall, to reach cities and nations with the strength and grace God has given us.
Doug and Donna Lasit are preparing to plant a church in Denver, Colorado. Doug and Donna have presented this burden and vision to the eldership and they wholeheartedly confirmed it. This will take place next summer, so we have time to prepare all that is necessary to make this move. It is a ten-month process.
I am announcing it this early because I didn’t want you to hear it by rumor. We are a family and we will process this change together. The church plant team will not be formed until February. If God speaks to you about being a part of this church plant team, we have learned from experience that it is better for everyone involved that you talk to your district pastor or an executive pastor first before talking to them. We are asking you to follow this process so that we can all be confident we are discovering God’s will in this together. We will not start this procedure until February so we can let emotions settle before plans are made. It would be wise not to assume who will go on this team and not to give your assumptions to others.
The ministry responsibilities they both hold will be transitioned over the next several months. We have a full pipeline of good leaders that are ready to step up. This will be a great couple to send to a great city that will have great results. We are excited for Doug and Donna and now partner with them for their future. There will be more communication as we proceed.
Blessings,
Pastor Frank Damazio
sorry, my bad. I heard someone tell me that they were helping plant. I only read the email quickly. I mixed it up. But the letter is here.
but doug is an OB/GYN doctor.. i cannot imagine him giving that up…
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I think you meant to say “David”. haha
I agree, Reformer, that the world doesn’t need another MFI church. Hopefully you know that. My point was, if you’re inclined to plant an MFI church (as the Lasits obviously are), it makes sense to go where there won’t be any competition.
Gotta love Frank’s letter, and all the CONTROL messages in there! Gives me serious eebie-jeebies. Go through the
hierarchyproper channels,don’t think for yourselfdon’t make assumptions(at least not until we tell you what God’s will is for you).Once again, I am SO THANKFUL to be free from the controlling constraints of that church!
Are you kidding me? I just love this stuff. His actions make writing in this blog so easy. What he meant to say was:
The Reformer said:
“We have learned from experience that if we announce that a very popular youth pastor is leaving (a la Wendel Smith, Steve Carpenter, Bob McGregor, Eric Knox, etc.) that a huge majority of are tithing faithful will want to leave with them. Because this hurts our ability to throw big conferences, lease more needless buildings, buy new suits and drive luxury cars, it’s important that you tell us of your intention to leave so that we can talk you out of it by means of guilt and manipulation. We are waiting until February so that we have enough time to prep all of our district and executive pastors on how to do this. Please do not share you knowledge with others about who is leaving because we don’t want it to get out that some very popular families are tagging along, since that would mean others might decide to join. Trust us, we know what God’s plan is for your life. So please continue to sit in our pews, write checks to the order of CBC, and remain silent.â€
JAIAM:
Hilarious and sad at the same time because it’s true
Yeah, great comment, Alex. I would only add that I think Doug is staying through February, because of Generation Unleashed. They need him to help sell it, and he needs it as a PR tool to publicize his future church in Denver.
Catalyst, I bet you are right on both counts.
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Ha, for sure. Using GU to promote the move is a great idea.
Maybe it’s time for a GU jumbotron competition: LASIT – DENVER ’09
Got anything good Pope?
I know this soon to be attorney in Los Angeles that might be willing to forsake it all for the Kingdom to succeed the Lasits at CBC? I would even list his condo for free if he did it.
Yeah, I’m sure Reformer will jump all over that, Negrodamus!
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HA HA HA. That’s great. But forget CBC, I believe God is calling me to Denver to start The Capital City Denver Bible Harvest City Church.
I got nothing, but…this is going to backfire on ole Frankie if he really waits until the middle of GU to put together a “church plant team” (aka: Backstabbing Non-Christians who don’t know how good they have it a CBC team). Generation Unleashed is the pinnacle of Doug’s celebrity…he’ll have every teen from here to…well… Denver wanting to join his church.
Should be fun.
There was definitely lots of somber faces when Pastor Doug was sharing his plans at GC Pearl last night. I will miss him and Donna when they move to pioneer a church in Denver next year. Please pray that the transition of leadership would go smoothly for the Generation Church ministry.
# The Reformer said:
September 8th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Man I knew this was going to happen. Pope, you are such a good investigative jounalist. The cycle at CBC is pretty predictable – youth staff, assistant you pastor, youth pastor, leave to start own church. Guess it’s time for Asim to step up to the plate. I give him 10 years before he goes out to start his own one as well. Wonder who they’re going to raise up under him? Kinda low on people with brown skin these days, aren’t they?
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People have known for years that that was what Bible Temple was all about. Raising up leaders and then sending them out to start churches.
Most of the time that sort of thing happens because there is only room for one leader at cbc and they know that if they want the celebrity status the senior pastor has the only choice is to go somewhere else.
The majority of the members of mfi have been sent out from Bible Temple. That is why someone can experience the same spiritual abuse from two seemingly different churches. But when you follow the trail it usually leads back to Bible Temple. Follow the ancient paths.
Good One! Try saying I go to CCDBHCC!
The typical speel that CCC senior pastor Ken Wilde gave to the
unitscouples that wanted to help a pastor couple leaving the churchout of frustrationto start a church was wait 6 months and if you still want to go then we’ll re-evaluate then whether you can go. He used to say the same thing to the poor young adults who were in love and wanted to marry. Wait 6 months and if it’s meant to be you’ll both be willing to wait. First of all, the poor pastor couple leaving needs help NOW not in 6 fricking months. And the waiting 6 more months to marry is just playing with fire but that’s another topic.The getting permission to leave a church or to get married thing has always been a mystery to me. Especially if it’s obvious the leadership could care less about the lives of the misguided person(s) asking. If you see signs of a leader not caring about your well being why bother to ask him to help make such a pivotal decision in your life? Or worse, why let him make it FOR YOU?? I can see asking your parents for advice or an older couple you look up to who you know to have wisdom or even good friends who love you and it’s a 2-way street relationship. But why would a leader such as Ken of the church world think he has earned the privilege of telling someone the next life step?
These types of leaders also show displeasure toward those who DON’T ask their permission or advice–one of the many ways they imply that their authority is as important, if not more important, than the other relationships that carry more weight in a person’s life.
The entire eldership of BT had to vote on whether we could get married or not but that’s a different (and fascinating) story of its own.
…and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
anon said:
September 11th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
The entire eldership of BT had to vote on whether we could get married or not but that’s a different (and fascinating) story of its own.
Where did you say this church was? Bible Temple sounds like something in Utah. Seriously this is something that needs to be on Oprah right along with your cousins from the Mormon compound.
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Send it to me…I want to hear it: reformer.for.change@gmail.com
yeah.. me too.. post it here. I have heard of all kinds of crazy marriage/engaged events like this at BT.. but none where you were voted on by the tribe.
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Classic!
Good for Doug and Donna!
Hope CBC won’t influence on them too much….
(maybe that’s just a wish…)
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Why the hell would Asim want to stay around CBC. Doug has been his lifeline for years. I bet you Asim goes with him…
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And so he did.
This update caused me to re-read the thread and to realize that I didn’t share the story that I was asked to share (elders voting on whether or not we could marry).
My now wife and I had dated, were in love and wanted to get married. Her parents were divorced and remarried. Mom attended BT, Dad did not. Dad completely agreed to let us marry and was in full support. Mom (who was/is a bit “off”) withheld her approval and wanted us to date for a couple of years, all the while wanting me to spend tons of time with them, do work for her husband etc. I felt like frigg’n Jacob.
We were very young and wanted to honor the wishes of the leaders of our church and submitted to it for awhile. At one point, Mother in Law got angry at the church and left. The elders then voted on whether we could get married or not and granted us their permission.
I clearly would not ask or care about their permission now but that was then.
Crazy, huh?
Almost being told you could marry in that “unasked for” way would make me want to get married elsewhere. Good for you for not getting an attitude about it! Why did the elders vote on the marriage? Didn’t they believe you were still under the covering of your mother-in-law as much as you were when she was in the church?
Ya, but we all have similar (crazy) tales of what we did then, embarrassing to admit now, when we were under the influence of the former wac world.
Thanks for the update Anon.