Here at City Business we have a a lot of ex-PBCer's, and regardless of your thoughts on the place, I don't think anyone can deny that PBC has created a lot of controversy over the years.  It is a very polarizing place.  On one side you have zealots who say PBC is the best place to learn the Bible and on the other side you have those who hate the place for ruining their lives.  A regular poster recently had this to say:

"I attended PBC wanting to get a basic understanding of theology, religion and the bible. I wanted it to be a foundation for the rest of my life. I’m a bit pissed off towards those who told me PBC was a good place to be for that. That is a lie!  After entering PBC, I found out that it was the opposite.  PBC is more like an internship for those who want to be full-time pastors/leaders at MFI type of churches…If I knew this was the case, I would have only taken a couple of classes.  I feel that I wasted my time there.  I went there out of zeal and because I was encouraged to pursue my “calling.”  Now I regret going there."

I personally never went to PBC.  They tried to push me that direction, but thankfully God spared me from that life lesson.  My wife on the other hand was one of those who was duped into attending.  She grew up at City Bible and it was always assumed that she would go.  So after transferring from her public school to attend City Christian, she went to PBC straight out of high school (which she claims were two of the biggest mistakes of her life).  After one semester of crying almost everyday she got out.  She says that her few months there were some of the works times in her life.  She felt trapped and lied to.  There was nothing educational about it.  And to make matters worse, when she transferred to a real college, they wouldn't accept any of her PBC credits.

To me PBC is simply a place to indoctrinate young, impressionable minds into the MFI, works-based, legalistic, way of thinking.  It perpetuates a false gospel.  And I find it sad that so many 20 somethings who are suppose to be in the freest time of their lives (before full-time jobs, marriage and kids) are completely wrapped up in something that will add very little benefit to their futures.

I would love to hear what some of you current and former PBCer's think?

Every now and then, for a good time, JP and I like to cruise the PBC Student Rule Book. It makes us feel better about our own lives. 

So here, for your reading pleasure, are the rules for getting Engaged at Portland Bible College:

Engagements  

An engagement shall be defined as verbal consent to marry with or without evidence of a ring or public announcement. Since most young people are away from their parents and pastors, the following standard is intended to ensure the proper involvement of all concerned. Therefore, the Dean must approve all engagements and marriages before the two parties make verbal consent. This applies to all students whether or not their fiancé attends PBC.  

Types of situations where approval might be granted are when both students are:  

      • Seniors in Bible college;

      • Older students; Part-time students (under 12 hours);

      • Over 21 years of age.  

Types of situations not likely to receive permission are when students: 

     • Met or started dating near the time of, or after arrival at school,

    • Are under 21 years of age (one or both)

    • Have not had sufficient time to mature in Christian character.

Honestly, I don't think you should get married until you're 30. But still, this seems a little heavy handed.  

This is in response to the post Beliver’s Do This? (listed below)

Ashish,

First, let me thank you for taking the time to read our little blog. It means a lot to us that PBC students are studying our work. I would like to take a moment to discuss a few of your points.

You say:

1. They claim Forward Together is something the church is doing so somehow the leadership can make more money.

-I’ve never said that and I don’t believe it. The leadership is not out for personal gain, but seems to care too much about the image of CBC. It’s more of a corporate money problem then an individual money problem.

2. Financial freedom is something that should be sought out by the local church.

-I Agree

3. The church body should desire to expand and see more people saved.

-I Agree

4. These and other similar things were what Forward Together was all about. -No

-Sorry, but Forward Together is about the expansion of CBC’s kingdom and not the kingdom of God.

5. Just ask and they’ll be more than willing to tell [you] what [is] happening with the money you put into the church.

-Has anyone ever actually tried this? I’m just curious. I don’t need to know the results, but I’ll bet no one has “dared” to question them.

6. They claim Pastor Frank (or PF) is only about ‘giving’ sermons, and that somehow he’s only emphasizing one aspect.

-I spent 10 years @ CBC and from every November through every January all we heard about was Faith Harvest (giving). Now, by my calculations that equals 1/4th of all sermons preached each year. Combine that with the “tithing” sermons slipped in every couple of months and you’ve got 1 in 3 sermons being preached on giving. If that ratio was set somewhere in the Bible I wouldn’t complain, but I just can’t seem to find it.

7. …you’d realize that the season the church is in right now, expansion and growth are at the forefront.

-Season? What is this Hockey? That’s one hell of a "season".

8. There is no biblical support for slandering our leadership.

-Probably true, when you look at CBC leadership as “elders of Christ’s church”; however if you see them as misled Pharisee’s there’s a bit more room to move.

I think if you stop idolizing CBC’s leaders and really listened and watched what was going on you would be equally “Unimpressed”. I for one am appalled.

This is from Impassioned Imperfections (http://myguitarzz.wordpress.com/) I thought it was worth posting.

Sometimes you go about thinking that you won’t ever come across something like this, but the more I read it the more I am in shock at what these so called Bible-believing people do to slander the work of God.

For sometime now I’ve known of the blog citybiblewatch.blogspot.com(also known as City Business Church blog) and at times I’ve been disgusted by their sense of entitlement to belittle the work of God. They somehow confuse integrity with flakiness, and emphasis into overbearance. I’ll go through a few areas where I don’t appreciate what they do. These things have brewed over as I’ve seen what kind of stuff this blog produces.

• They claim Forward Together is something the church is doing so somehow the leadership can make more money. I’ve attended CBC for all the years I’ve been here, and I can honestly say that CBC has been completely open to the entire body about their financial dealings. You can go look at their books. Just ask and they’ll be more than willing to tell what happenning with the money you put into the church. It’s horrific to think that so-called believers can slander the work of God. And by the way, financial freedom is something that should be sought out by the local church body. The church body should desire to expand and see more people saved. These and other similar things were what Forward Together was all about. To claim that there is some hidden agenda is almost preposterous.
  
• They claim Pastor Frank (or PF) is only about ‘giving’ sermons, and that somehow he’s only emphasising one aspect. Seriously if you think about this carefully, you’d realise that the season the church is in right now, expansion and growth are at the forefront. Why shouldn’t a Pastor encourage the believers to give more money. Is it not the responsibility of the body to finance it’s own expansion. Like I said earlier, it’s a season in CBC where that must be emphasised, but it doesn’t mean that’s all that is emphasised. Imagine if you will someone criticizing a farmer because all he does in the months of September and October is harvest. The farmer would nicely tell you that is not the case, but rather it is a season where that’s the emphasis.

There are some good posts and reflections on this blog that I feel should be applauded but the whole basis for this blog was just despicable. I’m not afraid to say it because with every great work that God does, there’s always going to be people who rise up against it.

Here’s what their blog has for it’s follow-up for it’s title:It is not by grace that one enters the kingdom of heaven, but by tithing. - Damazio 3:16

Just despicable. I’m appalled, almost saddened by it. Call me a loyal CBC member who believes in CBC, but according to the Bible if we are not in agreement with leadership the steps we need to take do not include slander, misrepresentation, and twisting of facts. We should rather approach the leadership and hear out the facts, if that does not work then pray, if still you feel ill towards it then leave the church in all humility and love. There is no biblical support for slandering our leadership, be it church or national. It’s wrong and I don’t care if I’m the first blogger to stand up and say it.

Thoroughly Unimpressed,
Ashish Joy

I think the above headline is my favorite line from the movie Jerry MacGuire, or at least its tied with "who’s going with me?"

Anyway, this Friday I’m leaving the country for 10 days to attend a good friend’s wedding. I’m excited and it should be fun. Anytime you send Catalyst to a Third World Country, he usually comes away with some pretty funny stories.

However, I don’t anticipate posting much in the next couple of weeks. And since, I don’t want to leave my readers completely bored. Me and the Pope had an idea.

So many of you wrote and made comments on the blog regarding your disapproval of Larry and Ken’s firing. We though it might be fun if we emailed Ken Malmin and expressed our discontent.

Although your letters may not bring Ken and Larry back, it will be a great sign of support. Thus, please use the link below to send an email to Ken Malmin expressing your dissatisfaction with City Bible’s decision to fire 2 excellent teachers.

ken@portlandbiblecollege.org

Update June 8: All is not lost. Apparently, my intern will be taking over the blog while I’m gone. Should be fun.

I think I’ve found Larry and Ken’s replacement. This is from the City Bible Bulletin.

WOMEN AND MINISTRY

In Joel 2:28, God said that He would pour out His Spirit on all mankind. The purpose of this would be to empower His people so they might accomplish His work in the earth. This power was to be given to both male and female and would manifest itself in gifts and abilities from the Holy Spirit.

Sadly, the reality is that many churches don’t utilize the God-given gifts and skills that reside in the women of their congregations. As a result, many churches are not only deprived of a vast reserve of God’s grace resident in their female members, but the complexion of the churches lack the important contributions that will only come from their women. In the end, these churches attempt to accomplish the commission given to them with only part of the resources necessary to do it.

It is our responsibility to help the people of this church to understand the treasure that resides in the women of this congregation and to motivate us all to release more of those gifts to the Body of Christ. The Bible provides us with God’s original pattern for women harmoniously working alongside men.

It also gives guidelines to ensure this is done in a proper manner. Both the Old and New Testament work together to give us a clear understanding of what that is to look like. When Paul stated that the church is like a human body, in which every member contributes to the successful function of the whole, he definitely had in mind the female members of that body along with the male. As we move into the future, it is encouraging to see our women function in their God given gifts and calling.

Lanny Hubbard
Portland Bible College
Faculty Member

(Warning: This post is rated PG-13)

So it sounds like CBC is trying to make the school less Bible College and more Internship (i.e. Timothy program). This may be a little bit obvious, but how long before we can start calling it Portland Business College?

I guess they want to raise up an army of ass-kissers. Don’t you want to be a part of “Generation Kiss Ass”?

And if PBC is going to become the Timothy Program. At least, I hope they include a class about safe sex, or at least hand out condoms at orientation. Last I checked, the Timothy program was less about serving the Lord and more about servicing your co-intern… but whatever…

Anyway, here is the new theme song for the School of Internship at City Bible. Led by General Hank and his army of ass-kissers.

I am an A.

I am an A…

I am an A-S

I am an A-S-S-K-I-S-S-E-R

And I will T-I-T-H-E to my home church C-B-C

Or God will C-U-R-S-E me for all Eternity

I have been thinking about the recent layoffs at PBC. The official version seems to be that City Bible is restructuring PBC and they no longer need the services of Larry and Ken. Which is fair enough.

Here is my concern. I thought City Bible was a family. I was unaware that it is acceptable to restructure family members. Not that I oppose, mind you. Immediately upon hearing a family restructure is posible, I fired off a call to my mother asking whether perhaps we could restructure a certain Joel Morton out of the family. She, of course, was less than amused. But my younger siblings gave it great thought and, much like Pastor Hank, decided that, "Yes a family restructure was definately possible. And Joel has to go." They’re excited to see the basement room finally become available as a TV room.

Seriously though, to me this is just another sign of City Bible running the church like a business instead of a ministry. I understand that churches have to support themselves and tough decisions have to be made. But instead of using corporate lingo for firing someone, why not just be honest and say, "PBC isn’t making enough money to support both of your salaries. But, you are family, so we’ll do our best to support you until you find another job."

A business probably wouldn’t do this. But a church might.

Anyway, I don’t know either Ken Ross or Larry Taylor but they seemed like genuine sincere leaders, not hype-masters like most of the elders at City Bible.