When people are out to get you, they will resort to any lie they can concoct to make you look bad to others. It can be amusing if you don’t allow it to be depressing.
I did my best to resist being depressed when I read some slander about myself a couple of years ago, written on a chat forum by a ministry leader whom I at one time thought was a friend. After telling the 100 members of his chat forum that I am a “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” he went on to say: “David…does not have much respect for the local church. Actually, he has no respect for the local church.” He then added, “David is arrogant, proud and boastful.” No one within his chat group (of which he was the administrator) challenged him. They trust him.
I confronted him via email. I thought he would be embarrassed to know I had discovered how two-faced he had been to me. Sadly, however, I was wrong. He never replied.
Not long after that, I read about myself once again, but this time in the same man’s ministry newsletter that is mailed to thousands of people. I was thankful that, this time, he didn’t reveal my name, but there was no doubt who he was speaking about as he warned his readers of all the same faults he wrote about me in his chat forum. Here’s a sample: “When you really get to know them, they do not attend a local church—all local churches, in their eyes, are unbiblical. These men do not have much accountability, and they don’t want any. They are often arrogant, filled with pride, and full of self.”
I’ve since read the same public words about me from another ministry leader who is his friend. He seems to be using every opportunity he has to slander me.
I always find comfort knowing that there are worse things my critics could say about me that are actually true—if they knew them! Still, when a so-called minister publicly slanders you, it is difficult not to be concerned about the people who will believe him, people whom you might have been able to help or serve, but because they have believed the slander that will now be impossible. It is also difficult not to have at least a little concern for the slanderer, as Jesus warned that slander is just as defiling as murder, adultery and theft (see Matt. 15:18-20), not to mention His warning that all liars will end up in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8). But false-grace preachers never worry about those warnings, because they are saved by a grace the allows for any sin.
In any case, I’d like to briefly defend myself against that slander, specifically that I have “no respect for the local church” and that I think “all local churches are unbiblical.” Defending yourself against slander is biblical, as seen in the ministries of Jesus and Paul (see Matt. 12:24-32; Luke 7:33-35; John 8:48-59; 2 Cor. 10:1-11; 11:5-33; Gal. 1:10-24; Acts 24:10-21).
I’ve spent that last 46 years of my life in vocational ministry, working for nonprofit organizations. For the majority of the first 20 years, I served as a pastor of several local churches. My wife and I planted three of them. When I was in my early 20s, I was pastoring a church of 250 people that my wife and I started from scratch. Our congregation bought an old theater in Pittsburgh’s inner-city and turned it into a church building. That church still exists. When I was in my 40’s we pioneered another church that grew to about 300 people. That time our congregation built a church building on six acres of land. That church building still serves a congregation. Twenty years of pioneering and pastoring churches would seem to indicate that I have some “respect for the local church.”
When I left that church, I started training thousands of pastors—of local churches—all over the developing world. I conducted and participated in pastors’ conferences. I also wrote a 500-page book titled, The Disciple-Making Minister that we translated into at least 30 languages and distributed to thousands of pastors—of local churches. That would seem to indicate that I have some “respect for the local church.”
That ministry grew into what is now the ministry of Heaven’s Family, that has done relief and development projects in 80 nations. We often partner with pastors—of local churches—as we endeavor to serve the “least of these” (Matt. 25:31-46). Our Farming God’s Way Ministry has resulted in the planting of thousands of house churches in six East African nations. In just the first quarter of this year (2025), 375 new local churches were planted. We literally spend millions of dollars every year planting and strengthening local churches. All of that would seem to indicate that I have some “respect for the local church.”
Some folks, like my slanderous “friend,” may not think those African churches are churches because they don’t meet in red-brick church buildings with a sign out front that advertises the name of the central figure of the church (the pastor), but they are gatherings where Jesus is present, because He promised that where “two or three would gather in His name,” He would be in their midst.
In 2022, when the Lord connected my wife and I to a recently-born again and excommunicated Amish minister and his wife, Jonas and Ida Kurtz, we encouraged them to birth a local church using a discipleship-multiplication format we had learned ourselves a few years earlier. I personally took both of them to Alabama to receive five days of special training towards that end. They consequently planted a church that follows that discipleship-multiplication format every week, and the Lord is using Jonas to help others plant similar house churches in various places across North America.
Personally, I prefer the house church format because (1) it is biblical (see Acts 2:46; 5:42; 12:12; Rom. 16:3-5; 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phlm. 1:2), (2) financial resources can be used to help the poor and expand Jesus’ kingdom rather than to make mortgage payments and pay electric bills and staff salaries, and (3) every member can be encouraged to participate and exercise their God-given gifts.
In any case, all of these things would seem to indicate that I have some “respect for the local church.”
Over the past few years, my wife and I have hosted several multi-day conferences at our home and retreat center, training people in what are known in missiological circles as “Disciple-Making Movements” and “Church-Planting Movements.” The entire goal of the training is to multiply disciples and local churches of disciples. My slanderous friend may not think a church can exist without a special church building and a Bible-School- or cemetery-trained pastor, but you won’t find either in the New Testament. You will, however, find viable local churches!
I am very thankful for every church where Jesus is worshipped and God’s Word is faithfully proclaimed, whether the members gather in a big brick building, a humble tin shed (as it often is in much of the world) or in a house. I will admit, however, to having zero respect for false churches that are full of false Christians who believe a false gospel. That gospel could be summed up: “Good news! You don’t have to obey Jesus’ commandments!” That is heresy. When my slanderous friend claims that I “don’t have any respect for the local church,” I suspect those false churches, which he thinks are true churches, are what he actually has in mind. If that is true, then he’s really not slandering me. He’s complimenting me! For that, I am thankful.
