BCC Blow-up

While BCC church elders insist this day has been long in the making, the bulk of the BCC family woke up to the shock that their church had been ruptured.

On Thursday, July 27, BCC elders including Randy Holland and Mike Hueneke, 6 in all, decided to fire Dr. David Foster, the founding pastor of Bellevue Community Church.  Also fired was David's wife Paula Foster who ran the children's program at the church.

Saturday evening, July 29, at the church's regularly scheduled 5:30 PM service, the elders made the announcement to those in attendance.  Reportedly there was some disruption and the announcement cut short.  Dr. Foster said Sunday that Metro Police threatened to arrest him if he entered the church building he helped build.

On Sunday July 30, the Tennessean ran a story on the front page of the local section about BCC. Elders made the same announcement at the regular scheduled service times of 8:30, 10:00 and 11:30.  During that same time, Dr. Foster and his wife spoke with supporters at Bellevue's Red Caboose Park.

More local news media showed up to follow the story and found several hundred vocal Foster supporters at the park.  At the church building, no one representing the elders elected to speak to the media.

BCC elders did make themselves available to those in attendance at the church.  While the official announcement was read from a piece of paper and contained little detail, one on one discussions revealed that side of the story.  Based on conversations I had with 2 elders, Dr. Foster was fired because he would not submit to input of influence from the board of elders.  Additionally, they accuse Dr. Foster of a leadership style that compromises his "moral authority".

For his part, Dr. Foster made it clear he believed a small group of individuals had "hi-jacked" BCC.  He, along with advisers, are pursuing an injunction that he says will force an up or down vote on his job.  He spoke of being grieved by his friends who ended up firing him.  Ironically, Dr. Foster had appointed the elders and gave them some authority by which they acted.

In the week ahead, elders plan "cottage meetings" to provide church members more detail on the situation that lead to their decision to fire Dr. Foster.  At the same time, Dr. David Foster seems intent on getting the church he founded back - perhaps through legal means or possibly as a result of his supporters actions.

Dr. Foster and his wife Paula have had an enormous impact on me, my wife and now our two children.  They are heroes to me for the way they unleashed the energy, enthusiasm and hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They've inspired and challenged me over the years and I've told anyone who would listen about his teaching.

As a member of BCC for almost 9 years, I will try to publish news and views relating to this crisis. I have drawn no firm conclusions, although I'm well on my way.  I feel pretty sure of one thing however: BCC won't ever be the same and this episode brings shame to the church. I will watch and pray for the miracle that shows how God works through all things for good.

Comments

[gavin]

hi dirk, as an outside observer i feel for your community. but i'm also seeing this play out on dr. foster's part as a childish game. the part he mentions about 'hi-jacked' is adolescent at best in an arguement because your elders are elected or approved to their position over the congregation with some oversight by him. the tennessean article provides accounts that say that this has been rolling around for quite some time, the writing on the wall if you will.

i pray for your community, no ecclesial body needs to go through hurt such as this, but it happens and churches redirect themselves and move on all the time too.

[Phil Wilson]

I'm praying for the church as well. I know BCC has done many good things and has been a great source of encouragement for many.

I will ask this one question. In watching Dr. Foster's gathering on Channel 2 last night, he kept calling the church "their church" and wanting the people to "take back their church." That talk left a really bad taste in my mouth, probably from my Church of Christ background, but isn't it God's Church? Just a random theological thought amid all the craziness.

[Lisa Marie DiLuigi]

I would like to say that while I am sad to see Dave Foster leave BCC and I too am very emotional over the poor way things were handled, I encourage members to go to one of the meetings held by the members at BCC this week to get the entire store. It is important to educate yourselves on both sides of the story in order to make a fair judgement. There is a lot that goes on backstage that no one knows about and while Dave is indeed a talented speaker, it doesn't necessarily mean is a good leader. It takes a village, not a dictator to build a community such as BCC.