Questions Arise About Church Leadership
Tammy Curry, Staff Writer Myrtle-Beach.com Tuesday, November 22, 2011
One year ago, the largest church in Myrtle Beach went through a split that divided the church, church members, and portions of our entire city. The Beach Church split has been an issue of intense interest in the local community ever since.
What began as a small prayer group in 1992 blossomed into one of the largest Baptist Churches on the Grand Strand where roughly 6% of the Myrtle Beach population attended. The founding Pastor, Ronny Byrd, began holding services that December at Horry Georgetown Technical College. The congregation consisted of 32 adults and several children. As the congregation grew, members decided on a name, Discipleship Ministry, 1995.
Over the next 7 years the church grew into a congregation of around 1300. It continued to add staff and outreach programs, including “Celebrate Recovery” as well as highly celebrated children’s programs. The church once housed a local Christian based school called Christian Academy. The church legally named itself Myrtle Beach Community Church. In 2006 the church was enriched by three new leaders Damon Adcock (Worship and Creative Arts Pastor), Dan Grider (Lead Pastor) and Craig Cheney (Executive Pastor). Over the next 3 years with a congregation of over 1600 members it became known as Beach Church.
Damon Adcock and Craig Cheney were friends and co-pastors well before coming to Beach Church. Reports indicate they worked together at Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AR, with Damon’s brother Darrell Adcock. For the next three years Cheney, Adcock, and Grider worked side by side, but at some point relational conflict began to occur within this group. No current leader that I contacted was willing to say when this initial conflict began, however the church started making leadership changes effective summer 2009.
In 2009, Dr. Pamela Pyle, a Myrtle Beach area doctor, invested in Soulo Sport, a business partnership between Pamela Pyle, Damon Adcock and Craig Cheney. Dr. Pyle is, as of this writing, still a vested member of Soulo Sport and a member of Beach Church. Pamela Pyle is the wife of Scott Pyle, who was, at around the same time, being considered for a position on a newly created leadership team at Beach Church called "The Point Team".
There was no indication of any conflict within the leadership of the church at that time. At least, it was not apparent to the congregation. Beach Church has a publicly open Facebook Fan Page that was to erupt just one year later, however, at that time, for a large active congregation one would expect obvious tensions to have been noted and discussed. We found none. In 2009, by all outward appearances the church was thriving, content and growing.
To the surprise of the congregation, in August 2010 it was decided that Pastor Grider would take a paid leave of absence. The congregation was shocked and hurt by this announcement. Pastor Grider did not deliver the message himself and apparently there was more than one version of why he was taking this leave. My attempt to listen to any of the recorded sermons from the website revealed that such announcements were either not recorded or edited from the audio (video) that is available on the website. For example the audio sermon for August 22, 2010 is not available at all. The worship video for that date is available but the video sermon along with many prior to September 2010 are not available.
To quell the public questioning that erupted on Facebook, Pastor Adcock made the following statement on the Beach Church Fan Page:
A word of clarity and encouragement: if you have questions concerning the announcement on Sunday, I would again ask you to take a moment and pray, then view what was communicated online at beachchurch.org. We spoke about where we are as a leadership team and the specific reason why Dan was not with us was because he was in Wisconsin beginning his journey towards healing in areas that he specifically shared with us. If you have any further questions please contact the staff directly. This fan page is not intended for the purpose of creating dissension or division, and I hope that in the midst of this difficult time we would at all costs protect the body of Christ and remain prayerful.
Note the use of leadership team in lieu of elder board at this time. The copy of the bylaws that were in effect at that time had no mention of a leadership team. There was an Elder Team which consisted of the Senior Pastor and “other leadership-gifted members of the church”. The Elder Team in this case is the equivalent of the Elder Board (Board of Elders, any one of the three versions are acceptable uses and used interchangeably among various Baptist churches). Elder selection requires notification of the congregation. The congregation then has 30 days to approve or disapprove within biblical doctrine if the proposed member(s) are qualified. In short, the church's by-laws require an elder be put before the congregation for a vote. The Elder Team chooses the pastoral staff, ministry directors and other employees.
Throughout the months following Pastor Grider’s sabbatical congregation members asked when he would be returning to the pulpit. Those questions were never answered on Facebook. A change in the Elder Team was made in the beginning of November 2010. The Elder Team had previously been disbanded as was the board of directors, according to an anonymous source. With the creation of the Point Team, the church was no longer operating under its own by-laws as of 2009. Long time church member and fellow business associate Scott Pyle was added to what was called the Point Team as of 2009. Former members have stated publicly that neither Scott Pyle nor the point team was ever voted on by the church body as a whole.
We are attaching a PDF of the church’s by-laws here for your review. It is clear that there is no place in the by-laws for the appointment of such a group in replacing the elder structure without a full church vote. Sources continue to tell us that no such vote ever occurred.
With the news of Dan’s sabbatical the congregation was left confused and shocked, as he was very popular among the congregation.
Facebook was alive with questions as to why the announcement was made via the church website and Facebook, why the congregation was unaware of what was going on and what could have possibly happened that caused pastor Grider to be removed? Several members who questioned the validity of the process were asked to leave the church, according to now former congregation members’ testimonies as well as public posts made on the church’s own Facebook page during that period.
A letter was soon posted on the church's website entitled “Elder Decision” and dated November 10, 2010. In that letter titled “Elder Decision”, the newly elected elders, lead by Dr. Jim Graham stated that they had followed a process put in place by the previous elder board, that they reviewed the process, “evaluated openly” and arrived at this decision. The decision they chose was to fire the lead pastor.
There was no definition in the bylaws about the rights and responsibilities of the Point Team, whose members included Dan Grider (he was until that point still Senior Pastor), Damon Adcock, Craig Cheney, Gordon Thorne, Bobby Findley and Scott Pyle. Some questions arose among the congregation including: Exactly who were the members of the previous elder board mentioned in the Elder Decision letter? Was it “ the point team" or the legal board that was in place before the point team was created? One former legal elder, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that the former legal elder board had nothing to do with this process.
Had this process truly been done openly?... as the Elder Decision Letter stated. If so, would the outcry against Pastor Grider’s firing been quite so shocking, so loud, or caused such a community wide disturbance?
In an attempt to gain more insight from those who were directly involved I personally made attempts to contact past and current members through Facebook, email and publicly available names and phone numbers. The first group I contacted were the new elders of Beach Church as well as the current pastoral team. The question I asked was one I felt lacked any form of controversy:
In reading the Beach Church website I noted that a letter, dated November 10th, 2010, said the previous elders put a process in place that lead to the firing of Dan Grider. Who were those elders?
While I have made ongoing calls, emails, and Facebook emails to the list below over the past few weeks, these leaders have yet to respond by any available method of communication.
- Gordon Thorne – Current Elder (has been an elder through the 3 previous transitions)
- Keith Hope – Current Elder
- Paul Cranford – Current Elder
- Carl Becker – Current Elder
- Scott Moore – Current Elder
- Dr. Jim Graham – Current Elder
- Craig Cheney – Executive Pastor
- Damon Adcock – Worship and Creative Arts Pastor
- Debbie Brewer – Ministry Assistant
- Shawn Norton – Celebrate Recovery
- Linda Stapleton – Care Director
- Tom Merrell – Former Elder
- Mark Duncan Talbot – Former Elder
Former members who left under duress or with admitted broken hearts have been more than willing to discuss what happened from their view point but they have requested that we keep their names confidential as the Pyles have chosen to sue Myrtle-Beach.com and its writers for reporting this story.
Questions that members and previous members have asked include:
- On what grounds was Dan Grider dismissed? Why was he fired?
- Did the business relationship between Scott and Pamela Pyle, Damon Adcock and Craig Cheney have any influence in the removing of Dan Grider from his position?
- As rumored, was Dan Grider required to sign a non-compete with Beach Church? Basically a promise not to head or start another church in Myrtle Beach?
- If there is a non-compete in place, why would a church institute such a policy?
Scott Pyle and his wife, Pamela, have sued Myrtle-Beach.com and its writers for defamation, invasion of privacy, and interference with business relationships as it relates to our previous articles concerning their part in this church split. Scott Pyle also claims to have been threatened, at a red light, at the intersection of Joe White and Bob Grissom on September 6, 2011 by one of the owners of Myrtle-Beach.com.
While most church members have since found new church homes, the hurt of this split still affects the community and questions continue to linger on what exactly happened. A looming, public court case may put sunlight on unanswered questions and hopefully lead to some form of healing. As for now, current church leadership has put a tight lid on any communications with us or any other members of the press.
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