The following is posted as requested by a previous Madison Street member, the post is lengthy but well worth the read.
The Background
Chad Everson came to Madison Street Baptist Church around Easter of 2004. The Personnel Committee had been given referrals by men such as John Sullivan, Herb Revis, and Rick Coram, men who MSBC had given place to on many occasions. Unfortunately, hearing the testimony of these men had really been the only research done concerning the past of this man who also allegedly held a doctorate degree from a reputable seminary. Now we know this was fraudulent as well.
Chad brought on Jeff Summers within a year. Jeff was supposedly a visionary children’s pastor who had been with him in Georgia. Our church started an Upward Soccer ministry and brought a great many families out to enjoy the sport and to hear the Gospel. Unfortunately, this ministry also gave Chad an outlet for his very competitive attitude and arrogant behavior. Many people experienced this through interactions with Chad and Jeff. These two were responsible for dozens of families, due to those experiences, who refused to visit or continue to attend MSBC.
Blindly over the first couple of years, many of us sat there and watched dozens of families leave the church. Later we found, that we were lied to as to why some left when we asked about them. We expected some turnover, but what we didn’t know, was the truth of why these people were leaving. Some left due to the way Chad and Jarrod were spending money with no accountability. Some left because of an interaction they had with Chad and then heard about it from the pulpit. Several were told if you don’t like it, then leave. Many of them should have said something about the arrogance, the unilateral financial decisions, and the mean-spirited attitudes. They would simply leave and say that God was calling them elsewhere. That may have been true; however, this merely left many there that would inevitably come to doubt their own relationships with Christ because of the arrogance and deceptive actions from leadership. Many began to get a sense that something was wrong but focused the doubt on their own selves instead of on leadership. It simply caused great confusion among the congregation.
For three years, many toiled with their shoulders to the wheel really not paying attention to what was going on behind the scenes as we thought God’s work was still being done despite the doubt and confusion running rampant throughout the church. All along, under the guise of deception, Chad had gained total control of the church through the by-laws, through the teaching of Calvinism in the kindler’s group, and through Jarrod’s choices of Sunday school curriculum, which in most cases was not much more than quotes from some of the most extreme hyper-Calvinists. The kindler’s group was a group of men that met with Chad and Jarrod once a week for what was supposed to be a deeper study in God’s Word. It apparently turned in to a lesson on Calvinism and in my opinion, a way for Chad to slowly push his false doctrine and ultimate authority. Also, unknown by many was that Jeff Stockdale, the youth pastor, was teaching Calvinism secretively as well.
The DemiseThe new Family Life Center opened in 2006, and from day one it was a fiasco. During the first service, it took almost two hours for families to check their children in to the nursery. Chad had invited a few folks from the church’s past including prior pastors, to the ceremony and then “forgot” to acknowledge them or to utilize them to pray or speak. In my opinion, this simply further reflects his arrogant attitude. The rules established for the use of the facilities were built around convenience for Chad, Jarrod, and their clicks. The rules almost made it impossible to use the facilities for families to work out together. For example, men and women working out together was prohibited. If you complained or offered suggestions, you were accused of being negative and not being loyal to leadership. You were accused of and talked about having a bad attitude supposedly due to not getting your way. You were labeled a troublemaker and a target was placed on you as one to watch and keep in check.
In February of 2007, a certain young deacon, Andy, had come to the conclusion that he was going to have to divorce his wife. He submitted in writing to Chad his resignation as a deacon and a member of MSBC. That resignation started a war behind the scenes that only a select few were aware of. As this is going on, around May of that year, there were several members of MSBC that received a letter allegedly from Jarrod’s previous church, stating that he had been caught viewing pornography on several church computers and pointed people to a website that told the story.
So, Chad decides to address these two things from the pulpit. He announces one week that a crazy guy at his dad’s church is out to get Jarrod and is spreading viscous lies about his family and that is what the letters were about. He also decided to bring Andy’s name before the church to let us know that he was under church discipline because he had abandoned his wife, some three months after he had resigned and moved his letter to another church. These announcements from the pulpit went over the majority of people’s heads and were disregarded by most. However, it caused some to further research and dig into the pasts of these men.
It was discovered that there had been a large sum of money allegedly stolen from Chad’s church, Day Spring Baptist, in Byron, GA, now Shady Grove Baptist Church. Chad was the pastor at the time of the alleged theft and had been advised to report the person responsible for the stolen money, however, as of this writing, to my knowledge, it has still not been reported to the proper authorities. It was also found to be true that Jarrod had in fact been caught viewing pornography on church computers at Pray’s Mill Baptist Church. Chad allegedly knew about it and had not informed our Deacon Board. Once it was truly fleshed out, it was apparent that there was great inconsistency with how Jarrod’s issue had been dealt with and how Mike and Chad Everson dealt with others and their issues within their churches. These men wanted to throw others out of the church; however, they forgot the story about the plank and the speck from the Bible.
It was known among a few of the deacons that in September of 2007, Chad was going to once again bring up Andy’s name to remove him from the church role. Thirty-five or so men met with Andy days before this was done. He sat and poured out his heart as he accounted the story of how he had been treated by Chad and others he thought were friends, and how he had been lied about and pursued by Chad and his followers, especially Adam who was supposed to be a really good friend of Andy. Many of these men were hearing the story for the first time. This young man had literally been through hell over the last year. When asked why Chad was pursuing him as such, he simply responded that he did not know. He said that Chad would not accept his resignation, and that he had to repent to Chad and take his wife back in order to make it right in Chad’s eyes.
The Christian Law Association was contacted by one of the trustees and was told that we as a church had no standing in this man’s life anymore. He had resigned. When the lawyer was told that the pastor would not accept his resignation, his response was, “So what, no matter, he is no longer a member. This pastor is setting your church up for a law suit.”
The Confrontation
Ironically, many in the church did not know but Andy had already moved his membership to another church. Even though Chad knew this, one Sunday night towards the end of August, Chad was warned by, Mark, the Chairman of the Deacons, in front of another deacon that if he went though with throwing this man out of the church, that he was going to cause people to leave. Chad responded, “I don’t care if two or two hundred leave, I’m doing this.” Well that fateful Sunday night came, September 2, 2007 was set for the ousting of Andy. A deacon’s meeting was held prior to the service that night.
I am not sure why Adam was there because he was not an active deacon at the time, but he was, other than that it was the active deacons and Chad. Chad got some resistance from several of the deacons. Two got mad enough during the meeting to leave before it ended. Once the meeting was over, the service started. It was very evident that Chad was shaken that night as he stumbled through his sermon and cut it short as he was done in a record thirty minutes or so when his sermons would typically run an hour or better.
He finished his sermon and began the announcements. Just before he closed, he stated that he had met with the deacons and based on a “unanimous decision”, which was a lie, that they were going to remove Andy from the role because he had been under church discipline for abandoning his wife and that we should as a church pray for him and reach out to him with the Gospel. Billy tried to ask a question and was not allowed to speak. Chad interrupted him and closed in prayer.
The melee ensued from there. Billy met Chad at the front, got in Chad’s face, and said something, but Chad walked away. Billy yelled, “There you go, that’s what you get, he doesn’t want to talk about it.” Several men including Jeff Stockdale and Jeff Summers, the children’s pastor, grabbed Billy at that point, but he pulled away and left the building. Chad had several more face to face encounters with others questioning his motives for his actions before he could escape the sanctuary that night.
As Billy and his wife were exiting the building, Jeff Summers and Jeff Stockdale physically put their hands on them and whirled them around. This led to Billy and several other men having a very heated exchange with Jeff Summers and Jeff Stockdale right outside the front door of the church that night. As the confrontation was ending, both Jeff’s were asked if either of them had talked with Andy, both answered, “No.” Stockdale made the remark, “He didn’t even know Andy and that there is a lot going on that you don’t know about.” Several of the men responded with, “Then let’s get it out in the open.” Jeff Summers just kept screaming, “You’re crazy!” He finally walked off claiming that Andy had cussed his wife like a sailor.
The Follow Up
The next day, the Florida Baptist Convention was lobbied for assistance. Robert Mounts and John Sullivan received a fax asking for assistance, signed by a dozen or so MSBC deacons, Sunday school teachers, and trustees. It was rumored as the week rocked on that during the Wednesday night service, Chad was going to get it all out in the open and allow for questions to be asked. Well what happened was a staged Emmy winning performance. He cried and claimed that his wife was on chemo. He never addressed the issues; he just cried and carried on like he was the victim and people were just out to get him. He then allowed several men to speak. However they were all just Chad followers. The truth about the doug pittman site was never revealed. He never addressed him covering up Jarrod’s porn viewing from the church before bringing him on board. He didn’t even address the situation of the stolen money that he had covered up at Day Spring.
He paraded a bunch of men on to the stage with him that sat behind him as a show of support. Most of these men didn’t even have a clue what was going on. Only those that praised Chad and vowed their support to him were allowed to speak including Charles Warren who many of us thought was truly a man of God. Chad received several standing ovations during his performance by a majority of the church. Again, most of the crowd that was there had no idea what had happened the previous Sunday night or about any of the details surrounding these issues. The previous Sunday had been Labor Day Weekend so the attendance had been very low. I think this performance was his attempt at a confidence vote.
After that Wednesday night, many families left MSBC. Chad may have been prophetic after all in that two hundred may have very well been the number of people that left in the first wave. The following Friday, the response from John Sullivan was that he had contacted Chad and was told everything was ok. Chad’s arrogance, false accusations, and bashing of “those people” continues to this day.
More and more people left during 2008. Jeff Carter, a youth pastor brought in by Chad, was arrested on lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor in November of 2008. The details of how Chad and Jeff Summers dealt with the fallout from Carter being caught is just now coming out, but believe me, they were both real jerks to that family about that situation long before the police got involved. They both knew about it back in the Summer of 2008; Carter was arrested in November. This family is still in turmoil over how Chad and Jeff treated them and handled the situation. Chad had mentioned from the pulpit that he had a staff member at a previous church that had been accused of raping a girl, and that he had gotten to the bottom of it. Allegedly, she later admitted after being counseled by Chad that she had lied about the incident. Jeff Carter did serve with Chad at Day Spring Baptist Church. Makes you wonder why Chad even brought him to MSBC in the first place. Carter was recently sentenced to 5 years of probation with sex offender conditions, but stay tuned, because that issue may not be over.
In January of 2009, as most people now know, Chad finally resigned only after receiving the call to Trinity Baptist Church in Southaven, MS. His reasoning was that the Starke community was just too evil and his ministry could no longer be effective. Here I thought Christians, and especially pastors, were called to be lights in dark places. I guess they don’t have to practice what they preach. Several of “those people” that had left MSBC were contacted by members of Trinity, but unfortunately, none of the leadership at Trinity took heed.
Chad is apparently doing the same thing at Trinity that he has done at his two previous churches. In my opinion, he is a destructive force that is tearing up churches in the name of doctrine and his own agenda. May God have mercy on him and his followers when they stand before Him.
