After 40 years, ‘megachurch’ pastor slams Christianity
By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, May 07, 2019
Former Pastor Dave Gass during his preaching days at Grace Family Fellowship Church in Pleasant Hill, Mo. | Instagram
Dave Gass, a former megachurch pastor who most recently led Grace Family Fellowship in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, has renounced his Christian faith as a system rife with abuse that caused him “mental and emotional breaks.”
A representative from his former church, however, has accused him of being an unrepentant adulterer.
Gass reportedly first made his announcement in a series of now protected tweets but not before they were copied and shared (* – p. 4) across multiple social media platforms.
“After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making,” he began in the thread before moving on to compare Scripture to Greek mythology.
“When I was in 8th grade and I was reading Greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away,” he said.
He explained how he was raised in a “hyper-fundamentalist” Christian home where Christianity “didn’t work. The promises were empty. The answers were lies.”
Even so, he grew up to be a devout Christian who rarely missed church or failed to study Scripture.
“I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.
None of it, however, helped his marriage.
“As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said.
He went on to discuss how miserable his life eventually became as his expectations, including experiencing the supernatural failed to match up with the reality he was experiencing.
“An inescapable reality that I came to was that the people who benefited the most from organized religion were the fringe attenders who didn’t take it too seriously. The people who were devout were the most miserable, but just kept trying harder,” he said.
“… The entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just sh*tty to each other,” he continued. “I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.”
He said he struggled so much with his church experience it began to affect his mental and ultimately physical health.
“This massive cognitive dissonance – my beliefs not matching with reality – created a separation between my head and my heart. I was gas lighting myself to stay in the faith. Eventually I could not maintain the facade anymore, I started to have mental and emotional breaks. My internal stress started to show in physical symptoms. Being a pastor – a professional Christian – was killing me,” Gass revealed.
To save himself, he said, he chose to walk away from the church.
“Eventually I pulled the lever and dropped the bomb. Career, marriage, family, social standing, network, reputation, all gone in an instant. And honestly I didn’t intend to fully walk away, but the way the church turned on me forced me to leave permanently,” he said.
He apologized to his former followers and said he still loves those who choose to dismiss him as an “apostate.”
“For those of you who want to yell at me, that’s fine. I know that many will call me an apostate, say I was never really saved, that I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that a hotter hell awaits me. And to you I say I love you. My heart is tender toward you,” he said.
“To those who have been in my congregations or under my teaching/preaching I sincerely apologize. I thought I was right. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I could fake it until I made it. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I love you,” he added.
Justin Thuttle, a deacon at Grace Family Fellowship Church, claimed on Twitter that Gass was not entirely forthcoming about his faith journey and branded him an unrepentant sinner.
“Yes, he was my pastor when he ‘walked away’. He actually just slept with a married women (sic) in the church and got caught. He never repented and they still live together,” he wrote in a tweet last Thursday.
“Last year all the information came to light. The affair happened for almost a year before it was uncovered. So the whole, ‘I did everything right in my marriage’ part was kinda funny until I saw how many people liked his story,” he said.
The Christian Post reached out to the church for further comment Tuesday and a representative who asked to speak anonymously said Thuttle’s response is accurate.
“Justin’s input is accurate. I would only add that, to our knowledge, none of the churches where Gass was on staff were megachurches. And after he resigned, he cut off all communications with anyone from Grace Family Fellowship,” the representative said.
(*) Heartbreaking twitter thread by ex pastor (start pasted into comments)
twitter.com/DaveGa…
Posted by Atheist, u/MHaroldPage
https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/bjj2el/heartbreaking_twitter_thread_by_ex_pastor_start/?depth=1
7 days ago
For those who hate the Twitter format
I’m not a Christian anymore: a thread. After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making.
When I was in 8th grade and I was reading greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away.
I was raised in a hyper-fundamentalist family, and it felt good to be in a system that promised all the answer and solutions to life. The problem is, the system didn’t work. The promises were empty. The answers were lies
As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be
I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away.
I devoured all the “christian apologetics” books that came out, and none of them answered my questions regarding the nature of god and the problems I found within the Scriptures. I found these books to be trite, dismissive, and full of pseudo science and evidence.
The more I read and studied the scriptures the more questions I had. Literally from the first chapter to the last, so many problems. And the more I learned about how the scriptures were canonized, the less I could believe in the “inerrancy” model that I had to espouse.
In 40 years I never witnessed a single event that was supernatural. Not one. Time and again I watched people die of cancer. I did funerals for 47 people from the age of 4 to 96. I prayed in faith with hundreds of people for healing to no avail. god didn’t answer prayers
My devoutly christian parents were abusive, my marriage was a sham, prayer was never answered, miracles were never performed. People died, children rebelled, marriages failed, addictions occurred – all at the same rate as non believers. The system just doesn’t work.
I pastored mega churches & tiny churches. I did college ministry, camp ministry, youth ministry, music ministry, preaching ministry, church planting – everything in the church except work in the nursery. And what I saw was people desperate for the system to work for them.
thousands of teenagers at a time, wrote blogs, was published, formed curriculum, taught workshops, was an up-and-comer reforming my denomination. The whole time hoping at some point it would click, and become true for me.
An inescapable reality that I came to was that the people who benefited the most from organized religion were the fringe attenders who didn’t take it too seriously. The people who were devout were the most miserable, but just kept trying harder.
All the while, the experience I had within the church was that a lot (granted, not all) people use the church for power and influence. Many involved people in churches use it as their small kingdom for personal control and ego.
And the entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just shitty to each other.
I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.
This massive cognitive dissonance – my beliefs not matching with reality – created a separation between my head and my heart. I was gaslighting myself to stay in the faith.
Eventually I could not maintain the facade anymore, I started to have mental and emotional breaks. My internal stress started to show in physical symptoms. Being a pastor – a professional Christian – was killing me.
During this time I also found something amazing: I found a handful of people who were more Christian than any Christian I had ever met – and they weren’t Christian. I found love in places where love wasn’t supposed to exist. I found acceptance among people who were godless.
Eventually I could not maintain the facade anymore, I started to have mental and emotional breaks. My internal stress started to show in physical symptoms. Being a pastor – a professional Christian – was killing me.
During this time I also found something amazing: I found a handful of people who were more Christian than any Christian I had ever met – and they weren’t Christian. I found love in places where love wasn’t supposed to exist. I found acceptance among people who were godless.
I learned that love is real. That acceptance is possible. That life is vibrant and full. But the church burdens people with fear, shame, and guilt, all for the purpose of maintaining control. I now see the church as a system perfectly curated to control people and culture.
I was a part of a system that enslaves people, and I was both a slave and a slave driver. We called chains freedom, and misery happiness. We had impossible standards that we could not meet so we turned the attention on others so the spotlight wasn’t on our own inadequacies.
Eventually I pulled the lever and dropped the bomb. Career, marriage, family, social standing, network, reputation, all gone in an instant. And honestly I didn’t intend to fully walk away, but the way the church turned on me forced me to leave permanently.
For those of you who want to yell at me, that’s fine. I know that many will call me an apostate, say I was never really saved, that I was a wolf in sheeps clothing, and that a hotter hell awaits me. And to you I say I love you. My heart is tender toward you.
To those who have been in my congregations or under my teaching/preaching I sincerely apologize. I thought I was right. I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I could fake it until I made it. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I love you.
I have lost everything. I gave literally everything to serving Jesus. And walking away has cost me everything. All I can hope for is that the second half of my life can be full of love and genuine human relationships. I was wrong. I’m not faking anymore
Continue this thread
level 1
Rationalist
BitchspotBlog
11 points · 7 days ago
Why is that heartbreaking? I’d say it’s good news.
Continue this thread
level 1
Ambitious_Dust
4 points · 7 days ago
We had impossible standards that we could not meet so we turned the attention on others so the spotlight wasn’t on our own inadequacies.
The whole thing really was heartbreaking (although, also really hopeful), but this part resonated with me more than I expected. I think this is part of learning how to gaslight yourself – constant judging, constantly falling short. How can it not be? It really is impossible standards seriously expected to be strived for, even if they can’t be met perfectly, any deviation is a checkmark under “bad me.”
level 1
Atheist
Wilfred_the_Hairy
4 points · 7 days ago
Interesting read. I’m not sure what he means by church leaders being abused by congregants though. As bad as they might have it, being a leader must beat being a follower.
The replies contain lots of “you were never a real Christian” and “join my other totally real flavor of Christianity” but that’s typical.
Continue this thread
level 1
jfreakingwho
2 points · 7 days ago
The suck is the ‘feeling lonely’ part b/c you now think differently—it’s religious thought crime.
level 1
hoipalloi52
2 points · 6 days ago
I call bullshit. What gives this guy special status? Because he was fooled for years and he ate that shit up but now he feels bad because he was caught with his pants around his ankles? Fuck him.
Continue this thread
level 1
Atheist
MHaroldPage
2 points · 7 days ago
Dave Gass posted:
I ’m not a Christian anymore: a thread. After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making. 1/
When I was in 8th grade and I was reading greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away. 2/
You really have to click through to read the rest on twitter.
level 1
Adaoma
1 point · 5 days ago
The entire purpose of God for us is to know Him. When we know Him who sacrificed His life on the cross as the perfect Lam of God as a substitute for us, to save us from the wrath of God, we will serve God wt a thankful heart. In the days of Noah, He dr9wned the Earth wt flood but bc Noah knew God personaly and walked wt Him, God confided in him that he would destroy the earth bc man has corrupted His Earth. Noah tried to wRn pple but they never believed until it happened. God has spoken thru eternity again that this present earth is abt to be rolled away wt great noise but like Noahs ark, He made a provision for our escape. There is df bw reading or studying Bible and kn9wing the plan and mind of God for His creation. His whole purpose is to reztore the Earth to its original purpose as it was in the garden of eden so that His Glory again will cover the Earth and He will.dwell.wt uson Earth as in the days of Moses in the wilderness tabernacle, David’s tabernacle and Solomon’s Temple when pple saw His Glory. We do not serve God as a religion, but as a Father who knows us, loves us and has by Himself provided for us the Lamb of Sacrifice in Christ. He is our Father, Friend…and everything. My marriage also failed and I have thru much in the ministry but like Paul we rejoice in all things and press on to know Him in fulness. Paul lost everything and at the end of hife life was beheaded. Prophet Jeremiah was killed, Isaiah sawn asunder. The LORD Jesus said that in this world we will suffer tribulation but we are to be of good cheer for He has overcome the world. God promised us rest. The battle is for the soul of man and Earth. Satan want to take the entire human race down to the lake of fire wt him.He turns man against man and against God. He afflicts the pple of God to discourage us. Be of good cheer for the LORD Jesus has overcome the word. He paid the to regain both man and earth wt His Blood. Perfect ood of God. To understand what the LORD Jesus did for us you need to study the Aaronuc sacrificial system which was performed daily for the sins of the pple. Jesus paid the price once and for all and gsve us His righteousness as a gift. God justies you as righteous and perfect bc u come to Him in the name of the LORD Jesus. That’s why we approach Him wt thanksgiving in our hearts and praises. Church is not religion. It’s a personal relationship wt our Father. We now approach Him, fall at His feet and pour our hearts to Him bc Jezus opened the veil for us to reach Him. As for death, healing…we know that nothing can seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Neither death life tribulation…can seperate us. God answers prayers. You might uave pastored a mega Church but you need to retreat and spend quality time wt God to reveal Himself to you. When Elijah was on the mountain of God, he found out that God was not in the earthquake, wind, fire; he patiently waited. The LORD spoke to him in a still small voice. You need that still small voice to encounter Him again. True healing comes from Him. You have no clue as to what I’ve been thru but in all these things. I refused to give up.on God. It is written that the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back, I will not have pleasure in Him. Its unfortunate that while Christ birthed the Church wt His nail pierced hands, feet sides and cruel death on the cross, some pple make His gospel a Prosperity gospel. He said that we shall suffer many things for His name sake. Early Apostles suffered and early Church. Many of them were fed to lions. Peter was crucified upside down. Let us not he hasty to walm away from God bc Jesus is ur o ly Salvation. Think of Earthquakes, wild fires…how much more lake of fire forever. Pls get hold of the LORD Jesus, He still loves you and will never give up on you. Return to Him. Seek Him seek to know Him. Blezsings Pastor Dave & others .
I wrote a book titled: God Hears, God Answers. I wrote it at very desperate time. It’s borne out of great experience. You will be encouraged.
Continue this thread
level 1
ahora
1 point · 13 hours ago
The most people go to hell, the most valuable heaven and salvation is for those who are saved.
level 1
tnlady73
1 point · 12 hours ago
We make Jesus in our own image, not the other way around. That way we can excuse all matter of sin against others. The Bible was written by man for man. There is a verse or more in the both the old and new testaments that excuses every sin we commit. And so we state that taking babies from their mothers at the border is fine, or executing people for their sins, or hating people because of their color or sexual choice-which they have no control over, that women ask, by their actions, to be raped, or any number of other beliefs. GOD IS LOVE. If you love, you have God in you. If you have not love, you are empty shell.
Recent Comments