Aaron Coe Responds
On
Feb 17th we introduced our readers to Aaron Coe, a VP at NAMB and for all practical purposes Kevin Ezell's point man for distributing millions of dollars of NAMB funds to new church plants. We followed up with an article on
April 14th about the church Aaron planted in New York City before he went to work for NAMB.
On April 25, Aaron
responded in a comment and rather than leave his remarks buried in the comments section we felt we should call attention to them here. Aaron said,
Hi Charles
Your post is very interesting. However, I wish you'd checked your facts with me.
First, I've never been affiliated with A29.
Second,
in 2008 Gallery Church in NYC planted three, new, autonomous churches.
To which we sent at least two dozen people to get them started. As of
today,the 4 churches have an attendance of over 1200 and baptize dozens
per year. Unfortunately you don't get the full picture of our work in
NYC by just looking at one ACP profile.
Thanks for your prayers
To which
I responded in a comment on May 3rd to Aaron,
Aaron, Hello!
What are the names of the other three churches?
Charles
We look forward to hearing from Aaron again.
Charles
Labels: Aaron Coe, Calvinist, Gallery Church, NAMB, North American Mission Board, SBC, Southern Baptist Convention
Update on Aaron Coe's Gallery Church
On February 17th, we introduced you to North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell's right hand man,
Aaron Coe. Aaron came to NAMB from planting and pastoring The Gallery Church in New York City. Since Aaron is responsible for distributing millions of dollars of Southern Baptist money to NAMB church plants around the country one would hope that he was someone who could not only plant but
grow a church. As a good steward of Southern Baptist money President Ezell would want that kind of experience, right?
No, not Kevin. In our article, we showed you Aaron's less-than-stellar performance as a church planter and pastor. We linked to article after article describing the free help and resources that Aaron received. From Kevin Ezell's church, to NAMB money and personnel, to mission trip volunteers from other churches, Coe's Gallery Church received what seemed to be a nearly unlimited amount of help and resources. Yet year after year under Coe's leadership the church declined.
Yes dear readers, this is the man Kevin Ezell selected to distribute Southern Baptist money to church plants. Now I know what you're thinking. Charles, you say, maybe Kevin was seduced by Southern Seminary's
slick video interviews with Aaron that attempted to show him as one of their success stories. No, that's not it. Kevin knew Aaron and even claimed credit for helping to plant The Gallery Church. (Note to Southern: You might want to pull those now embarrassing videos.)
So what's up with Gallery Church these days? After Aaron's departure, the church is now pastored by Freddy T. Wyatt. Like Aaron, Freddy is
Deformed Reformed in his theology. Last year the church
downsized to one worship service and only a few months ago the New York Times reported that the church had
around 100 members. This is sad considering the "lostness" in America's largest city and especially considering the vast resources that NAMB and others have poured into the church for years.
Like most Southern Seminary graduates, Freddy's hero's are not Southern Baptist pastors and evangelists who are proven soul winners. In one of his
blog entries Freddy wrote:
I first heard John Piper preach, and first read a few of his books in 1998. His sermons and books became and still are water for my soul. Piper’s personal ministry (which is really the overflow of his preaching ministry) is Desiring God. Desiring God recently began to interview pastors and I really enjoyed this one of Tim Keller. Keller planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church here in Manhattan 21 years ago. Most young planters like myself have gleaned much wisdom from Keller.
Note to Freddy: You can do better. Start by forgetting everything those "regeneration before faith" Southern professors taught you about growing a church. It's not working!
Freddy also serves as the
director of Southern Seminary's extension program in NYC and I'm sure the extra income is a help to him and his family. And NAMB? Don't you know they're still involved! (At what point do they quit pouring money into a black hole?) The church has a business administrator who "is officially employed by the Gallery Church
through an internship program with the North American Mission Board." All this for a church of 100 members. I kid you not.
When Kevin Ezell tells you about all the church planting that NAMB is doing, ask him how much time and money he has in The Gallery Church. Then duck.
Charles
Labels: Aaron Coe, Gallery Church, Kevin Ezell, NAMB, North American Mission Board, SBTS, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Who Is NAMB's Aaron Coe?
Who is Aaron Coe?
He's the Vice President of Mobilization at the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. He reports directly to NAMB's President Kevin "
The Annie Armstrong offering is not important" Ezell. An April 2011 report in SBC Life listed him as having reached the
ripe old age of 34.
Based on our sources at NAMB,
The Calvinist Flyswatter can now report that Coe is the
point man for distributing millions of dollars of SBC money to NAMB's church plants throughout the USA.
What is Coe's qualifications that Ezell would task him to distribute millions of dollars from SBC churches?
Media outlets have described Cole as an "
innovative leader with a vision" who planted
The Gallery Church in New York City. The church was launched in 2006 "
by a team ... at the North American Mission Board, in partnership with NAMB's 'New Hope New York' strategic focus initiative." In other words, NAMB pumped a lot of money into starting this church with Coe as the founding pastor.
In 2006, the Baptist Press reported on Coe's efforts to recruit "
college students from across the nation to spend a year in New York taking Christian leadership classes and doing ministry in churches across the metro New York area. The program originally was an initiative of Southern Baptists’ North American Mission Board under its New Hope New York emphasis before moving to The Gallery Church." Coe appeared to be successful in mobilizing college students to come to the Gallery Church and help them in their work.
In addition to college students, various churches sent workers to New York to help Coe and his NAMB-funded church (see, for example,
here). In one instance, "Gallery members were scattered among more than 40 ministry sites... Among the most grateful were the health clinics that strive to test residents for HIV/AIDS. Coe said
he and other members determined the clinics were ideal places for the volunteers to offer their services."
So the Gallery Church was started by Coe with NAMB's money. Under Coe's leadership, it received free college student labor and free church volunteer labor for years. With all those resources, one would think The Gallery Church would be a model of NAMB's church planting efforts, right? For Kevin Ezell to give him such a high position at NAMB, Aaron Coe must be the next Rick Warren, right?
You be the judge.
SBC Tomorrow recently provided some information on Coe and the profile of him as an "
innovative leader with a vision" is not good.
A commenter on
SBC Tomorrow writes the following:
Likewise, Aaron Coe, NAMB’s new VP for mobilization, was hailed as "a gifted strategist [who] has demonstrated his mobilization effectiveness through his work in New York City" http://bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=34629, and identified as “a leader among young Southern Baptists for many years,” http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=34606, despite leading a declining Acts 29 church plant. Here are the ACP numbers for Gallery Church in Manhattan while under Coe’s leadership:
2007
Worship attendance 190
Baptisms 14
2008
Worship attendance 125
Baptisms 3
2009
Worship attendance 120
Baptisms 8
2010
Worship attendance 100
Baptisms 6
In other words, Coe is a
Deformed Reformed, Acts 29, born-again-before-faith young Calvinist who was good at taking the money and labor from godly SBC churches and then squandered it by planting a Calvinist church which
greatly declined under his leadership. Look at the numbers. All that money. All that volunteer labor. All in the most populated city in America.
Amazing, isn't it?
Oh, one other thing. When Kevin Ezell was pastor of Highview Baptist Church, it "
partnered" with the planting of The Gallery Church.
Now we have more proof of the type of churches that Kevin Ezell wants to plant and the leader he has selected to give millions of dollars of our money to plant them.
Aaron Coe. Get to know him. Get to know Kevin Ezell. Then pray hard for NAMB. Really hard.
Charles
Labels: Aaron Coe, Calvinist, Ed Stetzer, Gallery Church, Kevin Ezell, LifeWay, NAMB, North American Mission Board, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
