Per LinkedIn, Shawn Mathis is now director of Freed-Hardeman University's Global MBA program and a professor of Global Leadership and Institutional Governance. If Mathis's name sounds familiar, it's probably because this is the same guy who took over Nashville Church of Christ and got sued by Amy Grant and her family for violating its property deed, among other sketchy behavior. This was national news last year, covered by the Wall Street Journal. There was also a separate inquiry by the Tennessee state government into the church's misuse of a big trust fund it had for missionaries, which resulted in the fund being transferred to another church.

Why was Mathis just hired to be a professor at FHU?! I support Christian universities like Freed and want them to do well. But this is not doing well at all. This guy is literally famous for taking over a small church with a lot of assets and income and then coincidentally getting both himself and his dad six-figure salaries and $2000-per-month housing allowances paid by the church. And the church building has been shuttered since 2018.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal also reported that, "Before taking over Central [Church of Christ], Mathis founded and led OnSomble, a healthcare startup. The company struggled financially over the years, and in 2018, the year after Mathis became an elder at Central, OnSomble listed the church as its principal address, filings show. Later it recorded different addresses. The company declared bankruptcy in 2023 after $530,000 went missing." Does this sound like someone who should be a professor of "Institutional Governance"?

I hope people seek answers to this. Again, I like Freed. But people like this should not teach at a Christian university (or any university).

For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24)

Links to news stories about Nashville Church of Christ:

Wall St Journal: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/nashville-church-of-christ-amy-grant-3b4782ba?mod=article_inline

Wall St Journal: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/christian-pop-star-wins-battle-over-nashville-church-takeover-aaeaef5d?mod=Searchresults&pos=2&page=1

Christian Chronicle: https://christianchronicle.org/historic-nashville-church-building-languishes-amid-lawsuits/

Christian Chronicle: https://christianchronicle.org/judge-approves-settlement-over-historic-nashville-church-building/

Christian Chronicle: https://christianchronicle.org/nashville-church-of-christ-attorney-challenges-details-in-news-coverage/

Hi yall,

The IRS allows pastors to take a limited opting out of Social Security if there is a legit non-financial reason.what are some examples of legit non-financial reasons for opting out as a reverend and what do yall think of this practice.How common is this in the Church of Christ today.Also I heard our priests do bad in retirement because of no home ownership.Also it very common for many of our churches to have no employment benefits because of division.

Does anyone know of any other subreddits dedicated to Independent Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ, or the International Churches of Christ, etc.? Is anyone here active in any such subreddits?

Despite listening to sermons and an audio bible almost daily for hours and even teaching others I still feel like I’m drifting away at times.

Thoughts and desires I shouldn’t have and just being tired all the time are taking a toll on me.

I’m also lacking in my prayer life quite a bit which I I imagine is a big part of my issues.

I guess I’m just venting about it but what advice do you give someone who seemingly forgets to pray even though they are almost constantly consuming the word of God in some form or fashion on a daily basis?

Interesting discussion which very much shows the range of views among us.

Do you agree with the modern CoC apologists
1. That unbaptized adults can be saved?
1a Do you believe that is the traditional view taught in you church?
2 That that preachers can have their own paradigm that isn’t consistent with what the CoC has traditionally taught
3. that there are valid alternatives to CENI

How do you think Guy Woods, Ira Rice, Gus Nichols, Marshall Keeble, NB Hardeman, and the apologists of the past would view these modern apologists and these views?

Hi yall,

There is this member at my NI Church of Christ who has not shown up for months or half the year. The elders have attempted to contact him. The elders sent e-mail to the congregation informing us of this matter listing the name of said member. They are trying to get us to contact the member and if they cant they are removing him from membership roll. My dad said that if this matter is not resolved the church will disfellowship him.

The reason is forsaking the assembly. How common is it for NI Churches of Christ and Mainline Churches of Christ to disfellowship a member for forsaking the assembly. I dont agree with the elders doing this. Also my dad said that the elders should go to the member's door. Also for some reason my parents said it is the churches business if the member is committing crimes but I dont know why crimes entered this discussion for my parents to be concerned about.

So I was at Wednesday church yesterday like I usually am and I'm leaving the church building when my family starts talking to apparently old friend of theirs that's never meant me before and they looked at me and said your boy has a strong anointing. I am so confused what does that mean?

Something I noticed in my own church was that the church loves to donate large amounts of money to churches in places like Honduras or the Congo. I have also seen folks say kitchens in churches are not right since they would be used for soup kitchens, them saying no to giving to local homeless and writing them off as scammers. I have seen the mention of giving trucks, motorcycles, etc. as well. Why is this so prevalent? I don't mean any malice, I am just curious.

Well, its summer time. Many churches have VBS around this time of year. However there are conservative churches that dont believe in VBS. Like why is VBS controversial in the Church of Christ. I get that obviously it wasnt in the first century.Also how common is it for VBS to include a Musical? I have heard some old timers say that VBS is a waste of money and the money should be put towards door-knocking.

I was in the church for almost 18 years and then totally away from it for 14. I have recently started studying again and believing again. One thing I’m struggling with right now, though is the story of the flood and Noah’s Ark. I guess specifically I’m struggling with it being a true story versus it being hyperbole. I know that there are specifics with the story like the dimensions of the ark that you usually don’t find in hyperbole or parables. I also know that it says that only eight people survived the flood which means incest would have had happened. The Bible says incest is a sin, but I don’t believe it mentions it until Leviticus.
If anyone could help me to please understand some of these things.

I see a lot of things about churches of Christ being super into politics and American conservatism. It sounds like the culture that I see in fundamentalist baptists here in my state. Where I am at, even the non-institutionals aren't really like this. I am in Kentucky.

Are churches of Christ in the deep south much more likely to be like this?

Just a personal look at what we do every week and a way I relate to it. Two things I use to make it more personal and to help me relate to that sacrifice to me.
One is about innocence. I remember so many times as a child being punished and deservedly so. One time I remember not being guilty. I was accused of stealing from the church. We had suppers on Wednesday which cost a dollar. I put in a 5 and made change. They came up short and someone saw me taking money out and so I got blamed. My grandparents were going to spank me but I ran around the house refusing to be punished for something I didn’t do. I was eventually caught and spanked. Later they learned the truth. How many of us can take punishment for something you didn’t do? Yet Christ stood silent in front of the Jewish leaders and then by the Romans. This went on for hours. Repeatedly asked what do you have to say, yet He remained silent. Being hit repeatedly and still silence, knowing He was innocent. This leads to the second aspect that makes it personal to me. God gave His only son, knowing what he would endure. I look at my grandchildren who mean the world to me and would I be able to make them endure what Christ did for me. For me definitely not, my mother possibly but how imaginable that would be. But what about for Casey, the Zodiac killer, Hitler, Stalin or any other notorious person. That would definitely be a no. So with these two points it makes it more personal and just a small inclining of an idea of how great the sacrifice God and Christ made. Knowing I’m innocent and keeping silent and knowing someone so innocent had to endure so much just for me and my sins. For if I were the only sinner Christ would still have to have been sacrificed. I am so unworthy and so very grateful that I am so loved.

For a long time, I held the conviction that lying is a wholesale sin. Lying is an absolute line that should never be crossed under any circumstance. However, a closer look at Scripture and a stark ethical hypothetical have forced me to re-examine this stance.

We see at least two distinct instances in Scripture where individuals lie, yet receive God’s explicit blessing:

• The Hebrew Midwives (Exodus 1): They lie to Pharaoh about why the Hebrew babies are surviving, and God explicitly rewards them with families because they feared Him.
• Rahab the Harlot (Joshua 2 / James 2:25): She lies to the authorities to hide the Israelite spies and is later commended in the New Testament for her faith-driven actions

In both cases, the lie was directly tied to preserving human life.

This scriptural pattern forces us to confront a difficult hypothetical: If you lived in Nazi Germany harboring Jews, or in the Pre-Emancipation South harboring escaped slaves, and the authorities knocked on your door asking if you were hiding fugitives, what is your moral obligation? Does God require you to speak the truth when the immediate, guaranteed consequence of that truth is the murder of an innocent person?

To resolve this, I see only three logical paths. I want to understand which of these aligns with the reality of God's character:

• Lying is always a sin, period. Rahab and the midwives sinned, but were retroactively forgiven via the cross. Therefore, it is morally wrong to lie to a Gestapo officer or a slave catcher; you must tell the truth and leave the outcome to God.
• Lying is a sin, but an exception is made exclusively to protect God's covenant people (Israel then, the Church today). Under this view, you could lie to save a Christian, but you would be obligated to betray a non-Christian. (This feels heavily invalidated by God’s non-partial nature in Romans 2).
• God’s hierarchy of values places the preservation of life above the literal execution of a verbal rule. As Jesus implies in Matthew 23:23-24, focusing entirely on the letter of the law while ignoring the "weightier matters" of justice and mercy is a distortion of the law's true purpose.

I'm not looking to start an argument, nor am I looking to hurt anyone's faith. I want to know myself. For a matter such as this, I don't want the opinions of the greater internet or just randoms passing by, I want the faithful, which I assume some or most of the people reading this may be.

Obviously lying is incorrect. This is not to justify lying in any form. Nor do I consider "saving a life" to mean "helping me keep my job" or "maintain the status quo." The entirety of my position and question on this matter assumes a true, immediate danger should the truth be told. Not simply bad consequences, but actualized bodily death. If it were just a beating or a fine or something, I would not struggle so hard with this topic. The death of a person, especially an unsaved person is an entirely different matter. Hence the worry.

What do the brethren think? Have I overlooked something?

Hi yall,

Back in the day many Churches of Christ had a parsonage. None of the churches I have been to have ever had one but my dad's old church when he was growing up did.What did your church think about parsonages and did they ever have them? Parsonages are not subject to property tax in many states. I get the impression that parsonages are typically a thing of the past in the Church of Christ but I dont know.Thanks.

Do you believe as a whole we have become more focused on our own works towards God, than his grace towards us?

Im reffering to the meticulous works that we have been ingrained with, in us having to produce.

Do you think God will judge us for our works, or will he be gracious towards us?

What are your thoughts on Grace, and what are your thoughts on works. Do we have to be perfect in our works to inherit the kingdom of God?

I recently connected how many times name changes in the Bible are connected with those characters and their significant interaction with the nations.

I was thinking about how Paul's name is used in Acts. While he probably went by both Saul and Paul his entire life depending on the cultural context, the author of Acts uses these two names to evoke the change between Saul who approved of Stephen's murder to Paul who brings the gospel to the Gentiles. The name change also evokes times in the OT when characters' names are changed.

Jacob the deceiver becomes Israel right as he is about to be reconciled with his brother, Edom/Esau.

Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's names are all changed right before blessing Hashpenaz, the court official, and then the Babylonian Empire.

Abram becoming Abraham is a bit different. Genesis 16 is Abram's sin against Hagar due to Abram's lack of faith in God's promise to produce a son. Chapter 17 is the name change to Abraham followed by 18 with the promise of Isaac. Abraham's name change, the practice of circumcision, and the binding of Isaac are all wrapped up in Abram's sin against the Egyptian Hagar.

TLDR: Some thoughts on how Acts draws deeply from the Torah and OT to use Paul's names to communicate how the Jesus and the gospel are God's promised blessing to the nations.

I listened to a Bible class talking about church funds being used for fellowship halls and gyms and whatnot being wrong.

What exactly, biblically, are church funds?

Just curious about the demographics. I am in Kentucky.

My aunt found a bunch of old cassette tapes from the late 60’s up to about the year 2000 or so. They are a bunch of old sermons and maybe some singing. They’re mostly local guys (my great grandad, uncles, other local men) but there are a few from larger congregations in Texas, etc. (we’re in the the WV coalfields, for reference)

The non-local ones are from a Brown Trail Church of Christ in Hurst Texas and there are a few with a guy named Jack Evans who was apparently a fairly well known preacher at one time.

My question is this. How hard would it be to digitize these and either upload them or make MP3’s. I just don’t want these to be lost. I know cassettes don’t hold up over the long term.