1 /5 Peter Keukelaar: Started going here after North Bay Baptist Church closed about 15 years ago. It was a bit larger church than North Bay, but still had the small town welcome feeling. I liked to listen to Pastor Steve after dinner on Wednesday nights, as he put day to day experiences into Godly lessons. ALL of that has changed through the years. Now it has become a large commercialized place of rules, rules, rules! In all my years, I have NEVER been to ANY church that would not welcome you, or accept you, unless you followed some stupid rule! I am almost 70 years old, and have been to many churches of all denominations, this is the first one I have been to that had RULES carved in stone. General rules are needed to remain a civilized society, but no rule will ever fit EVERY person, in EVERY situation. The staff at this church will preach that they are a welcoming church that is there to help you, inspire you, and cater to your spiritual needs. Over the last few years I have found out, they will do just that......as long as you follow THEIR RULES!!
In 2009, God tasked us to take care of a 9 month old grandson. At age 55, that is not an easy task, however, that was the hand God dealt to us, and we accepted it knowing He would not allow us to fail. Even though I was out of town working, my wife saw to it that the grandson was in church every week. We both know it is our job to "raise him up, in the way of our Lord", and I joined them when I was in town. At age 12, our grandson lost his father to drugs. He needed help. He needed his friends. Even though his friends would go to "The Wreck" (youth program with Pastor Doug), he was not allowed in. Seems they have a RULE that you have to be in 6th grade at school to attend, and because our grandson was held back one year in 3rd grade and was still in 5th grade, he was not allowed to be a part of what he needed most! I spoke with Pastor Steve about the situation, and explained that he has been friends with all of the other kids in attendance at "the Wreck" for years. I even explained that he was the same age as most of them. Pastor Steve insisted he could not/would not bend the rule a little to let him attend "The Wreck" with his friends. What a Hypocrite! I did not attend this church for several years after that!
Last year, our 7 year old grand daughter wanted to go to church. Once again, and because I know that it is our duty to God to "raise them up, in the way of our Lord", I started attending ECF again. Despite my belief Pastor Steve is the biggest hypocrite I have ever met, I just went out of my way to avoid him for the sake of the grand kids. He doesnt even preach on Wednesday nights any longer. Now he is like a cheer leader trying to convince you to bring other folks to ECF to enjoy the fellowship, when in reality I feel its just a way to bring in more money for their commercialized programs of religion.
Tonight, Pastor Doug initiated a confrontation with our grandson (now 15). After several minutes of berating him and treating him as a criminal, he was told that if he wanted to play basket ball in the youth game area, he had to go to the youth programing in the Wreck afterwards. It is the RULE! In front of my wife, and myself, he outright lied and told us "EVERY" student that attends the Wreck is a dual enrolled student (high school & college). We know this is a lie because our grandsons friends at Bay and Mosley CAN NOT become duel enrolled until they reach their sophomore year! Thats a fact! He also mentioned that he has recently told multiple students not to come back if they do not want to attend the youth services!! Its his way, or the highway. This is a man that is suppose to be encouraging kids to follow Gods teaching, not FORCING them to follow HIS RULE! Seems to me, he is not only a HYPOCRITE, but a control freak that will knowingly lie to your face as well.
To sum this all up....unless you want your kids around a bunch of hypocrites and lying control freaks, stay as far away from ECF, and "the Wreck", as you can!! I know I will.
