“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed” (Galatians 2:11 ).
In 2020, the year of my retirement, by God’s grace I baptized 26 precious souls in my two small churches in Northern California Conference [NCC]. I want to share a precious compelling biblical picture of the love of God which inspires my soulwinning and also speaks to NCC administrative compromise on LGBTQ+ and other issues.
Though created in the image of God with the natural ability to keep God’s Law, when Adam fell, obedience became impossible. Each person is born with this inherent inability. That is why everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glory. But grace does not change God’s holy law to accommodate our moral brokenness. It changes us.
The infinite sacrifice made by our great Sin-Bearer is our only hope. He suffered full justice for every sin that would ever be committed. His love,
inspires repentance, confession, and unconditional surrender to God—the conditions to receive forgiveness/reconciliation to God.
transforms the heart and life, restoring the moral image of God in man, writing His holy law upon the heart through the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit, resulting also in outward obedience to God’s word and holy law.
In the 3 Angel’s Messages (Revelation 14:6-12), the everlasting gospel is consistent with personal accountability in the pre-Advent judgment and the call to keep the 7th day holy as a memorial of creation and a sign of re-creation in Christ. How can we credibly give these 3 Angel’s Messages to the world—which is our official mission[1]--while retaining in our midst those compromising, either in belief or practice, the creation institution of marriage?
This article addresses the compromise of beliefs being allowed by NCC Administration. “Denial of faith in the fundamentals of the gospel and in the fundamental beliefs of the Church” is the first reason for discipline listed in the Church Manual.[2] To allow compromise of belief also separates us from the world church which votes our fundamental beliefs.
As Paul rebuked Peter openly and publicly, so public rebuke is necessary at this hour. Yet, I love the church and the people I am writing about here. I continue to pray for all of us.
To review my initial concern discussed in Part I, on June 4, 2016 a retired ordained, credentialed minister, Ginger Harwood, baptized a “married” lesbian at the Chico church. Head Pastor, Dan Wysong believed this was the right thing to do. And NCC Administration allowed Wysong to continue his employment despite his disbelief in our official biblical membership guidelines. They also neglected to revoke Harwood’s ordination.
Unresolved issues at Chico include:
What is the membership status of former Pastor Dan Wysong?
Ginger Harwood currently teaches Sabbath School and is an elder in the Chico church contrary to disciplinary guidelines in the Church Manual P. 62-63
What about the majority of Chico members who supported the illicit lesbian baptism? Why are they still members?
If Chico has not been able to resolve its internal discipline problems, why is it still a member church in our conference? See endnote[i]
What is the membership status of the married lesbians today?
The NCC Administration is simply reflecting the eroding of belief and practice in the church today. This was seen in the October 17, 2013, Adventist News Network release of a study showing that almost half of Adventist college students and recent graduates would accept practicing homosexuals as SDA church members in good and regular standing. [ii]
What other examples illustrate my concern about false beliefs tolerated within the NCC?
LGBTQ+ Error Legitimized in Influential NCC Pastor
October 31, 2014: Jon Henderson, then chaplain[3] at Pacific Union College, preached “Adam and Steve,” [iii] “a message that has resonated deeply with LGBTQ Adventists and their allies.”[iv] Henderson said
“Sometimes, parents come around to accept their child, and their child’s partner because they love their child, and nothing can change that.” “If your parents can come to that point, how much more will your heavenly Father, who loves you more?”[4]
Does God’s love cause Him to overlook sin and accept the unrepentant who continues to practice sin? Henderson remained at the college as chaplain, his salary coming from NCC tithe.[5]
July 23 – August 1, 2015: Jon Henderson was a main speaker for NCC Redwood Camp meeting,[v] thus validating Henderson’s ministry even though concerned constituents had not heard of any correction for “Adam and Steve.” In a “unity service” held by NCC Administration,[6] speakers Henderson and Doug Batchelor were brought together in an apparent effort to minimize vital doctrinal differences. But Christ never compromised truth for the sake of supposed unity.
Effects of Henderson’s and Others’ Influences Regarding LGBTQ+ at Pacific Union College
December 6, 2016: Dr. Heather Knight, then president of Pacific Union College [partially funded by NCC tithe], resigned abruptly mid school year amid student and faculty protests and threats related to her “interference in teaching methods and classroom discussion of lesbian and gay rights and other church orthodoxy issues.”[vi]
May 24, 2017: Twenty student leaders at Pacific Union College signed a demand to affirm the rightful place of the LGBT+ community “within our campus, our church and our community;” they stated that “inter faith and intra faith diversity strengthen us as a religious community.”[vii]
NCC Advises Pastors Caution About Expressing Disbelief in Church Teachings
October 10, 2017: Addressing the illicit June 4, 2016 Chico baptism, NCC President Pederson warned pastors to be careful about expressing personal disbelief/disagreement with church teachings.[viii] Shouldn’t transparency rather be encouraged? Doesn’t such advice encourage the presence of Achans within the church?[7] Should not ministers who struggle to believe and promote our official beliefs and practices be offered help to sort it out? If they cannot be won, should they not be removed from membership and ministry per the Church Manual guidelines for any church member?
NCC Pastor Preaching a False Gospel Ordained and Promoted
August 29-31, 2016: At the Pacific Union ministerial convention, Chanda Nunes was preaching. At one point in the sermon, she emphatically stated that Christ is our Substitute but NOT our Example. Chanda’s statement runs counter to the Bible (I Peter 2:21-22), and our fundamental belief on salvation which explicitly affirms Christ as both Substitute and Example.[8] It contradicts Ellen White and thus affects another fundamental belief.[ix] The prevalence of this very false gospel among us has prepared the way to accept the LGBTQ+ agenda for the church. Yet, Chanda was subsequently ordained by NCC administration, approved by Pacific Union administration, and then appointed as the head pastor at the Pacific Union College Church. More recently, she was elected Executive Secretary of the Nevada-Utah Conference.
Constituency Meeting Irregularities
August 2018: The NCC Executive Committee illegally refused a Sacramento Central Church resolution for NCC Constituency Meeting that would require accountability for the Chico lesbian baptism. The whole resolution is worth reading.
NCC Executive Committee also illegally refused Oroville church’s resolution asking that the 3 Angel’s Messages be restored into the NCC mission statement. It can be read here More importantly, in 19 years I never heard one NCC administrator promote or teach the 3 Angel’s Messages as found in our fundamental beliefs, though sharing these messages is the official mission of the world church.[9]
September 30, 2018: NCC Administration recommended Wysong’s credentials to be renewed at the NCC Constituency Meeting even though Wysong had continued to believe for over 2 years, contrary to the Bible, that practicing homosexuals should have church membership.
NCC Providing SDA Presenter Who Differed with Church Teachings
January 6, 2019: Crosswalk Church[10] pastor, Tim Gillespie was coming to teach NCC ministers about strategic planning. I wrote to NCC President Woodson with concern about a statement on Crosswalk church’s website which said:
Despite recently published “guidelines” by the Executive Committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists calling for the disfellowship of LGBT church members, the Crosswalk Community welcomes the diversity of humankind, created in God’s image, including those of us who are LGBT.
Woodson replied that Gillespie:
“is coming to present on the subject of innovation and strategic planning. He is not coming to discuss issues you have concerns about. Currently, Tim Gillespie is an ordained, credentialed minister in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in regular standing.”
Woodson declined to even speak to Gillespie about my concern and suggested I do it. So at the ministers’ meeting I asked Gillespie about the above website statement. He said it had been taken down. I then asked if membership screening was in place to exclude LGBTQ+ from membership at Crosswalk. Gillespie said “no.” I reported this back to Woodson, but NCC has continued utilizing Gillespie anyway.
Should Gillespie be a minister in good and regular standing? Not according to the official membership standards of the world church. Can he then provide safe guidance for NCC?
NCC Providing Non-SDA Presenter Who Differs with Church Teachings
April 3-4, 2019: NCC hosted a class teaching pastors how to include LGBTQ+ people in the church while supposedly retaining a biblical belief about marriage. The non-SDA teacher said a lot about love, but nothing about its connection to rebuke and repentance as Jesus taught in Revelation 3:19. He said nothing about actually upholding our beliefs through redemptive discipline as taught in the Bible and our Church Manual, even when I brought the issue up. I did not hear any NCC leader present make any correction or clarification. In a smaller breakout group, one of the teacher’s team members, who identified as lesbian, told me that my comments about discipline unsettled her colleagues and that she believed baptizing practicing homosexuals was good. This opinion directly contradicts our official baptismal standards in the Church Manual.[11] At the end, NCC President Marc Woodson praised the class leader for teaching us to love like Jesus, which had not really happened in light of Revelation 3:19 and other such pictures of God’s love in the Bible. Worse yet, the teacher offered to bring his class into our local churches and explained how he would do this without destroying the church. Thus NCC Administration allowed him an open door to our churches.
NCC Education Department Leadership Fails in LGBTQ+ Issue
May 2019: NCC Assistant Educational Superintendent Wayne Gungle told me he believed in gay marriage. The context of our conversation was a church setting, not a civil one. I labored with him and after a year his opinion hadn’t changed. I then included the school and church boards in our written conversations.
Gungle’s written viewpoints[x] can be summarized as follows: He believes most gay people are born with exclusively homosexual urges and thus cannot choose a different lifestyle. Therefore, in his view, we should not shame them by calling their conduct sinful. Nor should we use the Manual to separate the church into what he calls “superior” and “inferior” members, which action he compared to Hitler and the Holocaust and also to the Serbian genocide against the Croats in 1991. In contrast to church discipline, he claimed Jesus exhibited unconditional love and acceptance of sinners, not only as friends but as part of His spiritual family. He indicated that homosexual couples should rightfully share the same intimacies that heterosexuals enjoy, concluding that the best thing we can do is “just leave them alone.”
Eventually, Gungle quit corresponding without ever indicating a change in these beliefs, which:
Advocate practicing homosexuals be included in church membership based on the example of Jesus—He accepted them not only as friends but as part of His spiritual family.
Reduce the gospel of salvation from sin to a gospel of salvation in sin.
Negate the authority of scripture in identifying sin (since we are not to shame homosexuals by identifying their behavior as sin).
Reject church discipline, comparing it to Hitler.
Distort the biblical view of God’s love by claiming His love accepts sin.
All of these viewpoints run counter to our official beliefs and membership standards.
How did the NCC Education department respond to my concerns? On June 29, 2020, NCC Head Educational Superintendent Albert Miller said that Gungle can serve and “serve well” while believing in gay marriage.[12] He eventually deemed my questions and comments “inappropriate,” because I’d retired. But Jesus said[13] the last step is to tell it to the church, which is why I’m writing this now.
What about the school & church boards? Key members became convinced that this was an employee/employer issue, trusting NCC administration to handle it. But how could Miller correctly handle Gungle’s infidelity since he was OK with it in the first place? Eventually I learned that the NCC even forbade discussion of the matter on either school board or church board. Totalitarian!
And the NCC Officers? NCC President Woodson and Secretary Jose’ Marin ignored my August 14, 2019 written request to pass on a General Conference statement to NCC employees about upholding sexual moral standards.[xi] Supporting Miller, after my retirement, Woodson asked me to transfer my membership out of the NCC and stop all communication with members. Lastly, Woodson refused to remove Gungle from the Oroville school board, saying that Miller had assured him that the matter had been resolved.
I learned that NCC Administration is actually producing a policy where pastors would be required to sign away their rights to be involved, as I have been, after leaving a district. In contrast, has NCC ever considered creating a policy where church employees are required to sign that they both believe and will promote our official church teachings? Had this already been in place, I would never have become involved as I was.
In defending Gungle’s infidelity, should Miller and Woodson qualify for any leadership position in the church?[14]
Which brings me back to the title of this article: Is the Northern California Conference a Viable Part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church? If you say nothing and do nothing, the answer will continue to be “no.”
What Can You Do?
Pray for daily conversion for yourself and for errant leaders. Then speak out, even publicly, against reelecting them September 25 at the NCC constituency meeting. Share this document with as many leaders and church members as possible. Network with others, asking them to network with the goal of putting this information ultimately into the hands of NCC delegates well before September 25, 2022. With every personal effort, pray that God Himself will intervene to bring about positive change in the NCC.
As always, with love and prayers to all,
Pastor Larre Kostenko
Endnotes
[1] As found in our Fundamental Belief #13. Put in hyperlink to my previous Fulcrum article on the 3 angels
[2]Church Manual 2015, p. 61
[3] November of 2018 he was moved to pastor the Vallejo church. In the NCC his continuing doctrinal differences with the church are no impediment to his continuing to serve in the ministry.
[4] Quoted from http://spectrummagazine.org/article/news/2014/10/10/sabbath-sermon-adam-and-steve Last accessed 9/6/2022.)
[5] Should he still be a pastor if he still believes “Adam and Steve” as he preached it?
[6]Including then Secretary Marc Woodson, now NCC President.
[7] For Achan’s hidden sin, all Israel suffered defeat at Ai. See Joshua chapter 7.
[8] “10. The Experience of Salvation . . . Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, Substitute and Example.” [Emphasis mine.]
[9] Found in Fundamental Belief #13. [put hyperlink to the resolution on the 3 angel’s messages
[10] Crosswalk SDA church is rooted in Redlands, Ca but now has locations in Portland, Los Angeles, Chattanooga, and Clinton. Is this becoming a church within a church?
[11] Church Manual p. 44 says “willing acceptance of Church doctrines and principles of conduct” is a prerequisite for baptism and church membership.
[12]From notes taken immediately after the conversation.
[13] Matthew 18: 15-17
[14] The Church Manual says “persistent refusal to recognize properly constituted church authority or to submit to the order and discipline of the church” as due cause for discipline. P. 62.
[i] When “problems such as apostasy, refusal to operate in harmony with the Church Manual,
or rebellion against the conference persist,” loving efforts should be made to bring the local
congregation into harmony with the teachings and practices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
which may include the use of a disciplinary process to avoid ultimate expulsion from the sisterhood
of churches (see Church Manual, 2015, pp. 39-41);
[ii] https://news.adventist.org/en/all-news/news/go/2013-10-17/landmark-survey-reveals-in-depth-beliefs-perceptions-of-adventist-members/ Last accessed 9/5/2022.
[iii] https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=adam+%26+steve+jon+henderson&qs=PF&cvid=7cb6e3c44e644056a466ddffde01cb45&cc=US&setlang=en-US&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3dadam%2b %2526%2bsteve%2bjon%2bhenderson%26form%3dEDGHPT%26qs%3dPF%26cvid%3d7cb6e3c44e644056a466ddffde01cb45%26cc%3dUS%26setlang%3den-US&view=detail&mmscn=vwrc &mid=6B378E275FCA5AA62C136B378E275FCA5AA62C13&FORM=WRVORC Last accessed 9/5/2022.
[iv] https://spectrummagazine.org/article/news/2014/10/10/sabbath-sermon-adam-and-steve Last accessed 9/5/2022.
[v] https://issuu.com/pacificunionrecorder/docs/2015-06_issuu page 7. Last accessed 9/1/2022.
[vi] http://atoday.org/dr-knights-resignation-the-story-behind-the-story/ Last accessed 9/5/2022. “Another source says that a May 23, 2016 board meeting brought issues to a head. Several department chairs wrote a letter indicating displeasure with the president’s actions in a number of areas, including breaching academic freedom, particularly in Psychology and Social Work. Several faculty in that department took retirement or resigned in protest of Knight’s interference in teaching methods and classroom discussion of lesbian and gay rights and other church orthodoxy issues. The chairs warned that if conditions didn’t improve, there could be a formal vote of no confidence in the president by the faculty senate. So far, that has not happened.”
[vii] http://www.pucsa.co/diversity-statement.html Last accessed 9/21/2017. No longer available online.
[viii] “Please be careful what public statements you make with regard to the church’s teachings. You may not agree with everything the church does or decides, but what you say publicly in your preaching or even in conversations with individuals can have consequences that are potentially negative to your ministry or challenging to the faith of someone else.” [Emphasis mine] Complete letter can be accessed at http://www.fulcrum7.com/blog/2017/11/10/an-update-on-the-lesbian-couple-baptized-into-the-chico-sda-church Last accessed 9/7/2022.
[ix] Fundamental belief on the Spirit of Prophecy:
18. The Gift of Prophecy
The Scriptures testify that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience must be tested. (Num. 12:6; 2 Chron. 20:20; Amos 3:7; Joel 2:28, 29; Acts 2:14-21; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 12:17; 19:10; 22:8, 9.) [Emphasis mine].
Now please notice the following beautiful Ellen White quote regarding Christ as example:
As the sacrifice in our behalf was complete, so our restoration from the defilement of sin is to be complete. No act of wickedness will the law of God excuse; no unrighteousness can escape its condemnation. The ethics of the gospel acknowledge no standard but the perfection of the divine character. The life of Christ was a perfect fulfillment of every precept of the law. He said, “I have kept My Father’s 452 commandments.” His life is our example of obedience and service. God alone can renew the heart. “It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” But we are bidden, “Work out your own salvation.” John 15:10; Philippians 2:13, 12. { MH 451.3}
Chanda’s statement about Christ not being our example contradicts not only the Bible but the also Ellen White and her prophetic authority.
From: Wayne Gungl
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 4:17 PM
To: Larre Kostenko <prlarrek@gmail.com>; Albert Miller <albert.miller@nccsda.com>;[plus the school board members]Subject: Re: explanation
Greetings my friends!
Well, don't let anyone tell you that the School Board is boring!
By now, you have read Larre Kostenko’s concerns about my service to you as a school superintendent for Feather River Adventist School, and selected quotes from the Church Manual. At first response, you might guess that I am mad at Larre for his remarks, but I am not. Larre has a long-standing problem with homosexual people and their relationship to the Adventist Church. I appreciate his conviction to stand for what he believes even though I happen to disagree with his point of view. That being said, I probably need to clarify my perspective.
Through the years, I have worked with several co-workers who were gay. I have had relatives that are gay, though passed away now. I have personal friends that are gay, and even had a gay school board chairman at one point! I have talked to some of these friends and co-workers to try and understand their thought process about being gay. And the stories they tell me are the same thing that so much research now shows, that most gay people are born gay. We want to think that this is a lifestyle choice that they make. So, obviously, they can make a choice to go back. But it simply is not true.
It is interesting to me to see that we all understand that child development from the womb to birth does not always go well. We see kids who are mongoloid, and we accept them. We see kids who have birthmarks, we accept them. We had a pastor who was born with no fingers on one hand. We accept him. We see kids who are mentally retarded. We accept them. But those who are born with the wiring in their brain is crossed, we call them sinful. We shame them for being the way they were born, much the way some think of those who are born with the wrong color of skin.
I have a respect for the thought that has gone into the writing of the Church Manual. I’m sure that the intention of the document was to keep the church pure. And, while not of the same authority as the Bible, the Manual has a place to provide guidance. Unfortunately, it is often used to separate and divide superior members from inferior members rather than bring them together. I am reminded of Hitler who wanted all the Jews killed so that the white German people would not be defiled by their Jewish neighbors. His attempts to purify the German State was the downfall of the German people. In 1991 the Serbs decided to purify their country by killing all the Croats in the country. They even went into the hospitals to kill Croat patients. The Serbs were the Christians. I wonder how the Croats felt about Christianity after the ethnic cleansing. Purification never comes by force.
Jesus seemed to have a different approach. He was friends with murderers, prostitutes, thieves; he even liked tax collectors, if you can believe that! And to each one of them, he simply said, “Come and follow me.” We don't like that. We want to do background checks, we want statements of loyalty, we want conformance. Jesus not only died for each of these sinful people, and even gay people, He actually loved them! He said they were not only His friends, but they were part of the family. There were no conditions set. He just loved on them, and accepted them.
I don’t have a “belief” about gay marriage. I have a belief about people. I try to accept people where they are, to encourage them, to help them. I believe that gay people are born with the same desire for care and love as me. I think they like to hold their mate’s hand like I do. I think they love being squeezed by their partner like I do. And I think they have desires for intimacy, just like me. I think that understanding and care go a lot further than condemnation, to helping them understand the love that Christ has for them. So, at some point, I don’t really care if they get a piece of paper that says they can own property together legally. Because marriage has to do with the commitment that we make in our mind and in our heart to the other person. It has little to do with the piece of paper. Most of the gay couples that get married are already married. They have made that commitment to each other long ago. And they appear to have a better track record of maintaining that commitment than their heterosexual counterparts. So, maybe the best thing we can all do is just leave them alone.
So there you have it. If trying (often not successfully) to follow the example of Jesus, to care for the people that I come in contact with, to recognize that we all come into this world with deficits, to understand that none of us are greater in the sight of the Lord than others makes me unfit to be your Superintendent or a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, then make your wishes known. I respect your right to your opinion. Until then, I will continue to do my best to serve the needs of the Feather River school and to work towards our combined effort to see that every student who would like to have a Christian education in your community has that opportunity.
Larre, I disagree with you but still love you. I am sure that you mean well. I hope the fresh air of Idaho is providing you with some well-deserved relaxation.
Respectfully,
Wayne Gungl
Associate Superintendent
NCC Education
From: Larre Kostenko
Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2019 11:13 AM
To: Marc Woodson; Jose Marin (jose.marin@nccsda.com); Jim Lorenz; albert miller (albert.miller@nccsda.com)
Subject: moving issues and docDear Brothers:
I hope things are smoothing out regarding the move of the office, and also maybe those of you who may be moving personally as well. I want you to know that I care personally about each one of you, and am wishing you each a good day. I share with you a love for our church.
In this regard, I came across a document with the following excerpt:
THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS OF THE CHURCH
The Seventh-day Adventist Church will encourage all its congregations, employees, ministry leaders, organizations, and entities to uphold church teachings and faith-based practices in Church membership, employment, education, and marriage ceremonies, including officiating at weddings. These teachings and faith-based practices, built upon the Bible's instructions about human sexuality, are equally applicable to heterosexual and homosexual relationships. It is inconsistent with the Church's understanding of scriptural teaching to admit into or maintain in membership persons practicing sexual behaviors incompatible with biblical teachings. Neither is it acceptable for Adventist pastors or churches to provide wedding services or facilities for same-sex couples.
Here is the link to the document containing the above quote which is an official church statement voted in 2014 by the General Conference Executive Committee:
What would you think of sending the above information out to all of our teachers and pastors in this conference, as well as the members of the executive committee and encouraging us all to read and respect this document as part of one church family worldwide?
I’ll be praying for you as prayerfully consider this suggestion.
In the love of Christ,
Larre