Following the message on Sunday morning and my post Sunday night, Douglas Stauffer’s voicemail, as well as his multiple demeaning and demanding messages from Sunday until Tuesday, Matt was finally off from work in the late afternoon/evening, and was able to call Pastor Andrew Ray on the phone, followed by Douglas Stauffer. This is a copy of Matthew Olds’ personal description of these phone calls, a document we listed in a file sent to several men of the church (witnesses of the last meeting) following our letter of resignation from membership at Antioch Baptist Church:
“These messages began shortly after the voicemail left on my phone (transcribed below). Pay attention to the times of these emails not allowing for any time to actually pray and respond to the current situation. In particular, [Doug Stauffer’s] third email the first night, a mere fifteen minutes after the first, he said, “And since you have seen my messages and have not done as I have asked in hiding this post until you have responded scripturally by meeting, this would seem to indicate that you feel justified….it is likely that your tirade is an attention seeking ploy….” Any attempts over the next few days to follow [Stauffer’s] requests for apologies were met with that nothing was acceptable, everything was supposedly an attack on the pastor, and Stauffer threatening that he would take things public.
During this time [Monday afternoon], I spoke with Pastor over the phone addressing the issue of whether we should be at church tonight as messages from Stauffer read as though we were being churched until the meeting with him could happen. Pastor said that he would rather that we be at any and all services, but to meet with Stauffer as soon as possible. I then called Stauffer and asked him about being churched, and he didn’t understand what I was talking about, but rather began complaining about my lack of responding to messages while I was at work. My job was very busy that day and I had a lot to do. As he continued to speak on my lack of responses, I had to repeat NUMEROUS [times] that I was at work and was unable to respond without stealing time from my boss. It would be unpleasing to the Lord. During the course of my day, what few responses I had mentioned about my work situation and that I would respond at the end of the day. Stauffer then spoke that he was not attempting to enact church discipline, but rather was saying it out of “Christian decency.” In which case, I mentioned that there is a difference between “MUST” and “should”/ ”needs to.” One speaks of decency. One speaks of church discipline. He then said that he still wanted to meet with me when we got there. We were unable to attend that night as my wife and I had a lot to process through and discuss.”
In this series I share my thoughts and opinions concerning these ministers and the events which led to my departure. Click here to continue reading: “Blindsided: Continuation of Messages between Matthew Olds and Pastor Andrew Ray” or click on the link below.
For a list of the complete series, click here.
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