A Dallas-area congregation planted by a flagship Acts 29 megachurch has left the prominent evangelical church-planting network, citing potential “corruption and compromise.”
On Tuesday, Rick White, lead pastor of CityView Church, announced in a thread on X, formerly Twitter, that the church in Fort Worth, Texas, has ended its affiliation with Acts 29 Network.
“It saddens me that it had to come to this,” White wrote, “after 18 years of serving and giving, along (with) my personal investment.”
The church’s board of elders, which includes White, wrote a letter to members summarizing three reasons for the departure from Acts 29, and White posted an “abridged version” of that letter online. The letter alleges that Acts 29 has a flawed leadership structure “susceptible to corruption and compromise” and that recent decisions reflect a “leftward, theological drift.”
It concludes stating that the affiliation with Acts 29 no longer “helps (to) multiply churches.”
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The letter notes CityView’s close ties with Acts 29, stating that CityView Church’s Acts 29 membership is the longest-lasting in Texas. White also has served on staff as regional director of Acts 29’s Texas and South-Central regions, and the network’s website currently features multiple articles on church planting authored by White.
As previously reported by The Roys Report (TRR), Acts 29 has made recent headlines with multiple controversies.
Multiple churches disaffiliated from Acts 29 early last year after reportedly being stonewalled when seeking transparency regarding the network’s finances and decision-making process.
Additionally, in fall 2022, Acts 29 Executive Chairman Matt Chandler took a three-month leave from his church and his Acts 29 leadership role due to an “inappropriate online relationship.”
Chandler, who was president of the network from 2012 to 2020, has close ties to CityView Church. Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church for over two decades, helped launch CityView Church as a church plant of The Village in 2006.
The letter from CityView’s board of elders refers to, but does not name, current Acts 29 president Brian Howard and implies nepotism under his leadership. It states that Howard and “two family members . . . work for the Network – all three at a substantial combined financial cost to the network.”
According to the Acts 29 website, Howard’s wife, Chandra, is director of human resources at Acts 29 Network and his daughter, Ashley, serves as executive assistant to Acts 29 U.S. Vice President Justin Anderson.
TRR reached out to Acts 29 Network for comment but did not hear back.
The letter also laid out examples of Acts 29 signaling “leftward positions on multiple social matters.” Acts 29 leaders allegedly failed to speak “plainly and decisively on the matter of women preaching in Acts 29 churches.” This past September, the network also reportedly posted a video titled “Walking with Jesus Among our LGBTQIA+ Friends,” which the CityView board called “poorly conceived” and an “embarrassing distraction” before it was taken down.
As the “most egregious and public example” of leftward drift, the letter cited Acts 29 leaders’ attempts to foster awareness of race issues. The letter states in part:
“Acts 29 staked an ideological position when it posted some Racism and Racial Reconciliation resources (which) were clearly skewed leftward. Acts 29 went so far as to recommend Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning for nearly four months before finally removing that resource from the Acts 29 web site.”
Within the context of its final point—that Acts 29 fails in its mission to multiply churches—the letter asserts the mindset that drives its current leadership.
“Acts 29 tends to lead by pragmatism and is often captured by the whims of the moment,” the letter states. That means the network isn’t helping to plant churches “with a generational mindset,” the church elders wrote.
The letter maintains that Acts 29 has a “top-heavy structure,” noting that as “staff and operation (sic) has grown, Acts 29 has required member churches to contribute more money, time and commitment.”
And it alleges CityView has rarely received recent referrals from the Acts 29 website, reflecting the network’s “fading reputation as a trusted ‘brand’ in the larger evangelical landscape.”
The letter, which alternates between the tone of a group letter and one written solely by White, concludes on a decisive note: “Today, it is our best assessment that Acts 29 no longer deserves our continued loyalty or trust. In fact, it is my belief that I should have led our elders towards resigning from Acts 29 membership sooner.”
TRR reached out to White and CityView Church for comment but did not receive a response.
Several commenters online voiced their support for White’s letter and the church’s decision.
Justin Buzzard, pastor of Garden City Church in San Jose, California, noted that his church left Acts 29 last year “after 11 years and after trying for change.” He told White: “I respect your reasoning, tone, and communicating publicly (scores of pastors keep leaving quietly due to fear, not caring, or thinking this = love).”
Christian digital creator Josh Daws, host of “The Great Awokening Podcast,” posted on X: “This is significant. Rick is not a hotheaded reactionary. If he says there are problems in Acts 29, there are problems in Acts 29.”
And Jeff Noble, lead pastor of Northstar Church in Blacksburg, Virginia, shared the church’s letter online and wrote, “I know Rick and respect his ministry. This is a good, gracious and sobering read for churches and leaders involved in the Acts 29 Network.”
Update: This article was corrected to accurately state the location of Garden City Church.
Freelance journalist Josh Shepherd writes on faith, culture, and public policy for several media outlets. He and his family live in the Washington, D.C. area.
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13 Responses
I cannot comment on A29 any more than TRR has done – but I am lost as to why increasing white Americans’ sensitivity to race and racial issues is a bad action – it seems there is an ever more desperate need for such awareness – especially the horrifically barbarous history of white Americans towards black slaves/black Americans – particularly dominate in large swaths of white Americans who self-identify as “Christian”….. (ouch!).
Greg, because the goal of some authors and pendants is more than just getting their audience more sensitive. They have political motivations. If the system is the cause in their mind, then the whole system has to be overthrown.
And if the system is the cause, changes should be made, right?
Likewise, I think the real barrier to the sensitivity around race issues is that it would require reflection and change. Ultimately, white Christians want to completely forget (and avoid reflecting on how such racist systems as slavery and Jim Crow existed because of collective complacency; and if their ancestors weren’t marching with Dr King or freeing slaves, they were part of that collective complacency…which is uncomfortable), and they don’t want to change. They love things (and systems) exactly as they are.
What these same uncomfortable Christians fail to see is that “staying as we are” and turning a willfully blind eye to racism actually flies in the face of our faith.
True faith – which grows as our knowledge of Him grows – moves us to action. As faith without works is dead, and simply believing in God isn’t enough (for even the demons do that), we can’t go around professing to love one another across racial lines if our actions don’t reflect it.
Don’t tell me about your faith, show me.
Marin, maybe I should have been more specific. I meant governing and economic system is what they want to overthrow. Where there are specific laws that generate discrimination, then yes, I agree they should change. And we have a constitutional representative system that eventually finds those while providing the maximum amount of freedom for all people to pursue their interests. The presence of differences between peoples societal status does not prove injustice by itself.
Thank you, Marin. This space needs your perspective and I for one value it very much.
I hate to see division in the body of Christ but if you’re wanting even more money than you’re getting and your givers want transparency then by all means give it to them. Also IMHO , having several family working in the same ministry always raises red flags to me. I hope ACTS 29 listens.
It seems that, while Mark Driscoll is gone, his methods remain. There is no getting his stench and stain off of Acts29; it needs to be disbanded.
Got A Question for Clarity: The ARC & ACTS 29 – are they one and the same organization? OR are they completely separate from each other? It seems like lots of SINNING is coming out of their Churches! In the last five years, I’ve read about the following Sins coming from these/this organization and their Pastors/Leaders (s): sexual assault, pedophilia, child abuse, adultery, pre-marital sex, financial impropriety, and much more!
They are different organizations Wayne.
Below is the introduction to an article I wrote titled, “Matt Chandler’s Apostasy Exposed in Light of Scripture” at BrentDetwiler.com. This is the main reason churches should leave Acts 29.
Matt Chandler is supposed to be a great Bible teacher but nothing in his “apology” to The Village Church last Sunday was remotely biblical. He used no biblical terminology to describe his behavior and therefore acknowledged no sin.
Chandler has forsaken the biblical doctrine of sin and sanctification. Even worse, he has left behind the biblical gospel. I just listened to a recent message of his on redemption. It was theologically awful. He makes no mention of the blood of Christ which is the ransom price that redeems us from the curse of the law. Further, our problem is not rebellion against God. It is a “shrunken heart” that is “dry and locked up in drought, hurt and confusion.“
1/3 Below is the introduction to an article I wrote titled, “Matt Chandler’s Apostasy Exposed in Light of Scripture” at BrentDetwiler.com. This is the main reason churches should leave Acts 29.
2/3 Matt Chandler is supposed to be a great Bible teacher but nothing in his “apology” to The Village Church last Sunday was remotely biblical. He used no biblical terminology to describe his behavior and therefore acknowledged no sin.
3/3 Chandler has forsaken the biblical doctrine of sin and sanctification. Even worse, he has left behind the biblical gospel. I just listened to a recent message of his on redemption. It was theologically awful. He makes no mention of the blood of Christ which is the ransom price that redeems us from the curse of the law. Further, our problem is not rebellion against God. It is a “shrunken heart” that is “dry and locked up in drought, hurt and confusion.“