Those of you who know me may have heard the recent news of the firing of my dad, Pastor Ron Kelly.
Growing up as a pastor’s kid, you are exposed to a lot more knowledge of the inner workings of the church; and therefore, as with any other organization, you see more of its flaws. Despite that, my dad never allowed us to speak poorly of the conference, or the individuals that work in it, even when those individuals made decisions that negatively impacted my father.
My father has given his whole entire life to the church and to God’s cause; 35 years, to be exact. He has done so not only willingly but happily. He has sacrificed time with his family and any sense of margin in his personal life. Even detrimental to his own health, to move the cause of God forward. I share all of this with you, because I am beyond appalled at the decision of the Michigan Conference to fire my father from the Village SDA Church.
Within the span of three short days, the Michigan Conference determined to fire my father. They state that this process was done with much prayer and discussion; but I must respectfully disagree. How can you possibly make a decision to fire a veteran pastor of 35 years in the span of three short days? I am also greatly troubled by the fact that our Lake Union President stood by and did nothing at this gross abuse of authority.
I try to remove as much personal bias out of this matter as I can; but I cannot move past this. The Michigan Conference made a unilateral decision that negatively impacted the Village Church. Even worse, they did so directly against the will of the church. I encourage you to read the letter below that was addressed to the Michigan Conference board, strongly imploring its members to reconsider their dangerous course of action.
But perhaps most egregious of all is the misuse and abuse of power. The Michigan Conference withheld liability insurance for the medical missionary project, unless my Dad was willing to strip Conrad Vine of his church offices. This is gross misconduct and frankly, it is blackmail. I am ashamed that our church would stoop to such low behavior.
I sat in church yesterday, listening to our Conference President, attempting to articulate why my father was fired, and ultimately coming up quite short. Meanwhile, the church was filled to the brim with frustrated, hurt members, and justifiably so. Elder Micheff even went so far as to state in the meeting that “It was just a difference of opinion.” This is not a justifiable reason to fire a faithful pastor of 35 years.
Matthew 18:15-17 says,
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or tax collector.”
My Dad never wanted this story to become public and he’s gone through great distress over this situation. I believe the reason for my Dad’s termination is extremely evident to anyone who is open to hearing and understanding the truth. We must hold our leaders accountable when they make a decision that does not represent the will of the people.
I want to be clear, I do not believe these individuals are bad men. I went to school with several of the board members' children, and Elder Micheff’s sister was my dean at GLAA, and she was wonderful. I believe these are good men that have made a very bad call.
Denis Healy says this“When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”
I want to implore the conference officials, see the massive error you have made and stop digging. Have the courage to admit that this was a bad call and reinstate Ron Kelly as Senior Pastor of the Village SDA Church and give Conrad Vine his day in court.
Julie Kelly
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“For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Timothy 5:18).