Chuck Phelps preached this message on 4/21/2010 at the church he currently pastors. Interesting that Chuck Phelps decided to preach this message one month to the day after the press release by the Concord Police Department announcing the arrest of Ernie Willis 

Chuck Phelps speaks of three scenarios:

1) A “Young lady.” A teenage girl found with child out of wedlock.  She “has decided” to come before the church to “lovingly be restored to the church”

2)  Man from another church across town is being “shunned” from another IFB church in town.

3)  Man falls by the wayside.  Won’t answer the pastors calls or answer the door when the pastor visits.

Phelps claims that all these situations were taken from real scenarios.

Reasons for Church Discipline according to Phelps.

1) Unrepentant fornication.

2) Doctrinal Purity is in Danger.

3) Testimony of the assembly is threatened.  (not working and gossiping. Phelps calls them “long tongued lazy people.)

4) A elder sins

Phelps concludes:

It would be appropriate for the “young lady” to come before the church.  He claims it is not church discipline, the most “loving” thing to do is to bring the girl before the church to ask for forgiveness for her “sin.“

Person visits another church and finds out the person has been shunned.  Not church discipline either.

Man hasn’t been in church for a while.  Not church discipline, drop him from the roles.

____

Wonder how it would feel to the teen girl who stands before the congregation to confess her sin?

Phelps reasoning that doing so will dispel gossip about the girl falls flat.

Numerous people who were present when Tina Anderson stood before Trinity Baptist Church viewed it as she was being disciplined for her immorality.

Smell something rotten?

Perhaps it is just me.

It appears to me, that Phelps according to his own guidelines should be church disciplined.  Chuck Phelps is the pastor/elder.  At the very least, Phelps has caused the “testimony of the  church to be threatened.” The worst case scenario is that he outright covered a crime by not disclosing Tina was raped by a 38-year-old man.  According to numerous witnesses present that night, Phelps presented Willis and Tina as completely unrelated issues.  According to Phelps, The Bible says, only 2-3 witnesses are needed.  There are many more witnesses to that evening than 2 or 3 who have been speaking out about what they claim to have witnessed.  According to members of the church, Willis was allowed to remain as a member in good standing at Trinity Baptist Church until 2004.  Tina was sent 100′s of miles away.  Phelps didn’t allow the people of Trinity to “love Tina” and meet her needs like he claims he believes.  There weren’t any people who could have helped Tina and Tina’s mother and meet their needs in Concord, NH in 1997?