(Analysis) A campus pastor at First Baptist Orlando has been placed on administrative leave and a worship leader reportedly has resigned because they opposed the decision to host a since-cancelled event in Turning Point USA’s “Make Heaven Crowded” tour.
The Florida megachurch was one of 32 stops on the revival tour that mixes Christian nationalism with Christian evangelism. The Orlando event was slated for next week but now has been removed from both the TPUSA website and from the church’s social media posts.
TPUSA was founded by the late Charlie Kirk and now is led by his widow, Erika Kirk. The nationwide tour has been roundly criticized for using churches to promote MAGA politics.
This critique apparently led to an internal staff conflict at First Baptist, where Chris Ogden, pastor of the Horizon West campus, was put on leave and another staff member reportedly resigned.
As Baptist News Global (BNG) reported on Tuesday, Ogden reportedly used the forum of a staff meeting to question the wisdom of hosting the political rally at the church. As discipline, he was forced to produce a video apology and say he regretted challenging the authority of senior church leadership.
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Pastor Chris Ogden in video apologizing to congregation for questioning the leadership of the senior pastors of First Baptist Orlando. (Video screengrab)
The church has an unusual staff structure with three senior pastors: David Uth, Danny De Armas and Trey Hildebrant. De Armas is a former trustee chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board.
Uth had announced the event to the congregation last Sunday — the first notice many in the congregation had about it.
FBC Orlando Senior Shepherding Pastor David Uth (Photo: Facebook)
“We said if this is not about one person — his name is Jesus Christ — and the need for everyone to follow him, well then we really are not a part,” Uth told his congregation. “’It can’t be about politics. It can’t be about a party. It can’t be about any other issue. We have one name above every name. His name is Jesus. And can you assure us that this night would be all about him?’ And they absolutely assured us.”
Uth also had promised the congregation that church leaders had complete veto power over speakers to appear at the Orlando event,
However, all the previous stops on the tour have mixed evangelical revivalism with conservative evangelical politics — a hallmark of TPUSA events.
The TPUSA Faith Florida Facebook page had described the planned Orlando event as “an evangelistic outreach event” and said First Baptist would offer “a public declaration of Christ with baptism after the event.”
Previous stops on the tour have included Erika Kirk and revisionist historian Eric Metaxas, along with other Christian nationalist figures.
At the kickoff tour event in Los Angeles last month, Kirk called those protesting against ICE tactics “demonic.” TPUSA has a history of preaching MAGA politics with a veneer of evangelical Christianity.
Worship service at First Baptist Church of Orlando, Florida. (Photo via social media)
A source inside the church told BNG it appears TPUSA canceled on First Baptist Orlando due to a “misalignment of values.”
Who cancelled on whom is not clear, but the event is gone from both websites.
Significant dissent has been reported within the congregation and particularly within the Horizon West campus community about Ogden being removed from leadership. Some members reportedly are threatening to leave the church, and some high-dollar donors are expressing concern as well.
Meanwhile, some conservative segments of the Southern Baptist Convention piled on with criticism of First Baptist Orlando being too liberal and too woke. Although from an outside perspective few people would consider the church liberal, this has been a frequent criticism of Uth’s leadership. This most often harkens back to comments he previously made about welcoming diversity in the congregation.
First Baptist Church of Orlando Senior Pastors (left to right) David Uth, Trey Hildebrant, and Danny de Armas (Photo: Facebook)
Uth has served the church 20 years and until last year was the lone senior pastor.
He previously was a trustee of the SBC International Mission Board and was chair of the search committee that in 2014 called David Platt as IMB president. Platt’s IMB tenure, as well as his current role as pastor at McLean Bible Church in Virginia, also were fraught with concerns that he is not conservative enough.
Ogden is a hugely popular pastor on the campus, which was a 2018 church start funded in partnership with the SBC North American Mission Board.
The three senior pastors at the main campus have said nothing publicly about the matter, and BNG’s request for comment has gone unanswered for more than 24 hours.
A version of this article originally appeared at Baptist News Global has been reprinted with permission.
Mark Wingfield, who is based in Dallas, Texas, serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.