My family and I have currently left CFC after being members for over a decade. My experience is somewhat unusual. I have a degree in Pastoral Ministries and am currently pursuing a Masters of Divinity degree at a local seminary (which is why I decided to leave and will explain more in detail below). After moving to Washington after finishing my BA my wife and I thought CFC would be a good place for us to be involved in the Ministry, given that it is large and should have several opportunities for ministry. We could not have been more wrong.
From the outset we were told we would never become a staff member there unless we enrolled in the certification program at Dominion College (now called Vision College). Even after explaining we had received a BA in Pastoral Ministries with credentials they insisted we enroll in Dominion College (All of the current pastors on staff are either old chums of Casey's or have attended his college alone). After spending thousands of dollars to go through college the first time I was not going to do it again. We were told to volunteer, we did; in the music ministry, youth ministry, Security, prayer partners, GLUE, etc. all the while the leaders being closed to our ideas.
Casey Treat is an exceptional motivational speaker, he is not a pastor, in the Biblical sense of the word. He does not have a pastor's heart. Casey's brand of theology is not new or groundbreaking. It is in the same vane of Swedenborgian theology, New Thought teaching by Phineas Quimby, and the Word Faith teachings of E.W. Kenyon which have been around for over 300 years in one form or another. Casey teaches the power of positive confession, positive thinking, God wants everyone to be prosperous and healthy, we are all little gods and Jesus was rich. There is no teachings on eschatology, hamartiology, etc. They cannot account for a theodicy because, in their view, God wants you to be prosperous and healthy all the time. He reduces the sovereignty of God and promotes the authority of man.
Casey is a poor biblical expositor and uses the topical sermon message without fail. He often reads scripture out of context and uses scripture out of context to propound his point, usually on tithing and prosperity. An entry level class in homiletics and hermeneutics can show the dangers of that.
Casey counts on and needs his church members to be Biblically illiterate and ignorant. The vast majority of the congregants at this church have an elementary understanding of the Bible and the Nature of God. I know because I have interacted with them multiple times in discipleship classes and Connect Groups. The theology and Biblical understanding of the leaders there is very superficial and shallow. The majority of the members of this church are bobble-heads and yes men for Casey and he can do no wrong in their sight. They overlook reality and history, not realizing that millions of Christians from the past were persecuted, poor, diseased and broken. Consider all of the early Church Fathers: Stephen was martyred, Paul was martyred, Peter was Martyred, John was boiled in oil and left to die on Patmos. Millions of early Christians were tortured, ostracized and killed for their belief in Christ. Where was their prosperity? Consider right now in history; it is easy to preach the Prosperity Gospel in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa and all the industrialized countries, where affluence and materialism isn't just common but is the norm, where our social structures of Capitalism and Free Enterprise allows for great financial gain. But what about the orphan in Africa, or the destitute in India, or the war weary of Myanmar or the Congo? Does the Prosperity Gospel preach there? Do you tell them God wants them to be rich and healty? The true Gospel of Christ says "come to me all who are weary and heaven laden and I will give you rest." The true Gospel of Christ says ""Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, or theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven." If the Prosperity Gospel cannot be preached in Africa, India, Myanmar and all the other third world countries of the world then it is not the true Gospel. read more