I attended Vintage Church Pasadena for about a year and a half, starting in January 2025. I've been…read morea Christian for over 18 years, and having moved across the United States a few times, I've had the chance to be involved in, volunteer for, and actively participate in several different churches in each city I've lived in. My experience with Vintage Church Pasadena was, for the most part, a normal and decent one: I attended the newcomers' breakfast, joined multiple events including a young adults' Bible study, and found most of the leadership, volunteers, and congregants to be genuinely kind people. It's a normal church, with the normal mix of good and less-good people you'd find anywhere.
During the World Cup this past June, the church's worship pastor created a group chat for members interested in following the tournament and hosting watch parties. I joined the chat but rarely participated beyond occasional emoji reactions, and never attended a watch party in person since I didn't know him well.
Partway through the tournament, he messaged me directly, out of nowhere, with a noticeably curt tone, asking whether I actually attended the church and which service I went to. When I answered warmly and even mentioned enjoying a recent Bible study, he simply stopped responding.
The actual groupchat itself had a lot of good-natured sports banter back and forth, which I want to be clear I had no issue with. I was right there in the mix, teasing back just as much, and everyone seemed to be enjoying it, myself included.
That changed after the Argentina-England semifinal. I posted a picture of a soccer play from the match. Without warning or explanation, the worship pastor deleted my post and removed me from the group chat entirely, with no conversation and no reason given. To his credit, he also deleted a video another member had posted of Argentine fans celebrating, so his censorship wasn't aimed at me personally, it was aimed at any pro-Argentina content, regardless of who posted it. But I was the only person removed from the group altogether, despite not being the one who escalated anything.
Another member of that chat, who was following the exchange and wasn't even on my side of the banter (he also didn't want Argentina to win), told me afterward that he thought the pastor's reaction was "a bit harsh." Also, no one else on the group chat complained about me, except for the worship pastor that was put in charge of it.
I reported the incident to a staff member, via email, so it could be addressed by leadership. She later called me and we spoke over the phone for about 20 minutes, and to her credit, she listened closely and asked thoughtful questions to understand the full picture; she seemed genuinely taken aback by how the pastor had handled it. That call was on a Thursday, and as of writing this, two weeks later, I haven't received any follow-up.
For context, this will be my very first 1-star review for a church, and 5th 1-star review for any business as a whole, out of more than 480 reviews I've written in over 7 years of regularly reviewing businesses. I don't do this lightly. Please feel free to see all of my other reviews on this platform. I'm the furthest thing from a serial complainer and just basic human decency gets you 5 stars from me. I also want to be clear that I didn't rush to write this. I reported the incident internally first and genuinely intended to let it be handled through proper channels rather than posting anything public. It has now been two weeks and I still haven't heard back from the church. If that changes, I'll update this review accordingly.
UPDATE: Added the picture in question that got me kicked out of the church groupchat (Messi with 3 English defenders).
Adding some extra context: They did reach back 3 weeks after I had reported the incident, mostly because they saw this review go public and wanted to "put out the fire" so to speak. Throughout the email and phone exchange, they seemed more concerned with protecting the image of the church, by getting me to delete this review, rather than actually bringing correction to the leader in question. Even their "response" to this review reflects that mentality, by fabricating that lie on the spot that I was removed supposedly "... after multiple complaints were made about you by other members of the group."
A church that fails to hold their own leaders accountable, especially when said leader is power tripping, is not a church that any healthy and mature Christian should want to be a part of. Also, uncontrolled hostility is a strong indicator of cardiovascular risk, so he should probably be mindful of that.
Anyways, I'll close this by leaving an excerpt from my last email to them: "Football isn't what gives my life meaning and I take it just as a hobby, regardless of who wins or loses. My goal is to make new connections and new friends. It would be great for Tom to approach it the same way."