re: What exactly is Church of the Highlands?

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JayRobe
Registered on: 12/7/2019

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Wow! Do y'all have a bot or something that alerts you to any mention of the cult and sends a digital Sir Lancelot into action?

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Holy shite I made my Scientology comment without seeing this.

Red flags for me:
1. Seems like a "church-growth movement" apostate pyramid, uh i mean church.

2. I can find no confession of faith or doctrinal information whatsoever on the webpage. I'm fine with "nondenominational" churches in the right context, but if you're just winging it, then you need to at least put your statements of faith on your site. (And not just list your "leadership team" that leads the "dream teams." Lord (said not in vain).

e.g., (from First Pres Columbia)

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ASSOCIATE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN
First Presbyterian Church is a congregation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod – an association which began in 1983 – and a member of Catawba Presbytery. For more information on the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod visit their website, www.arpchurch.org.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT
The church is governed by the Session, made up of 40 Elders and moderated by its Senior Minister. The church also has a board of 48 Deacons who attend to the material, financial, and practical needs of the church’s ministry. (For more information, see our "Church Officers" page.)

First Presbyterian Church, along with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Synod, subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith and its Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Subscribe to the ARP Magazine.

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3. None of the "leadership" members has a link where you can look at his background, schooling, etc.

4.

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The Church of the Highlands Senior Pastor Leadership Team are:... Dino Rizzo

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I speak the truth in love, when I "ask":

Jealous of what exactly?

Do they broadcast the sermons on TV?
Broadcast TV, that is.

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You’ll never hear them talk about wives submitting to husbands, or why God commanded the Israelites to slay their enemies wives and children, or the fact that divorce is a direct violation of God’s covenant, or even just the basics of scriptural doctrine

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oh, the horror!

Went there for 4 years....

They keep sketchy arse company-Furtick and John Gray specifically.

Hodges claims to never, ever ask anyone for any money....but brings in the disingenuous Robert Morris to preach a special message on tithing.

Leaders in organization and many affiliated with ARC leadership are getting wealthy off of their congregations. I cant judge or wont speak on their intentions, but I can tell you from what i’ve deduced - they do everything leaving themselves plausible deniability.

Just a ton of stuff that sounds really, really good...until you actually open your eyes and get the picture of how it actually works.

The Association of Related Churches

Basically a church franchising business

I belong to The Church of What's Happening Now. Kind of cultish but we have fun.

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Chris Hodges was mentored by Ted Haggard at Bethany.

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And Doc Melilli at Christian Life.
Big Tiger fans are the Hodges, too

I'm all for criticizing Highlands, but there is a good bit of misinformation in this thread. For starters, the word 'cult' is being overused big time. It's in no way a cult, and if you think it is you need to go educate yourself on what a cult is. I was talking to a friend a few months ago about Highlands and he used a term I like. He called them a 'meet you where you are' church. Hodges preaches the truth and the gospel and does so in a laymens way. If you're someone who is struggling with the faith (or more likely life in general) and you're nervous about going to a church, Highlands is the place to go. You can sneak in and never be noticed by anyone and still be greeted and have some genuine human contact and edification, something sorely missing in the church. I would argue that most people who go to church do so out of a sense and need of belonging. After the service Highlands offers a growth tract program you can attend that goes deeper into what Highland's role is and offers way for attendees to get involved. From this point you can be put on a ministry team and go as deep as you want in their ministry

My criticism of Highland's is that they don't go deep enough. It frustrates me at times as someone who wants this country to break out in revival. And I only say this because I know the beliefs of some core people inside the church. I'm friends with many people who helped build Highlands into what it is today and have since left to go into a deeper, more intimate (third wave) setting. But gladly, these people did so in a place of love and not hate for Highlands. Most people who have remained at Highlands all these years do so because they love and thrive in their local missions program, which is unmatched by anyone. Highlands has done a world of good for the Birmingham community and Alabama as a whole and it's only ramping up.

Chris Hodges is a brilliant man who loves the Lord and preaches the truth. They don't preach the 'prosperity gospel'. I challenge anyone who makes that claim to go pull me an example. Terms like prosperity gospel and cult are thrown around by people who have never even heard a message from the church and are more than likely having negative feelings to (non denom) Christianity in general rather than Church of the Highlands.

Have a friend who is clueless to the gospel and want him to become a believer? No better place in Alabama than Highlands. Side note, tune into a Alabama/LSU basketball game this year and I guarantee that you will see Hodges courtside. Dude loves LSU.