When Jeremiah and Laura Burke produced their documentary about Pastor David Platt, they never imagined it would reach a global audience. Released in fall 2023, the film has garnered more than 100,000 views on Conversations that Matter alone, with additional viewership across other platforms.
An earlier BNG article about the documentary — The Real David Platt: The Hijacking of McLean Bible Church — has drawn tens of thousands of readers.
It is unusual for a group of laypeople to lead such a public revolt against their own church and pastor as what has happened at McLean, a five-campus nondenominational megachurch in suburban Washington, D.C. It is more unusual for laity to take their own church to court. And it is unheard of to create a two-part documentary series outlining grievances against the pastor.
David Platt and NAMB President Kevin Ezell in a screenshot from the first installment of the documentary about Platt’s leadership at McLean Bible Church.
But that’s exactly what has happened at McLean Bible Church, where the arrival of David Platt as pastor in 2017 set off a chain of events not unprecedented in American churches but absolutely unprecedented in the public nature of the dispute. The disaffected members have their own website to tell their story.
One reason for the public attention is that Platt came to the pastorate from the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention International Mission Board.
Some longtime McLean members did not want anything to do with the SBC because they are proudly nondenominational.
Throughout this ordeal, Platt and other church leaders have denied any wrongdoing and have protrayed themselves as victims of a campaign by disgruntled church members.
Jeremiah and Laura Burke
Among those leading the charge against Platt are Jeremiah and Laura Burke. He is a self-described “typical layman” who comes from a business background in wealth management.
Jeremiah Burke
Laura Burke
“I was a member of McLean since 2005 … just a rank-and-file member. A Christian husband and father of four children, just a regular everyday guy, nothing unique,” Burke explained. “I didn’t know who David Platt was until he started speaking at McLean and became the pastor of the church.”
His awareness of church politics at McLean heightened only after Platt’s arrival.
“It had come to my attention that he had written a couple of books because he spoke in the summer of 2015,” Burke recalled. “He had come to the church and was a guest pastor for a weekend event, and that was my first exposure to David Platt. Then it wasn’t again until 2016 or 2017, when the church started transitioning out of their prior senior pastor, that David’s name started coming up as being the new pastor to replace long-time pastor Lon Solomon.”
While initially open to Platt’s leadership despite his admiration for Solomon, Burke’s perspective began to shift by 2020.
“There was a series of issues that had come to light over the years,” he said. “When David first came on, I guess there was a gloominess over the church in a sense, in that it didn’t seem like everyone was aware of what was happening but you kind of just trust your leadership. It seemed like there were some things that were just not right in the whole transition process.”
Burke reflected on the sudden leadership change: “For the 10 years I was at McLean, you had a solid pastor. Lon Solomon was a stalwart leader and then all of a sudden, he was gone, David came in and Lon never came back. We had been in Israel on a trip with him, he does these tours to Israel. I remember him saying, ‘I’m going to die in the pulpit. I’m not leaving this church.'”
David Platt
When contacted by Baptist News Global, Solomon provided this statement: “If you have seen Part 2 of the video series, you will see that I was removed by the elders from all operational involvement at MBC early in 2017 as a part of my separation agreement. Also, as part of my separation agreement, I am not at liberty to comment on events at MBC or David Platt.”
The summer of 2020
The summer of 2020 marked a turning point, as Platt addressed racial and social issues from the pulpit, following controversy from his 2019 prayer over former President Donald Trump. McLean historically had attracted political figures, including special prosecutor Ken Starr, but Burke perceived a shift in atmosphere: “It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see famous political people there. David made a story out of it. I guess a lot of people interpreted it as an apology, and that kind of riled some people up.”
The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated matters.
“In 2020, when COVID came up, the shutting down the church was another huge exodus of people,” Burke said. “This was problematic because everybody started going to other churches. At McLean you had to register to attend, you had to let them know you were coming.”
The breaking point for Burke came when he discovered the nondenominational church’s connection to the SBC, which he believed violated church bylaws prohibiting denominational affiliation. His investigation revealed McLean’s involvement with the SBC of Virginia and the North American Mission Board through church planting initiatives.
“I just started to research whether we were part of the SBC or not,” Burke said. “In December 2020, at the first congregational meeting they had in person, I remember a lady asking if we were part of the denomination and David said from the pulpit no. However, that’s not what I discovered.”
At McLean Bible Church on June 2, 2019, Pastor David Platt prays over then-President Trump.. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
SBC church planting partnerships
Not only was Platt educated and ordained by Southern Baptists and served in Southern Baptist leadership, the Bible church got involved in church planting partnerships with the SBC North American Mission Board.
Church leaders contend this partnership with the SBC “was not a secret.” The SBC connection predated Platt’s tenure, coordinated primarily through Clint Clifton, who Burke identifies as “seemingly the genesis of this SBC relationship.”
The discovery left Burke feeling betrayed: “I had no idea I was a Southern Baptist. I had no idea for years that I was a Southern Baptist.”
The conflict escalated to the point where Burke and his family were charged with trespassing at their own church. Determined to share his story, Burke invested $25,000 of his own money in the documentary project.
Determined to share his story, Burke invested $25,000 of his own money in the documentary project.
Conflict remains, as does attention
“I feel like I have two jobs now,” he said. “It’s been totally grassroots, but the amount of people who have seen it is kind of mind boggling. It’s all over the world at this point; people in Romania and Bulgaria and the Netherlands have seen it. There’s a gentleman who reached out from Russia asking if he could have permission to translate it into Russian and distribute it through Russia. It’s been overwhelming.”
Seven years after Platt’s arrival as pastor, the dispute is not resolved and Burke and other unhappy members and former members continue to press their case. Their next target is seeking to document where tens of thousands of dollars from NAMB went because they do not believe all the named church plants even exist.
Church leaders, meanwhile, released their own investigation that stated: “After review of numerous financial transactions associated with this partnership, we are encouraged that no improper financial transactions were discovered either during annual external audits by an independent accounting firm or during the discovery process in the lawsuit. We can say, however, that the financial transactions for the church planting partnership were sometimes confusing.”
That report also said: “It is unquestionably clear that MBC did not give up any independence or cede any authority over our local church to the SBC or any other denomination. We at MBC remain committed to maintaining our autonomy and independence as a local body of believers according to our understanding of what the Bible teaches about the authority of the local church, and we are grateful that we are moving closer and closer to a day when these kinds of legal updates will no longer be necessary.”
Related articles:
Understanding the David Platt story | Analysis by Maina Mwaura
David Platt hopes for a biblical gospel instead of an American gospel
For now, David Platt has won the battle against internal critics at McLean Bible Church
David Platt steps up schedule to step down at IMB