A written false attestation is a lie. When proven, the originator should repent.
“Leaders should be modeling repentance. Early and often”.
Those following The Midway Guardian may have wondered at the repeated references to Midway Presbyterian Church Senior Pastor David Hall’s “written false attestations.” The reference comes from the 40-5 credible report submitted to the General Assembly in February of 2021. Although the main point of the report was constitutional delinquencies of the Northwest Georgia Presbytery, it also happened to expose that Senior Pastor David Hall made these false attestations. This report, which has been found credible by the General Assembly, is currently being studied by the Review of Presbytery Records (RPR) Committee of the PCA.
No wonder Senior Pastor Hall has reacted strongly against those who signed the credible report – going so far as to charge and suspend three members of his own Session. No wonder Senior Pastor Hall did not want a video of the congregational meeting of July 2020 to be seen because it so obviously refutes what he signed (thus certifying) as true when he knew was not.
The relevant portions of the 40-5 credible report are bullets 5 and 7 below:
• The Credentials Committee erred in their conduction of this meeting by accepting commissioners from Midway that were not appointed by the congregation in violation of BCO 20-7 & 20-8. The Midway congregation never held a public vote to appoint commissioners to present and prosecute its call.
and
• The Credentials Committee erred in not confirming “that the persons who signed the foregoing call were authorized to do so by a vote of the congregation.” Had they attempted to do so, they would have discovered that the commissioners were not actually appointed by the congregation, despite the moderator’s attestation that they were, in violation of BCO 20-6. The unconstitutionality of the proceedings would have become apparent.
Senior Pastor David Hall wrote and signed the following words three times (one for each pastor “elected” – Rev. Marc Harrington, Rev. Mic Knox, and Rev. David Barry denoted below within < >):
“Attest: I, having moderated the congregational meeting which extended a call to Rev. <pastor name> for his ministerial services, do certify that the call has been made in all respects according to the rules laid down in the Book of Church Order, and that the persons who signed the foregoing call were delegated to do so as per BCO 20-7.”
Signed Rev. David W. Hall: Terms of Call for Associate Pastors Harrington, Knox, and Barry.
The attestation above comes from the PCA Book of Church Order – sort of. Someone (presumably David Hall, as the originator of the document) modified the statement in a subtle way. Where Senior Pastor Hall’s signature certified the words “and that the persons who signed the foregoing call were delegated to do so as per BCO 20-7” the actual words of the BCO say in 20-6 “and that the persons who signed the foregoing call were authorized to do so by vote of the congregation.”
Furthermore, the Northwest Georgia Presbytery publishes a document on its website titled “Guidelines to the Credentials Process in the Northwest Georgia Presbytery (2014)“. Page 65 contains “The Proper Form of a Call” for this presbytery, and that standard form contains the BCO language: “…the persons who signed the foregoing call were authorized to do so by vote of the congregation.“
Midway’s Forms of Call were modified to change this language, which had the effect of obscuring the requirement for a congregational vote.
What a convenient modification of the language of the BCO. It is almost as if David Hall wanted to draw attention away from the fact that no persons were ever elected by the congregation to sign the call at the congregational meeting in July 2020 – or at any other time. BCO 20-7, referred to in the credible report, says “20-7. If any church shall choose to designate its ruling elders and deacons, or a committee to sign its call, it shall be at liberty to do so. But it shall, in such case, be fully certified to the Presbytery by the minister or other person who presided, that the persons signing have been appointed for that purpose by a public vote of the church, and that the call has been in all other respects prepared as above directed.“
In addition to the actual false statements (presented in David Hall’s own hand and attached below), The Midway Guardian has obtained the documents from local presbytery records that included links to the video of the congregational meeting. Readers are encouraged to view it for themselves and see if they can find any public vote of the church taken to appoint persons who were authorized to sign the calls of the pastors.
Many of our readers will not have to do so however, as they were present for the meeting where Senior Pastor David Hall as moderator never oversaw a vote to the aforementioned end. Yet this man did attest with his own hand that he had, and apparently modified the terms of call language from the BCO, why? To minimize the obviousness of his dishonesty? This certainly appears to be an attempt by the Senior Pastor to “control congregational input” and “mute the voice” of the members of the church – just as a judicial commission ruling against his actions concluded multiple times over the last 2 years.
The Midway Guardian has been criticized by the Midway Session as a hateful website, purveying the words of Satan, and the Prosecutor who led the Session in bringing the false charges against RE Philip Dudt has prayed for the destruction of this website’s owners. We remain committed to truth, and we will strive so far as we are able to continue to tell it.
In this matter it is simple: Senior Pastor David Hall wrote lies. They are provable and posted below for our readers to see.
As is the video that proves how false his written attestations were.
Discern for yourselves the truth. The Midway Guardian decries less the fact that a sinner (like all men), Senior Pastor David Hall, has behaved dishonestly in this matter, and more so decries the fact that he has refused to repent of his false attestations which bring low the witness of Christ’s church. If this error was somehow unintentional, he has known about it for over a year and has failed to correct it. Rather than repent and seek forgiveness, David Hall has sought to eliminate those from church office who have exposed his lies. In contrast, maybe it is time for the Senior Pastor to move on from Midway so that this church suffering under the weight of his spiritual abuse can begin to heal.
