Not that the truth was being preached before, but now, because of the ‘scandal,’ everything is simply okay. Preaching inclusion is easier than preaching repentance. Repentance requires confession, even from the preacher, that he or she too was at one time a sinner, and encouraging the troubled heart to reach out to the same God that had saved the preacher.
As a series of scandals stripped away everything Rev. D.E. Paulk had — his church, his financial resources, even his father — he found the courage to speak his truth.
“I don’t know how to say this, the scandal didn’t make me inclusive, it took away my fear,” Paulk says. “Before that I was saying that I’ll preach about gay inclusion and just sort of mention it here or there. When you lose everything, you have nothing to lose. I looked at my wife one day and said all I have left is me, and what God is speaking to me.”
In 2006, Paulk moved from a church he started in Stone Mountain to become the senior pastor at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, located in South Decatur. Built by his father, Don Paulk, and his uncle, Bishop Earl Paulk, the 4,000-member church was one of the largest independent, racially diverse churches in the nation.
Soon after D.E. Paulk took over as senior pastor, he faced what he now collectively calls “the scandal.” A number of women came forward alleging Earl Paulk used his influence as bishop to coerce them into sexual relationships. As part of the legal proceedings, Earl Paulk was forced to undergo a paternity test to see if he had fathered several children in the church.
The paternity test revealed that Earl Paulk, the man D.E. Paulk grew up believing was his uncle, was actually his biological father. Yet it was as these scandals rocked the church that D.E Paulk found the strength to say what was in his heart.
“The thing that really hurt me the most, during the time that I was coming back here and beginning to speak about gay inclusion, we were going through, my goodness, a scandal of epic proportion. I think there was in all 36 stories — and there was still one last week — but the majority of our church stayed,” he says.
“They stayed through the adultery allegations, the racketeering charges, there’s been all sorts of things they’ve accused us of, some true, some not true, but the majority of the people stayed,” he adds. “It wasn’t really until I started teaching gay inclusion and other religious thought [that people began to leave].”
UNDER FIRE FROM his congregation because of his teaching and marred by his family’s legacy, Paulk considered leaving and starting over somewhere else.
“I think if I had the money we probably would have left, but all we had is what we had, so let’s put our feet down,” he says. “We had nothing left, we had no reputation, and that’s maybe the best thing that ever happened to us because it freed us from all the fear. The trying to garner votes from congregants, and tithes, and say let’s just be ourselves, it’s all we have left.”
Paulk began to focus on his core principles and beliefs as he moved toward what he calls “radical inclusion” and away from Christianity. Paulk founded the organization Pro-Love in 2004, which has sponsored inclusion marches every year since. He also began work on his new book, “I Don’t Know … The Way of Knowing.”
The book outlines his beliefs, a multi-national mixture of Hindu, Buddhist, Daoism and other religious thought combined with quotes from an array of historical and cultural figures. Throughout the book, Paulk admits he doesn’t have the answers, and advocates the creation of groups of people all looking for the answers together.
“This is kind of playing my cards here; in several years we probably won’t be called a church anymore, we’ll just be called a community,” Paulk says of his congregation, which now has about 1,000 members and is called Cathedral at Chapel Hill. “I think we’ll just be a community of seekers.”
ON TUESDAY, Paulk read from his book and took questions from a crowd gathered at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse. Kenny O’Bryan is openly gay except at his church. He says he came to Outwrite to get some answers to questions he can’t ask his pastor.
“For me to be able to ask him questions about my life… I don’t need his answers to justify my life, but I don’t believe that God created me this way just to destroy me,” O’Bryan says.
Paulk is against the idea of defining God as a certain concept. He refers to God as “The Christ” who takes many forms, including Jesus. He told O’Bryan that he agreed with him and says he doesn’t believe in God and the devil, just God.
Like in his book, Paulk advocated looking for answers, but accepting that they may not be forthcoming.
“I think the goal of the book is to get people to admit that they don’t know as much as they might think they know,” he says.
#1 by Jeremiah on March 12, 2009 – 1:02 am
Lovely.
#2 by Jeremiah on March 11, 2009 – 8:02 pm
Lovely.
#3 by TWS76 on October 17, 2010 – 7:52 pm
this is complete heresy, this idiot is so desperate for money because he family let temptation overcome their successful work. lets see you go from 4000 members when preaching the true word, but the Bible says Gods light will not let the evil hide, which is exactly what happened to paulk, now he is trying to tap into all religions and tell people there actions are okay because God made them that way, that is crap. this is what John Hagee would call hot tub christianity, telling you its okay to live in the world and in the flesh. this is a doctrine of demons. you are not doing Gods work mr paulk, you are working for satan, and you will answer for what you are doing. its a lot easier to money when you tell people everything they do is okay. you need to repent mr paulk and God will forgive you, quit serving self, and go back to serving God the way you used to, God can restore everything you had 10 fold, you know as well as I do, the reason you were exposed before, well your family, was because they were sinning against God, and using God’s rightousness to do it, the bible tell us God exposes the darkness with his true light, REPENT BEFORE ITS TO LATE
#4 by Joel on October 17, 2010 – 11:11 pm
If you are quoting John Hagee, your comment has been rendered invalid.
#5 by Debbie on December 15, 2010 – 1:33 am
We are instructed to know the things of the world, but are not to participate in those things. To hold ourselves from them.
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”-Matt 24:37. In the days of Noah, man was corrupt and only for themselves, sound familiar to today? Man lying with man, woman lying with woman, man or woman lying with a beast or child is an abomination to God. That is the truth. Anything else is compromising God’s law and statues to make ourselves acceptable to the world. That sir is your mistake. You have become self righteous in your own beliefs. We are told to seek first the kingdom of God. You better keep seeking God not the god of this age, Satan.