Eastview Christian Church - Normal — Attraction in Normal

This is truly a great church. I've attended dozens of churches of different denominations, sizes, demographics and cultures. Eastview is one of the best for several reasons.

First, the teaching / preaching is very good and true to the Bible. While the church is very welcoming to all, it teaches what the Bible teaches, regardless of what our modern culture demands.

Second, Eastview is a generous church. The church gives a significant amount to foreign missions as well as local needs. We recently paid off the building loan, and rather than using the newly freed up payment funds for improvements or staff, the elders dedicated 100% of the funds to missions, mostly overseas in Africa and Haiti. At least for the next 6 months... More to be announced down the road.

Third, Eastview is a church run by tons of volunteers. There are a lot of staff, but I've never seen so many volunteers... Literally thousands doing everything from parking to security to kids ministry to working in the Cafe or bookstore etc. It seems like everyone has a couple of jobs, and that makes it feel like a family and makes it easier to connect, which can be difficult in a "megachurch".

Fourth, the opportunities for kids are unparalleled. For example, I have a girl in 7th grade. She's homeschooled and was somewhat shy, and had trouble connecting when she entered Eastview junior high in 6th grade. There were hundreds of kids and she didn't know anyone. Well, they opened up auditions for worship team, where they would basically mentor and train kids to serve either singing, playing an instrument, or running sound and video. My daughter auditioned and was put on the team. In about a year, she has grown tremendously in her faith and also in confidence and boldness. This year, she was offered the opportunity to lead worship for the 4th and 5th grade kids. She accepted and now is growing even more. At 12 years old, she is now leading and singing in front of hundreds every week and the impact it has had on her and her future is immeasurable.

These are opportunities that other churches just can't provide. And it's not just the opportunities that are amazing. The staff are as well. Eastview has enough staff (and great staff) that everything I've observed has been well done, well planned, and well executed. All the staff I know are humble, real, talented people who rely on God for everything.

I could go on and on, but I guess I already have. We've only been at the church for about 18 months, but...

Though there are good people involved with this church, the Elders, many former Elders, the current Executive Pastor, and members of the leadership team are abusive in their treatment of others. Though not criminal, their behavior was manipulative and spiritually abusive with some participating in an egregious abuse of authority while the rest complicity failed to act or respond.

I directly raised concerns of the abusive behaviors toward me and my family with these leaders multiple times starting in March of 2024 and these concerns have now been ignored for nearly 6 months and counting. These raised concerns were different than the public disclosures of abuse from June of 2023, yet many of the same men in leadership have played significant roles in both.

Specifically these leaders exerted abusive pressure to maintain the image of the church and the image of the former chairman of the Elders. When the actions of the Executive Pastor and former chairman of the Elders was revealed, no former or current Elder or pastor would stand up for justice and demand accountability. No pastor or Elder would listen or respond to these raised concerns and these abusive people still serve and pastor today. Even the new lead pastor is aware of these raised concerns—though he also chose to not respond to me—while deciding to surround himself with the counsel and leadership of these abusive men. The behavior of these men biblically disqualified them from leadership and serving, yet they were protected by other abusive and complicit leaders.

The image presented on Sunday differs greatly from the reality of the church’s leadership of abusive men mistreating others for the protection of their image and their positions of control. If the abusive leaders and pastors were removed, this church could perhaps once again be a place that focused on the higher ideals of justice, mercy, and faith rather than prioritizing image management.

For now, it would be best to look elsewhere for a church—which is what my family did after having attended and serving for many years. There are healthy churches in BloNo but this is not...

Here's my best assessment of this church thus far. I have been to both the normal and Bloomington campus and I love the feeling you get when you walk in and the worship set because you can really feel the holy spirit as you worship. However, here are some of the things that I would consider before making this your church home. I have grown so much in my personal faith through their small groups. I really believe that the church is the people not the building. You do build genuine relationships with the people who are in your small group. On the flipside, some of the staff for the food pantry and other serving opportunities has been not so friendly. Although having grace is important for everyone as we will not be perfect all the time, I also think it's important to make sure those who are new to serving are not deterred based on the interaction they have with someone who was not very nice. Suggestions for the church would be having a complaint line for those who may feel someone has been not so nice to them. We want to represent Christ and his church well and in order to do that sometimes we need some constructive criticism to help us realize those things. Pastor Mike is great most of the time, there were some sermons where the point of the sermon was unclear. However, every pastor needs a little grace and for me I don't worship a pastor I worship my Lord and Savior. I would say overall there needs to be some discussion about leadership-congregant interactions, but that you will grow in your relationship with the Lord that's why I am choosing...