By Chuck Baldwin
Help Me Start Liberty Churches Across America
For many months now, I have been making preparations for this moment. Hundreds of man-hours have gone into the planning of this project. Now, I am ready.
Over the past couple of years, hundreds of people from across the country have pleaded with me to help them start new independent, unorganized, unincorporated, non-501c3 churches and Christian fellowships. It has become painfully obvious to many patriotic believers that the vast majority of establishment 501c3 churches and pastors have made a deliberate decision to NOT engage the liberty fight. For the most part, these pastors and churches have been completely muzzled by State incorporation and the 501c3 government tax-status. And, sadly, these pastors and churches have absolutely no desire to change. They are cemented in lethargy and indifference. Meanwhile, our nation is spiraling downward toward certain destruction–and the biggest reason for this calamitous situation is the absence of patriot-pulpits.
But it is more than a tax-status: it is a mindset, a philosophy, and a vision. Hundreds of thousands of Christians across America are panting for a pastor and church that will boldly teach and preach the Biblical Natural Law principles of liberty. They want a pastor and church that do not seem to be more loyal to a political party than they are to the principles of truth. They want a pastor who will name names from the pulpit. They desire a place where they can fellowship with freedom-minded believers. They are tired of being outcasts and renegades among these establishment government institutions, called churches. They are weary of being called “kooks,” because they refuse to go along with the bread and circus provided by the mainstream media and political establishments. They are disgusted with “program-driven” churches. In their gut, they know that the Bible teaches the principles of self-defense, the right to be armed, private property, the separation of powers, jurisdictional authority, limited government, the rights of man, etc., and they want a pastor and church that understands these Biblical truths and will plainly teach them. Frankly, they want a patriot-pastor and a liberty church.
Enter The Liberty Church Project.
Back in January 2011, my family and I started Liberty Fellowship here in Kalispell, Montana. This fellowship is an unorganized, unaffiliated, independent, unincorporated, non-501c3 church. I preach the Biblical Natural Law principles of liberty. I am not afraid to address political issues or even to endorse or repudiate political issues and candidates. Hundreds of people from the local area worship with us each Sunday afternoon (we assemble at 2pm Mountain Time); and some drive extremely long distances to fellowship with us. Plus, untold numbers of people across the country worship with us via our livestream broadcasts and online archived messages. You can watch our Sunday afternoon service live or watch our online archived messages here.
Our fellowship has also provided people across the country with a fresh enthusiasm to start liberty churches in their own communities. The requests to help start such fellowships have been multitudinous. I have been praying about this matter for over a year. I’ve asked God to show me what to do. Liberty Church Project (LCP) is the answer to that prayer.
I hope to spend the next few years traveling across the country helping people start liberty churches. But this is not as easy as it might sound. In fact, it is a HUGE undertaking!
In the first place, I do not know how to do something without doing it right–doing it with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength. I never do things half-way. And I won’t make this endeavor half-heartedly, either.
When I say I hope to spend the next few years traveling across the country, I am talking about a team of people helping me. I have enlisted the assistance of several people, including an audio-visual team, some of the folks at the Biblical Law Center–and even some notable Christian attorneys. And I will not come empty-handed. I will bring binders full of materials–both practical and Biblical–to leave with the people that we will be helping. I will also bring printed copies of many of the messages that I have delivered at Liberty Fellowship.
I sure wish someone had provided me with these tools when I started my first church back in 1975–or even when I started Liberty Fellowship three years ago. Frankly, I don’t know of anyone in the country who is doing what we are attempting to do.
And, in case you are wondering, I will not let this effort interfere with my work here at Liberty Fellowship. These will be weekday meetings; I will be in my pulpit each Sunday in Kalispell, Montana. Plus, we will space the meetings according to a variety of factors in order to optimize our time and energies. After all, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
We will soon have an application form posted online where people who want us to come help them can apply. I am not hesitant to say that we will carefully screen the applications in order to do our best to make sure that the people who are asking us to come are truly serious about it, because this is very serious business to me. This is not a game to me. (I even despise commercial flying.) I believe the future of our liberties depend upon what we are doing.
I thought about trying to do all of this exclusively online, which would eliminate the cost and effort of travelling. And I definitely foresee the online part of it becoming a very important tool for continual assistance to those we help. We are already planning on that. But, frankly, I am convinced that there is no substitute for face-to-face, personal training. I want people to catch my vision and my fire, as well as the mechanical and technical instruction. I envision that I will be working with both ministers and laymen in this endeavor. I believe I must meet these dear people in person.
Here is the stickler: I am positive that the vast majority of people whom we will be helping will not be able to afford to pay our way. The travel, accommodations, published materials, office work, organizational work, technical work, etc., would be cost prohibitive for most people to be able to meet. I estimate that a single trip could cost up to $5,000. Not all of them will cost that much, but some could. At the same time, I do not want to begin this project unless I am relatively certain that I will be able to continue it–at least for the next year or two–in order to give the project an opportunity to get well underway.
Accordingly, I am asking my friends across the country–people who share my vision that one of America’s greatest needs is the need to establish non-501c3 churches and help raise up patriot pulpits–to help me. Please understand, too, that I will not become a perpetual pleader for the Liberty Church Project. I believe if God wants this project to launch, He will touch the hearts of those who are willing and able to give. If He does not touch hearts and the support does not come in–and come in quickly–I will gladly accept that as His will and shelve the idea. But, the cries of the people, and the cry of my own heart, force me to try.
In order to launch the Liberty Church Project, I need $100,000.00. One family, who has been praying with me about this project, has already donated $20,000.00 to help LCP get off the ground. That means I need $80,000.00 from the readers of this column. A donation of $5,000 could be considered a sponsorship of one trip that will help to start a new non-501c3 church or Christian fellowship.
Once it becomes obvious that enough support is being given and we can launch the project, we will activate the online application form, so people who want to start liberty churches can begin applying.
The Liberty Church Project website.
I remind you that donations to Liberty Church Project are NOT tax-deductible. As with Liberty Fellowship, I do not seek 501c3 government status or State non-profit incorporation for the Liberty Church Project.
I certainly understand the magnitude of the funds I am requesting. I also understand the magnitude of the task I am willing to undertake. But I am His servant. God led me and my family to move 2,600 miles to the Flathead Valley of Montana for a reason. Liberty Fellowship, a non-501c3 unincorporated church fellowship, is a major part of that reason. And the livestream messages that are watched by thousands of people across the country are a major part of that reason. And while I have the strength and health and time, I am making myself available to the Lord and to the Lord’s people across America via the Liberty Church Project. Perhaps we are all here “for such a time as this.”
Just to also let you in on some of my thought processes: over the last six months or so, I had many people in Montana, and from around the country, plead with me to run for high public office. I prayed hard about that. As I prayed, this project was also burning in my heart. I finally decided that the Liberty Church Project was a higher priority and more significant endeavor than running for (and maybe even winning) public office.
What could happen in the future if, somehow, God could use us (and I can’t do this without you) to help establish dozens and scores of liberty churches–with patriot pastors at the helm–all over the country? Who knows but what the seed we are planting now will blossom into hundreds and thousands of patriot pastors and liberty churches influencing the future course of our nation for years to come?
Only God knows. But I know this: unless we resurrect patriot-pulpits and liberty churches, all of our political efforts are merely Band-Aids. America’s problems are first and foremost spiritual in nature. And judgment always BEGINS at the house of God.
So, the Liberty Church Project is on the Launchpad. It is now in the hands of you good folks who have become such an intricate part of Liberty Fellowship and the rest of the work that I do.
Again, the project website.
I anxiously wait to see what the Lord–and you–will do.