Hi, my name is Stephanie, and this is my story. This is why I left Antioch Orlando.
Five years ago, I was introduced to this church through an invitation to Friendsgiving. The holiday season isn’t their typical day-to-day rhythm, but it was my first glimpse. At first, it looked like game nights, bonfires with songs, laughter spilling across tables, and people introducing themselves like instant friends. It looked like inside jokes, voices rising together in prayer on a sidewalk after evangelism, mission trips spoken of with glowing excitement, and people leaning in to say, “We’re glad you’re here.”
At first, it felt like love. And because I had been taught at my previous church to equate this kind of love with God’s presence, I believed this was my forever home.
Still, even in those early moments, there were whispers, subtle pressures, and that out-of-place feeling I pushed aside. Because who wouldn’t want to trust the people who go to church with you?
But beneath the warmth, I began to see patterns that disturbed me. Patterns I now recognize as signs of spiritual abuse and manipulation, carefully woven into a system built to protect one man’s vision. And that man is not Christ Jesus our savior.
At first, discipleship looked like care. Leaders asked questions, leaned in, and wanted to know every detail of your life. I thought it was genuine interest, even love. But later, I learned the practice they use has a name: sin searching.
Sin searching is when leaders constantly probe your heart looking for sins not to bring healing but to hold power. They train you to see yourself as perpetually broken, perpetually unworthy, always in need of their correction. You are taught to confess, expose, and even exaggerate your failures, while the “leaders” keep mental files on you.
This creates dependency. If you believe you are always the problem, you will always need them to “fix” you. Over time, your own discernment erodes because you are told your heart is deceitful, your perspective is flawed, and only they can help you see clearly.
In Antioch, it showed up in ways that seemed spiritual at first. For example, the ADS forms where you were told to “open up” really are databases of your weaknesses.
Conversations with your life group leaders would be turned into interrogations. “What other lies are you believing about this?” And whenever conflict arose for me, the past conversation was pulled out and replayed. It was never to bring restoration but only to corner you into submission.
Then there is sin hunting.
Sin hunting takes sin searching one step further. It is not just leaders waiting for you to confess, it is them actively digging through your life to find something wrong even if nothing is there. They will reframe your motives, reinterpret your words, or twist your actions until they can pin a sin on you. Some would call this, gaslighting.
In healthy discipleship, leaders walk with you to point you back to Jesus, reminding you of His grace. In a cult system, leaders hunt for sin to remind you of your guilt. It keeps you in a posture of constant apology, always feeling like you owe the church more loyalty, more obedience, more of yourself.
At Antioch, this looked like leaders gathering behind closed doors to discuss people by name, not to pray for them, but to speculate about their struggles. It looked like preaching indirect sermons aimed at individuals, implying sin without ever sitting down with them face-to-face. And it looked like accusations whispered about me, that I had spread my mother’s letter, when I had not and still to this day have never even read it.
Sin hunting convinces people that they are always one step away from being labeled “offended,” “rebellious,” or even a “wolf.” And once that label is put on you, you are no longer seen as a brother or sister in Christ. You are treated like an enemy of the church.
After sin searching and sin hunting comes something just as destructive: gossip.
At Antioch, gossip is not just tolerated, it is weaponized. The pastor allows gossip to run wild because it gives him control. Every whispered detail eventually flows back to him, and with it, he shapes the narrative however he wants. Leaders report everything up the chain, making sure he hears what people confess, what they struggle with, and even what they question. The pastor himself has boasted, “The elders do not know what they are doing. They come to me for everything.” And if your elders don’t know what they are doing, how much more your ordinary life group leaders? Nothing stays private.
If you ever ask questions or raise concerns, people are already being told a version of your story that paints you in the worst possible light. Instead of shepherding people toward reconciliation, leadership uses gossip to poison the well. By the time you try to defend yourself, trust has already been eroded. People look at you differently. Leaders don’t have to confront you honestly; they simply let gossip do the work.
I experienced this firsthand when my mother wrote a private letter of concern to the pastor in April 2025. Instead of the pastor responding to her directly, he shared it with the elders and then preached about it from the stage. He even said the advice he got from a man in his sixties was, “This lady needs to get lost.” That sixty-year-old man was the father of an elder’s wife in the church.
Imagine sitting in the congregation and realizing your mom has just been mocked publicly without being named, and that now the entire church will see you through that distorted lens. And it was worse than that. The pastor told my friends who had just gotten engaged about the letter in casual conversation, though he didn’t mention names he still shared before I ever could. He brought it up again in a leadership meeting. He spread the gossip himself.
Gossip becomes the bloodstream of the system, a way to isolate anyone who might challenge authority. It creates fear: fear of speaking, fear of questioning, fear of being the next story whispered about behind closed doors.
And gossip didn’t just stay in whispers; it made its way into the pulpit. Which truly brought dishonor to God’s word.
At Antioch, sermons often became coded messages. The pastor would preach indirectly about private conflicts, hinting at details only the people involved would recognize. But the rest of the congregation, those who didn’t already know, were left to fill in the blanks, quietly speculating about who was being called out and why.
This is where the power dynamics become undeniable. The pastor holds the microphone, the pulpit, and the narrative. You don’t. He can frame you however he wants, and by the time you try to defend yourself, the damage is already done. Shame has already worked its way into the room. People look at you differently before you’ve even spoken a word.
It creates fear. Once you’ve seen someone else’s story twisted into a sermon, you start to wonder when it will be your turn. You learn quickly: don’t speak up, don’t ask questions, don’t put anything in writing. Because at Antioch, honesty could cost you everything.
And the hypocrisy is staggering. From the stage, the pastor preaches about conflict resolution, reconciliation, and humility. But behind the scenes, he never even reached out to my mom to reconcile or pastor her through her concerns directly. Instead, he mocked her words from the pulpit, spread the letter to the leaders, told my newly engaged friends about it in casual conversation, and even brought it up again in a leadership meeting. He preaches unity while practicing division. He wears spirituality as a mask to cover patterns of abuse. And don’t even get me started on the flattery sermons for his favorites.
Finally, their church discipline and excommunication process.
In a healthy church, discipline takes time. It is slow, deliberate, and covered in prayer. Leaders plead with you through tears, not accusations. They test motives, gather witnesses, and take months to weigh the situation with careful discernment. The goal is always restoration, not humiliation.
This is what Jesus Himself laid out in Matthew 18:15–17. If a brother or sister sins, you go to them privately first. If they don’t listen, you bring one or two others to establish every matter. Only after repeated refusal to repent does it ever go before the church. Paul echoes this in Galatians 6:1: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.” The entire biblical process is aimed at patience, gentleness, and restoration. I believe I have done this the way you are called to, even now.
But at Antioch, it was the opposite. Everything unraveled at lightning speed.
Summarized Timeline of Events:
- April 28 – My mom sent her letter of concern to the pastor regarding finances and church practices.
- April 29 – I am told about the letter by lifegroup leaders, not the Pastor and encouraged to speak to him.
- April 30 / May 4 – I attempt to schedule something with the Pastor and his wife. They didn’t even try or make an effort or attempt to put something on the schedule.
- May 18 – Pastor preached indirectly about the letter from the stage and my mother.
- May 19 – My mom was excommunicated by elders via text. That same day the pastor left for Japan without reaching out to us.
- June – A narrative about me began spreading unchecked.
- July 6 – I met with an elder and his wife to ask financial questions; was told leadership wouldn’t be transparent because “people don’t ask questions” and warned not to “threaten them” like my mom.
- July 10 – I created a spreadsheet after learning 2–3% of every mission trip was taken for the pastor and leaders with full-time jobs. I planned to ask about it in my exit interview. Waiting for the Pastor to return home from Japan still to understand the sermon on May 19.
- July 27 – I finally get to meet with the Pastor to discuss, and he tells me he “feels sorry for my situation” and “I’m not going to say I repent”. No elders stood up for me in that conversation. Only my brother tried, but I asked him to be quiet. I was then told my mother is destroying me.
- July 29 – My friend shared my texts and spreadsheet with her life group leader, misrepresenting my true heart motive before I had the chance to present it myself.
- July 30 – I learned my spreadsheet had already been shared, removing my ability to seek clarity. That night I requested an exit interview but was denied and was instead informally placed under church discipline by a group leader. My request to stand before elders and the pastor was also denied. I was given a deadline to repent by, which I had nothing to repent of.
- August 1 – Pastor and Elders refuse to give me clarity on spreadsheet for our next follow up conversation. Elders text me hard words after my kind words pleading with them to ask me questions and come with understanding. I realized they wouldn’t try to understand after this or believe me, there was no hope. I submitted my final submission.
- August 3 – My excommunication (church discipline) was announced publicly to the entire church, four days later. This happened after I had already submitted my final letter of exit, detailed events, and called to repentance. Leaders then led the congregation in communion without examining their own or others’ heart motives.
At no point in this timeline did the pastor attempt reconciliation with my mom or communication with me. My documentation shows the exact days and times I reached out, proving I was fighting for my church more than they were fighting for me. (more documents regarding timeline are linked below under resources)
What then became undeniable once my excommunication was done publicly: I could never go back and be restored. It wasn’t discipline. It was humiliation. In a healthy church, if someone is under discipline, their name may be mentioned so the congregation can pray, but never the full details. The point is supposed to be restorative, not shameful. This is what I have learned from other churches in the area.
But at Antioch, it was publicly announced, spelled out for everyone to hear, lies spewed about what happened and then communion was taken immediately after. In the recording I heard, leaders even said, “Worship and get on your knees if you have to.” They blasphemed the Lord in that moment. His holy communion, the very thing that reminds us of our salvation, a moment of celebration was weaponized to cover their abuse.
Everyone in that church became complicit that day. But the worst part is this: their leaders led them into it. And the Pastor stood off on the side so he wouldn’t be held accountable for it. But that’s the thing about God, is he knows that pastor caused it all. God laughs in heaven knowing he will have to give account for it all when he faces him. There is no out running or out cunning God. Even my friend will stand before God and face judgement for protecting wickedness instead of standing for his truth.
What lingers with me most are the stories; they don’t stop with me. The abuse has seeped into the most intimate parts of people’s lives.
I think of a woman who struggles with infertility. After faithfully asking for prayer over a period of time, leaders told her they were “done praying” because they didn’t see any “fruit” in her life. Imagine carrying that grief already and then having your own church leaders declare that your suffering was proof of your spiritual failure. That is cruelty disguised as theology. I am still praying they will conceive and have a baby.
I think of a man who was told he would be kicked out of the church if he didn’t stop pursuing a woman. That is not protection, it is control.
And then there is my own story. They broke me up three different times with a man I loved. They toyed with me, dangling the possibility of marriage and then tearing it away. And when I tried to move on, when godly men pursued me, those men were told to back off. The excuse? That I “wasn’t submitted to leadership enough”. Imagine being told you are too rebellious to be loved. It makes you question if you’ll ever be enough.
The control and manipulation did not stop with relationships. I think of a man in leadership who once dreamed of medical school. His vision to serve and heal people was inspiring, godly even. But the leaders shut it down. They told him to forget that dream and focus on the church’s mission instead. Would it have been a lot of work for him? Yes. But would it show that missions can be done other than going overseas? Yes. For this man to pursue his vision from God would take the power away from the pastor. They even tell him which women he can and can’t date, stripping him of the freedom to discern for himself. If the pastor doesn’t approve, he will never marry. And if he never breaks free from fear of man, he will be stunted in growth forever, unable to walk in the fullness of how God designed him to serve His true Kingdom. My heart grieves for him, because I fear he has lost himself and given himself over to the same way of life and thinking as the pastor. He will always be in my prayers.
These are just the stories I witnessed at my time there. But if this much manipulation and control have already happened out in the open, what hidden scandals lie buried? History shows systems like this always crack eventually. Sexual abuse, financial corruption, moral failure, you name it. These things rarely stay hidden forever. The truth will surface.
It is endless. It is damning. And if you are still inside, it should terrify you.
If you’ve read the other blogs about Antioch, you’ll see patterns of fear, shame, manipulation, and control. And I must admit something hard here: I once played into those same patterns. I didn’t allow myself to critically think. I let fear and shame shape my decisions. I once wanted to be a life group leader, to lead a discipleship group and to feel like I belong. That if I threw these people out instead of standing up for them, I would be accepted. I once blasphemed the Lord in taking communion in the way the leaders led with other excommunications. And just as my friends were pinned against me, I once was pinned against the very people who wrote blogs like this before me. I believed the narrative that they were rebellious, offended, wolves, or manipulative men, when truly, they were simply ahead of me in seeing the truth.
That is the system at work here at Antioch. It convinces you that questioning is sin, that doubt is rebellion, that leaving means betrayal. And in that environment, we don’t just lose each other, we lose ourselves and individual thought. You lose true reliance on the Holy Spirit.
You can see the cracks most clearly in ADS, the discipleship school. Every year the curriculum changes, and students are even told it’s designed that way so the class before them will be “jealous.” But let’s call that what it really is: a massive red flag. Biblical truth does not change with the calendar year. The gospel is unchanging. The right handling of Scripture is steady. So why does the teaching at Antioch shift so dramatically from year to year?
The answer is simple, and you don’t need to sit in on elders’ meetings to know it. It’s because consistent biblical teaching exposes the pastor for what he really is: a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He desires for people to chase after his approval and hear what he will teach.
Which brings us to the doctrinal shift. In early 2025, Antioch changed from Reformed to Charismatic almost overnight. All twelve elders claimed to be “unified,” but what does unity mean when no one dares to dissent? Most members didn’t even know it was happening until after the decision had already been made and the ADS class semester was finished. A pastor I sought counsel from told me this shows there is “one brain and twelve hands.” That isn’t spiritual conviction. That’s compliance.
The pastor at Antioch even said it openly from the stage in the July 27, 2025 sermon titled Apostolic People:
“We’re done with the religion stuff. We’re done with the doctrinal pride. If you don’t like it, go to another church.” – John Curialie, Apostolic People
But this same pastor who graduated from John MacArthur’s seminary should remember how essential sound doctrine is to the life of a church:
“Rebuke heretics, preach the Word, nourish yourself up in sound doctrine, confront false teaching…”
— John MacArthur, Marks of the Faithful Preacher, Part 4 (Grace to You Sermon Archive)
The faithful preacher, the faithful Christian, the faithful church must be willing to take a stand for sound doctrine, even if it means standing alone. Sadly, the pastor at Antioch Orlando has turned away. It reveals the depth of unrepentance this pastor is walking in. He gives no thought to how this is damaging. It also reveals you cannot even confront him or suggest he is wrong. This is a deep tragedy to swing from charismatic ideals to hard core reformed theology, and then back to charismatic again. It is not just confusing. It is soul damaging. Doctrine isn’t window dressing. It shapes how people see God, how they experience grace, how they understand salvation. To treat doctrine like a switch you can flip for convenience or for maintaining power doesn’t just destabilize theology; it destabilizes faith itself. It’s no wonder so many people struggle so much with their belief in God at this church and feeling loved by him.
Moving on to what happens when you leave and what they tell those who remain. First, they tell you if you leave to not share with others because it “will hurt their faith” but when they excommunicate or someone leaves on bad terms: they tell people to go back and re-edit their reviews or post one if they hadn’t written one yet. This happened right after my excommunication, flooding the internet with praise about how “great” their church is.
The cruelest part? My own friend who betrayed me, who turned me into the religious leaders, wrote one of those reviews. She wrote about forgiveness, grace, and how wonderful the church is. That’s the same friend who once told me she didn’t even like the pastor and always had an “ick” about him since her days back in ADS. It was sickening. I cried when I read it. I almost threw up from the wickedness on display. My heart was deeply grieved.
From this experience and my own research this church is functioning as a cult. Now my friend has locked herself in there, unable to see the truth. All my friends have that remain. The reality is no one leaves that church without being willing to lose everything, because the pastor will not let you go unless you bow your knee and convince yourself it’s a “good” church. You’re not even allowed to share if you disagree with anything when you leave, they tell you not to. They condition you to believe you are in sin for speaking up. No matter how much spiritual abuse they inflict, they will never admit it, never acknowledge it, never repent for it.
You will never get the apology you deserve. And though they call themselves Christians, the Bible would reveal their actions show otherwise. By their fruit, they prove themselves not as children of God but as children of Satan. They can get on their knees in lifegroup and plead with the Lord to save those who have left, for those who wrote on this blog, but never have the courage to face them and apologize.
In the layers of reality coming to light for me even now, nothing is real in that church. Your friends who you think are your friends are not. The day you decide you no longer agree with the pastor or the church’s mission is the day you lose everything.
This should be the clearest indicator that it is not Jesus being worshiped in this church. Who is worshiped? It is the pastor himself and his vision. And that should terrify people.
Those who wrestle in their faith after reading this aren’t wrestling with God. They’re wrestling with leadership and the way the church has conditioned them to trust its system. In fact, many are wrestling with the way non-denominational churches function overall. But leadership twists it, insisting your struggle is with God Himself, that you don’t have enough faith, when their “god” is their pastor and going on these mission trips. This exposes this so-called church as not only wicked, but profoundly dangerous.
If the pastor isn’t worshiped then questioning him, having better ideas than him, asking for accountability and apologies should never have come to what it did. And the most detrimental part is now it will only get worse. They are going to tighten their reigns. And the effects may even lead people to commit suicide one day.
Final Questions & Closing Thoughts:
My mom had financial concerns. At first, I thought she hadn’t addressed them the right way, and that if I asked the right questions, especially after five years of faithfully serving in this church my friends in leadership would tell me openly. Surely, I thought, they knew me well enough to trust my character and answer honestly. I believed I could clear up any confusion my mom had and even defend my church against her. But in my asking, my eyes were opened. Out of both curiosity and the skills I’d learned from my day-to-day work in account reconciliation auditing, I put together a spreadsheet. What pushed me to do it was being told that 2–3% of every person’s mission trip money was taken to cover the pastor and other leaders with full-time jobs so they could go on those trips. I wanted to see it clearly. I shared the spreadsheet with a friend; she shared it with others. Suddenly, I was the one blamed for its spread. And the way leadership came at me confirmed what my gut already knew: something was wrong with the finances.
So, they put me under church discipline, claiming “my motives have been exposed” and that I needed to repent for supposedly giving out the letter. But here’s the question: if I was truly wrong, and if it was “so easy to explain” like the church admin proclaims, why couldn’t they simply show me a spreadsheet to prove it? Even when I said “out of respect for the pastor” I would like clarity on it?
According to my calculation based on public trip costs, it looked like nearly $190,000 more had been raised than needed. Later, leadership claimed that after factoring in discounts for children, shortened trips, and people who covered their own flights, the actual shortfall was $8,926 instead of a surplus. Maybe that is true. But then why wasn’t I shown that breakdown when I asked? Why hide the spreadsheet if the explanation was so simple? Because my friend shared the spreadsheet before I could get a chance to? Why would they leave my mom and I to believe these things instead of proving themselves trustworthy?
And that’s the real issue: secrecy. Whether the final number was an overage or a shortfall, the problem was that questions couldn’t be met with honesty and clarity. I was pressured to repent without evidence, denied transparency, and treated as rebellious for asking. Transparency would have cleared everything up.
Instead, they released a glossy financial letter to the church, boasting about how great things were and assuring everyone nothing was wrong. They told the congregation to keep it within the congregation, but I got a copy (in link below). And that only raised more questions. Who is the CPA they referenced? What firm do they even use? Who is their tax consultant or is it literally just the admin filing everything through TurboTax? Who is holding this church accountable on the outside for its finances and overseeing the pastor’s spending? And if the answer is nobody, then what does that say? (all documents are provided in resource link).
I think about the building fund that quietly vanished without explanation. I think about the cancelled 2020 mission trips, when people got flight credits back, but the rest of their money never returned to the very people who needed it most. Where did it go?
From what I’ve witnessed, a lack of accountability in the pulpit almost always mirrors a lack of accountability in finances. If a pastor can preach unchecked, manipulate unchecked, and gossip unchecked, why would money be any different?
Remember this isn’t just about numbers. It’s about how this pastors actions effects people, even their families. How about recently the one family where the father was already struggling to keep steady work?
The pastor invited him to go on a mission scouting trip with him. Of course, when the pastor is asking, you say yes. So, the man gave what little he had, and when he came back, his family had to go on food stamps. Most of his children had to get jobs just to help support them. When it came down to going on the actual mission trip, the mother and father had to back out. And because donations are “non-refundable,” the family lost more money, while the pastor gained. Again, who really benefited from that? Why didn’t the leadership fully aware of their situation give the money back freely?
It makes you think. Finances being so secretive expose why the church is not truly about establishing a homeless ministry. Have you noticed that? A ministry to the homeless is barely acknowledged, almost hidden in the shadows, because the pastor does not want it as a central part of his church. He will brag about it when it suits his ego, but why not let that be the core mission? Why not pour resources into serving the most vulnerable?
Because it does not produce revenue.
After witnessing all of this, the secrecy, the financial control, the lack of humanity, lack of Christs love and people’s souls at cost, I knew I couldn’t stay silent. How could you walk away after five years of building relationships, loving these people deeply, and not say something? To walk away without speaking would feel like betrayal not just of my own conscience, but of the very people I once called family.
I called the Pastor to repentance in my final submission to the church. I even said, he is a man made in Gods image and that there is still time for him to lead in humility with this. I still stand by this.
I called the leaders of that church to hold the pastor accountable for the sake of his soul. For the sake of the flocks. For the sake of theirs. I still stand by this.
I asked them to prove me wrong where the Bible says that making a spreadsheet about financial curiosity within the Church was a sin. Where in the Bible does it condone this behavior? Prove me wrong by sharing each line item for the finances. I still stand by this.
The admin who reached out to me afterward told me I was wrong for making everything public. She said I was wrong to call her the “fall girl,” even while she now faces accusations about finances. But doesn’t that reveal the truth that she is, in fact, the fall girl?
I told her plainly: I am compelled to share these things publicly because I care. My concern has never been about protecting anyone’s image, least of all my own. My concern has always been about truth, accountability, and souls. About worshiping Jesus rightly and not maligning His Word. That has always been my motive. And maybe that was the question leadership never asked me but here, at last, is the answer revealed. Will they believe me? Or will they harden their hearts more?
In closing, there should be deep weeping, prayer, and fasting within that church. And know this, there is deep weeping, prayer, and fasting for you on the outside. But none of that can replace the one thing most needed: repentance. Repentance for how communion was taken in a blasphemous way. Repentance for how the name of Christ has been misused. Everyone is complicit.
The Word of God is clear: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). And again, “Seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17). To ignore these warnings is to invite judgment.
If there is one thing I can say with full confidence and a clear conscience, it is this: God’s judgment is on Antioch Orlando until there is true repentance.
And the pastor of that church can only outrun God for so long, because God cannot be mocked.
To the measure of your vulnerability is your freedom… until it’s used against you.
This was my experience. This is why I left Antioch Orlando.
Disclaimer: For those who want to see the deeper documentation (letters from all parties, timelines, and records) I’ve linked them below. They are shared only for the sake of transparency and spiritual reflection, never to defame or bring harm to anyone, but to testify to what I experienced and how I sought accountability and love.
RESOURCES:
Audio Sermon: The Blasphemous Sin of Defaming Others, Part 1
By: John McArthur
Link: https://www.gty.org/sermons/59-26/the-blasphemous-sin-of-defaming-others-part- 1?fbclid=PAVERFWAMw_jVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp- J6mhZ1aORBmmSkL6EqcqVvCXMf8h5pRZPLxJdXCFQU7JI2h9j5HO- bQ8bM_aem_U4CneOaF_oyvhDaJjSOL8w
Podcast Title: Am I Saved or Self Deceived?
By: Jonny Ardavanis
Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1iZZv9BLvFor9DoZEPKtXY?si=wT_2M19nQouBI9Fsn O2-qA
Podcast Title: Tests of Assurance from 1 John, Part 1 B
By: John McArthur
Link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3FhLz3uAB4E22epgn0Chhs?si=NVdMUKQ6RsGZcqjn NvgSxw
Article Title: Why do so many people seek after signs and wonders?
By: GotQuestions
Link: https://www.gotquestions.org/signs-and-wonders.html
Stephanie’s Detailed Timeline & All Documents
By: All three parties who were excommunicated
Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-9V5KpRDs4k7j479AmlIr_AOpXwN2w3H/view?invite=CPamoJQD&ts=68c703a7
I Left Antioch Orlando 