Preface:
I attended Antioch Orlando (also known as Antioch Community Church Orlando or ACCO) from January 2024 to May 2026. To preserve the anonymity and privacy of myself and those I mention in this post, I will refer to people from Antioch Orlando by their church titles instead of their actual names.
Getting Connected to Antioch Orlando’s College Ministry:
While I had always considered myself a believer in Jesus Christ, I did not grow up going to church often. During the first week of the Spring 2024 semester, some of my classmates told me that their church (Antioch Orlando) was having an event on campus right after class that day. So, I tagged along with them…and I loved it! As others who have posted on this blog have said, it was truly remarkable seeing how Antioch Orlando was continually on campus, hosting events for students just like me (love-bombing and all). During that event, I met many new folks and got plugged into the College Ministry.
2024, 2025, and the Young Adult Ministry:
The rest of 2024 came and went. I went to Sunday services, weekly Lifegroups, College Ministry events, etc., like clockwork. Early in 2025, David announced that he was leaving Antioch Orlando. I did not think too much of it at the time, so I continued to attend. In August of that year, I finished my undergraduate degree and started graduate school. The day I walked the stage, David sent out his five-page PDF to me and over 70 other people. While I also did not think much of it at the time, I knew that Antioch Orlando, like any other church on this planet, was not perfect (nor would it ever be). Then, Antioch Orlando’s new College Ministry director called me and asked me to meet him and another member on campus to discuss me moving up to the Young Adult Ministry. I somewhat felt “voluntold” to transition from the College Ministry to the Young Adult Ministry, but knew that it was likely a good transition since I was starting graduate school too (even though I was only in the College Ministry for around a year and a half). However, I had also recently moved into a “discipleship house” with three other College Ministry students, so being the only Young Adult there felt a tad strange. Further, the College Ministry director and member expressed a “concern” about me talking to more girls than guys. I simply said I would try to talk to more guys in the future and left it at that. Despite all of that, I continued to attend Antioch Orlando, joined a Young Adult Lifegroup, and joined a new discipleship group.
2026 and Why I Left:
Fast-forwarding to March 2026, the “rose-colored glasses” were starting to come off, and I was becoming more aware of the manipulation and control others had expressed concerns about at Antioch Orlando. I will discuss the events that made me leave below:
1. Awaken Trip Coercion & Exclusion From College Ministry Events: Around mid-March, I was at my discipler’s house hanging out with him and the other guy in my discipleship group. After discipleship was over, several other people came to his house to work on projects. At one point, the room became silent, and virtually everyone there started telling me to go on that year’s annual Awaken trip (which was to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to help an Antioch plant there rebuild its College Ministry). After enough coercion, I reluctantly agreed to call the College Ministry director, who told me to call my Lifegroup leader for a “heart check” about going on the trip. After trying to call my Lifegroup leader, he called me back a few minutes later and informed me that he and the College Ministry director had talked and decided it was best that I did not go (granted, it was the night before the trip, and I did not exactly have $295 ready to shell out just like that). Further, he again brought up the “concern” of me talking to more girls than guys, how some of the conversations I had with them lasted several minutes (polite conversations with NO lustful desires or thoughts), etc., and also told me, because of that, I was no longer welcome to attend any of the College Ministry events (as a Young Adult-they occasionally attend them), assist with tabling on campus, etc. After I ended the call, I asked my discipler if we could go for a quick walk and discuss what I was feeling. He agreed, and we walked around the block while I told him it seemed there was almost a two-tiered system at Antioch Orlando (as I knew of several folks still in the College Ministry who should have been in the Young Adult Ministry-he told me they are still there because they mentor other people). He first responded with something along the lines of “…let’s be careful how we phrase things…” before praying with me and convincing me that what my Lifegroup leader told me over the phone indicates there is something on my heart I need to bring to God and seek wisdom about. After the walk, I said goodnight to him and went home.
2. Lifegroup Leader Questoning: After everyone returned from the Awaken trip, during one of the next Lifegroups, my leader pulled me aside during our worship time to “follow up” about what he told me over the phone regarding the “concern”. I apologized and again promised to speak with more guys than girls. He also claimed that someone saw me quickly swipe out of a messaging app on my phone at a College Ministry Encounter Night, before saying “…bro, I just gotta ask. You aren’t hiding anything, are you?” I said no (which was true-I was not hiding anything), and he said that was all he wanted to talk to me about. Another interesting thing during that Lifegroup was when I told another guy there (who worked for Cru at the time) that I went to a Cru event, he responded by saying “Don’t you think you’d be better hanging around more non-believers?” I was left utterly speechless by his response (as he basically implied that Antioch Orlando is the only religious organization I should be involved with). After that night, I became even more concerned about how controlled Antioch Orlando was making me feel.
3. Last Sunday Service: The last Sunday service at Antioch Orlando I ever attended was on May 3rd, 2026, which was also the last “normal” Sunday before the pastor left for summer missions. During the sermon, which was about John 13:18-38, he indirectly referred to David’s letter from the year prior. Then, he said, verbatim, “If you destroy this church with your mouth, then you hate God, and you hate people! It’s as simple as that.” Later, he mentioned the notion that one who loves God is to serve the Church until their dying day. I wholeheartedly understood the meaning of that statement (and wanted to give the pastor the benefit of the doubt), but the way he phrased it made it seem as if one who loves God must serve Antioch Orlando until their dying day. That (and what he said earlier) came off as rather harsh to me, so I knew my days at Antioch Orlando were soon going to be numbered. A link to the May 3rd, 2026 sermon recording is here (it is publicly accessible on YouTube-the bold quote is around the 37:30 mark).
4. Last Discipleship & Strange Exhortation: My last discipleship was on May 5th, 2026. Since it was Cinco de Mayo that day, my discipler took all three of us to Taco Bell for dinner (the other Mexican restaurants we went to all had long lines to be seated). My discipler told me it is important to have a one-month plan, three-month plan, six-month plan, year-long plan, etc., and figure out how I am going to glorify God during my thesis for my degree. He also told me I should serve on the setup and teardown team, and the other guy in the discipleship group said he would reach out to the coordinator for me (while I felt like I had very little say in the matter). They both told me to do ADS in the fall-the invasive application questions for it change annually, but another previous post discusses them. Towards the end of the discipleship, my discipler gave me a rather strange exhortation. He claimed that he noticed a “pattern” of me liking posts on LinkedIn (which is a professional networking platform, NOT a social media site) that happened to be posted by girls. Further, he claimed that doing so could cause him to potentially stumble and lust, despite him being married. I had no lustful thoughts or ungodly desires with any of them, and I only liked their posts because I was friends with them, knew them from my classes, or was intrigued by the content of the posts themselves. Obviously, I do not control the algorithm(s) that LinkedIn and other apps use to suggest posts, connections, and other content to him and other users. As soon as I got home that night, I knew, without a doubt, that the time had come to officially part ways with Antioch Orlando.
After I Left:
The very last Lifegroup I attended was on May 6th, 2026. It was held at another member’s place because my leaders were preoccupied that night. After that Lifegroup was over (and people started to leave for missions), the time came for me to quietly “tiptoe” away from Antioch Orlando. Within the next week, I had removed certain people from Antioch Orlando as connections on LinkedIn, deleted everyone from there I had in my phone contacts, and tried to leave the GroupMe chats I was still in. Within a few minutes of me leaving the Young Adult GroupMe chat, my Lifegroup leader texted me asking if I meant to leave. I rejoined the chat, muted it, and blocked him and roughly 20 other people from Antioch Orlando that I had very little desire to talk to again. Over the next six weeks, while the majority of Antioch Orlando were in Bologna, Italy, on a $5,700 mission trip, I found a different church to attend, told several of my close friends and family what I went through at Antioch Orlando (many of whom described it as “creepy”), and ultimately decided to move on in life altogether. All was quiet until mid-June, when my discipler rang my doorbell after 8:30 PM one evening while my “discipleship house” was shut down for the night (my roommates were still in Italy) and I was on the phone with a friend doing a Bible App devotional on Spiritual Warfare (ironically). After realizing it was him, I stepped onto my front porch to talk to him…with my friend muted on the phone, listening to the entire conversation. He asked me if I was fully set on leaving Antioch Orlando, to which I said yes. I told him that I still loved him, his wife, and everyone else at Antioch Orlando with all my heart (which I do, as I do not try to be a divisive or hateful person), to which he basically rebuked and asserted that if I truly did love him (and his wife, etc.), then I would have come to him, the other discipleship member, our Lifegroup leader, etc. instead of just quietly leaving like I did (which was perfectly appropriate-I did not owe anyone any explanations…had it been a class I was enrolled in, or a job I was on the payroll for, then that would obviously be a different story). He eventually said goodnight to me and went home, seeming a bit passive-aggressive. My friend, who heard everything, was absolutely shocked by what he said to me and was very glad I left Antioch Orlando. Within a day of that encounter, I was removed from the Young Adult Ministry and Lifegroup GroupMes. One day, I went to campus to evangelize with a friend of mine who is involved with Antioch Orlando (but not on staff with them or anything like that). They were having a College Ministry tabling event to welcome the new Summer B students to UCF, but I was only going to help him evangelize and not interact with anyone else. After we got to the tabling event, and I handed him some goody bags to hand out to students (away from the other Antioch Orlando people), one of the College Ministry “interns” came up to me with her boyfriend, asked to pull me aside, and reminded me of what my Lifegroup leader told me back in March (about not attending any more College Ministry events). I acknowledged what she said, but also reminded her that I had since left Antioch Orlando and was only there to help my friend with evangelism in a non-Antioch capacity. She did acknowledge what I said, but still asked me to leave the event (which I did). That encounter made me reaffirm my decision to leave. Within another day, I was removed from a Weekly Evangelism GroupMe that the College Ministry director was the owner of. He also tried to call me twice, but I had already blocked his number. I was finally free from Antioch.
Closing Thoughts:
I am not going to rehash too much of what other former Antioch Orlando congregants have said in their previous posts, but, like them, I do believe that Antioch Orlando is gradually exhibiting more “cult-like” behaviors. Now, to give credit where credit is due, I am grateful that Antioch Orlando allowed me to cultivate a true relationship with Jesus. However, based on what I have experienced there (especially over the past few months alone), I am glad I left when I did. Heavy shepherding is still present there, so if you currently go there (or are thinking of going there), then please do so carefully. I am NOT saying to avoid trying out Antioch Orlando for yourself, but merely to use discernment. I am also NOT calling Antioch Orlando a toxic cult, but other former congregants and I worry it is showing more signs that make it, to a certain extent, feel like one. There are various resources online regarding cults, heavy shepherding, the BITE Model, etc. I am very thankful for the two years I spent at Antioch Orlando and the people I met there.
I Left Antioch Orlando 