Calvary Chapel Melbourne Elders Remove Founding Pastor Mark Balmer as Senior Pastor

Congregants at Calvary Chapel Melbourne in Florida are upset and asking questions after the church’s elders announced that Mark Balmer, the church’s founder and senior pastor for about three decades, would no longer lead the congregation. Balmer, 77, started Calvary Chapel Melbourne nearly 30 years ago while serving as an elder at Calvary Chapel Merritt Island and as full-time director of pharmacy at Wuesthoff Hospital.

Several members said they were certain Balmer would have preferred to “stand in the pulpit until his last breath.” The elders’ statement, published on Facebook the Sunday before the report, cited Ecclesiastes and said the elders, with the support of senior leadership, believed it was time for Balmer to “pass the baton.” The same statement was read to congregants at a service the day before, which Balmer did not attend.

The elders said they had been in discussion with Balmer for two years and that the decision was not easy. Under the announcement, Balmer will no longer serve as senior pastor and head elder, but he will keep the title of founding pastor and pastor emeritus. The elders said they had encouraged him “to enjoy a long-deserved sabbatical,” after which they would pray with him about how to use his gifts to serve the fellowship. They stated that the decision was not based on any “moral failure or any financial impropriety,” a point of honest dealing (Proverbs 11:1).

Some members objected to how the change was communicated. One woman who attended the second service wrote on Facebook that she was disappointed, saying the information offered no reason and that congregants were asked to accept it because the elders had prayed about it for two years. She also said she doubted the elders were “unanimous” in the decision. Another commenter said she had first congratulated Balmer online after hearing the news, but after reading the statement she wrote that the announcement’s timing without Balmer present was disrespectful, and that she would wait to hear from him. A third member wrote that Balmer had been “forced out” and said the move had divided the congregation.

Under Balmer’s leadership, the church grew to become the largest multisite church in Brevard County. A report in Florida Today said that before the pandemic, the church and its campuses in West Melbourne, Sebastian and Viera drew at least 10,000 people to weekly services.

Bill Beck, the church administrator, told Florida Today that Balmer’s retirement had been under discussion for years and that a transition plan had been created, but that Balmer later declined to discuss it. “It became increasingly obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it,” Beck said. “The elders wanted to have that conversation. The elders came to the unanimous decision that he needed to step down. There’s just no good way to do it. We love Pastor Mark, we honor him. But it is the elders’ job to hold church leadership accountable and to do what’s best for the church.”

Source: Read the original report