Pros
No pros to working here. During COVID lead pastors vocalized support for diversity, equity, inclusion. I was so excited about working for a church that I thought actually cared about people. I felt honored to be a part of it. But it was all a ruse.
Cons
Nepotistic. Fraudulent. Celebrity-obsessed. Toxic. Inside the org, systemic racism runs rampant with a dictatorial CEO. “You’re either with us or you’re out” mentality. During 2021 a huge number of minority employees were fired without cause. It became standard practice to see an all-staff slack of “So and so’s last day is today. Thank you for all your hard work, we pray God’s best for you!” Executive team is filled with unqualified yes-men to the CEO. Lead pastors completely disconnected and could never get them to a scheduled meeting on time. They hide their management of money - their latest annual report has no financials and no link to their audited financials. The church purchased the lead pastor a $4M house in LA and their unqualified CEO a $5M home in Santa Barbara. Their c-suite team is full of unqualified employees who willfully ignore abuse of power. There are countless employees on staff that were hired without any education or real-life experience and paid six-figure salaries. They require their employees to tithe and fire them if they don’t. They fire employees who raise red flags and ask questions. But they will hire back yes-men, despite having committed crimes. So glad I got out before the whole place implodes.