I avoid writing many reviews good or bad but feel compelled to write this one. A little over a year ago City Church hired a new pastor, Alan Danielson, and he renamed the existing church to Invictus Church. I mention this because any review you see prior to June 2018 is speaking of Pastor Hunter of City Church not Pastor Alan of Invictus Church. My family stayed on after Pastor Hunter moved in hopes to continue in the small church we had grown to love but a short time after Alan took over we realized that the new church and its thinking was not aligned with what our family wanted/needed/believed and we stepped away. The sermons were always focused on his mental health, tithing or prayers asking people to accept Christ to pretend that people were raising their hands (when you're a church of 12 you know for a fact that each of us weren't reaccepting Christ each week). There were hurt feelings over our decision but I'd say for the most part people remained cool and in some instances we remained friends with some of the people who attended/ worked there. My husband tried to maintain a friendship with Alan but it quickly became clear that my husband was wanted more for his ability to fix all things with a motor than an actual friendship so Jon quietly pulled away and we went on with our lives. I maintained a friendship of sorts with Alan's wife - I say of sorts because there was always a weird tension with the fact that we left Invictus church but mainly we enjoyed each other's company. Fast forward to this week... my husband received an out of the blue text from Alan, once again, asking for him to do car repairs. This time for someone at his church. The text was incredibly formal and spoke to margin and if there was the ability to work for a reduced cost. Jon replied back saying he felt the tone of text was off putting and that he had never charged anyone for repairs but that he'd fix her car and requested year/make/model. My husband is a naturally giving individual that will help anyone anywhere but it was frustrating to him that Alan only texts when he needed something and to be so formal about it - it was just off putting. Alan called and left a lengthy voicemail essentially telling Jon all the ways he took Alan's text wrong. Then Alan text Jon to tell him all the ways he took Alan's text wrong and couldn't understand why Jon was "hurt". Jon replied that he wasn't "hurt" he just gets tired of people claiming friendship then only texting when they need help but that he'd still help the lady. After sending that text we talked and decided that it was not healthy to maintain any connection with Invictus church and Jon text that to Alan asking him to find someone else. Alan replied "Got ya" and that ended the texts. The next day I received a text from the pastor's wife telling me she read the texts and that she sees all the way her husband was right and all the ways my husband took things wrong. At that point I was done with this nonsense and was truly prepared to just walk away and never speak to these people again until Alan felt the need to post on social media a slam on my family and then block us. We only found out because a mutual friend screenshot it and sent it to me. I've never dealt with anything like this! This is middle school level not adult, pastor level. Small church feel is awesome but having a pastor who would stoop to this level isn't. This place is more of a club than a church and whereas I'm glad we left when we did I only wish we had ended any communication with the pastor when we left last year. Hard lesson on churches. read more
