(First of two parts)
Some might say that Turning Point Community Church is going the wrong way.
But its pastor, the Rev. Marty Minto, would not be among them.
The congregation that Minto began about three years ago moved last fall from the former City Rescue Mission thrift store on Cascade Street to the one-time Church of God building on Ray Street. On any given Sunday morning, about 80 men, women and children turn out for the service.
Not long prior to the move, though, the worship count ran about 150.
Those numbers might alarm some. Not Minto.
“I’ve always said what I firmly believed, no matter what, and I’m still that way today,” the Shenango Township resident said. “It’s not always popular among people.”
Minto learned that first hand one year ago tomorrow when he was fired from his job as talk show host at WORD-FM, a Christian radio station in Pittsburgh. Asked by a caller if he thought Pope John Paul II — who had died just a few days earlier — was in heaven, Minto cited evangelical Christian doctrine that says only those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ attain eternal paradise.
Because that relationship hinges on a personal decision by each individual, Minto said, only God knows for sure the spiritual state of one who has died.
Minto’s response got him fired by station management, which apparently was concerned that he had offended Roman Catholic listeners.
Twelve months later, Minto is a full-time pastor at Turning Point. There he delivers the same kind of frank teaching from the pulpit as he did over the airwaves.
“Since planting this church a little over three years ago,” he said, “we’ve seen turnover left and right. A lot of it has been because of doctrine, things you teach. People don’t want to hear the truth. They like it if it’s convenient.
“Plus we’ve had people — and I guess it’s a problem in most churches — who live in sin and don’t want to confess and repent. I’m a confronter. We’re not a mean-spirited church, but the Bible talks about discipline of the body, and sometimes when you confront people lovingly, they run.
“I guess I just have a way of clearing out a building. I’m going to write a book: ‘How to Build Your Brother’s Church.’ ”
MAKING AN IMPACT
Brian Fuhs, one of two Turning Point members who are studying in a pastoral training program under Minto’s guidance, remembers his mentor’s radio days.
Indeed, Fuhs said, that’s why he sought out the church shortly after moving to the Harlansburg area in 2004.
“I had heard on the radio that Marty pastored a church, and I went on the WORD-FM Web site to find out about it,” Fuhs said. “I decided to check it out, not because Marty was a talk show host, but because some of the things he said doctrinally really intrigued me. They were things I hadn’t heard before.
“As I started studying things that he had said, they made a lot of sense to me. I just really had a desire to learn more what he was talking about.”
Stories such as Fuhs’ are what help to remind Minto that, despite the way his radio career ended, God still reaped a harvest through him. He recently rediscovered a couple of old emails from Catholic listeners thanking him for leading them to Jesus through his radio show. In his Bible, he carries a New Castle News clipping that tells of two awards he won for his talk show.
He knows he made an impact. But it’s also tough to forget how his abrupt firing impacted him.
GETTING THE AX
“There are certain things I can’t talk about,” Minto said. “I’m not allowed to, legally, because of the problematic issue that my firing caused the company I worked for. The firing became national news, to such a degree that we received phone calls for weeks from all across the nation. So the company and I came to an agreement that certain things would not be discussed.
“But at the same time, did I ever expect it? No. For years, I’d dealt with the issues of Roman Catholicism and other groups’ belief systems. I never thought that it would come to a point where there would be so much venom about it, and that I would find myself fired.
“I look back, and there’s still the part of me that is very surprised, and there’s a part of me that is still greatly saddened by it.”
Minto’s dismissal ended a 14-year career in radio, which he considered a ministry. Though he says the medium holds the same allure for him now as it did at the beginning, he has decided that it is a closed chapter in his life. He is now a full-time pastor, and “it’s enough.”
“There have been some tough times. I’m not going to lie,” he said. “Some real tough times, wondering why at that time in my life — I’ve got a son going to college and we had just received a new baby into our home — that took place. Things were going well and, all of a sudden, the rug gets pulled out.
“So I do look back, and I still sometimes wonder. But God has the answers. I may keep on wondering and asking until the day I die, but the only answer there is, is that God is in the midst of it. So I’m just going to move on.”
(Saturday: Marty Minto talks about building his church on the Word of God.)
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