Faithful Word Baptist Church, Tempe, Arizona
Basic Church Information
Church Name: Faithful Word Baptist Church
Senior/Lead Pastor: Steve Anderson
Board of Elders/Leadership Staff: Unknown (Awaiting Info/Investigating)
Address: 2741 W Southern Ave, Suite #14
Tempe, AZ 85282
Phone: (602) 456-1049
Email: faithfulword1@gmail.com
Website: http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/index.html
Social Media:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PastorStevenAnderson/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sanderson1611
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOphuvqUmX7kxzBXZL7Yajw
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sanderson1611/
Online Services: http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/page5.html
Church Specifics
Denomination: Fundamentalist Independent Baptist
Preaching Style: Expository/Topical Mixture
Membership Requirements: Unknown
Tithes/Compelled Giving: Yes
Financial Transparency: Unknown
Answered Questionnaire: No
Affiliations: King James Version Only, Baptist, Fundamentalist
Red Flags of Abuse:
If you are a member of this church or are considering becoming a member and have attended the church, please walk yourself through Steve Hassan's BITE Model and Undue Influence Continuum (both links are below) to determine whether you've been abused by this church or its leadership.
BITE Model of Authoritarian Control Hand
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I can say as someone who has not attended or been a member, simply from watching a few of the sermons and reading a few of the pastor's blog posts, that this is an abusive church. I would call it a cult. I avoid making opinionated statements in the church checks now, but I'm making an exception for this church, which I consider to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically dangerous to people.
Pastor Steve can be seen screaming loudly at people during sermons (in most of his sermons in fact), having people thrown out of the building for disagreeing with him, shoving people who are not being violent or threatening, wishing death on former President Barrack Obama, wishing death and Hell on Caitlyn Jenner, hoping gay people get brain cancer, calling gay people faggots and wishing the government would execute them with the death penalty, humiliating former members and former leadership in front of the congregation for disagreeing with him or wanting to leave the church, and the list goes on.
The most serious red flag and a clear sign that this is an abusive cult is a recent sex scandal that involved Senior Pastor Steve Anderson's teenage sons, which you can read about here and here. Warning: The content of Anderson's teenage boys' "locker room talk" is extremely graphic in some places and could be disturbing to those who have experienced sexual trauma. Read at your own risk.
What's worse is Steve Anderson didn't deny his sons made these statements. He claims to have punished them and talked to all the parents involved, but nowhere do I see an apology or any kind of remorse for this happening.
Red flags. Red flags everywhere, people.
Lastly, after asking me to send them my questions in a PDF format and where I go to church, the staff at Faithful Word Baptist Church are now ignoring my emails, so I'm assuming at this point that they aren't going to answer the Questionnaire.
Questionnaire Answers
1. What is your church's official position on tithes and offerings?
This church does preach tithing and they have a transcript of one of Steve's sermons on the topic available to read on their website here. Steve spends most of the sermon angrily attacking and condemning anyone that disagrees with his beliefs on tithing, and it's clear from the transcript that this church believes in pressured giving and/or the legalistic practice of tithing.
2. Does your church have official memberships, and if so, does it include a membership agreement or contract?
I am awaiting a response from this church to see if they will answer our questions, but for the time being, we don't know the answer to this. We did, however, find a blog post by Pastor Steve Anderson on