CBC Truth March Updates

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March 29, 2025

Good Morning Truth Seekers

Cynthia Vargas Sieloff has asked us to share this open letter to the CBC Congregation with you.

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Dear CBC Congregation,

As a 35-year member of our church family, I feel compelled to share with you some deeply troubling experiences I've had with Pastor Matt that reflect a pattern of behavior that concerns me greatly regarding his character.

Many of you know me from my decades of service in our church community. My family and I have faithfully supported CBC with our attendance, prayers, financial contributions, and volunteer work for over three decades—long before Matt's arrival.

Recently Matt suggested that those of us with concerns should "go start our own church." This dismissive comment deeply wounded me and others who have invested our lives in this congregation.

When several members peacefully sought transparency regarding church leadership decisions, Matt labeled us "insurrectionists" and spread untrue accusations about me and others who simply want accountability. He even falsely claimed that I brought in employees to disrupt a church service.

Matt claimed that I deceived a local church to secure their facility for the Town Hall Meeting by saying our gathering was merely a "prayer meeting."  The truth is the Director of that church acknowledged I never misled him.  We were forced to seek an alternative venue because Matt and the Board denied us the opportunity to gather at our own church.

While speaking with my husband about distributing informational flyers Matt "warned" him twice that "there were people ready to make sure we would not be able to walk back to our cars." Making a thinly-veiled threat of violence against church members who merely disagree with leadership decisions is alarming.

I am dismayed by the lack of transparency surrounding major church decisions. The Board of Directors (now renamed as "Elders") appears to be making significant changes affecting our entire church family without congregational input or proper communication. When questioned, Matt invoked "Ministerial Exception" hiding behind the church's legal ability to circumvent anti-discrimination laws rather than addressing legitimate congregational concerns.

As a former missionary himself I was saddened to learn that Matt was unfamiliar with our CBC supported missionaries Jon and Shannon Haslett and questioned why we continue to support them. This reveals a concerning disconnect from our church's longstanding mission commitments.  

I write this letter out of love for our church family. After 35 years of fellowship here, I believe we deserve transparency, truthfulness, and leadership that values the entire congregation's voice—especially regarding significant decisions about our church's direction and the treatment of dedicated, longstanding staff members.

My hope and prayer is for healing, reconciliation, and a return to the Christ-centered community that has been our church home for so many years.  I welcome conversation with any of you who share these concerns or wish to hear more about what has transpired. 

In Christ's love,

Cynthia Vargas Sieloff

March 26, 2025

Hello CBC Truth Seekers

What an incredible evening on Sunday!  Thank you to the many hundreds who attended and for your thoughtful questions, thirst for truth, and support!  

So how do we get our church back?  

1. Motion of No Confidence in the Board: More than 240 individuals, couples and families signed the Motion of No Confidence in the CBC Board that was circulated at the Town Hall Meeting.  We know many of you also left before you had a chance to sign and many of you expressed your desire but inability to attend on a Sunday evening.  The motion is below and can be signed here:
https://form.jotform.com/250837218849064

• If you didn't sign the Motion of No Confidence at the Town Hall please read and sign as soon as possible so that we can quickly get this to the Board and begin working on pathways to get our church back from the 10 people controlling the board and all aspects of our church.  ***Please note this is different list from the petition that was circulated to hold a Town Hall Meeting.  That had nearly 500 signatures.  
• If you signed on the clipboards that went around, don't sign again, we already have you included but feel free to forward this message to family or friends.  
• If you are a member of staff or volunteer and want to sign but are concerned about the repercussions you can sign by emailing us that your signing needs to be anonymous.   Also if you already signed and need to change to anonymous email us and we will take care of it.   

Matt said that CBC Truth "is not a part of us", but we are CBC, and we are looking to unify CBC so that we can all be included in the church we have served, paid for, and called home.  

2. Taking Action: Many great suggestions were made for actions by the congregation at the Town Hall Meeting.  We have received numerous emails of support and ideas for next steps in reclaiming the church we love.  We are working tirelessly on next steps and will keep you posted.  

We wanted to share voices of people who attended the Town Hall rather than share our own recap of the event.  Here are two of the many unsolicited responses we received from people who attended the Town Hall. 

This link is to a facebook reel that was created by a congregant following her attendance of the Town Hall.  

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1667010247521671/?fs=e&mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

The following email was sent to the ten people on the new CBC "Board of Elders" by a CBC congregant.  

"CBC Leadership Team,
You guys should have been at the Town Hall Meeting.

450 people packed out the building. See video link…

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ukuy8xfhdtmig2n3t8zi4/IMG_1171.MOV?rlkey=4dyzh4gh6evc8xae0vn5xuko0&dl=0

Your absence spoke volumes. It’s ridiculous and incredibly disrespectful that you didn’t bother to attend.

The whole way this church change has played out is wrong. To have just a few insiders maneuver this change without any input from the people, and then to just drop it on all of us after a Sunday service felt manipulative and sneaky.

A couple of weeks ago you shared that the Town Hall Meeting group is “not part of us,” as though we're a fringe group of rebels. Well, it’s at least 25% of CBC….

THE CORE 25%.

This is not just a bunch of whining babies to be ignored until the crying stops. It’s the heart of our church.

“Open rebuke is better than hidden love.” Prov 27:5
--Drew Sherline"

Many of you are new to our mailing list.  Thank you for joining us at the Town Hall.

Today's Call to Action:

• Thefollowing email was sent to the ten people on the new CBC "Board of Elders" by a CBC congregant.  
  ncluded in our anonymous list.  https://form.jotform.com/250837218849064
• Copy and text this link to three friends at CBC and ask them to consider signing.
• If you are new to the Mailing List check out the website - www.cbctruth.org 

Thank you to all of you and we will be in touch,

CBC Truth Seekers 

March 23, 2025

Hello CBC Truth Seekers 

Pastor Craig sent us this letter to share with you.  He will be at the Town Hall today answering questions.   

Hello CBC Truth Seekers 

The following was sent to us by a long time CBC Congregant regarding Matt's announcement in church on Sunday Morning.  

"A recent observation:

On Sunday March 16 the CBC congregation was presented with the new Elder Led Board model for the Church's Governance.  Apparently somehow at all 3 services, between Mr Whitlock's presentation and the CBC Official document handed out at the end of each service, a significant change was intentionally omitted.  That the buck now stops with Mr Whitlock!  He may be a "non voting" member of the board, yet he became the (CEO) Chief Executive Officer of this Non Profit Corporation called Capo Beach Church.  Why is this significant?  Because CBC has had The State of California as a Partner in how it operates since its founding. In part to secure this partnership, registering specific officers or agents is critical and required.  Group leadership does not apply at this level!  In CBC's case the appointment of the only updated  officers/agents that matter was completed 1/30/2025.  You can find the document here   https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business    Enter Capo Beach Church under Business Search.  The failure to state Mr. Whitlock's CEO position to the church  supports the board's continuous use of the ambiguous words, "transparency and authenticity".  At least these two words are more convenient than using principled based words like honesty, integrity or truth.  Is there something else that we are not being told? 

Attached is the SOI "Statement of Information"."

In his Sunday announcement Matt made a point to tell the congregation he has no voting rights and has "no horse in the race" but he left out the fact that back in January a CBC Board Member filed with the State of California naming Matt CEO of Capo Beach Church.  

The letter circulated by the CBC Board dated March 11 states that Matt "does not hold an officer role" however this is not true because Matt holds the role of Chief Executive Officer, which is most certainly an officer role, it's the highest officer role.  Why are they doing this?  We have provided a copy of the letter from the Board attached to this email with that section highlighted in addition to the Statement of Information filed with the State of California. 

CBC used to be made up of a Team of Spiritual Leaders who as the name suggests offered spiritual leadership to the church and a board of directors that handled the business aspects of the church.  This Sunday Matt announced a "Board of Elders".  This Board of Elders is made of ten board members and not a single one of these ten includes any of the Spiritual Leaders who stood in opposition to these changes nor any of the 450 people who requested a town hall meeting.  The Spiritual Leadership team has been disbanded, removed from the website and the self appointed Board of Elders leads.    

In this Sunday's announcement Matt also said CBC Truth "is not a part of us".  He is discounting the voices of over 450 individuals, couples, and families who call CBC home.  Have we been excommunicated by CEO Whitlock?

After Matt gave his Good Shepherd sermon another long time congregant wrote to us about her conversation with Matt.

"When the service was over, Matt was saying goodbye to people at the door. So in the spirit of his sermon I approached him, and asked him to please bring back the over 450 sheep to the fold. He looked shocked, his response was. It's not that easy, this is all about one voice and it's not gonna happen. My reply was, it is 450 voices. It's important and his participation is needed."

Instead of pursuing the one and leaving the ninety nine as we are taught the good shepherd does, Matt is marginalizing over 450 people of CBC who have volunteered their time, prayed over our church, and tithed above and beyond to buy the building and the land.  We have been told around the office at CBC Matt has joked about the 450 people of CBC Truth Seekers and even said a crying baby eventually cries itself to sleep.  He has told our members that we should go start our own church.  CBC is worth millions of dollars, thanks to the generosity of its congregants and the financial stewardship of Craig Whittaker and former board members and other leaders. This takeover put the CBC we have loved and poured ourselves into, directly into Matt's own hands.  He is relying on us to go to sleep like a crying baby.  

Looking forward to seeing you at the Town Hall meeting this Sunday at 5PM at the Dana Point Community Center.  

CBC Truth Seekers