Misleading Google Reviews of Vista Church
Like a diamond in the sky…
Truth matters. Facts matter. The 9th commandment warns against “bearing false witness against your neighbor”. Christians generally take an expansive view of deception, including misleading statements for the purposes of marketing. Recently, it’s become apparent via the r/leavingthenetwork subreddit that people in the network are posting misleading reviews of network churches. I wanted to take a look at the reviews of Vista Church in San Luis Obispo, California, since it’s the church I’m most familiar with.
A summary (as of January 27th, 2022):
Five 5-star reviews written by individuals who were part of the plant team. They did not disclose this in their reviews. Some used language that is at least misleading and possibly false. At least one inarguable conflict of interest.
Three 5-star reviews written by other individuals who came to the church at least for a time. These are completely fair!
One 2-star review written by a former member.
Three more additional 5-star reviews with no writing.
One of these is seemingly by a child of a network pastor, who has left 5-star reviews of most network churches. No further analysis as I believe the author is not yet 18.
The other two seem legit - no reviews of other network churches, and they aren’t by members of the plant.
For all of these, remember who the target audience is: someone looking for a church, who doesn’t know anything about Vista yet, or maybe has seen the website. Given the rarity of the network’s form of church planting (sending large teams), it’s also likely that most would never guess that so many reviews would come from such a team. Imagine yourself in those shoes, and imagine someone telling you these things, and then finding out the full story. Do you feel like they’ve been forthright?
I want to be clear: there is no problem leaving a review for a church you helped plant. But reviewers should be clear about their role and investment level in the plant. I know my heart desperately wanted others to come to Vista when we helped plant it. I don’t think that transparency diminishes the review at all. For example, someone could have written this: “I loved Blue Sky Church so much in Seattle that I was excited to come and help plant the church here. It’s been such an amazing experience, and I love the people with whom I get to be on mission for Jesus. Some things about the way this network does church that I love include…” That’d be a solid review, and make me think that those here were really passionate about following Jesus.
I’ve written all of this knowing that these people were friends of mine and I wish they still were. I have no malice as I do this, but truth is important. In fact, my hesitance to publish this shows the way loyalty and friendship can cloud judgment.
I would encourage the authors of these reviews to revise them or remove them.
Sundar Ram - Overseer and Small Group Leader
Sundar was and still is an Overseer at Vista Church (unless something changed since last April). He was an overseer as the church was planted (Luke Williams and Steve Morgan were the other two). This means he is legally a board member of the non-profit organization known as Vista Church. I will be reporting this review to Google, as a conflict of interest.
“Been attending Vista” - Yes, he’s been attending it, because he’s a plant team member and the only board member in San Luis Obispo who isn’t the lead pastor. I believe he was also leading a small group at the time.
“Been relatively easy to get to know others…” For someone who is new, this is great. But this implies that someone new would have the same experience as him. However, he was part of the plant team, so of course it was easier to get to know others.
Stephen Chung - Plant Team, Worship Team, and Small Group Leader
I’m the guy in the blue-striped polo right in the middle. Hi!
Stephen was (and still is) a small group leader and part of the plant team. He has also been on Vista’s worship team playing drums since the plant launched. His wife (mentioned in the review) was a plant team member as well.
The language of “attending” and “everyone is super welcoming and friendly” are misleading. Even the “over 6 months” is misleading - he’s been there since the beginning, and had been at Blue Sky for years and was even a small group leader there.
And he continues with “We never felt lost or uncomfortable while coming around.” Someone reading this review might read that as “great for new people” (Vista frequently uses the language “coming around” to mean new people).
“The songs that they sang felt very easy to worship to” - Stephen is one of the ones performing those songs.
Even the photo is misleading - lots of reviews of places have photos taken by the reviewer. But the man in the white t-shirt at the far right of the photo is Stephen Chung, the reviewer. Moreover, this photo is from the first Sunday we did baptisms at Vista Church, and was posted in May 2017 on the Vista Church Facebook page. Imagine posting a review of a store, and going and grabbing one of their own photos to put in the review. Is it truly a lie? No - but it’s just misleading without disclosing that’s what you’re doing.
Kyler Cox - Plant Team
“The people at Vista have been so welcoming to me,” is badly misleading. He was on the plant team. They’re not welcoming him, they’re saying “hi” to a friend and fellow planter.
“…there is a rides team to pick you up from campus,” is also misleading into implying that he benefits from this. Kyler was not a student at Cal Poly (the local University) and did not live on campus. If memory serves correctly, he was on the rides team at the time.
Many readers of this could think “Wow, another college student checked it out.” The truth is, “A young professional helped plant a church he thinks is great, and wanted to tell people how great it is and what they’re aiming for!” That would have been fine, but it’s not what Kyler wrote.
Shelby Nuccitelli - Plant Team
Shelby married the Worship Leader (Ken Ohyama) in December 2017. It’s possible this review was written prior to them being married, especially given the name. I don’t want to spend too much time on this one, as women are highly controlled at Vista Church.
The beginning is similar to the previous ones. The rest is actually just fine - clear endorsements of things she likes!
One More
There is one more 5-star review left by a plant team member, but they no longer attend any network church, so I’ve left it out.
A network pastor’s child
Someone who appears to be a network pastor’s child also left five-star reviews of almost every network church. I have removed the details as, as near as I can tell, the author is not yet 18 and it doesn’t feel right to critique them here.