Pastor Emilio Ramos Abandons Heritage Grace Church, Is Put Under Church Discipline
Pastor Emilio Ramos is no longer a pastor at Heritage Grace Community Church, the congregation he planted and ministered to for over a decade. Instead, he has been put under church discipline due to “sin against the elders and abandoning Grace Church,” according to a notice posted on the church’s leadership page.
Ramos is the author of Convert: From Adam to Christ and the founder of redgracemedia.com. Known for his apologetics ministry, open-air preaching, and evangelism, he became moderately well known within the Reformed World after creating and appearing in the film ‘Unpopular’ alongside Dr. James White and Justin Peters. Ironically, it was in this film he gave several presentations on church and pastoral responsibilities.
He has spoken at events and created ministry content for Answers in Genesis, Wretched Radio (his wife is Trish Ramos, of ‘Fish with Trish’ fame), and others. He is also known for aggressively and obstreperously trashing Postmils and the abortion abolitionist group AHA.
In late 2022, a dispute arose between Ramos and the leadership team regarding behaviors he exhibited toward congregants and other believers that they felt were unbecoming of a pastor and deleterious to his position. A meeting was set up to explore this further and address patterns of behavior the elders were growing increasingly concerned about.
Rather than stay and work it out within the context of accountability as requested by the church, Ramos made other plans. He preached what would be his final sermon, and after the livestream was cut, aired his grievances with the elders to the rest of the body, and ultimately left the church.
Rather than seeking to restore and reconcile with his elders, Ramos has yet to return and has not publicly addressed his church discipline. In fact, he told members the Lord was calling him away from the pastoral office to other things, and then only a month later announced he was starting a church less than six miles away, establishing City View Church of Frisco in early 2023 and setting himself up as lead pastor.
After an extended season of outreach to Ramos, who has so far rejected the church’s overtures and attempt to keep things private, the elders of Heritage Grace have finally responded publicly. They’ve added a statement to their leadership page revealing his status within their congregation and making clear their posture towards him, lest anyone think he left on good terms and remains therein.
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