The Rev. Douglas D. Meadow is the lead pastor at Bristow Holiness Church, which he has led for nearly 20 years, along with being on the board of directors for Heritage Bible College and overseeing a family music ministry, Meadows Music.
No unknown quantity in the movement, he frequently speaks at church gatherings including youth camps, revivals, and events like the Winter Rally. Regionally, he has some prominence.
He’s also been accused of plagiarism and sermon stealing, and the evidence seems damning.
Berean Holiness, a Christian organization with a mission of “guiding believers out of fear and shame and into the gospel of grace” by “providing educational resources and faith-based support to those who are disentangling from hyper-fundamentalism and/or high-control groups,” has been cataloging his bad behavior on their Facebook page, providing examples of what appears to be sermon theft that regurgitates whole sentences word for word.
You can see it here how strikingly similar they are.
‘In early April of 2022, the late Ari Prado, a Oneness Pentecostal minister, preached “Winning the War Behind the Closed Door” at the Summit Conference 2022, hosted by Cornerstone Pentecostal Church in Liberty Lake, Washington.
In mid-June of 2022, Douglas Meadow, preached “Winning When No One Else is Watching” at Sunset Hill youth camp, hosted by Bethel Chapel Pentecostal Church in Granite City, Illinois.
For another example:
In April of 2017, Jentezen Franklin preached the sermon, “The High Cost of Low Enthusiasm,” beginning his text in Luke 19:37.
In June of 2017, Douglas Meadow preached the sermon, “The High Cost of Low Enthusiasm,” beginning his text in Luke 19:37.
Berean Holiness concludes:
If Douglas Meadow has been plagiarizing sermons for eight years, then he has also been unfairly taking limited opportunities away from honest, Holiness ministers who do the hard work to prepare their own sermons—from Winterfest, to Sunset Hill youth camp, to PFYC.
The ironic result is that, if this is the case, the Holiness Movement is unknowingly gathering to listen to sermons from groups they would never fellowship, rather than Holiness sermons, written by their own ministers.
he is also Douglas Meadow is on the board of directors for Heritage Bible College.
In April of 2017, Jentezen Franklin preached the sermon, “The High Cost of Low Enthusiasm,” beginning his text in Luke 19:37.
In June of 2017, Douglas Meadow preached the sermon, “The High Cost of Low Enthusiasm,” beginning his text in Luke 19:37.
Douglas Meadow’s version of the sermon is no longer available online, but we will link Jentezen Franklin’s original in the comments. The majority of the side-by-side comparison here was archived and edited by an unknown source.
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Plagiarism, by definition, is dishonest. It’s a version of both lying and stealing, especially when ministers are being paid for the sermon (we do not know what the case was here).
If permission is granted from the original author to profit from their work, and if it is disclosed to the audience/hosts that a sermon is not original, in that case, reusing a sermon can be ethical and doing so is no longer plagiarism.
At that point, however, the job being done is not preaching, it’s just speaking.
Anyone can read someone else’s sermon, and it doesn’t take too much more work to memorize it and present it charismatically.
The role of a minister is much more difficult. It necessitates grappling with Scripture—studying it, exegeting it, expounding it, praying over it—this is the hard work of sermon preparation, and this is what ministers are called (and often paid) to do. With proper study and preparation, ministers will come to the pulpit ready to teach the word (in sharp contrast to presenting a memorized sermon written by someone else).
“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach…” —2 Timothy 2:24
“This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach…” —1 Timothy 3:1–2
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If Douglas Meadow has been plagiarizing sermons for eight years, then he has also been unfairly taking limited opportunities away from honest, Holiness ministers who do the hard work to prepare their own sermons—from Winterfest, to Sunset Hill youth camp, to PFYC. The ironic result is that, if this is the case, the Holiness Movement is unknowingly gathering to listen to sermons from groups they would never fellowship, rather than Holiness sermons, written by their own ministers.
We hope this potential dishonesty will be investigated and fully addressed, and that any public deception will be met with public repentance.
