How does this happen? The pastor never met the elders in his church?
Excellent point. If the "senior pastor" of a church "doesn't know" or "has never met" HIS own "elders", THAT would be reason to fire him alone! The buck stops with him. So he's upset about his OWN negligence in not attending conference callings or bothering to check up on who was hired to run things at HIS church?
https://jamesmacdonaldministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/2019-Elders-Legend.png
This is what happens when the church is run more like a corporation than the body of Christ. And the world looks on and says “no thanks”.