I believe there's a difference between submitting to a pastor's authority, and agreeing with doctrine and practice.
As far as doctrine, as many books as you read, you're going to encounter various interpretations of scripture. And from that variety, you're undoubtedly going to have your own doctrine formed in such a way that you take issue with what, or how, any pastor preaches. I've been in this situation in every church I've attended.
Sometimes your disagreement will be miniscule, but other times it will be significant. Many believers aren't interested in learning the scriptures to the depth that you desire, and that can be a frustrating encounter because many pastors try to preach at the level of understanding he believes his congregation is at. You're almost always going to be looking for more depth, better exegesis, and what could otherwise be considered "less fluff"
It's possible that you've wrongly perceived the pastor's motive as preaching for numbers, when he may simply be preaching to what he sees as a general lack of biblical understanding. I am not saying that this approach is good, because year after year the congregation is still biblically illiterate if he never brings them up.
There are other elements of the Body of Christ that aren't necessarily related to correctness of doctrine. Remember earlier when I referred to "every church I've attended" ?
For several years, I considered that I attended church. And the whole time I took issue with every little thing that didn't agree with my doctrine. I was pretty assertive at times, trying to convert everybody to my set of "truth". I honestly felt that if everybody could just see what I see in scripture, the whole place would have a great turnaround and become a thriving church.
I'm sure everybody reading this can see the train wreck I caused everywhere I was.
but God started working on me about 6 or 7 years ago. For 10 years, I lived in the Northland of the Kansas City area, but had met a girl and ended up moving 45 minutes away, to the East end of the Metro Area. After I got a divorce, and I got custody of our son, I was reflecting. We hadn't regularly "attended" anywhere since I'd moved. I wanted my son to have a church home, so I started praying about where we should go.
God told me to start going to one particular church I had visited once, and it was an Assembly of God church. WHAT ?!? I was "attending" an AG church before I get saved, and never once heard the gospel. they were ALL heretics as far as I was concerned. I prayed again and again, thinking surely I had heard something wrong. I asked God pretty blatantly:
"Why on earth would I possibly believe you want me to go there? What good could possibly come from it? You know I don't agree with anything they teach. You want me to go argue with them over their heresies?
But God said to me, "I want you to be involved in a change in that church."
Obviously, I was thinking a change in doctrine, and thought "Yeah, right. Like any denominational church is going to change their doctrine because of me."
I really thought I had heard wrong about going there. But every time I prayed about it, that was all I was hearing. So I determined that we would attend there until I heard otherwise. I was in utter shock the very week. That pastor started a sermon series that week titled - Changing the Church
for six weeks, he preached on bringing change into that church, and not one sermon had anything to do with doctrine. He felt that God was calling that church to a change from:
dysfunction
disunity
division
dissention
hypocrisy
From church attendance, to a life set on becoming one with a body
We attended there for a while, I became victimized by hypocrisy and suspicion of motive. So I left. I had already moved a little distance away to a little town, and wanted to attend somewhere closer to home anyway. It was real easy to leave.
The very next church I found was a little Pentecostal church right around the corner from our house. I didn't know anything about the church before I went there for the first time, the name was simply "Living Waters"
The first time I went, it was a Wednesday night prayer meeting and bible study. I was awestruck by something. There was such a unity in that church, so far removed from what I had just gone through, that I didn't care one little bit about whether or not I agreed with their Arminian doctrine.
That little church, and the people there, had four major elements that I absolutely needed at that time - They trusted God, They believed in prayer, They wanted to know His word more, and they loved each other like family. There was a unity there that I had never experienced anywhere before.
I've looked back a few times, to when God first told me that he wanted me to "be involved" in a change in that AG church. I wrongly perceived that He was wanting me to help change them. But what He really meant is that He wanted them to help change me.
I no longer look at church as "attendance"
He has brought us back to the Northland, where I was ten years ago. We are now engaged in the little church where my son attends school. Our entire life is immersed in the Body of Christ, not simply "attending" one or twice a week.
I'm telling you now, brother, you should not listen to those who say you should just bail because you don't agree. You should seek God in the matter, and try to be sensitive to what He wants for you. He may just be wanting to work on you at that church.
If that's the case, and you run from Him working on you there, you will waste a lot of years being run through the wilderness before He brings you back to start over.
I might add that some of those classes were in independent baptist churches and the classes saw some application to their church government.