I have never heard of Isaiah Saldivar but a quick Google search reveals him to be another in a long line of NAR preachers demanding the church behave outside the boundaries of scripture. This is a recurring and foundational theme of NAR teaching. That the sheep should stop behaving like sheep. Stop whining to be fed and get to work! What is the work? Reaching the lost. The problems here are several. First of all the church is not supposed to be focused on the lost. Sorry but read your bibles! It is supposed to be to build the church up through the maturation of the saints. Why would the church be focused on the lost when they think the things of God are foolishness to them? We want them to come to church because they are supposed to hear the Gospel there and Romans teaches us that only the Gospel has the power of God unto the salvation of men. You see salvation is a supernatural act of God but the purpose driven church teaches that the vision casting CEO dude can convince people through his preaching and the recitation of a vapid and vacuous "sinner's prayer." The Purpose Driven Life actually presents this prayer in only eight words! The Great Commission is not the only instruction in the bible and it has nothing to do with church structure. Evangelism is important if you are presenting the uncompromised Gospel but it has nothing to do with church structure. Burton should be stricken with fear and trembling because what he is communicating is outright heresy. The notion that something in the church is "outdated" is absurd. God is no respecter of person, culture or time. The Gospel that saved the 4th century serf is the same that saved the 17th century farmer and 21st century millennial. God does not change. By fire, Burton refers to the Charismaniacal version of the apostate church he promotes. By religious he means those who insist on the bible as the final arbiter of truth.
"I continually hear people eagerly declaring that they are done with church as usual. Their heart is for God to move in and explode in power. I count myself as one of those people. However, the shift necessary to see this happen will upset what has been setup, and that price may be too costly for most. Consider the radical differences between the United States Marines and a spa. Today, the church structurally has the makeup of a spa that is setup to draw people in via programs and promises of personal attention. The coming church will function like a military that is setup to draw people in compelled by the magnitude of the mission. They will not show up to be served by to serve. People join a spa to be nurtured and enjoy life with themselves in mind. People join the military to serve unto death with others in mind." -- John Burton
The reason why people are done with church as usual is that they can no longer tell the difference with the world. It is because of the purpose driven pastors who make the church about them. It is because without the Gospel, no one gets saved. Look at the anathema Burton states as motivation for going to church! He wants people compelled to come in due to the magnitude of some faux mission. God wants people to come in because they are broken and seriously want to repent. This is the false dichotomy that the NAR presents. If you go to church for yourself, then you are just selfish because its not about you. I am here to remind us that it is about you! Heaven rejoiced when you were saved and they did not forget you so quickly. I would venture to say that 80% of the church is not spiritually mature enough to be bringing the Gospel to anyone! I remember at the height of our small groups at my old church there were 50 such groups with about 10 spiritually competent leaders. Forty of the groups were led by people who had no business leading. I remember counseling one after the fact who said he was amazed that they asked him to lead considering he was having an affair on his wife at the time. He was "guilted" into leading when he should not have. His spiritual needs were not considered as important and as a result he fell out of the church. Lastly here, being broken and needing to be fed spiritual milk while we learn is not having a "spa" mentality and Burton should stop insulting God's sheep.
"False Expectations. After 22+ years of ministry my opinion is that one of the weakest links in the church today is false expectations--expectations perpetuated by leaders who want to fill the pews. Let me explain. In the local church context today, most want to connect in the place that will meet their expectations. There is a predetermined set of expectations that people enter the church with, and If those expectations aren't met, negativity creeps into the camp. So, today, people won't continue in a church if it doesn't offer what they want, and pastors can't imagine the thought of losing them, so they adjust course and focus on giving them what they expect." -- John Burton
What Burton cannot see is that the false expectations are the very unbiblical NAR, purpose driven systems he supports! He is so close to the truth! The expectations set out by pew filling pastors are all carnal. When you present a toothless gospel of compromise and no need to repent, then that is what you will need to keep the people you have drawn. Let's see where Burton takes this rambling thought.
"In the Western church, the pastoral office is the natural office to lead a church that's fueled by people's need for nurture. After all, it's presumed that pastors, by design, are the ones to meet the expectations of the people. They have the heart to do so. Therefore, pastoral leadership is widely embraced by those who are more inclined to receive than to give. Does that sound like American culture? Does a consumer mentality have its touch on most every area of our lives? Absolutely, and, it has nearly overtaken the church, and we as leaders have left that problem largely unresolved. What happens now is that pastors are overwhelmed with connecting with people, feeding them what they prefer and ensuring they are attended to--and that has compromised the strength and outward mission of the church." -- John Burton
In the Western Church? What is he talking about? The Timothy and Titus letters are called the pastoral letters for a reason! Paul was writing to his young and upcoming pastors and teaching them how to operate their churches! We can then hopscotch throughout church history and the same paradigm exists! Why? Because it is how the bible says the church is to organized. Burton is trying to pin thousands of years of biblical church organization on American laziness. Jesus is called the great Shepherd! Was He just selling a consumer mentality? The reason why He uses the shepherd analogy is because that is how the church was to be organized. He calls His followers sheep for a reason! There is no outward mission of the church! This is straight up NAR dominionism. Pastors are not overwhelmed from shepherding. They are overwhelmed trying to do God's job of horizontally growing their church!
"Now, of course, helping people is absolutely appropriate and necessary, and pastors are the ones best equipped by God to do that, but this ministry was never meant to be the primary function of the church! -- John Burton
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