So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. - 1Peter 5: 1-3 (ESV)
I write often about the new generation of young gun pastors. They are brought up on the Warren theology of the purpose driven church model. This model is founded upon the seeker friendly mindset where the church caters to and seeks relevance with the fallen culture all around it. The carnal logic being that you draw people in under any means possible so you can "grow" your church. Under the purpose driven model success is measured with worldly metrics. Thus someone like Joel Osteen is considered a rousing success and the ever expansion of his kingdom is deemed to somehow be the providential favor, blessing and approval of God. Under this model the pastor is not a shepherd as much as he is the CEO of a church operating as a business. Christ becomes a product to sell and thus marketing becomes key. I have heard purpose driven pastors challenge the unsaved by saying - "Give Jesus a try for one month and I guarantee customer satisfaction." As if Jesus is a new car you can take for a test drive. We must understand however that under this model, Scripture's role is minimized. The Bible is strip mined for half-verses that contain a power word the pastor wants to drive home for his message. Exposition, doctrine and hermeneutics become dirty words for the purpose driven pastor despite the warnings from the Bible:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. - 1Timothy 4: 16 (NIV)
Doctrine is one of only two things the Apostle Paul warns Timothy to guard closely. The reason is that the very salvation of the listeners is at stake. The CEO/pastor can be the most eloquent speaker alive. He can have the smooth delivery of a Joel Osteen. He can have the rhythmic passion of a TD Jakes. He can have the stern gravitas of a John Hagee. He can have the golden tongued deviltry of a Joseph Prince. It does not matter because no man has the words that carry eternal life.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. - Romans 1: 16 (ESV)
Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power of God unto the salvation of men - period. You can inspire motivation, self help, greed, peace and tranquility but you cannot save anyone. Only the true and full Gospel can. There is no sermon series that contains salvation. There is no cute marketing ploy that will save anyone. Only the full and uncompromised Gospel can. We have to realize today that the CEO/pastors that have been trained under this model essentially sit under deception. They are convinced that it is their responsibility to horizontally grow the church when Acts 2 clearly says that is the responsibility of God. The pastor is supposed to watch after the flock. They are supposed to be responsible for the vertical growth of the church. How discipled are the people becoming? How spiritually mature are the congregants? Can they handle the meat of the Word or are they still surviving on spoiled milk? This skewed thinking seems to be prevalent in many seeker friendly pastors. They see the numbers of people attending and start to think they had something to do with it. That they did that. That they deserve all the accolades they receive. The following are some quotes from Pastor Andy Stanley to consider:
(When asked about Pastors being called shepherd) - That word needs to go away." He added, "It was culturally relevant in the time of Jesus, but it's not culturally relevant any more." (Leadership Journal, "Get-it-Done Leadership," May 2006).
Praying for revival equates to blaming God for the condition of your local church. - June 2014 Tweet
Your church is a great church because it's led well, not because your folks are praying & waiting for revival. - June 2014 Tweet
This is a frightening glimpse into the mind of a purpose driven pastor. Pastors are no longer shepherds? Is Pastor Stanley actually making the argument that the transcendental all sufficient Word of God is no longer relevant on some level for the culture we currently live in? Really? So the key verses today which clearly spell out that pastors are to "shepherd the flock of God" is now wrong? Realize beloved this is what they are taught and believe. That the role of CEO is more important than the role of shepherd. That casting vision, a huge part of what Andy Stanley believes, is more important that staying true to the Word of God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that pastors have to cast vision! The Bible is the vision!
Notice also the disdain for prayer. To the purpose driven mind, prayer now equals blaming God. What is more disturbing however is that if there is a church that is considered great it has nothing to do with God and everything to do with the leadership! So all of the prayers for the church have nothing to do with the success of that church. It is all about the CEO. The Apostle Paul understood who this whole thing is really about:
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. - 1Corinthians 2: 1-5 (ESV)
In the purpose driven mind this thing called church is all about the lofty speech of the pastor and the wisdom of man known as "leadership." Paul summed up leadership as follow me as I follow Christ but that is no longer relevant to the purpose driven pastor. Fear and trembling? That's for the other guy. For the weak. The end result of this is what we see across this land. Huge mega churches filled with goats who have been convinced they are sheep. Churches built upon the plausible words of carnal men rather than Christ and Him crucified. Endless amounts of people who claim to be Christian but are resting their faith in the wisdom of men; instead of in the power of God.
Rev. Anthony.
