mega church

Real Preachers of L.A. – Yes, for real

As if we didn’t need another “Real (fill in the blank) of (fill in the blank)” reality show, the Oxygen Network premiered “Real Preachers of L.A.“. I suppose it was only a matter of time that preachers/ministers would get their own reality show since everyone from gold miners to Kevin Hart has one.

What shall I say about this show and it’s premise? Well, for one it is entertainment. No producer would bring a reality show to TV if it wasn’t controversial. I can’t imagine a show with a bunch of preachers in middle America going to air – unless they were zombie preachers!

Kate Bower at the CNN Belief blog describes it as:

a chaotic mix of prayer, “house porn,” and neatly orchestrated dust-ups between senior pastors and their “first ladies.” In some ways, the combination of the prosperity gospel with the “Real Housewives” format is a match made in Oprah-produced heaven. Men of the cloth cruise Southern California in lavish cars weighed down by their gold watches and tiny dogs.

The show centers around a group of mega church ~~well to do~~ hipster preachers with family, cars, parties, and other celebrities. The display of semi-lavish living is opening flaunted on the show. Ron Gibson, one of the show’s preachers, explains the lavish living as:

“P. Diddy, Jay Z. They’re not the only ones who should be driving Ferraris and living in large houses.”

Much of the show’s under current is a popular and controversial Christian movement known as Prosperity Gospel or Prosperity Theology. The Jimmy Swaggers and Jim Bakers of the world brought this movement to television. Basically, the thinking goes, if you are faithful and give abundantly to a church or ministry, God will bless you with wealth and happiness. In turn, preachers get to live in multiple houses and live a lifestyle fit for King Solomon.

Unfortunately, shows like this reinforce a stereotype of preachers who are greedy and profit from their ministry. These ministers exist but the vast majority of ministers don’t make anywhere need the type of money the “Real Preachers of L.A.” are making. Many pastors small churches and are bivocational.

So, there you have it. You judge if these Real Preachers of L.A. are the real deal or just all show.

Obama, social media

Social media pastors cast stones on Obama’s faith

As millions watched President Obama take a public oath of office, popular mega church pastors sought to cast some social media stones on our president’s faith.

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, set off a social media firestorm with this tweet:

Praying for our president, who today will place his hand on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know.

— Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) January 21, 2013

That message was retweeted over 3,000 times and favored over 1,000 times on Twitter.

Now, I think it is just great that Driscoll prayer for our president. Thank you, Mark. However, what is extremely troubling and ugly is that Driscoll has no understanding of Obama’s faith. Our president has publicly and privately shared his faith. Not only was he a long time member of a church in Chicago but has shared about his personal relationship with Jesus Christ over the course of his adult life.

In the beginning of 2012, Obama gave the keynote speech at the National Prayer Breakfast. Obama said,

“For me, as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required… I know that far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years, and I believe in God’s command to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.

The facts are overwhelming despite Mark Driscoll’s ignorance. The president is on record proclaiming his faith and belief in Jesus Christ. Obama has spoken at length about praying and reading a personal Christian devotional everyday. In addition, our president regularly praying and meets with Christian pastors for spiritual advice.

In 2011, Obama responded to the questioning of his faith at the National Prayer Breakfast:

My Christian faith, then, has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years, all the more so when Michelle and I hear our faith questioned from time to time. We are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us, but whether we’re being true to our conscience and true to our God. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you, as well… As I travel across the country, folks often ask me, what is it that I pray for? And like most of you, my prayers sometimes are general: Lord, give me the strength to meet the challenges of my office.

Still, other mega church pastors have commended Obama’s faith on inauguration day. John Piper, a popular mega church pastor and author, tweeted:

President Obama “spiritually blind” or “evil hypocrite” in claiming MLK and disregarding the weakest. dsr.gd/13UCjLz

— John Piper (@JohnPiper) January 21, 2013

I don’t agree with 100% of President Obama’s stances on political issues but that doesn’t mean I need to publicly bash his belief in Christ. This type of Christian stoning is ugly. It in no way furthers the Kingdom of God. It is easy to lob stones across social media and never face the person who you defame. On social media it is just too easy to be snarky, rude, or just plain uncouth. Anyone who is in Christ needs to resist the temptation to hurl a stone at another on social media.

Driscoll and Piper have very successful ministries that have brought thousands to Christ. I commend them for that. They reach the unchurched.

However, is it possible to live a life of ministry without bringing down others who’s Christian beliefs don’t match up with ours? Yes! I may not be particularly pleased with an organization’s or church’s stance on an issue or two but I can still support the fruit of their work.

We Christians must strive to end the questioning of another’s faith in Christ. God is the ultimate arbitrator of who is and is not a follower of Christ. Let’s put down the stones. As Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

Church Leadership, founder's syndrome

Crystal Cathedral’s epic fail & founder’s syndrome

It appears that the problems at the Crystal Cathedral have grown too great to overcome.

Robert Schuller founded the church and retired as the church’s senior pastor, but stayed on the board of directors. The church never fully recovered from Schuller’s pastoral departure. Though he stayed on the church’s governing board, two of his children took a shot at pastoring the large church. Schuller’s son, Robert became the senior pastor and two years later resigned. Then, Sheila, daughter of the elder Schuller, became senior pastor, and now left. The church then filed for bankruptcy in 2011 with $50 million in debt.

The Crystal Cathedral became one of the first mega churches and now is one of the first popular mega churches that may close. The Crystal Cathedral building was sold last year to the Catholic Diocese of Orange, CA for $57.5 million. The church continues to meet, but they must leave the building soon.

Much of the conflict around the transition of the elder Schuller to his children revolves around one fact: they are not their father.

When churches affix the identity of the church with the founding pastor, it becomes much harder for the church to transition to new leadership. A celebrity pastor is often a formula for explosive growth, but ultimately is that a formula for disaster?

The Schuller children enacted several changes in worship, music, leadership, and programming. The reason why those changes did not fit the congregation was centered on the fact that they did not do the necessary work. The church should have gone through a period of discernment and vision when Robert Schuller left as the senior pastor. It is clear that when the Schullers stayed on the board of directors of the church their leadership became ineffective.

Leadership requires a guiding presence that can empower people to their full potential. The Schuller family failed at how to handle a leadership change.

The USA Today reports on this failure of leadership: Continue Reading…

Church Leadership, Churches, mega church, megachurch

Crystal Cathedral: End of Mega Church Era?

The reports out of Orange County, California have not been encouraging for the once mighty Crystal Cathedral. Robert Schuller founded the church and recently retired as the church’s senior pastor. In turn, the church never fully recovered from Schuller’s pastoral departure. Though he stayed on the church’s governing board, two of his children took a shot at pastoring the large church. Schuller’s son, Robert became the senior pastor and two years later resigned. Then, Sheila, daughter of the elder Schuller, became senior pastor. The church then filed for bankruptcy last year with $50 million in debt.

If this was not enough, reports of the the founder, Robert Schuller’s departure from the church’s governing board surfaced last week. However, his position on the board was moved from voting member to “honorary Chairman of the Board Emeritus” in order to free him up for more speaking engagements. Ah huh.

Membership and attendance have fallen since the founding pastor’s departure. Now with the debt issue over the church’s head, a few organizations have considering buying the church. The Catholic Diocese of Orange said it was considering buying the bankrupt church and converting it to a Catholic cathedral. Chapman University bid $46 million and would allow the church to lease back its core buildings.

With all of these issues surrounding the Crystal Cathedral, the question rolls around in many minds: Can “newly” planted mega churches survive when the founding pastor leaves?

Lewis Fellows

Lewis Fellows: Kansas City or Bust

This past week was crazy. I didn’t have any time to blog or tweet. I traveled to Kansas City, MO with the Lewis Fellows and spent some time with pastors of dynamic churches. When I returned to New York, I went back to the airport to welcome Gary Long, our retreat speaker. Saturday the church held our fall retreat on vision – an excellent time. Sunday was worship. As you can see, it was a pretty full couple of days.

I want to briefly share with you my Lewis Fellows experience. Tuesday, October 19 we visited Saint Andrew Christian Church (www.sacchome.org) and had a conversation with Senior Pastor Rev. Holly McKissick. Saint Andrew Christian Church is a Disciples of Christ church. Check out the church below:

As you can see, it looks more like a market than a church. Such a welcoming property and building. The church is only 20 years old and Holly is the founding pastor. Below, Holly is standing and we are meeting in the sanctuary. I loved this sanctuary. The building is only about 12 years old.

Holly comes out of the Southern Baptist tradition, but was ordained in the Disciples of Christ church. The sanctuary is welcoming and seating is structured in a “U”. Holly’s take on leadership was interesting. She talked about making mistakes, as all pastors do, but learning from them. She was honest and candid about her leadership and ministry.

Below is a pic of the cross that hangs in the sanctuary:

Churches

Small Churches Are The Next Big Thing

Brandon J. O’Brien at Christianity Today’s Out of Ur blog, has a really interesting thought about the future of small churches. The perception is that small churches are dying and are even the reason why Christianity is waning. However, O’Brien pulls from a number of sources to explain why the small church might be the next big movement:

In a conversation last week about the virtues of small churches, a pastor friend of mine, Chuck Warnock, quoted a passage from John Zogby’s 2008 book The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream (Random House). Zogby prophesies that “The church of the future will be a bungalow on Main Street, not a megastructure in a sea of parking spaces. It’s intimacy of experience that people long for, not production values.”

On the face of it, I couldn’t be more pleased with that prediction. I’ve pastored two small congregations and am now a member and deacon in another, where my wife serves on staff. My experience with these churches has led me to believe that small congregations are uniquely positioned to carry the gospel into the world in the 21st century. Few things would make me happier than if the “next big thing” in Christian ministry conversations was the small church.

Interesting take. Certainly, the Emergent Movement has taught us that small churches can do big things and reach people previously thought to be “unreachable.” Also, “house churches” have been known to start mega churches because of their simplicity and small community.

O’Brien also says there is a danger involved with small churches:

Book Reviews, nuChristian

Q&A with Author Russell Rathbun

Author Russell Rathbun spoke with On the Bema about his new book, nuChristian: finding faith in a new generation (Judson Press). Russell is a founding minister with Debbie Blue of House of Mercy, a pioneering emergent church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rathbun is also the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press,2009) and the critically-acclaimed Post-Rapture Radio (Jossey-Bass, 2008). He lives with his wife, two kids, and dog KoKo in St. Paul.

OnTheBema: You begin your book with examining the postmodern framework. Christians need to understand it. Where do you draw the line between understanding postmodernism and using postmodernism to a church’s advantage without compromising the Gospel message?

Russell: The way I understand it, Postmodernism, is not a “thing” we can use or not use, it is just the way the world operates. It is the underlying ethos of our time. It is important to understand that the Post-Baby Boomer generations came of age and are informed by this ethos (whether they realize it or not). There has been a radical shift in how truth claims can be made. We can not assume that dominate Western Christian ideas (which may or may not be the same as the Gospel–often they are not) hold sway in the way they once did. This is why it is important to be in relationship with people instead of being in a debate with people. In the end the debate doesn’t matter, loving your neighbor as a response to the love of God through Jesus Christ is what matters.

OnTheBema: You make a good point about how Christians need to make disciples rather than just converts. You say, “We are not called to save people, we are called to love people.” (pg. 43) This is a radical departure from Evangelical Christianity’s emphasis on “saving souls.” Why do you think evangelism ends at the altar call?

Continue Reading…

mega church

Are You a Mega Church Drop Out?

With mega-churches basking in the spotlight of mainstream media, several studies have been done about the mega-church movement that might just surprise you. A study just released a few days ago, indicates that the largest churches in the United States are “Christian, contemporary, and evangelical.” Mega-churches are growing, so the short term studies cite. The largest churches in the United States have reach amazing numbers:

Lakewood Church – Houston, TX 43,500 weekly
LifeChurch.tv – Edmond, OK 26,776 weekly
Willow Creek Community Church – South Barrington, IL 23,400 weekly
North Point Community Church – Alpharetta, GA 23,377 weekly
Second Baptist Church – Houston, TX 22,723 weekly

However, more long term studies show that churches and communities of faith are losing ground. The 18 year American Religious Identification Survey show that the percentage of “other Christians” (evangelical, protestant, and non-denominational churches) has dropped. Even in the Bible belt! In Texas, 20% of “other Christians” (basically, non-Catholics) have changed their faith affiliation to something other than Christian. You can check out the interactive graphic here.

The American Religious Identification Survey said “the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.” With so many mega-churches growing, there must be a “drop out” rate that is not being reported because “the percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or “born again,” was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.”

Even more surprising are what these surveys and studies have found:

Churches

Mega Church, Not So Mega Committment

Several news outlets, including the Associated Press and USA Today, are reporting today on a new study published by the the Hartford Ins titute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary and Leadership Network that found some surprising trends in mega-churches. In the study they found:

Nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under 45 years old, as compared to only one-third for all Protestant churches (62% vs. 35%).
Nearly a third of megachurch attenders are single, unmarried persons. In a typical church, singles account for just 10% of the congregation.
Megachurch attenders are both more educated and more affluent than attenders at other churches.
The majority of megachurch attenders are not necessarily new to Christianity but nearly a quarter had not recently been in another church before coming to a megachurch.
While newcomers almost always attend a megachurch at the invitation of family, friends or co-workers, the real attraction tends to be the church’s reputation, worship style and senior pastor.
Long-term attendance flows from an appreciation for the church’s music/arts, social and community outreach and adult-oriented programs.
45% of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church, and 40 percent are not engaged in a small group, the mainstay of megachurch programming.

As I have commented in the past, mega churches are meeting a need and are leading to people to Jesus Christ. Two awesome things. However, this study of 25,000 people at 12 mega churches indicates that megachurch attenders volunteer less and give less money than people who attend typical Protestant churches, although megachurch-goers tend to be wealthier and better educated. This follows the greater cultural trend of people being less committed to things because of their other commitments. We are over committed and give less energy to our commitments. For megachurches, this is problematic because it shows that attendees are less commitment to the church and they are not commitment enough to their stewardship through tithing or giving. Mega churches draw in mega amounts of giving, so it leads me to believe that they can survive on less giving per member.

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