In this video from IMPART, Steven Furtick is joined on stage by special guest Perry Noble. The first thing that hit me after watching this video is that someone paid $700 to watch these guys sit around and talk. Apparently, being able to draw a large crowd to a church service makes you an expert on all things. For instance, from the video, here’s Noble on marriage:

The problem with some pastors marriages is you want your wife to understand you and she don’t. She loves you. She married you. She will never understand you.

Maybe this is true in some cases, but Perry doesn’t strike me as a particularly complex guy. I mean, here’s what he says just a couple seconds later:

We’re men. If it doesn’t have anything to do with sex we forget it.

Luckily for us, Perry doesn’t stop there. He continues to impart his valued wisdom. On women:

Two guys can get in a fight and five minutes later we can go to lunch and be best friends again. Two women get in a fight, they’re not even gonna talk in Heaven.

Man. I wish I had known that women were incapable of forgiveness and grace before I got married. Oddly though, In the past twelve years, I’ve found my wife to be the most forgiving person I’ve ever met. I guess if Pastor P is right, she’ll show her true womanly vengeful side soon enough.

Now, that wisdom alone would have been worth at least $700 to me, but believe or not, Perry shares more. On parenting:

(To an older pastor) How did you raise a little girl that doesn’t hate church? He said this, I wrote this down. He said, “I never talked negatively about the church in front of my little girl.”

That’s good. I do wonder if the opposite is true. Should Perry talk negative about his little girl in front of the Church? I mean, it does seem that every time she has a bathroom accident, he tweets it.

Now, I know that more was discussed at Impart, and I hope that there are subjects where Steven and Perry are more adept, but with Unleash coming up soon, Impart just finished, and who know what else after that, I just don’t understand the draw. What do you think these guys will say that is worth paying to hear? I think it all comes down to the large crowds and hoping some of that success will rub off.  The critics are always accused of jealousy, but I think you have to be pretty envious of someone to pay $700 just to hear their secrets.

It’s kind of like dieting, I suppose. We all know how to lose weight: Eat less, exercise more. Yet millions of books and videos are sold each year that in some form or another tell people just that. We keep buying these products hoping that there will be some magic combination that will allow us to wake up and be the person we want to be… with little or no effort. My guess is that is the motivation for a large group of people that keep going to these conferences. Ok, I’ve read my Bible. I know what the Church is, and what it should be…but maybe, if I go to this one more conference, I’ll hear the secret that will bring me 10,000 members overnight.

Let me save you some money: It’s not gonna happen. Even if you follow Furtick’s advice point by point and do everything exactly the way he did it, your odds of getting similar results are almost non-existent. I think even he would tell you that, though if you really believed it, he would lose money.

Read the Bible.

Do what it says.

Be faithful.

Don’t measure success on a worldy scale.

Make all checks payable to James Downing.

Luke 15: 25-30

²⁵“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

The older son skipped the opportunity to celebrate the return of his younger brother.  He was upset that the father had chosen to bless the younger son. It was unfair. The younger son didn’t deserve it at all. He had wasted his inheritance on foolish living and prostitutes, yet the father was overjoyed to see his youngest son. He even ran out to greet him, and kissed him, and had him clothed in the finest robe.

The father in this story, showed a great act of grace and mercy. Out of the goodness of his heart, he decided to pour out extravagant blessings upon a very unworthy recipient. The older son didn’t understand. He just didn’t “get it”.

For the last couple of days, I’ve been questioning my own motives. I must admit, that on the surface I bare a striking resemblance to the older brother. I can see where an outsider would make that connection. After all, churches like Elevation and Newspring are being blessed. I think (despite the conferences and such) even they would admit that they are wildly unworthy. It appears that I am unhappy about it.  Older brother syndrome. I see that.

Something else I’ll admit: I am wholly unworthy of the Father’s blessings as well. While I am pretty strong on theology and doctrine, I am pretty weak on sharing the Gospel with the people I encounter in my daily existence. Sure, sometimes they notice that I don’t cuss much, or that I try not to gossip.  If they ask why, I might hint towards my belief in Christ, but in general, I live as if we have forever. We don’t. We are not even promised today. I know that many of my colleagues are completely lost in their sin…and I don’t care enough about their eternity in Hell to share the Gospel with them. I can give you a ton of excuses. I might even lose my job if I were to begin evangelizing co-workers. All that means is that I care more about my standard of living, than I care about the souls of the lost.

What does all this mean? Am I going to stop pointing out error where I see it? No. The stakes are too high. People are being led astray at an alarming rate, and I won’t be quiet. Some of the issues seem minuscule, but they have to be discussed. Deception starts with the small points. Overlooking even the tiniest venture from Scriptural truth will only lead to larger errors in the future.

What this does mean is that I have to rededicate myself to reaching the world with the Good News of Christ, starting right here in my office. My passion for purity of the Church has to be matched with a broken-heart for lost souls.

I won’t ignore error, and I won’t ignore the lost. I will try to join in the dance and celebration when Father decides to put His best robe on a younger brother.

And my friend felt like the Lord responded to him with a challenging thought:

“What if I do everything you’re asking me to do in your city, but I do it through someone else’s ministry?  Would you still pray as passionately?  Would you be okay with that?”

That’s a good thought for any of us involved in ministry. Steven admits that he is not to that point yet, and that he’s not even sure he’s ready to work on it, which is a good start:

I’m not sure I’m entirely ready to wrestle with my own motivations at that level.  This is pretty advanced stuff.  But ultimately, I’d like to get to a place where my heart rejoices with the same intensity because another church in town baptized 100 people as it does when Elevation baptizes 100 people.

I’m not there yet.

Maybe it’s time for some of these guys to really examine where their audience is coming from, and why they are showing up. I know the programmed response is that it doesn’t matter as long as they are hearing the Gospel, but if Furtick is concerned about the Universal Body of Christ, like this post implies, then it does matter.

Maybe instead of throwing up another video campus, or promoting your online service so much, you could partner (rather than compete) with an established church in that area. Maybe there will come a time when Elevation will be struggling like some of the older churches are now. Will a newer, shinier church swoop in to pick from their remains, or will the new church lend a hand to an older brother in need?

Here’s hoping that Furtick continues digging into this thought…and acts accordingly.

Don’t ever compromise God’s vision. For anyone. Or anything. At any time. Stay true to His purpose. At any cost.

I would be very interested to know what Steven means by “God’s vision” in this context. If we go on what he has said in the past, we can assume that he is talking about some extra-biblical revelation…almost certainly, extra-biblical revelation that furthers Furtick’s personal agenda. Steven has been known to get imagination and divine revelation confused in the past.

I find it unsettling that a guy who has been more than willing to compromise God’s Word, is completely unwilling to compromise his own imaginary vision.

Is there anything good that can possibly come from this mindset?

Your best innovation flows from revelation.  You must prioritize the presence of God in your life.

More can be accomplished in a nanosecond of prayer, worship, and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit than a month’s worth of strategy meetings in the flesh.

Many leaders have created virtually no margin to make room for the kind of divine encounters that birth true vision and revolutionary concept.  I can trace the genesis of many of the most important ideas in the history of our church to a specific moment in the presence of God.  I can trace my most frustrating seasons to a deficiency of time allocated to my most important task: seeking the wisdom of the Lord.

What would Moses have missed had he never turned aside to see the burning bush?
If the leaders in the church in the book of Acts had neglected prayer and the Word to serve tables, how might the influence of the Gospel been impeded worldwide?

What revelation, inspiration, imagination and innovation is left undiscovered in your life because you’re failing to prioritize the presence of God?

Is Steven talking about extra-Biblical revelation again? Is this really what “leadership” is about in the modern church? Mighty man of God climbs his own metaphorical Mt. Sinai to await divine inspiration. Those of us who are commoners just have to sit dumbly and wait for our leader to speak…

Really?

1 Peter 2:9 ( and the entire New Testament honestly ) seem to infer that we all have a direct connection to God through His Son Jesus.  His Word has been given to us all, and is sufficient revelation for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. What did God leave out?

Furtick gets imagination confused with revelation. In his final paragraph, he seems to equate the two.

Products of my imagination will carry more weight if I claim them to be divinely inspired. Just ask Joseph Smith.

I was horrible at math in middle school.  But I was pretty good at similes.  Remember those?             

Yellow is to sun as ____ is to moon
Guns n Roses is to best band ever as Tiger Woods is to ____
God is to Satan as dogs are to ____ (the answer, clearly, is cats)

Here’s a ministry simile for all of you who are currently facing a resource challenge.

Resources are to the vision of a ministry what wake is to a boat in the water.

Furtick may or may not have been good at similes, but he was clearly no good at all at analogies.

Ok, now that the nit has been picked, let’s get on to the beef of this post, which is pretty much “name it claim it” Word Faith bunk:

Wake follows the movement of a vessel in direct proportion to the velocity.  And it always trails behind the motor.

Resource follows the movement of a vision in direct proportion to the velocity of the vision.  And it always follows behind the vision.  Behind the risk.  Behind the initiative.

Don’t wait for the wake to magically appear.  Produce it by moving forward.
Stop waiting for resources to fall out of the sky.  Go forward as hard as you can as fast as you can with all that you’ve got.

Soon you’ll be skiing on the wake.

So, all you got a do is step out in Faith and follow your vision, and God will provide the material resources that you need. As always, a little scripture to back that up would be nice, but I suppose it is not necessary when spoken from the mouth of a visionary.

Of course, the fact that this didn’t work for the Apostles in the New Testament, or Jesus himself, should probably make us stop and think.

Recent Tweet from Furtick:

Great night w a great man of God. Thx Pastor Joel 4 your humility & msg of hope. Love & honor!

Now it seems Pastor Furtick has added Joel Osteen to his growing list of spiritual mentors. Maybe, you say, this was just a nice photo op, and Steven doesn’t really know much about Osteen. Nope. Here’s a post defending Osteen from Furtick’s blog. A few selected quotes:

But to all of you mean spirited name callers who have made a career of condemning celebrity preachers:
Who the heck do you think you are to criticize a man who is impacting a city like Pastor Joel is impacting Houston?

Since when is “impacting a city” the final litmus test of God’s approval? One could easily argue Truman had a large impact on Nagasaki.

…Osteen preaches to 40,000 people weekly…
You couldn’t get 40,000 people to come hear you preach if you gave away free Escalades at the door.

Once again, we get the SCOREBOARD argument, and a slam at smaller congregations. And regardless of what Osteen may be preaching, it’s all fine because he draws a large crowd.

…If you’re concerned about a lack of cross centered preaching, then preach the cross yourself instead of wasting valuable time opining about how someone else should do it better.

Which goes completely against Jesus and Paul’s many admonishments to be on the lookout for false teachers.

…Don’t hurl insults at someone with a big church simply because you can’t make your church grow, and although you’d never admit it, you’re jealous.
That’s right… most of the time the motive isn’t defense of the Gospel… it’s jealousy and presumption.

And of course, the strawman argument that the only people who may have a problem with Osteen are jealous pastors. We couldn’t possibly be concerned Christians following the biblical call to “test all things”.

…You know, I think it’s absolutely essential that Christians think critically about what is being taught in Christian pulpits. We must preserve sound doctrine. We must guard against erroneous theologies.

This is a hilarious way to end a post that is scolding us for doing just what he says we must do. But, to follow Steven’s advice here and think critically about what’s being taught, here’s a clip of Osteen you should watch. Is this what Steven calls sound doctrine?

      Last Sunday, Elevation passed out the flyer you see on the right, listing 12 Faith confessions to be stated aloud daily by each member. I thought I’d post them here for examination:

1. I am fully forgiven and free from all shame and condemnation.
2. I act in audacious faith to change the world in my generation.
3. I have no fear or anxiety, I trust the lord with all my heart.
4. I am able to fulfill the calling God has placed on my life.
5. I am fully funded to do everything God has called me to do.
6. I have no insecurity, because I see myself the way God sees me.
7. I am a faithful spouse and a Godly parent; Our family is blessed
8. I am completely whole physically, mentally, and emotionally.
9. I am increasing in influence and favor for the Kingdom of God.
10. I am enabled to walk in the sacrificial love of Christ.
11. I have the wisdom of the Lord concerning every decision I make.
12. I am protected from all harm and evil in Jesus’  name.

When did Furtick turn into a self-esteem coach? Notice the first word of each of these sentences. I agree that these sentences confess faith, but the faith seems to be more aimed at affirming the individual rather than professing the Truth about God.

For the most part, these are all “safe” in regards to scriptural accuracy, but have clearly bent the ideas towards empowering humans. It’s no wonder Elevation draws enormous crowds, when this is their statement of faith.

Now, let’s address a few of these specifically:

I am fully forgiven and free from all shame and condemnation.

True. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ. However, when one considers the make-up of Furtick’s normal audience, I wouldn’t be so sure that all of them can confidently make this statement.

I am able to fulfill the calling God has placed on my life.

Maybe this is why Steven doesn’t like learning about Moses.

I am fully funded to do everything God has called me to do.

Good. This should eliminate any need for fund-raisers at Elevation…Woops. Didn’t see this.

I have no insecurity, because I see myself the way God sees me.

Paul considered himself the King of Sinners, yet was pretty successful in ministry. I’d stop wasting time trying to elevate my own self-view, and start trying to see God for who He is.

I am completely whole physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Is this Word of Faith teaching? Considering T. D. Jakes is one of Steven’s heroes, it’s not all that surprising.

I am protected from all harm and evil in Jesus’  name.

Might want to check out what happened to the Apostles. Or Jesus himself for that matter.

Over 7000 people at Elevation this weekend! Over 500 salvations! Eph. 3:20! Thank you Jesus!

500 salvations is a huge number, and praise be to God for those souls. Even though it seems unbelievable, I know through Christ anything is possible. I wouldn’t question the legitimacy of those conversions, but apparently Steven does:

We’ve seen over 5000 people indicate that they placed their faith in Christ in the last 3 ½ years through our weekend worship experiences.  While we can’t make any assertions about which of these conversion experiences were genuine, we’re so thankful that God has allowed us to scatter so much seed and see such an evident harvest in our city.  He will separate the wheat from the chaff.  We’ll just keep sowing the Gospel and celebrating the life change we can see.

Nevertheless, I’ll assume those 5,000 converts are real for now. Just a quick glance at the figure in the first quote vs. the figure in the second quote stopped me in my tracks.If Elevation’s largest attendance ever was 7,000, and they have had over 5,000 people saved in the last 3 years, that would mean that at least 70% of Furtick’s audience are new believers.

So as Senior Pastor to such a congregation, what is Steven teaching these infants and toddlers in Christ?

• Here he paints Bible study in a negative light.
• Here he teaches that too much bible study is a bad thing, and we should avoid learning about things like the doctrines of Grace. Gotta be careful about Spiritual Obesity.

I am sure he borrowed the idea from his mentor Perry Noble, who probably borrowed it from Rick Warren. Here’s a quote from Warren on the topic:

“The last thing many believers need is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles.”

Why do these guys have such a disdain for bible study? It has to be one of the following:

1. They don’t believe it is powerful. Surely if these pastors thought the Word of God held any power, they would encourage their members to study it as much as possible. It would make their job easier. We’ve seen how they don’t want to give individual attention to members, so at least leading them to God’s word would ensure they were being fed.
2. They don’t believe it is God’s word. If studying the Bible is listening to God, then it is impossible to study too much. If God has chosen to reveal himself to us through this book, then we should spend as much time as possible learning about him.
3. They believe there is a better method for hearing God. This is particularly bothersome, considering their dependence on personal revelation.
4. They find it threatening. They are afraid that Christians well-versed in Scripture will start raising questions about things going on in the church.

The next figure to address is the 500 salvations from last weekend. That is 500 brand new converts, thrown into this world where the pastor doesn’t care about their needs, they are told to feed themselves, and directed away from Bible study. 500 people. That’s an entire church…all with no guidance. The church I serve is in a town with a total population of 600.

You have to question what is being done to care for these 500 brand new believers. Have they hired new staff to look out for these guys? Have they made any changes to ensure this group is cared for? Again, you have enough people to be considered a pretty large church here. That’s scary.

First, let me stop here for a moment. This is disingenuous to begin with. Steven knows that no one is accusing him of showing up early, greeting visitors, setting up equipment, and increasing the potential of breaking a sweat. The “one-man show” critique is aimed at the fact that all the “vision” for the church is birthed in Steven’s head. In fact, he said himself that if you go against his vision, you are fighting God.

Anyway, no volunteers showed up and apparently it was a nightmare. Here is what the executive pastor had to say, via Steven’s Blog:

The worship leader carried a powered speaker out on stage and delivered an acoustic set without a band…. The only sign we had up was “Elevation Church is meeting today”. We intentionally printed crooked black and white programs with the song lyrics and scriptures. Pastor carried a rickety music stand on stage to preach from with no fancy bumper or video playing in the background.

He goes on to call it “the most unimpressive worship experience ever.”

This clearly begs the question, who are you trying to impress?

• I can understand if you want to impress God, but do you really think God gets bummed out because the programs weren’t printed in color?
• It seems more that Elevation’s goal is to impress (entertain) people. Particularly sinners. If that’s the case, then perhaps, yes, the un-believers in attendance were slightly disappointed at the lack of loud music and over-produced video clips. Then again, I’m sure not all un-believers are fans of loud music and MTV style video editing.

This is really the crux of my argument with Elevation, Newspring, and the hundreds of other churches like them that join the bandwagon everyday. Elevation is saying they had a terrible week…worst ever…because there weren’t elaborate programs, a band, flashy videos, and a proper podium for Steven to preach from. Every other week, regardless of criticism, they always shout, “look at all the people that were saved!”. Were people saved this week? If so, even if it was just one soul, how is that the worst week ever?

If people weren’t saved…why not? What if there was an energy crisis? Would Elevation still be a viable ministry, or can God only use them when all their gadgets are up and functioning?

The priorities here are so far out of line, it is actually scary. For the record: There is nothing wrong with color bulletins, bands, videos, or podiums. When these things are used as tools of worship, they can be very effective. However, when your worship actually depends on these things, that should be a wake-up call that something is wrong.

Here’s the sad thing about the whole deal: I watched the service. If they were truly trying to deliver an experience far worse than other Elevation services…they failed miserably. It seemed like every other Elevation service to me:

• One Bible verse, and a great deal of effort to make it fit the situation.
• a few jabs at critics.
• a few jabs at other churches.
• 90% of the talk centered on Elevation.

And most of all…     A whole lot of…

Steven Furtick

The one man show.