One Sunday at the Summit
Two Sundays ago, Dee and her husband decided to visit J.D. Greear’s church, The Summit, which is located in Durham, North Carolina.
“J.D. Greear, Ph.D., (born May, 1973) is the Lead Pastor at the Summit Church of Raleigh-Durham, NC, a position he has held since January 2002. Before coming to work at the Summit he had worked among Muslims in Southeast Asia for two years. He entered the Ph.D. program at Southeastern Seminary in 1999, graduating with a doctorate in Systematic Theology in 2003. He is also a graduate of the Word of Life Bible Institute and Campbell University. He hails from Winston-Salem, NC.
J.D. did his degree work in Christian and Islamic theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, after serving with the International Mission Board. He now pastors more than 3,000 weekend attenders at the Summit Church and is dedicated to church planting through the IMB.”
Here's the link to the above information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.D._Greear
This church is growing rapidly and has a strong contingent of both college and young adult attendees. Greear has strong ties to the SBC and is involved with the ever controversial IMB ((International Mission Board). He is well-liked in SBC circles. J.D. has preached for the controversial Mac Brunson of FBC Jacksonville and has close ties to Johnny Hunt.
J.D. Greear serves on the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) Task Force. You can read about it at this link:
http://jdgreear.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/great-commssion-resurgence-task-force.html
Furthermore, he is an admirer of John Piper, Mark Dever, and Al Mohler, all of whom are in the "reformed" camp. J.D. particularly mentions his friendship with Mark Driscoll and recommends materials from Sovereign Grace Ministries on his blog, including C.J. Mahaney’s The Cross Centered Life. He claims that Voddie Baucham is a good friend. For those who are not familiar with Baucham, he is aligned with an ultra-Calvinistic and cultish organization called Vision Forum. When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, Baucham was interviewed on a major network and rebuked Palin saying she needed to be a “keeper of the hearth” and that she had no business running for public office.
By reading through J.D.'s "philosophy" which is provided on his website, you will find that he makes a specific statement regarding gender roles. We always find that interesting since he does not make many other doctrines as clear in this "philosophy". One usually finds this clarification in a church that is driven by a particular agenda, which usually points towards either hard line Calvinism or Paige Patterson’s definition of “Baptist.” Interestingly, J.D. used to like to the noxious Girltalk blog which is tied to the controversial Sovereign Grace Ministries under the inept leadership of the self-styled Apostle C.J. Mahaney. The authors of Girl Talk are C.J.'s wife Carolyn and his three daughters. In recent months, this link has been removed from Greear's blog. Please explore his blog for verification and further information: http://jdgreear.typepad.com
This is the link to the Girltalk blog: http://www.girltalkhome.com/
So, forewarned, Dee and her husband arrived at The Summit. Hundreds of cars were streaming onto the main campus. It's one of those churches with several satellite locations so that all will be able to “feel” like they are attending the main church in which the main man resides. It’s kind of like traveling up to visit the Temple in old Jerusalem. Since these types of churches often focus on market research, we have included a marketing based grading system in which 1 is the worst and 5 is the best.
1. Parking for first time visitors-5- one merely turns on ones car blinkers and the parking team escorts you directly to front door parking.
2. Greetings-3- A lovely young woman approached us and asked us to fill out an information sheet. Once completed, we were given a gift bag, which included a very nice travel coffee mug with the church’s name emblazoned on the front. She then escorted us to the sanctuary, pointing out the rest rooms along the way. The greeter gets outstanding marks, but Dee despises lengthy information forms.
3. Music-5- The music was well performed with a good-sized rock band and an approximately 40 member choir. One could definitely see the influence of Mahaney’s charismatic Sovereign Grace Ministries in the music, which involved a good bit of hand raising and movement. We enjoyed their selections and were gratified to see the inclusion of one hymn.
4. Order of Worship-0-Although we were given a “program” it did not involve what was going to occur during the service. So, it appears that one “goes with the flow”.
5. Everything but the sermon-3- There was a very funny film which was used to persuade people to switch to another service time since the one we were in seemed to attract the most first time visitors (which we were). There was a “thank you” film from a missionary that couldn’t get funded by the IMB so The Summit kicked in enough money for him to go to the mission field. However, there was a confusing presentation on baptism. Greear told everyone they needed to be immersed if they have made a commitment to Jesus, even if that commitment had just happened. He called all of these folks down front, and they were led out by some folks to be brought to a baptismal fount that was not located in the main service. We were left wondering whether this was some new way to get folks to commit quickly or to get baptisms “on the rise” in the declining SBC.
6. The Sermon-5/0- Now here is where it gets interesting… Greear is a darn fine speaker! He intersperses humor with Scripture, explanation, and admonition. He made a claim that the Research Triangle area (this includes Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary) has the largest concentration of PhD’s per capita in the US. He then went on to explain how we were all sinners and in need of a shepherd. In fact, he claimed, that all of “you” are sheep. He then used an amusing word picture. He had us imagine sheep strutting around being quite cocky because they have PhDs.
His point is well taken. We are all sheep in need of a loving Savior to guide us. As it says “All we like sheep, have gone astray.” We are all sinners in need of salvation. Just as Dee was about to pronounce the sermon, “excellent,” her husband said, “The devil is in the details.”
You see, it definitely came across that we all were the sheep. But, what does this make Greear?Why, he is the shepherd. That means he is the man in charge of the flock. If one looks carefully at Greear’s resume, it becomes clear that he has an affinity for the folks who tend to be “hyper-authoritarian. We have written extensively on this topic. It is a movement replete with abusive and/or controlling pastors. These sorts of pastors are found both in the SBC Great Commission Resurgence crowd as well as the assembly of the Calvinistas. Greear is affiliated with both.
Here is how Greear sets up the paradigm. Mr. PhD becomes concerned with the direction of the church. He carefully documents his issues and goes to see a pastor in the church; however, he is just a sheep. It really doesn’t matter how smart or perceptive he is – he is just a “strutting, egocentric” sheep. So, the priesthood of the believers can be sidelined because they are just a bunch of stupid sheep. The shepherd, who may be of average intelligence and educated in average “Christian” institutions, is now elevated to a higher level. He is now the kingpin and cannot be questioned by the “dumb” sheep.
This line of logic excludes the talents of the educated. For example, PhD’s in applied mathematics have an ability to pick up logical inconsistencies. Therefore, they may question a particular sermon. A PhD in psychology could potentially perceive issues of egocentricity or even critique the makeup of an elder board. A PhD in economics could predict the potential financial challenges of a rapidly expanding church.
Yet, the pastor has now set up the ability to ignore the priesthood. His PhD, which focused on Islamic studies, somehow trumps a PhD in any other field. Why? Because it’s “his” church and he studied at a seminary!
So, as we look at his admitted affiliations and friendships, we conclude that Greear may be just another “ho hum” authoritarian disguised as a “cool dude” pastor. Only time will tell…
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