Ed Young Jr … “A (W)hole Nutha Level”

Posted on by November 2, 2010avatar

“Shun, as you would the plague, a cleric who from being poor has become wealthy, or who, from being nobody has become a celebrity.”
—Jerome

 

 

Two years ago Ed Young traveled to Australia for the very first time to speak at a Hillsong conference with Pastor Brian Houston. Perhaps this was when he first began using the phrase “a whole nutha level”. Ed is famous for “borrowing” others’ ideas and utilizing them for his own advantage (as seen in his rap video), and he readily admits that he found “HNL” in the Urban Dictionary. In an interview with Houston (Podcast #25) conducted on June 4, 2008, Ed spelled out the words for “HNL”, as indicated above. In case you plan to use this phrase yourself, it was first coined on Mad TV and is correctly spelled “hole nother level” in the Urban Dictionary. (For reasons of social niceties, we have added a "W" to the word "hole"  when the word is preceded by an "A"). 🙂
 

During the interview, Ed explains that he is the son of Ed Young, Sr., who has been the longtime pastor at Second Baptist Church in Houston. Yes, Junior grew up Southern Baptist. Ed Jr. served as a pastor in his dad’s church for 8 years at the beginning of his career and then moved to Dallas to plant a new church. During the interview with Brian Houston, Ed shares that he has a younger brother who serves as an associate pastor at Second Baptist Houston with his father and a baby brother who is the lead singer for Caedmon’s Call.
 

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I often watched Ed Young, Sr., on cable TV. He had an outreach called the “Winning Walk”, and I enjoyed listening to his sermons. In the interview with Brian Houston, Ed Young, Jr., shares that his parents encouraged him to “be his own person”. Ed tells Houston that he is “slightly ADD”. That seems obvious from his antics in this YouTube video. 
 

 

Houston remarks in the interview that he understands around 20,000 attend Fellowship Church each week. Ed quickly points out in this 2008 interview that actually 23,000 – 24,000 people attend the church on any given weekend. Then he explains that the number can fluctuate by 5,000 to 6,000 on any given weekend, so sometimes attendance can be as low as 16,000 to 17,000. Well, over two years have passed since this interview, and there can be no doubt that Ed Young wishes attendance at his church was that high! Perhaps you now have a better understanding of why he pressured congregants to fork over routing and account numbers.
 

According to a former member of the Fellowship Church, things began to change about three or four years ago. Interestingly, Brian Houston confirms in his interview with Ed Young that the two first met in 2007 when they were both speaking for Kevin Gerald who leads the Champions Centre in Tacoma, Washington. 
 

Not long after that first meeting, Houston and Young spoke together at the Faith Forward conference held at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. It was co-sponsored by CCN (Church Communication Network) and the Robert Harold Schuller Forum for Possibility Thinking Leadership. 

 

Keynote speakers at this 2007 conference included Robert Schuller, Ed Young, Jr., Brian Houston, and Eddie Long.
 

We have written posts on three of these men, which you can find under “Categories”. Today we plan to highlight the fourth – Brian Houston – who appears to have a growing camaraderie with Ed Young, Jr.
 

Brian Houston is a Pentecostal Christian pastor who leads Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia, together with his wife Bobbie. The church has a weekly attendance of approximately 22,000. Brian began his ministry career in the same way Ed Jr. did. He served together with his father, Frank Houston, whom many label as the father of Sydney's Pentecostal movement.
 

Sadly, Frank Houston admitted to having sexually abused a boy in New Zealand more than 30 years prior to his death in 2004. Brian called for his father’s resignation, which you can read about here. 
 

Brian Houston has authored at least twelve books during his career. One of them is entitled You Need More Money (published in 1999). When I was researching the prosperity preachers earlier this year, I came across a YouTube video featuring Brian Houston. I had never heard of him just ten short months ago, although I was familiar with Hillsong because of their music. At first I thought this video was a JOKE. Sadly, it’s not… Check out this promo that promises at the end (although the words are cut off) that you can become a MONEY MAGNET!!! 
 

 

One thing we have discovered since the inception of our faith watch blog is that you can learn A LOT about people by the company they keep. It certainly appears that Ed Young, a Southern Baptist pastor, is enjoying his growing associations with the Pentecostal folks. A former member of Fellowship Church confided to us that “He and Lisa like the fact that people in those churches "adore" their pastor. He seems to be going in that direction.”
 

We agree with this “observation”, and in the coming days we will reveal to you what we are discovering about Ed Young, Brian Houston, Hillsong, and C3. Stay tuned! There is much more to come… 

 

Lydia's Corner: Genesis 39:1-41:16 Matthew 12:46-13:23 Psalm 17:1-15 Proverbs 3:33-35

Comments

Ed Young Jr … “A (W)hole Nutha Level” — 27 Comments

  1. Desperate times call for desperate measures…

    I want to encourage you to check out this blog post:

    http://fbcjaxwatchdog.blogspot.com/2010/11/ed-youngs-tithing-sermon-show-me-money.html

    Tom Rich has posted a portion of Ed Young’s infamous 10/10/10 sermon in which he hammers his congregation to give 10 percent. Here are Ed’s incredible words leading up to his guilting them into forking over their bank account information.

    Folks, this is called spiritual abuse.

  2. This is what you get when a man is daddy, family, or friend called to “run a church” and not GOD called.

    There are many men who are only doing this as a job or career and who should NOT be using GOD for personal wealth and ambitions.

    These tares are all over the Baptist Convention.

    Ed Young’s abuse reminds me of OBAMA and his just announced 200 millions dollar per day, 40 Airplane, Hundreds of Hotel Room trip to India using our tax money to send him and 3000 of his buddies and close friends on a “in your face VACATION”

    THE ARROGANCE IS OBVIOUS AND MUST BE STOPPED!

  3. Deb

    I hope people understand that Ed is incorporating elements of Houston’s theology. Hillsong is not just a church that produces cool music. It has been accused of abuse and potential misuse of government funds and is currently being investigated. Ed is taking a walk on the wild side and his people may suffer. FC attendees, be very, very careful. There really are wonderful churches in dallas. FC is not the only game in town.

  4. All I can say is, WOW!! I am a former member of Fellowship and I have to say one of the most bizarre moments for me was at the 2010 C3 Conference. I went to hear T D Jakes speak. Dave Martin @ http://www.davemartin.org got up to do the offertory prayer. (Yes, they were taking up an offering from other pastors at the conference that the pastors had already paid a registration fee for.)

    He went on for what seemed like 10 minutes. He rambled on and on about how much they should write their check for and how much money he had given over the years. It was all over the place and bizarre! The look on the audience’s faces was a look of disbelief.

    I love how you post videos and documents so readers can see and hear these things for themselves. I wish you could find a video of this moment.

  5. Anonymous

    We are on it and will do our best to find it. These guys are so egotistical that they leave lots of embarrassing things on you tube and other locations, never realizing how stupid they look. I think they have forgotten how to be embarrassed.

  6. Anonymous

    Are you aware of TD Jakes theology? He has a very bizarre view of the Trinity is not considered orthodox. I bet Ed never let the faithful know of the problems with this guy.

  7. Anonymous,

    Thanks for your comment. It adds an exclamation mark to what we have posted. So glad you mentioned C3. I only learned of it while doing research this week on Ed Young. We will be writing a post on these C3 conferences soon.

    Here’s what I discovered just yesterday.

    http://www.c3conference.com/

    C3 Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
    February 16-18, 2011

    Speakers
    Ed Young Jr.
    Brian Houston
    Judah Smith
    Joyce Meyer
    Dr. Robi Sonderegger
    Kong Hee
    Gary Clarke

    Is this conference held at Fellowship Church? It doesn’t look like they charge a registration fee when you register. Since you attended this year, do you have any details on this?

    Ed Young, Brian Houston, and Joyce Meyer . . .

  8. Anonymous,

    I just clicked on the link you provided to Dave Martin’s website http://www.davemartin.org

    Did you see Ed Young’s endorsement in the top right corner? Here it is:

    “I encourage every Pastor to get in touch with Dr. Dave because he will rock your church and take it to a whole nutha level in wisdom, success, and finances”

    ed young”

    Yep, Dave and Ed have definitely rocked Fellowship Church, and it appears that quite a few members have fallen out of the boat (to use a fishing analogy since this is Ed’s absolute favorite thing to do).

  9. FWIW “whole ‘nuther level” was not coined by “The Urban Dictionary” or EY or anyone else in recent years. I’ve heard (and occasionally used) the phrase “a whole ‘nother thing” or some variation thereof all my life in informal conversation. It’s a corruption of the phrase “a whole other thing, “a whole different thing,” or “another thing.” I think it’s a southern thang. Like “fixin’ to.”

  10. notastepfordsheep,

    Thanks for the info! Maybe this phrase started with you… Dee and I will give you props.

    I laughed so hard when I heard this phrase in a radio commercial earlier today.

  11. Since I am still unemployed I was thinking, what if I got a website and just asked all the other atheists in the world to send me 10% of their income? I’ll even accept it without the routing number!

  14. Karl

    I would find that so funny I would even advertise it on this site. However, Ed misuses the Bible to coerce people into feeling guilt. He makes them fear divine retribution. Question…How does an atheist guilt another atheist?

  15. notastepford

    I read the email about the woman who started a blog giving reasons why she doesn’t believe God wants women to vote. This woman should attend Ed’s church. She would probably give him her ATM card because she is so submissive. Hey Ed, I’ve got a perfect member for your church but I bet she only is KJVO.

  16. Dee & Deb:

    I once was a Fellowshiper, but now am found.
    Twas blind but now I see.

    So many issues here, but here is my 2 cents worth.

    First of all, I do agree that TD Jakes has a flawed view of the Trinity, but I do love to listen to him, even though his lifestyle would fall into the category that I would consider excessive.

    His house is 14,350 square feet and is valued on the tax rolls for 2010 at $5,358,800. At one time, he drove a Bentley, but not sure if he still does. I think this standard of living is way above his congregation.

    The C3 Conference has been around for about 10 years. I don’t remember exactly what the registration fee is, but I believe it is approximately $275 and if you are a member of FC you can go for $75. What a list of speakers. I have never heard most of these names. That is a dramatic change from the past. Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel used to be regulars. This past Fall, they did a C3 West Coast, but the C3 East Coast for October was cancelled.

    For more C3 info, check out http://www.myc3global.com. This is a group for churches to join. (A new denomination?) If a pastor is so fortunate that their church can afford the $500 partner plan, he can even get discounted legal services from Denny Brewer. He might be able to set you up with a few corporations to make some extra money.

  19. notastepford,

    What was I thinking? Ed is far too important! After all, his attention is likely focused on C3 Global which he launched earlier this year. More on that soon…

  21. I still can’t figure out why folks still fork over their hard earned dough to these charlatans. Somebody hep’ me out here, is it fear of not pleasing the Almighty? Is it tryin’ ta curry favor wif’ da Lawd so’s they can get rich demselfs?

    I applaud you ladies here at this blog for exposing their “Biblical” chicanery for what it is, fraud, plain and simple.

  22. Muff

    Thanks for your input. Over the next two days you are going to see things like a major SBC pastor defending ol Ed, etc. Then, you might be interested in reading a letter I am going to write explaining why I went to this church for a short time and what I saw.

    This is Dallas. People live large here and want their pastor to do the same.That way, he won’t go after them for their lifestyles. However the price for this steep. It costs 10% to play and a little more if you want to pretend to be friends with the big boy himself. Its called pay to play.

  24. Thanks for the info ipsedixie! We’ll be posting on C3 next week.

    Come on now… don’t you want to attend the C3 conference so you can hear Brian Houston and Joyce Meyer?

  25. Oh my, my, my

    Meyer, Houston, AND Young???? Folks, hold onto your wallets. These boys and girls live large, intend to continue to live large and want you to pay them money to show you how to shake down your flock. Anybody ever wonder if it is someone else besides God behind this game?

  26. Dee said: ” Anybody ever wonder if it is someone else besides God behind this game?”

    God is absolutely NOT behind this “game”. Satan is.

    The blind lead the blind and they will all eventually fall into the proverbial ditch.

    I know only of Ed Young from his broadcast that appears on INSP in the mid-morning. I’ve mindlessly left the tv on but, at the same time, never paid much attention to Young as he both looks rather “bug-eyed” and gave me an uneasy albeit creepy feeling.

    Now I understand why I got the “creeps” – how DUMB are people who will give out their bank account numbers??

    WAKE UP SHEEP – you’re following a WOLF in sheep’s clothing!

  27. NotEasily Misled

    You know, you helped me realize something I hadn’t thought of before. So many times, we have an “instinctual” or “gut” feeling about something. Yet we often ignore it because we are concerned that it isn’t Biblical. But God gave us our feeling for a purpose. If something bothers us, we need to pause and think about the reason for this feeling. God may be using our feelings to get through to us.

    I, too, have had “creepy” feelings about supposed Christian leaders and have tried to blow them off, thinking that they were not Biblical. However, as i think back on these occasions, my gut feelings, for the most part were based in reality. Of course we must always run our feelings through the lens of Scripture and good counsel.

    Thanks for the input. You have given me something to think about.