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“Life doesn’t just happen to you. You react to it, and you are not forced to react the way you do. Your heart determines your reactions.” ―
Well, this was quick. No moss is growing under this rolling stone.
Quick review of the Highlands Community Church mess.
In July 2020, I wrote about another pastor at a church who was accused of sexual abuse: A TWW Tutorial: How to Ask Intelligent Questions About What Happened to Victims at Highlands Community Church, WA At that time I wrote:
A reader informed me of a serious situation at Highlands Community Church in Renton, Washington. One of their pastors, Derek Nelson was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior with multiple adults
On 12/20/20 I wrote {Updated}What a Mess! Highlands Community Church, Renton, WA, Lost Three Pastors (Two Due to Abusive Behavior) and Finds Itself in Crisis Mode. Finally, They Hired GRACE. At that time I wrote:
As my previous post indicated, I had some serious reservations about the lack of information given to the members of this church. I thought it might be helpful to educate readers about how to ask questions if this happened in their churches. It appears that my concerns were warranted. He was fired but that was just the beginning.
It appears the elders had learned of Campbell’s drunk driving arrest and decided to *stand by their man.* This rightly upset the members of the church who were concerned that Campbell had a history of problems with alcohol. Thankfully, some smart members put the police report under the noses of the lackadaisical elders.
Here is the previous “stand by your man” statement.
Jesse has referenced these struggles on several occasions from the pulpit, though not in great detail. Because there is some misinformation out there on this topic, we believe it is important to address this specifically now with a clear statement from the Board, rather than allow any further misinformation to spread. The Elder Board fully and unanimously stands behind Jesse as our Lead Pastor and have overseen the accountability measures Jesse has taken to be fully above reproach. Jesse has freely offered to share the additional details we are sharing with you now and is in complete support of the Elder board’s decision to share this statement with our church family.
Here is the “You really put our backs against the wall” statement.
The Board first saw the police report of Jesse’s DUI on 10/5/20. There was a clear disparity between what we saw in the report and that which Jesse had told us. The level of speeding and inebriation were far above what had been told to us, by Jesse. Within the week, the Board confronted Jesse. In hindsight, the Board should have done full due diligence immediately and requested the police report ourselves.
Their *kiss the butt of our pastor* statement regarding Campbell caused another pastor/elder, Nick Delgado. to resign totally from the church.
Nick decided to leave staff and the Highlands Board. Nick has requested that we communicate that he has concern with Jesse’s leadership and specifically the Elder Board. The Elders are receiving his concerns, and will take them into careful consideration.
We appreciate Nick’s faithful service in the ministries of Highlands. We also love and appreciate the Dalgardno family and believe their future will be bright wherever God takes them. We are looking forward to seeing how God will use Nick in his future ministry opportunities.
I need the GRACE report.
I suggested that the entire elder board resign and go away. In the meantime, GRACE was hired to do an investigation. Unfortunately, the final report was removed from the website. I am seeking a copy of that report.
Jesse Campbell got canned.
He was fired for his drinking problem and some other unstated *issues.* Being naive, I would have assumed he would have then sought some substance abuse intervention and spend some time in counseling (the real thing.) Stupid me.
Jesse has started a church; Redemption Washington
Of course, he did, He was able to fool the elders at his previous church until some smart members got the real story out there. He learned an important lesson. There are lots of people a pastor type can fool, including elders, if he just puts his mind to it. Jesse, who is now known as Dr. Jesse Campbell (Southern Seminary).
By the way, he’s the only one or thing mention on the church’s *About Page.*
It’s a Tullian Tchividjian Church for failures and Dr. Jesse loves to talk about his past.
Dr. Jesse Campbell is no stranger to sin and failure. He has a past like all of us and he shares from it as he preaches
He mentions that he was a Lead Pastor at HCC! Not a word about his leave-taking.
- Lead Pastor of Highlands Community Church with campuses in Renton and Kent, Washington
- Join our founding pastor, Dr. Jesse Campbell link.
He has a high view of his preaching abilities although his former church members are not so impressed.
He teaches the Bible in a mostly expository approach that is infused with humorous personal stories, accessible intellectual demand, and deeply engaging challenge.
Regarding his past? Fuhgeddaboutit: It’s all about grace and he’s gonna change the Pacific Northwest
There is grace here. Instead of signaling how virtuous we are, we would rather confess how sinful we have been and abide in forgiveness from Jesus. We have all failed. Come as you are and be loved. Be known not as the sinner you were, but as the beloved child of God you forever will be. Let’s become more like Jesus, inviting people from every culture along, book-by-book through the Bible together. Let’s pray for revival in the Pacific Northwest and act like God is able to bring it.
His own website tells you all sorts of things.
Where would a famous pastor be without his self-named website?
He can be your counselor and the first visit is free!
Dr. Campbell is a licensed and ordained pastor experienced in pastoral counseling. He has a large family who inspires other families –
Sadly, he mentioned that he lost his son in 2012. He has resources for that as well.
how they faced the loss of their son Aiden who died in 2012.
Did you know he wrote a book on drinking? It can be yours for $15.00
Looks like he found the cure in just a few months after leaving HCC
In the end, this is one more pastor who refuses to take time off from the pulpit and get his act together. Yet he’s going to help others to deal with their failures and even their drinking.
My guess he will form groups for those with substance abuse problems amongst other things and will proudly be a church for failures. I predict rocky days ahead.
Dr. Jesse joins the conga line in which no failure is disqualifying and a good time is had by all.
A get to watch Gloria again…
Jeffrey Chalmers,
I’ll drop you an email this weekend. My daughter is visiting. Conga!!!
“Jesse earned his doctorate from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, his Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary”
Did any of those classes cover pastoral / overseer qualifications from 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1?
Huh. As I recovering alcoholic, I can’t imagine writing a book less than six months after a DUI – at least not one worth reading. I don’t think this is going to end well.
Thank you for your comment. My thoughts are with you in your recovery.
DOES THIS REALLY SURPRISE ANYONE?
I wonder if he also had an Angelic Encounter at a gas station in rural Wyoming where the incognito Angel Prophesied over him with a Direct Word from God to Return to Ministry.
Nothing really surprises me anymore when it comes to the evangelical circus.
I can say with certainty that this is not the last we’ll hear about this guy, and not in a good way.
In other words, it’s just another Saturday in that crazy wold.
I do wish this was not the case, but we’ve all seen this movie before.
Sigh.
Jess,
I imagine you had to do a lot of hard work over a period of time to get yourself to a better place. Something very different from this pastor’s “Oops, I made a mistake but now I’m better so let me lecture you.”
$$$
I think the lack of a second vocation or some other type of in-demand job skills make it impossible for many pastors to leave the ministry. It’s all they know. It’s all they can do. It’s like a trap.
Evangelicalism (in my opinion) suffered its worst black eye when it sold its soul for partisan politics back in 16′. When blogs such as this one keep reporting more and more sex-abuse and financial chicanery, it will go down for the count, and won’t get back up again.
Ava Aaronson,
Excellent postscript.
Paul K,
“I think the lack of a second vocation or some other type of in-demand job skills make it impossible for many pastors to leave the ministry. It’s all they know. It’s all they can do. It’s like a trap.”
+++++++++++
seems to me it will thus be impossible to do the right then when it costs, and when it counts.
i mean, how many professional christians have I read doling out their advice and convictions NOW about Ravi Zacharias? It’s finally safe to do so.
(of course that presupposes they actually were aware years ago and actually cared)
seems to me, unwitting parishioners are the ones who will suffer in this trap.
when they are manipulated, lied to, discriminated against, mistreated, used, abused, the deciding factors for the professional christian influencers will ultimately be what doesn’t interfere with their career, their paycheck, their peer standing, their power, their legacy.
seems to me the ethics of evangelicalism (or any monetized religion) come down to what protects “my career”. “i’ve invested too much not to. (and i’ve made my family go along with it — certainly not going to shortchange them).”
sort of that ‘sunk cost fallacy’ thing.
that’s the biggest reason i’m a “done”. it is simply not possible for remunerated leaders to do the right thing when it costs, when it counts, when it matters, when it’s needed.
https://thecripplegate.com/masters-seminary-pastor-jailed/
elastigirl,
Unfortunately, I think you are correct….. a fundamental, structural problem..
And yet people change careers all the time, go back to school, get trained in a different field. They just don’t want to, or can’t give up the adoring crowds.
“this is one more pastor who refuses to take time off from the pulpit and get his act together”
Sounds to me like he has his “act” together quite well! He didn’t miss a beat. Yet another gullible audience has agreed to buy tickets to his performance and keep him entertaining.
“There is grace here … Come as you are”
In the church world known as New Calvinism, cheap grace keeps them as they are. There’s a segment of the American church which likes bad-boy preachers … it makes them feel better about themselves.
readingalong,
“And yet people change careers all the time, go back to school, get trained in a different field. They just don’t want to, or can’t give up the adoring crowds.”
+++++++++++++
my take is religion, in general, can’t help itself but go on and on with “prescription”. Do this, don’t do that, you should do this, you shouldn’t do that… since a higher powe is involved, the stakes are heaven-&-hell high.
i imagine for someone who ‘honestly’ opts for a career in professional christianity, the stakes are even higher (if that’s possible). i imagine they feel changing careers would be abandoning God, in a way,… abandoning the kingdom of God…. quitting God, quitting the kingdom of God.
I imagine that kind of baggage is especially onerous.
It’s easy money. A “Lead Pastor” in the New Calvinist world preaches (performs) once or twice per week. Sermon preparation is a fairly easy task – they borrow sermons from each other and/or have a file of canned material they can tweak a bit to make sermons sound different. They don’t visit sick folks in the hospital, pray with the elderly in nursing homes, call members on the phone to see how they are doing, they don’t do funerals … but they find plenty of time to tweet their lives away at the local coffee shop.
We see this time and time again after bad-boys fall. The Christian Industrial Complex sticks together until the potato becomes too hot to handle, then they proclaim “Driscoll who?” … “Hybels who?” … “MacDonald who?” … “Ravi who?” … etc. etc. etc.
Not a surprise. I think one of the problems about HCC’s choice in keeping this and Derek’s news internal is that now the unsuspecting community has NO IDEA that “Dr. Jessie” was let go for a reason. This former “Brand Manager” (according to his website) is free to reinvent himself and pull in more people who could have been warned. Plus, who made that highly hideous “Redemption Church” logo (on church website home page)? Something about it looks sinister, invasive and crooked. Especially next to his giant plastic smile.
elastigirl,
So, I checked my e-mail records, and I did save a e-mail exchange (2018) I had with the “Communications director” Christian and Missionary Alliance organization about good old RZ false credentials and they claimed that they had confronted RZIM about it and they were addressing it… interesting, had they really put the hammer down, how many women might have been spared his “attention”… I am sure I am not the only one that flagged his false credentials to them, and as a number of us saw, in the professional world, faking degrees, and calling oneself a “Professor at Oxford” when you are not is a career killer, period…. you are “gone”….
“As of now, THEY NEVER EXISTED!”
doubleplusungood ref doubleplusunperson.
https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/13835454/Ravi-Zacharias
“Dr. Ravi Zacharias”
As far as addressing it, there’s a very good way to address if someone’s calling themselves doctor or the king of Siam. Tell them to cut it out, and clarify directly and succinctly going forward.
Dee, Dee, Dee. You missed the best part on his personal website:
“Jesse is also an endorsed and published professional drummer. A three year veteran of the Boston Crusaders and former captain of FSU’s Big 8 Drumline, he has performed and recorded with various artists including Enrique Iglesias and at venues including Universal Studios.”
Wheeeew. God’s got his hand on this man of God. Samson had hair. This prophet has his drums. He’s endorsed. I saw the spirit of God descending like a dove on his drums.
Just FYI: The GRACE investigation has barely started. It’ll be months and months (a year maybe?) before there’s anything. Between a lack of names for GRACE to investigate (the elders never asked a single question of the victims!) and a lack of understanding about the limits of non-disclosure agreements, it’s slow going for GRACE right now. Plus…the contact info for the GRACE investigator was buried deep in a letter about the investigation, so it’s not just RIGHT THERE available. People with concerns have been dismissed by the elders, so they may be understandably gun-shy about talking to GRACE.
Leslie,
Thanks for posting. What do you think about this? Don’t mind me, I’ll just dive in. 😉
In my view, it’s truly regrettable that the pastor was arrested. However, the Cripplegate entry includes a link to the health officials’ own documentation, which shows how the church defied Alberta’s covid restrictions for months. A related church statement claims that this is a violation of religious rights, while also denying the seriousness of covid. The Cripplegate item throws red meat, protesting that liquor stores and medical marijuana dispensaries are open in Canada. It omits mention of arrests of others in Alberta, such as people ice skating and an American tourist.
I’m grateful that folks in my state are not getting arrested for covid violations. However, I am also frustrated with this church for casting broad suspicion on government, media, PCR tests, social distancing, lockdowns, terminology, statistics, and on anybody who disagrees—casting suspicion on everyone and everything but their glorious defiance.
How’s this for Christian love of the covid dead? “Sadly, most of these individuals would have likely died due to various other lethal co-morbidities…”
Here’s a link to the statement: https://gracelife.ca/feb-7-statement/
Endorsed and published drummer!! Wow, I bet church members squeal with joy when he occasionally takes a seat at the drums in the praise & worship team! “Jesse, Jesse, Jesse.” Pastor Campbell ain’t no run-of-the-mill Christian celebrity … he can play the drums, too!! And where is God in all this exactly?
(what is an endorsed and published drummer anyway?)
There will be a reckoning.
Drug. Addiction.
Payday someday. The last shall be first and the first last.
I’m happy to be back in Lutheranism.
No drama, no baggage, no tribal chieftain in the pulpit.
Just ancient liturgy, a short homily by the pastor, and then communion.
After service, there’s coffee, donuts, and mixing with great people.
Same with St. Matthew’s Catholic Church and their Friday night fish fry socials during lent. I look forward to going every year even though I’m not Catholic.
I’m told that Fr. Hieu is the real deal, a real human being with a real heart.
Drama, baggage, tribal chieftain … the stuff that TWW deals with every day! Much of the “church” has drifted so far from true North that I doubt it will ever get back on course.
Man the lifeboats?
hmmm…
The Unsinkable American Christian church,
Nearer My God To Thee?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEfqj9pDAI
Tears in my hands…
(Sad face)
Sòpy
Personal pet peeve – someone says they did a bunch of “research,” but doesn’t bother citing any sources. Makes me wonder as to the quality of the sources (or the research, for that matter).
Dirige nos domine ,
and hear the voice of our cry…
Your Sòpy
Intermission…Psalm 5:1-3 in song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV-eqriw09o
Jeffrey J Chalmers,
“e-mail exchange (2018) I had with the “Communications director” Christian and Missionary Alliance organization about good old RZ false credentials and they claimed that they had confronted RZIM about it and they were addressing it”
+++++++++++++++
i swear…. this stupid religion of mine produces the most pansy-a$$ed, spineless AND ball-less wonders, timidly tip-toeing around terrified of taking a stand on right and wrong amongst their peers.
all swimming around in their self-interested soup of dishonesty, corruption, and abuse.
(& enough of this accidental alliteration)
leave it to atheists and agnostics and secular organizations in the evil worldly world to have high integrity standards.
Muff Potter,
i love the catholic community where i live. very self-less, unaffected. if i ever go anywhere again, it will be there in the back row, just absorbing things. if i could persuade them to do a gregorian chant mass each week that would speed things up.
Wild Honey,
Exactly…
To me, that is what a church service should be about. The gospel reading. The sermon. The ancient creeds are recited. There is confession, absolution, then communion. Very Christ centered.
A service that has a confession is unlikely to have a sermon about how okay you are and the five steps to live your super-duper life today. Instead of an “altar call”, the congregation gets around an actual altar and has communion. And it’s not “Pastor Bob’s church” and it’s not all about what Bob thinks about everything.
Yes, and this church document misstates life expectancy. Warning: I’m no statistician. However, I have read a lot of life expectancy tables during the pandemic.
The church statement says that “the average age of those who have died related to COVID-19 is 82, consistent with life expectancy in Alberta.” Since they didn’t cite the source, I am conjecturing that they mean life expectancy at birth (I could not find tables for Alberta).
Life expectancy changes as we age. In US Census table 103 linked below, the key phrase is “life remaining.” A US newborn has an average of 77.9 years of life remaining. But a person at age 80 has an average of 8.8 years of life remaining. When an 80-year-old dies of covid-19—a disease with no human immunity when it started to spread—they and their loved ones are robbed of almost nine years together.
I will now leave it to the brighter people to find my errors… did my best. 🙂
https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2010/compendia/statab/130ed/tables/11s0103.pdf
“Rises to stand on soapbox”
This past week, with no power at my house, we got to spend the week outside of the small town of Quinlan (east side of DFW Metroplex near Lake Tawakoni).
This small community is “so blessed” to have a “9Marks Approved” congregation. Which, during a week when many people were without power (and every gas station ran out of fuel), was closed the entire week.
Meanwhile, the “heretics” at the “Spirit-filled” storefront congregation (Generation Faith Center) kept their doors open 24/7, open to anyone who needed shelter (and if you couldn’t leave, they would deliver food to you on the ice-covered roads — apparently Hunt County only plows roads in Greenville, not anywhere else).
So when I’m paid again in a couple of weeks, the “Spirit-filled heretics” will get a donation to cover their increasing electric bill.
“Steps down from soapbox”
*off topic*
I don’t feel sorry for this guy. He lives in Canada, where they’re much more up into people’s business. In short, Not the USA, Not US Law and Canada will be up in your business.
The CBC is reporting that this guy has been in trouble more than once already. He can’t be released on bail because one of the conditions of release is that he abide by the rule that he only fill his building to 15 percent capacity and he’s refusing.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-covid-coronavirus-grace-life-church-pastor-1.5917526
Again, no sympathy for him, he knew what he was getting into. He also has a get out of jail key, and it’s called Obeying The Authorities (Romans 13).
About the standard, “What about King David’s indiscretions, committed, acknowledged, confessed, forgiven…”
In the OT, King David’s era, there were prophets, priests & kings.
In our day, we have ministry leaders, pastors, & presidents.
President or king is a civic NOT a church or temple position (pastor, priest, prophet). We have promiscuous presidents – some good, some bad, although for the wife, always not good.
However a pastor or priest is in an altogether different category. Not a civic leader but a spiritual leader, by vocation & definition.
“Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? … Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?” James 2 (Note: regarding the “great apologists” – even demons can “argue” the faith, talk the talk.)
“Behold, the Lord has come with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” – Jude
King David was neither prophet, nor priest, nor pastor.
I empathize.
However, I can’t let go of the idea that the followers, not just the leaders, helped create this entire system. I’ve only been a member of churches (and maybe a cult or two) in which the leaders were unaccountable to any higher authority. I’ve been making my own decisions about church for 22 years, and these have always been the churches I’ve chosen. I know there are churches that actually practice independent accountability, and I’m looking for one of those now, but that wasn’t the case for 22 years.
I know I can’t change the entire system, but I can have a small influence just by seeking out a church with healthy, functioning accountability and serve there.
I sincerely wonder if I’ll ever find a church like this, and, if I can’t, what I’ll do about Christian community.
In politics they play the race card. These yahoo pastors play the GRACE card.
Paul K,
“the followers, not just the leaders, helped create this entire system.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
indeed. attending, membering, supporting through assent creates the system.
———-
“I know there are churches that actually practice independent accountability, and I’m looking for one of those now”
++++++++++++++
i sort of like this definition of accountability:
“Nobody who is an elder at a church should have any aspect of their identity wrapped up in either the role of being an elder or in the success or failure of the organization. What I’ve told people is, “If you are not ready to blow yourself or the organization up in five seconds flat, you need to find a different hobby.””
–Mitch Little, attorney who represented some of Bill Hybels’ victims
https://julieroys.com/podcast/lawyer-for-bill-hybels-victims-shares-inside-story/
in your church quest & when talking to church leaders, what do you think of that as a litmus test?
Mark R,
You were on the right soapbox, Mark. “You will know them by their fruit.”
As soon as things are back to normal down there, staff at the “9Marks Approved congregation” will open up shop again, get back to disciplining the spiritual life out of its members, and preaching another gospel to the poor souls who venture their way. The Spirit-filled bunch in the storefront church will keep loving and ministering to folks and preaching Jesus. That’s the difference between the “church” and the “Church.”
Muff Potter,
Ruth Magnusson Davis address this in her books on the Matthew Bible. The reformation at his beginning was a lot of Scriptures readings. Cranmer and his book of prayer was just that. Then very quickly came Calvin, the Puritans and they changed that. They put the preaching at the center, so that they can transmit their theology. She also has articles about it. Read their letters of introduccion to queen Elisabeth 1st.(on Ruth blog) They, the puritans, will explain Her and her people what God’will is.
I worked for HCC for 10 years and left before Jesse Campbell was crowned King and ceremoniously handed a 100% genuine pure-wood shepherd’s staff from Israel from the previous King/Pastor/Overly-Inflated-Ego-In-Charge, Jim Amandus and before Derek Nelson got caught. Just prior to all of this drama, Jim, Derek, and the Elders confronted Worship Pastor Nathaniel Tally about his sexual romps-on-the-clock. Nathaniel (who was married at the time), was visiting a number of “dating” websites and having lunch “dates” with the women he met online disguised as ministry lunches and classes. Before my time, there was another Youth Pastor at HCC that got caught molesting students. Likewise, following Nathaniel Tally’s exit, Jim and Derek hired a worship pastor named Steve Newman. One afternoon a woman came into the church for financial help/counseling. That afternoon, Steve was seen entering a local hotel with this woman, but nothing came of it. ALL of these pastors were vetted and hired by Jim Amandus. Jim was rarely at the church office during the week. He spent most of his time at home doing “sermon prep”. He came in for the occasional meeting and rarely interacted with his staff. These problems and A WHOLE LOT MORE behind-the-scenes drama happened on Senior Pastor Jim Amandus’ watch. Jim had the elder board in his back pocket. Whenever Jim said jump, they’d jump. If a congregant had a complaint, it was swept under the rug and ignored. If it was a loud enough complaint, the congregant would be called in to Jim’s office for a “conversation”. This church was and is a massive drama-filled mess. No leadership. No accountability. Massive Egos (they thought they were the next mega-church).
Gary Smith,
Wow
Gary Smith,
It sounds like a soap opera.
“Do you see what they are doing, the great repulsive acts which the elders of Israel are committing here, to drive Me far away from My sanctuary? … For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us'” (Ezekiel 8)
This is what doing church without God looks like, folks.
Sounds like an orgy, or a “gentlemen’s” house, living life between their legs; definitely not God’s house.
King David was a politician, BTW, not a pastor, priest or prophet.
I get so tired of these pretty-boy preachers dragging David into their mess! They need to look past “David sinned, too” and cry to God with David’s heart “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
Max,
Moreover, pastors, priests, & prophets are NOT kings. They don’t rule. The church has a king – King Jesus. Only one king. Jesus. Not the pastors’ wheelhouse. Who is the one who was cast out of heaven for overreach of power encroaching on the throne of God? That’s the dilemma of the “pastor-king” as they follow that one’s path.
Max,
after Pope Dave, it’s now God Dave!
Max,
bada-boom, bada-bing!
elastigirl,
That’s a great test – probably easier for a pastor to SAY he’d do that rather than actually do it.
I left a church with ZERO independent accountability. So many churches I’ve looked at do have independent accountability structures in place, but I’m not sure how well they actually function.
I think this is the key insight into church accountability, and I think the church will change (or at least a small portion of the church will begin to change) when the “laypeople” grasp this idea and begin to follow Christ instead of church leaders.
Bonhoeffer wrote about this dynamic in “Life Together” and categorized people following people as “emotional” and people following Christ as “spiritual”. Worth reading.
people following people = cult
Real leaders are executors of a higher calling:
public servants, rule of law
teachers, life long learning
doctors, science
real pastors, King Jesus & His Word
engineers, applied science
It’s not about them.
Eli,
Thanks for the info.
It’s always good to look into history and especially the Elizabethan period.
I love the two films about Elizabeth I (portrayed by Cate Blanchett).
It’s been my lifelong observation that the American church has more emotional members than spiritual. That’s why the organized church doesn’t have enough spiritual power to blow the dust off a peanut.
Israel demanded they have a king like all the nations around them. God reminded them that they had Him, but they still wanted a king. So He gave them one, but sent leanness to their souls. That’s the same thing that happens in cults of personality, where church leaders are celebrities and idols … and the people love it so … but are spiritual dwarves.
… without which, there would be no mega-churches in America … their “pastors” are worshiped like kings … but, they are not pastors in the true sense of the word. They draw 6-figure salaries (or more), live in mansions, take frequent “sabbaticals” (= extended vacations), don’t truly minister to their members, show up to preach a couple times per week, and quickly disappear behind the curtain.
Max,
I think you’ve nailed it. One thing I’d add: I think this dynamic of king/servant or guru/disciple is as alive in many tiny and small churches as it is in many mega churches. And I think it’s possible for this dynamic to not be present in either of those places as well.
“Pastor-King” or GOD-KING?
Excellent drumming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfttshss0TE
i think I understand what went wrong over there. Thank you for the video!
Failed churches don’t give refunds.
Anyone else see the tweet about John Ortberg (the father, not the son)