(1/2) Matt Chandler Receives the Obligatory Standing Ovation for Doing What, Exactly?

“Most people would rather die than think, and many of them do!”― Bertrand Russell, The ABC of Relativity


Let me repeat the above quote by Bertrand Russell: “Most people would rather die than think, and many of them do!” It’s time to think about what happened. Many out there would rather not. It is too disturbing to get to the truth. Most would rather live fitfully in the land of cognitive dissonance. One oblivious person accused me of sin for discussing the need for solemn respect for the admission of a “sin,” or was it? Some people are using the word “mistake.” I claim it must have been a sin, and a rather bad one, to have Chandler removed from his pulpit and the leadership of Acts 29 for three months.

The standing ovation for the return of Matt Chandler

Many on this blog, other blogs, and on Twitter predicted that the crowd in the “worship” service

 

What does it mean to repent, and did Chandler do that by accepting the ovation?

As the lead pastor, Chandler should have told people to sit down. One cannot stop incautious individuals from following the mob, but it can be controlled. Thankfully, I attend a church in which repentance takes place at every service and is done so with humility and even sadness. No people are jumping up and clapping for their buddy’s confession. I wonder if Chandler has ever discussed the solemn nature of repentance with his church. He could have used this opportunity to do so. After all, didn’t he reflect and repent for three months with a break for elk hunting?

Instead, we have to assume he loved the adulation that comes with an auditorium filled with jumping and cheering people. One indiscreet soul cried out: “We love you, Matt.” Chandler missed a perfect opportunity to teach and model true repentance. Instead, he left people more confused than ever.

What did Chandler do that led to this LOA? Was it a sin, a mistake, or a psychological issue…?

In the end, the hoi polloi have no idea what Chandler did. Let’s look at a few possibilities.

  • This was all about coarse joking with a still unidentified woman. Having lived in Dallas for ten years and hanging out in evangelical circles, I can tell you that many people in TVC have participated in such joking. I may even know one or two members of that church. Does this mean the elders should get busy and tell said members to stay away from TVC for three months? If coarse joking is this bad, they have their work cut out.
  • If this punishment, aka an LOA, is acceptable, people in the church better be prepared for an uptick in church discipline for joking with their buddies.
  • If the woman participated in this joking, then why isn’t she being punished? We know they punish women in that church…
  • Was it a problem he told a few coarse jokes to a woman? The fact she was dishing the details with a female friend may mean she was wondering if this was sexual harassment. Perhaps the elders got nervous and had Matt do this so she would feel vindicated?
  • I think they believe Chandler committed a sin, that it was ongoing, and that it was not merely a mistake. If so, they would have slapped him upside the head and gone back to business as usual.
  • Chandler mentioned that he had to get a brain scan. He, like my daughter, survived a severe brain tumor. He, like my daughter, must get regular MRIs. My daughter is 30 years out and still gets them. Chandler, unlike my daughter, brought up his illness. She wants to be treated as a sound individual and only tells a few close friends. He put that out there. Could it be that he was hinting that some brain issue “made him do it?”
  • Something much more serious happened, and the elders will never discuss it.
  • TWW readers-what, have I forgotten?

Final thought:

The elders, Acts 29, and Matt Chandler are to blame for this mess. I believe that they did not level with their church. They don’t have to since Chandler is their rainmaker, and they need him. Let me make a prediction. This isn’t over, and time will bring clarity.

Comments

(1/2) Matt Chandler Receives the Obligatory Standing Ovation for Doing What, Exactly? — 55 Comments

  1. “As Mr. Chandler left the stage after his first emotional appearance, the band began to play a contemporary version of a Christmas carol, starting midsong with words that were also emblazoned on a banner on the church’s facade: “O come, let us adore him.”

    How do you say this is all about the collateral damage of Christian celebrity without really saying it?
    (Quoted from Ruth Graham’s NY TIMES article.)

  2. That’s an excellent question (what we’re the people standing and clapping for). I bet most of the attendees didn’t know either. This raised the question: was the clapping spontaneous or was it forced (a la Elevation baptism decisions)?

  3. Assuming the elders of TVC are telling the truth about Chandler’s indiscretions, it might be as innocent as this:

    The woman was an old friend of Chandler’s, or an old flame, or a former colleague, someone whom he liked and trusted.

    Chandler aired some grievances with her about TVC, spilled some dirt, naming names, dates, places, and amounts.

    The elders got wind of this.

    Chandler was sent away for a season of reflection.

    The woman, for her silence, was made an offer she could not refuse. Something like a church covenant NDA. She was bought off.

    She’s happy, he’s happy, everybody’s happy. Nothing more to see.

    But I think they’re all making a huge mistake.

  4. FreshGrace: Is God happy?

    No! My last line was “I think they’re all making a huge mistake.”

    There must be a bible verse that says, loosely translated, “This is all going to come back and bite them in their butts.”

    Maybe in Proverbs. Or in one of Paul’s letters, ironically for this crowd.

  5. “we have to assume he loved the adulation that comes with an auditorium filled with jumping and cheering people”

    Certainly! Narcissists are self-centered and arrogant; they need and seek attention and want people to admire them. We’ve talked often on TWW about the overriding characteristic of New Calvinists … arrogance. Chandler, or the fellow that handed him the mic on his glorious return, should have sent a message to the audience beforehand to please not do a standing ovation. But, there they went again. The religious and secular press are abuzz with the standing ovation thing, making the “church” look stupid once again (or stupider, I should say).

    Which is more important to the audience (yes, it’s an audience) at TWW … to have Mr. Chandler back on stage or to please God?

  6. Ted: There must be a bible verse that says, loosely translated, “This is all going to come back and bite them in their butts.”

    Got it. Romans 1, starting with verse 18. I knew Paul wouldn’t let me down.

    But now I have to go and repent of my judgmental streak. Romans 2, verse 1, the sequel to the first chapter of Romans.

  7. Burwell Stark: That’s an excellent question (what we’re the people standing and clapping for). I bet most of the attendees didn’t know either. This raised the question: was the clapping spontaneous or was it forced (a la Elevation baptism decisions)?

    Well, I just looked at the video on TVC’s website and right at the 11 minute mark, lead pastor Josh Patterson asked people to welcome Matt back, and at that moment, a guy right in front popped to his feet, clapping. It was a few more seconds before other people began standing.

    Now, I don’t know if this was planned or if people were seeded/seated in the audience to lead the standing ovation. The camera was focused tightly on the stage and maybe a dozen or twenty standing people can be seen in the frame. But these people had to know that there would be comments about the standing O. They had to know.

  8. Max: (yes, it’s an audience) at TWW

    whoops, meant to say “… TVC”

    (although, Dee has drawn quite an audience as well … what a great watchblog!)

  9. “The elders, Acts 29, and Matt Chandler are to blame for this mess.”

    I mean, really, what do you expect from this crowd?! Any NeoCal gathering is a mess waiting to happen. Driscoll, MacDonald, etc. etc. … when self takes precedence over Jesus, you end up in a mess.

  10. Ted: now I have to go and repent of my judgmental streak

    Don’t get into big a hurry to do that! Paul has another verse for you:

    “For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?” (1 Corinthians 5:12 AMP)

  11. Ted: No!My last line was “I think they’re all making a huge mistake.”

    There must be a bible verse that says, loosely translated, “This is all going to come back and bite them in their butts.”

    Maybe in Proverbs.

    How about this; ‘The stupidity of fools deceives them’. Prov 14:8b
    (Actually that whole chapter of proverbs is a great contrast between wisdom and folly)

  12. FreshGrace: How about this; ‘The stupidity of fools deceives them’. Prov 14:8b

    Yeah. That’ll work. As long as we’re not cherry-picking. This one’s an inspired choice.

  13. Max: Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]?”

    Now I feel better.

    Max, I’m actually a huge fan of Paul. I think he gets bad press from all sides. He’s very balanced.

  14. Ted: I’m actually a huge fan of Paul. I think he gets bad press from all sides. He’s very balanced.

    There’s nothing wrong with Paul. Most of the church just ain’t got enough spiritual sense to understand what he was saying to us through his writings. Instead, men go off on tangents with his teachings by adding their own eisegesis to Paul’s epistles to support aberrant theologies. New Calvinism is a perfect example of that.

  15. Ted: I’m actually a huge fan of Paul. I think he gets bad press from all sides. He’s very balanced.

    The New Calvinists grunt and strain their way through Paul’s writings, turning jots and tittles into theology. When I get the opportunity, I tell young reformers that if they read Paul first (his epistles), they might get Jesus wrong … but if they read Jesus first (the Gospels), the writings of Paul come into perspective. Read the red, for goodness sake!!

  16. Max: but if they read Jesus first (the Gospels), the writings of Paul come into perspective. Read the red, for goodness sake!!

    I’m with you. And so is Paul.

  17. So, Matt Chandler takes the stage (I refuse to say pulpit!) again.
    What???
    No roses,
    no bows, no
    curtain calls???

    Jesus? Jesus who?

  18. Loren Haas: How do you say this is all about the collateral damage of Christian celebrity without really saying it?

    Former NBA Ref Tim Donaghy, in the Netflix docufilm, “Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul”, explains that the NBA refs DEFINITELY treat the NBA stars differently: Kobe Bryant, LeBron, Shaq, Jordan, etc. (This docufilm is tagged as a film that the NBA hates, BTW.)

    Anyway the doc story about Refs handling stars in the NBA seems parallel to how churches handle their celebrity pastors.

    Rules for thee but never for me. It’s human. But then the Body of Christ is supposed to be different, eh? So much for church leaders walking the line, ‘cuz many of them don’t. Many of them are all over the place, with little to no moral fibre or backbone or integrity or truth in what they are doing.

    The reason the NBA hates the above docufilm about Refs and integrity (lack of), is if the public doesn’t trust the game, the NBA is screwed. Church leaders, with their lack of integrity, also don’t want their secrets out – knowing that their lush livelihood (their cash cow called the local church) also depends on the public not knowing the truth about church leadership.

  19. Ted: I’m with you. And so is Paul.

    I’m with you both.
    Dunno if Paul’s with me though.
    I just take his writings with side dishes of reason and common sense.

  20. Ted: There must be a bible verse that says, loosely translated, “This is all going to come back and bite them in their butts.”

    The following words of Jesus do come to mind:
    -What You Sow, You Will Reap (John 6: 47-59)
    -There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, nothing hidden that will not be made known. What you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops. (Luke 12:2-3)

    Your paraphrase however is quite good. No, very good.

  21. 22 Although you wash yourself with soap
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
    declares the Sovereign Lord.
    23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;
    I have not run after the Baals’?
    See how you behaved in the valley;
    consider what you have done.
    Jeremiah 2.23-24

  22. Loren Haas: Performance art.

    The early Church sought anointing, not entertainment. Today, stages have replaced prayer altars to give actors more room to strut their stuff, to the shouts and applause of an admiring audience. We have lost our way.

  23. Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,

    Hi Dee
    Thank you. I saw that myself and believe that this was all planned. I was told I was sinful for saying that on Twitter. That guy had been an intern at the church. He got mad because I answered him with laughing and crying emojis.

  24. Muslin, fka Dee Holmes: I don’t know if this was planned or if people were seeded/seated in the audience to lead the standing ovation

    “Crowd manipulation is the intentional or unwitting use of techniques based on the principles of crowd psychology to engage, control, or influence the desires of a crowd in order to direct its behavior toward a specific action.” (Wikipedia)

  25. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    Loren Haas,

    I could go on, but “performance art” summarizes it well…

    All I can say about Performance Ahrt is “Cud by Terry Laban” (1982 underground comic).

    Parker & Stone on South Park also skewered Performance Ahrt with their first Christmas special, where an “offend nobody” holiday paegeant ends up a Performance Ahrt piece which starts a riot.

  26. As phycologist Jordan Peterson has said, in all his years of practice he has never seen anyone get away with anything. He further says, that you can only twist the fabric of reality for so long before it snaps back. The point is that God has created our world and our reality in a way that our sins will come back an haunt us at some point. That is what is happening to many of these ultra-Calvinist pastors. If you hide behind the notion of one set of laws for the nothings and a different more lenient set of laws for the elite you will eventually succumb to your own fallibility. If Matt Chandler is up to no good, he will eventually be found out and the punishment will be swift and severe. You can’t hide behind your elder board or a confidentiality agreement for long. These distractions will only serve to embolden your sin or problem. The elder board has already covered for you once now they are more inclined to cover for you again. Sin thrives in these kinds of environments. Unfortunately, I think there will be more to come here.

  27. When I read the article that he had returned and his “congretation” clapped for him, I felt sick and had a bad taste in my mouth. Of course my abuser would be a follower of this man.

  28. Longhorn Fan: The elder board has already covered for you once now they are more inclined to cover for you again.

    The power of the inner ring to snuff out truth is an awful thing.

  29. Headless Unicorn Guy: All I can say about Performance Ahrt is “Cud by Terry Laban” (1982 underground comic).

    Parker & Stone on South Park also skewered Performance Ahrt with their first Christmas special, where an “offend nobody” holiday paegeant ends up a Performance Ahrt piece which starts a riot.

    And this memory of a now-lost video of an actual Megachurch “Service”:
    1) Elaborate background set flats reminiscent of Yellow Submarine.
    2) Strawberry Shortcake (the cartoon character) tap-dancing to one side.
    3) The emcee front-and-center in a red lobster fursuit, singing “Come Together” by the Beatles in the style of the William Shatner cover of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
    4) And at the end of this “sermon”, Lobster Boi gets hauled up and away by a fishhook.

    I do not know the source of that video (itself lost to Internet history), but that kind of thing really sticks in your mind.

  30. We western Christians love to applaud others that are evil. It makes us feel better about ourselves. I see this a lot on all sides of politics. Applaud the guy you voted for even though he would gladly use and abuse you if it helped him reach his lusts, er., I mean “goals.”

  31. Mr. Jesperson: We western Christians love to applaud others that are evil. It makes us feel better about ourselves.

    There is a segment of the American “church” who seek out a “pastor” who talk and walk no differently than they do … who don’t exhort the pew to holiness because they aren’t holy … who teach their theology is right, while they are not righteous. It’s an unholy alliance in which pulpit and pew applaud each other. God will have nothing to do with it.

  32. Anyone with any spiritual discernment will have left that church by now. The crime does not fit the discipline. It will degenerate into a man worshipping sliver of religion in America.

  33. Bob M: Anyone with any spiritual discernment will have left that church by now.

    Much of discernment is just simple observation … watching and listening, then acting.

  34. Bob M: Anyone with any spiritual discernment will have left that church by now.

    Ah, going all SPIRITUAL(TM).
    These days “Spiritual Discernment” means smelling out DEMONS and WITCHES in anyone you don’t like. Or that picture you bought at a furry con art show. Or that sweater you bought at Goodwill. Ever heard of Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder-General?

  35. Muslin, fka Dee Holmes: Now, I don’t know if this was planned or if people were seeded/seated in the audience to lead the standing ovation.

    Shills planted in the audience.
    Like that one Megapastor used to boost his Baptism numbers.

  36. Max: “Crowd manipulation is the intentional or unwitting use of techniques based on the principles of crowd psychology to engage, control, or influence the desires of a crowd in order to direct its behavior toward a specific action.” (Wikipedia)

    For footage of a REAL master of that at work (compared at the time to a Revival Meeting), I suggest Triumph of the Will.

  37. Ok someone has got to explain this to me please. I listened to the clip of the standing ovation. If you go to 1:50 he matt chandler states he went and got a neurological exam and he says “ the elder plan included some intensives and I went and got a neurological exam I don’t know if you were around for that but I actually don’t have a right frontal lobe I had a tumor taken out 13 years ago and radiation and all that is there something wrong with my brain and I’m that’s the work I have been doing the last 3 months some intensives with some experts is my brain ok?
    Ok so he has no frontal lobe, what???? If he has no frontal lobe he could live without it however he would have complete paralysis( lose the ability to move) he wouldn’t be able to reason or form simple thoughts he would have no impulse control. Basically he would not be able to think, reason, speak or have any emotions. Yet he makes a ridiculous statement that after having a neurological exam they told him he has no frontal lobe. Oh dear Lord he’s not even smart enough to come up with a good lie or his audience is just that much checked out. Can someone please correct me if I’m wrong? I gather he’s using this poor attempt as saying he has no frontal lobe because whatever he should be accountable to this gets excuse gets him out of it

  38. Shauna:
    Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Hi, look at my comment at the bottom. He says he has no frontal lobe.

    “You gotta be understanding of Billy-Bob; he only has one chromosome.”
    — Can’t remember where I heard that, but it’s appropriate.