Notes From Jon

After reading this recent article at EthicsDaily, I only had one reaction.

Wow.

There are several things disturbing about this story to me, besides the fact that I’m pretty sure some of the stories being told are either embellished or downright false.

First, Warren says in his own book that his style of church will not work everywhere. Of all the places in the world you’d expect a hard time implementing a California-based church model, the Deep South would be on the top of the list to me. Living in Birmingham, I saw several churches try it, and many of them are now in shambles. The main problem is that Warren’s model is more lay-driven, while many Deep South SBC churches are still very top-driven (much as they may try to deny it).

A church is a living organism. You can’t go to India and uproot a rubber tree, bring it to the desert climate of Arizona and plant it there. It will die. It does not have the characteristics needed to live in that kind of environment. You cannot take a postmodern seeker-style church model, uproot a traditional church, and replace the roots. It’s silly. And it’s usually done in the name of gaining members.

Second, while I’m sure some of these stories were exaggerated or made up, there must be some element of truth to the way the Bellevue church staff is behaving. And my question to all those raising their hands in protest is: Did you not expect this? Did you look at Gaines’ past actions? Did you see how his Gardendale Church was run before you brought him to Memphis? I visited the church in Gardendale on a couple of occasions while I was in Birmingham, and am not in the least bit surprised – just from my observations of his worship leadership – that some of these stories might be true.

This is sad to me on so many levels. Bellevue is a great church with a deep history of doing God’s kingdom work.

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