Perhaps the most revered figure in the history of the Jewish people is their beloved King—David. Although certainly not perfect, David seems to embody what God is looking for in leaders, he is a man after God’s own heart; and is therefore a leader worthy of much attention. The biblical record of the life of David begins with his teen years and continues until God calls him home. This complete narrative of David’s growth as a leader is probably why Dr. Elmer Towns selects him as the model of a growing leader. Certainly it is ridiculous to even think that only some types of leaders grow or develop. One is not a leader if he is not growing; he may be a manager or supervisor but not a leader.
In Spiritual Leadership, Henry Blackaby is correct when he states, “the greatness of an organization will be directly proportional to the greatness of its leader” (Blackaby, 2001, 31). According to Lawrence Richards in the Teacher’s Commentary, “two rich sources to help us understand David’s growth toward greatness. The first is the historical account of his life, found in 1 and 2 Samuel, in 1 Kings and in 1 Chronicles. The second source is the Psalms that were written by David himself. These psalms portray David’s rich emotional life, and reveal his attitudes and feelings at various stages of his life” (Richards, 1987, 214). Towns is right as he describes David as “the growing leader” (Towns, 2007, 94). The life of David provides a remarkable example worthy of discussion and attention of how God uses circumstances, events and others to develop (or grow) His leaders into their God given potential.
Towns and others use Psalm 78:70-72 as a key text in describing or illustrating how God began working in David’s life as a young man, a shepherd boy, and led him down a Sovereign path which prepared him to be a great king. Towns describes several examples of how growing leaders develop. For example, a pastor of a small church who continues to grow with his church such that both develop and eventually he is leading a staff and a substantially larger church. Another example, not given by Towns but similar, is the young second lieutenant who begins with a platoon but, because he grows with the Army and shows potential for more responsibility, becomes a company commander and some grow more into battalion, brigade and even division commanders. These men and women share something in common with King David- they continue to grow as leaders. They actively participate in leadership training and continually seek to improve themselves.
Towns states that David’s training began with an opportunity “to serve King Saul in the palace” (Towns, 2007, 96). Certainly Towns is referring to training in a formal sense because the biblical record seems to link the shepherding experience David gained as a boy to the shepherding he did as King of Israel. In an article, “Heart and Hands of Leadership,” John Hartog III, Ph.D., believes the time David tended sheep was formative in his growth as a leader. He writes,
David's leadership training took place within the sheep paddocks where he learned patience, compassion, courage, and responsibility. [He] learned compassion while working with his ewes. In Israel the shepherd leads his flocks, ‘but the ewes that suckle their young need his special attention, and those he follows with his eye and if needful with his steps, to watch over them and protect them from harm. (Hartog, 2009, n.p.).
In reality, no one knows exactly how formative those years were for David, but there is clear evidence showing that what David overcame as a shepherd gave him courage to tackle greater obstacles as a warrior. In 1st Samuel 17.34, David relates past experiences to describe how he can have courage to tackle the giant. Likewise, growing leaders draw on previous victories, which initially appeared insurmountable, to gain confidence for the future.
Next, the historical narrative in 1st Samuel 16 shows how God moved Israel’s future king to the palace as a servant to learn presumably what life in the King’s administration looks like and how it operates. Then 1st Samuel 18 records that Saul set David over men of war. Certainly this had to be an incredible time of growth in the life of this young man. Although not specifically described in scripture, it is fair to assume that David participated in training, maneuvers, and was mentored to some degree by someone on the King’s staff. Later, the reader sees that David has been promoted to a leader of about one thousand men (which would be comparable to an infantry battalion in today’s Army). David is growing as a leader. This is an interesting balance of growth, in so much as, God used David’s shepherding experience to develop key character traits of courage and compassion. David plays a harp, writes poetry and lyrics and is a warrior. This is quite the combination and seems to give evidence to the complexity of David, which is probably why we have him rising to the level of King. Without the benefit of books, seminars, and other leader training events, David is still maturing and developing through God-ordained circumstances for the purpose of establishing a shepherd leader who will foreshadow the coming King of the tribe of Judah. One commentator described it like this, “David had been brought into the palace of the king as musician and warrior so that he might acquire the experience of statecraft. Though an uninitiated novice at the time of his anointing, he was eminently equipped to be king of Israel at his coronation some 15 years later. But his education was not always pleasant” (Walvoord, 1985, 1:449).
David seems to have a remarkable balance that is difficult to fully comprehend and may have changed depending on the position of authority he had as he first oversaw sheep, then served in the palace and grew through various military commands. This was providential leadership development (Ibid.). During some very intensive periods of testing, David proved to be loyal to King Saul which demonstrated the incredible degree to which David was loyal and would receive loyalty from his followers. David led by example and modeled the behavior he expected the people to have toward God, His law, His appointed King and prophets, and sin. John Maxwell makes specific reference to how King David as a warrior set the example and developed no less than five hundred “mighty men” in 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership (Maxwell, 1998, 164). Concerning this period of testing Richards writes, “David was not ready yet [which implies he had to grow and did grow]: he had to undergo further testing. Like his descendant, Jesus, David had to learn ‘obedience from what He suffered’ (Heb. 5:8).God uses stress in this way in all our lives” (Richards, 1987, 217).
After King Saul’s death, David was promoted to King of Judah and would once again have to adapt to the changing duties and responsibilities (2 Samuel 2:4). The manner in which David led four hundred men in opposition to King Saul would not be appropriate for the King of Judah just as an army brigade commander should not command a brigade like he led an infantry platoon. Once again, God chose to allow David to grow into the position of King. Initially, King David served only one tribe. Towns specifically makes mention of how the growing leader may develop in state government before going on to the national government (Towns, 2007, 94). It appears that David experienced a similar growth pattern as he went from what would be similar to governor of a large state to King (president) of the 12 tribes of Jacob. David remained in the office of King of Judah for seven years which included a protracted campaign between the house of Saul and the house of David (2 Samuel 3:11). God used the crisis of children of Abraham killing each other in a civil war as another means of preparing David to shepherd all of His people. David’s loyalty to one tribe would have to grow to all of God’s people. Certainly the tender side of David helped him minister to people who were emotionally and physically scarred from war.
Even as the King of all of Jacob, David’s leadership style reflects an appropriate fear of God and a willingness to continue growing spiritually. When David falls into immoral behavior with Bathsheba, he does not allow his evaluated position of influence to interfere with hearing from God’s prophet. Growing leaders must be on guard to remain humble and sensitive to God’s Word. Positions of authority tend to affect people in different ways, but Towns suggests that growing leaders may mature and come to a position where they “believe they have arrived” (Towns, 2007. 96). David does not seem to experience this “above the law” leadership style. Instead, when the prophet confronts David with his sin with Bathsheba he is willing to continue growing in his sanctification (2 Sam 12). Psalm 51 reflects a man who is willing to examine himself and determine what need to be fixed. This willingness to subordinate himself before God and accept the rebuke of the prophet must have enabled the people to see David’s growth and maturity as a leader. The incident with Nabal and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25 is another great example of how David grew as a leader.
The final dimension of David’s development includes David’s growing relationship with the Holy Spirit. This began at his anointing when the “Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward” (1 Sam. 16:13). The Psalms are replete with discussion of David’s relationship with the Holy Spirit and, in Ps. 51:11, David is concerned that God is going to take His Holy Spirit from him. In Spiritual Leadership, Blackaby believes “there is an added dimension to the growth of a spiritual leader that is not found in secular leadership development. That dimension is the active work of the Holy Spirit in the leaders’ life” (Blackaby, 2001, 42). David grew because of the Spirit’s role in his life. Every Christian leader must seek to see the Spirit of God developing his character and leadership style.
Perhaps what needs to be learned the most from David’s life is how he grew into the shepherd leader God intended for him to be through God’s role in his life. The Bible does not explicitly describe this “shepherding leadership style,” but a thorough examination of the person and life of David will provide much insight into God’s expectation that His leaders serve others in their position of oversight. God’s leaders are servants. Moreover, they must serve as shepherds who tenderly care for their people. The Apostle Peter instructs leaders not to lord over God’s people but be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5), and Paul instructs elders to protect the flock (Acts 20). This intentional linkage between God’s men, His shepherds and His people as sheep, serves as a continual reminder that God expects His leaders to shepherd His people in the same manner that the good, great, and chief Shepherd led and leads people (John 10, Hebrews 13, 1 Peter 5).
References
Blackaby, Henry. 2001. Spiritual Leadership. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.
Hartog, John III., 2009. “The Heart and Hands of Spiritual Leadership.” Faith Pulpit. http://www.faith.edu/seminary/faithpulpit.php
Maxwell, John. 2002. The Maxwell Leadership Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Maxwell, John. 1998. 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Business, Inc.
Richards, Lawrence. 1987. The Teacher's Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
Towns, Elmer L. 2007. Biblical Models for Leadership. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B. 1985. The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
A Profound Question
A few days ago, a young person asked me a simply profound question:
“If my Sunday school teacher knew a prayer does not save a person from their sins, why did she lead me to pray a prayer for salvation?”
What a great question? How do you answer that?
Isn’t it interesting how we all say:
It is repentant faith in the person and work of Jesus as the Christ that saves one from the wrath of God and adopts them into the family of God, as a justified believer, and then we go forward with leading the boy or girl in some recitation of:
Dear Jesus,
How confusing?
It really needs to stop.
Ambassadors of God must challenge men and women, boys and girls to BELIEVE. Nothing more—salvation is a work of the Lord that is appropriated by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the eternal prophet, priest and King--the Son of God.
The central teaching of the entire NT is “belief” in the person and work of Jesus Christ saves men and women. 1 John 5.1.
If the heart that has been regenerated wishes to pray, let it pray and pray and pray but not under the leadership of a canned prayer that seems more like a recitation than the confession of a new believer.
“If my Sunday school teacher knew a prayer does not save a person from their sins, why did she lead me to pray a prayer for salvation?”
What a great question? How do you answer that?
Isn’t it interesting how we all say:
It is repentant faith in the person and work of Jesus as the Christ that saves one from the wrath of God and adopts them into the family of God, as a justified believer, and then we go forward with leading the boy or girl in some recitation of:
Dear Jesus,
How confusing?
It really needs to stop.
Ambassadors of God must challenge men and women, boys and girls to BELIEVE. Nothing more—salvation is a work of the Lord that is appropriated by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ as the eternal prophet, priest and King--the Son of God.
The central teaching of the entire NT is “belief” in the person and work of Jesus Christ saves men and women. 1 John 5.1.
If the heart that has been regenerated wishes to pray, let it pray and pray and pray but not under the leadership of a canned prayer that seems more like a recitation than the confession of a new believer.
A Craving for Fish Bring Death
From Numbers 11
In this chapter, God’s People, traveling through the wilderness en route to the Promised Land after having been delivered from bondage in Egypt, find themselves craving (lusting) for the fish they ate in Egypt.
They are complaining; they are sick of the “manna” God has been providing and express their sentiments to Moses to the point that Moses, the leader, can’t take it anymore and goes to God for some relief.
God provides help and explains to Moses that He will provide the meat for the Israelites to eat.
Moses then seems to have a momentary lack of faith as he begins to wonder how God will provide enough meat for 600,000 bodies to eat to the point that figuratively (we presume) it is coming out of their nostrils.
God asks this great question: “Moses, has my hand grown short?” Almost like maybe Moses knows something God doesn’t know. Almost reminiscent of the idea of: has my hand grown shorter since the last time I demonstrated my awesome, unbelievable, magnificent power?
And then the answer: I am going to do this. I am going to bring meat enough to feed all the Israelites so that you will know that my hand is all powerful, all capable, and sufficient to do as I please, when I please, for my glory.
So quail become the instruments of God’s glory as His hand sweeps them toward the Israelites in an overwhelming abundance that can’t be described as anything other than the “hand of the Lord.” Again and again God demonstrates His power for His Glory.
But the story isn’t over. After the Israelites get their fill of meat and more meat and they eat it until they are sick, God kills them.
Yep, that’s what the Bible says. He used the quail to demonstrate His power, and then He used the Israelites to eat what he brought from the sea, and then as judgment for their sin He killed them. His righteous indignation had enough.
What was their sin that deserved judgment? It was a craving (or a lusting). A craving? Yes, a craving for meat—but that can’t be it.
Certainly, that isn’t the real issue. Look closer into the chapter—study it a bit more and you see that what they were really craving was life back in Egypt.
They had forgotten the bondage and the days when they were begging God to deliver them from slavery. It taintedtheir sin-corrupted memories so that all that was remembered was the good.
With eyes toward the past, they were not interested in the future Promised Land from God and therefore were not fit for the Kingdom that God would establish first through the prophets and then through kings like David and Solomon and ultimately His Son.
I don’t believe God eternally separated those who died in the wilderness from His covenantal promise established with Abraham, but they forfeited rewards beyond belief through their failure to cut themselves off from Egypt and enter the Promised Land.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in the world but we are NOT of the world. Come out from among them and be separate says the LORD.
As we live in the culture, we are to tenaciously guard against embracing the culture to the point of losing our distinct identity in Christ.
Don’t forfeit reward for a perceived better life of the past—move forward for our King and Savior and be thankful the power of the gospel has delivered you from the wrath of God.
In this chapter, God’s People, traveling through the wilderness en route to the Promised Land after having been delivered from bondage in Egypt, find themselves craving (lusting) for the fish they ate in Egypt.
They are complaining; they are sick of the “manna” God has been providing and express their sentiments to Moses to the point that Moses, the leader, can’t take it anymore and goes to God for some relief.
God provides help and explains to Moses that He will provide the meat for the Israelites to eat.
Moses then seems to have a momentary lack of faith as he begins to wonder how God will provide enough meat for 600,000 bodies to eat to the point that figuratively (we presume) it is coming out of their nostrils.
God asks this great question: “Moses, has my hand grown short?” Almost like maybe Moses knows something God doesn’t know. Almost reminiscent of the idea of: has my hand grown shorter since the last time I demonstrated my awesome, unbelievable, magnificent power?
And then the answer: I am going to do this. I am going to bring meat enough to feed all the Israelites so that you will know that my hand is all powerful, all capable, and sufficient to do as I please, when I please, for my glory.
So quail become the instruments of God’s glory as His hand sweeps them toward the Israelites in an overwhelming abundance that can’t be described as anything other than the “hand of the Lord.” Again and again God demonstrates His power for His Glory.
But the story isn’t over. After the Israelites get their fill of meat and more meat and they eat it until they are sick, God kills them.
Yep, that’s what the Bible says. He used the quail to demonstrate His power, and then He used the Israelites to eat what he brought from the sea, and then as judgment for their sin He killed them. His righteous indignation had enough.
What was their sin that deserved judgment? It was a craving (or a lusting). A craving? Yes, a craving for meat—but that can’t be it.
Certainly, that isn’t the real issue. Look closer into the chapter—study it a bit more and you see that what they were really craving was life back in Egypt.
They had forgotten the bondage and the days when they were begging God to deliver them from slavery. It taintedtheir sin-corrupted memories so that all that was remembered was the good.
With eyes toward the past, they were not interested in the future Promised Land from God and therefore were not fit for the Kingdom that God would establish first through the prophets and then through kings like David and Solomon and ultimately His Son.
I don’t believe God eternally separated those who died in the wilderness from His covenantal promise established with Abraham, but they forfeited rewards beyond belief through their failure to cut themselves off from Egypt and enter the Promised Land.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are in the world but we are NOT of the world. Come out from among them and be separate says the LORD.
As we live in the culture, we are to tenaciously guard against embracing the culture to the point of losing our distinct identity in Christ.
Don’t forfeit reward for a perceived better life of the past—move forward for our King and Savior and be thankful the power of the gospel has delivered you from the wrath of God.
1,500 per month
Here is a shocking statistic: Every month 1500 pastors leave the ministry. Some leave for moral failure, others for spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.
Now here is a thought: Are you the kind of Christian or church member that contributes to the 1,500 staying or leaving?
Are you the church member who is a joy to have in the church or are you the church member that the pastor is thankful to see move their membership?
I believe this is precisely what Hebrews 13.17 is describing when the author describes some who are a joy to lead and others are just the opposite.
Members who are contentious don’t want to be led.
It is critical that Christians find an under-shepherd that they can submit to under God's headship of their lives. But everyone needs a local shepherd to submit to as described in Hebrews 13.17.
Just as the Son submitted to the authority of the Father without losing His identity and individuality; likewise, church members submit to the leadership of spiritual shepherds in the church.
And when members find themselves un-reconciled with their pastor, God’s will is not for them to become instruments to run the pastor out of the ministry. God takes care of that.
If it be God’s will, they will often disqualify themselves. 50 a day, 2 an hour, every 30 minutes another pastor throws in the towel.
Are you helping increase, maintain or lower that number? That’s the question of this posting. Christians who lower that number are commended by the Apostle Paul. People who increase that number are rebuked by the same author.
Now here is a thought: Are you the kind of Christian or church member that contributes to the 1,500 staying or leaving?
Are you the church member who is a joy to have in the church or are you the church member that the pastor is thankful to see move their membership?
I believe this is precisely what Hebrews 13.17 is describing when the author describes some who are a joy to lead and others are just the opposite.
Members who are contentious don’t want to be led.
It is critical that Christians find an under-shepherd that they can submit to under God's headship of their lives. But everyone needs a local shepherd to submit to as described in Hebrews 13.17.
Just as the Son submitted to the authority of the Father without losing His identity and individuality; likewise, church members submit to the leadership of spiritual shepherds in the church.
And when members find themselves un-reconciled with their pastor, God’s will is not for them to become instruments to run the pastor out of the ministry. God takes care of that.
If it be God’s will, they will often disqualify themselves. 50 a day, 2 an hour, every 30 minutes another pastor throws in the towel.
Are you helping increase, maintain or lower that number? That’s the question of this posting. Christians who lower that number are commended by the Apostle Paul. People who increase that number are rebuked by the same author.
Young Male Adults
Without a doubt the single most unchurched age and gender demographic in the United States is young male adults between the age of 18 and 25 (ish). In my church, YMA constitute between 4 and 5 percent. Yet this is the demographic for future teachers, deacons, pastors, etc.
I have to figure out what needs to be done differently to attract this group back to the church. In Fayetteville, 1000s upon 1000s of the YMAs grew up in an evangelical church and are not in church—what happened?
Why don’t they get up on Sundays and worship the Lord? Why don’t they show up on Wednesdays and serve in the church?
We have a military installation full of YMAs and we have at least three colleges full of this demographic. How do we engage this unchurched group of either backslidden or lost men?
If you are interested in helping me seek God’s face as to why this huge segment of the population is bailing out let me know.
The future of the local church is contingent upon reaching these dads and future dads with the reality that “real men love Jesus” and “wise men still seek him.”
I have to figure out what needs to be done differently to attract this group back to the church. In Fayetteville, 1000s upon 1000s of the YMAs grew up in an evangelical church and are not in church—what happened?
Why don’t they get up on Sundays and worship the Lord? Why don’t they show up on Wednesdays and serve in the church?
We have a military installation full of YMAs and we have at least three colleges full of this demographic. How do we engage this unchurched group of either backslidden or lost men?
If you are interested in helping me seek God’s face as to why this huge segment of the population is bailing out let me know.
The future of the local church is contingent upon reaching these dads and future dads with the reality that “real men love Jesus” and “wise men still seek him.”
the Wilds--Christian Camp
This weekend Pam and I spent the weekend in Brevard, NC at a Christian Camp called the Wilds. If you have ever wanted a place to get away from the rat race of life and focus on God, the Wilds is just the place for you.
Everything about the place is just awesome. Tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains is a hidden community of believers who live to glory God by creating opportunities for others to reconnect with God and each other through various camps and conferences.
A godly servant by the name of Ken leads a team of dedicated followers of Christ who serve as stewards of 1000 acres of beauty. The Wilds is a place that Berean needs to take advantage of more. It is a bit of a drive for us in Fayetteville, but for us the drive was well worth the trip.
I don’t want to bore you with the details but the camp excels in food, music, facilities, friendliness, activities, and so much more.
In the weeks and months the body of Christ at Berean will be hearing much more about what we can do at the Wilds to expand and enhance the growth of fully functioning followers of Christ. The cost is quite reasonable.
For now I would like to invite the couples of BBC to mark their calendar for April 9-11, 2010 for a couples retreat. For more information, check out their website at http://www.wilds.org/tw/index.php.
Everything about the place is just awesome. Tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains is a hidden community of believers who live to glory God by creating opportunities for others to reconnect with God and each other through various camps and conferences.
A godly servant by the name of Ken leads a team of dedicated followers of Christ who serve as stewards of 1000 acres of beauty. The Wilds is a place that Berean needs to take advantage of more. It is a bit of a drive for us in Fayetteville, but for us the drive was well worth the trip.
I don’t want to bore you with the details but the camp excels in food, music, facilities, friendliness, activities, and so much more.
In the weeks and months the body of Christ at Berean will be hearing much more about what we can do at the Wilds to expand and enhance the growth of fully functioning followers of Christ. The cost is quite reasonable.
For now I would like to invite the couples of BBC to mark their calendar for April 9-11, 2010 for a couples retreat. For more information, check out their website at http://www.wilds.org/tw/index.php.
"Purpose Driven Church" Book Review
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In 1995, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church, wrote The Purpose Driven Church in an effort to help pastors and lay leaders see their churches grow. Warren believes that he can significantly help dying churches recover and church plants take off. It appears that his tremendous success has afforded him credibility from a pragmatic—consumer driven perspective.
W.A. Criswell seems to make this exact point in the forward of the text with a statement that Saddleback’s tremendous growth is “sufficient evidence that Rick Warren knows whereof he speaks” (11). Churches that follow Warren’s model are called “Purpose Driven Churches,” somehow implying that churches that do not follow Saddleback’s model do not have a purpose. Moreover, Warren writes and thinks from a very business-oriented aspect. Warren avoids the tough issues and writes from a standpoint that is not always contextually accurate. The Purpose Driven Church deserves a mixed review. Furthermore, its use must be limited to discerning pastors who will not blindly apply Warren’s model without analysis.
The Purpose Driven Church is a manual of sorts written to teach one how to follow the Saddleback Valley Community Church model of growth. The text has five major sectional divisions beginning with a two chapter introduction, next is a substantial section on how to become a purpose-driven church, then a portion about reaching out to the community, followed by a section on how to attract a crowd, and finally the conclusion that deals with moving the crowd into membership. Each section is easy to follow along, and the text is certainly an easy read. There is not anything theological about Warren’s book. His work is an exciting read—everyone loves to read about success.
Warren is absolutely correct when he writes about God’s sovereignty being “overlooked in almost all current church-growth literature” (14). He wants his reader to understand that Saddleback did not instantly become a large church—Pastor Warren battled from scratch and made, by his own admission, lots of mistakes in developing a strategy for church grow.
Warren believes that a Baptist pastor may struggle a bit as he explains how he went about determining what type of church he would establish. Warren contends that his area already had many strong, Bible-believing churches, yet his list of names of the pastors of these large successful churches makes you wonder what Warren means. A reader with some knowledge of American pastors would know that there is a substantial difference between John MacArthur, Robert Schuller, and Greg Laurie. This insight should alert the reader into what one can expect of the text with regard to the depth of theological application.
In chapter two, Warren defends the development of mega-churches by presenting eight myths concerning things that are not true about large churches. Warren is trying to break through to small church pastors who have an unwarranted bias toward large churches.
Part two is the best section of the book and is a must read for all church pastors and lay leaders. Warren is right when he insists that every church needs a purpose—of course, the church needs a purpose. He writes, “Until you know what your church exists for, you have no foundation, no motivation, and no direction for ministry” (81). There is no real argument to this philosophy because it is clearly biblical. Every church has a purpose. The head of the church Jesus Christ has established the church’s purpose. Warren believes that the “first step in getting a church which is plateaued or declining is to redefine your purpose” (81). Using statistics to prove his point, Warren shows how there is a significant disconnect between what the members of the church and the pastors of that same church believe the purpose of the church to be. Pastors and members are exactly opposite in their understanding of the church—90 percent of pastors believe the church exists to win the lost while only ten percent of members believe this to be true; and then the reverse happens with regard to the purpose of the church being to care for its own (82-83).
In an attempt to guide pastors, the text presents five benefits to having a clearly defined purpose statement. First, Warren believes that the reason Saddleback people get along so well is that they all understand their purpose which promotes harmony and builds morale. Perhaps he is right, but that is a difficult point to prove in so much as Saddleback has had only one pastor and does not have the years of baggage that many other churches have acquired through years of existence. Baggage, which often brings frustration and friction, is supposed to be reduced by this purpose statement. Obviously the statement does reduce the frustration, but strong pastoral leadership must be insistent while leading the church through living in accordance with its agreed upon purpose statement. Next, he builds a strong case on how purpose statements can help the church cooperate and concentrate—which, again, is good. Lastly, the purpose statement assists in evaluating effectiveness. Warren asks “what is our business?” and then “How’s business?” (93). Again, this is a stretch—it is difficult to hear Jesus teaching the apostles to ask, “How is business?”
Based on his tremendous success, Warren presents Saddleback’s purpose statement as an example of what right looks like in the development of a statement. He is especially convinced of this because he believes that each of the five church purposes is articulated in his statement equally well. Warren suggests that Saddleback’s purpose statement is biblical, specific, transferable, and measurable which is the standard by which all statements should be measured. Measuring God’s work is especially difficult. “A great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will grow a great church” is a true statement, but who measures great (102)? When the author of the text pastors a church of 10,000 members, great is measured numerically. Care must be exercised in measuring success by a non-biblical standard. Can a church of fifty be a great church? Of course it can, but when the author of the text says “great,” the reader is left to wonder how he can measure greatness with something other than numerical growth—especially when the title the book puts such a premium on growth.
Using the “Nehemiah Principle,” pastors learn to continually put before the people the purpose of the church in as many different ways as possible. According to Warren, “once you have defined the purposes of your church, you must continually clarify and communicate them to everyone in your congregation. It is not a task you do once and then forget about it” (112). Statements like this are so true that, in spite of the some of the less desirable parts of the text, The Purpose Driven Church should be read in conjunction with other church growth books by discerning leaders. Warren rightly suggests that vision and purpose can be communicated through scripture, symbols, slogans, and stories (112-3). The text is full of profitable examples.
About midway through the text, Warren moves to application of the purposes of the church. Overusing the word “purpose,” Warren gives ten ways to become a purpose driven church. First, churches are to consciously focus on assimilating new members into the church. Using the five purposes of the church: worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism- Warren shows how Saddleback brings the unchurched (unsaved) to church, moves them into the congregation, then into a small group, then into a core group and then back out to the community for evangelism (136-8). The application of a purpose statement in a meaningful way is a solid message, but the reader must remember that this is only one model.
The value of Warren’s work is without question, but there are definite reasons why readers must be discerning as they work through the application of his purpose driven model. First, Warren is very loose in his uses of multiple paraphrases of the Word of God in order to make his point. Warren has no apparent conviction toward an essentially literal translation of the Word of God. Moving from paraphrase to paraphrase, the lack of continuity reveals perhaps a willingness to search for a proof text and then go with it. Warren gives advice about the translations and paraphrases as though there are no issues with different Bibles and the profitability of using a text that is not faithful to the original languages. Often moving a church from one translation to another can be an exceptionally hard task, and Warren offers no advice on how to make a transition like that happen. Furthermore, Warren tells pastors to “select Scripture readings with the unchurched in mind” (297). Warren uses a ridiculous example of what to read and what not to read but does not provide enough guidance to be of any real value. Certainly one wonders where the Scriptural support is for such guidance. How does one preach the gospel and not offend the unchurched? (Warren is careful not to refer to people as “sinners” or “lost” in his text.)
Pastor Warren believes that God does not have a preference with regard to felt-needs preaching and expository preaching. He writes, “I honestly don’t think God cares at all whether you teach the Bible book by book or topic by topic, as long as you teach the Bible. He doesn’t care whether you start with the text and move to applying it to people’s needs, or start with people’s needs and move to the text” (295). Warren adamantly defends his felt-needs technique; he suggests that the preacher should decide what the people need to hear and then find supporting verses from the Bible which justifies the truth. This is nearly the same thing he does with his purpose driven books. This technique is an exceptionally slippery slope that has the potential for theological disaster. The pastor of a church with a large homosexual contingent would never get to scriptures that condemn homosexuality in a seeker-sensitive perspective based on felt-needs. Yet the student of the Bible knows that God sent His prophets with messages that were anything but seeker-sensitive.
The god of church growth cannot become an idol that influences what one preaches. Certainly Warren is not suggesting anything like that, but it appears that this is not beyond the realm of possibilities when Paul predicates a latter day when people will accumulate to themselves preachers and teachers that suit their own passions (2 Timothy 4). While Rick Warren is writing about church growth, Dr. David F. Wells is writing just as prolifically about the decay of truth within the greater protestant community of believers with a book like No Place for Truth. Also, Wells is not alone, it appears; for every church growth book, there is a book encouraging pastor to not compromise on the truth of the Word of God. It takes a discerning pastor to read a church book with a seeker-sensitive model and not be influenced to compromise to build a “work for God.”
A third area where pastors will need to be discerning is whether they will choose to embrace Warren’s method of handling a call to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Pastors should “be creative in inviting people to receive Christ” (304) is what Warren suggests. The pastor truly seeking to be as Biblically correct as possible struggles at determining exactly what Warren means by this guidance. Moreover, the purpose-driven pastor is instructed to lead people to Jesus with a model prayer (304). Once again Warren does not provide apostolic precedent for creative invitations or model prayers which teach people to “ask Jesus into [their] hearts.” This is very problematic because a Biblical message of “repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” is not very creative—it is prescriptive not descriptive. Therefore, the apostles have tied the hands of pastors and evangelists seeking to follow their example.
The Purpose Driven Church is not the kind of book a pastor can wholeheartedly suggest to all the members of his church to read. Warren’s work must be examined and reexamined from a critical perspective. In light of the reality that Warren began his church in a substantially less postmodern perspective, church planters will have to critically examine whether they want to follow his model of surveying the unchurched, appealing to the crowd, and then turning the crowd into a church. While this model obviously worked, it remains to be seen whether Pastor Warren will remain committed to orthodox, uncompromising, evangelical Christian truth. Although clearly beyond the scope of this review the handwriting on the wall seems to suggest that Warren may not remain as committed to Biblical standards of morality as he once was, but this is not to suggest that there is not much that can be learned from Warren’s monumental work. However, in an age of doctrinal compromise and wavering on the exclusivity of Christ by pastors of mega-churches, it appears that now more than ever churches will need to know what their purpose is and what core Biblical values will guide them into the future.
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