I recently read a blog by NewSpring pastor Perry Noble on 10 convictions he has about the Church. Two of the points of his blog caused such a stir in the Christian community that he was led to do a couple of follow up posts on those positions. For years now I have watched the interesting impact that NewSpring has had on churches, ministers , and the culture around my area and beyond. I wanted to blog and comment on some of the things I have seen.
Now with that said, I want to say upfront that I do not have a dog in this fight! I do not attend NewSpring Church , and I am by all accounts an outsider looking in. I have found however that sometimes the perspective of an outsider can be quite helpful and enlightening. I certainly hope that this is the case here.
I remember sitting in a meeting with a group of people about 11 years ago when one of them talked about a new church his daughter was attending. He said "its called Newspring Church, and is primarily attended by college students from the Anderson SC area". One of the others in the room answered with a chuckle and said "well that won't last. Good luck in getting those college students to tithe" Fast forward 11 years and that small Church has an average attendance of over 32,000 weekly and was voted as one of the 10 most influential churches in the world. The impact that NewsSpring Church has had is astounding in my opinion, and is unlike anything I have observed in my lifetime. In 2013 the South Carolina Baptist convention reported NewSpring baptized 6,551 people. If this number doesn't impress you let me put in in perspective. Of the 19,477 people baptized that year, 1 Church accounted for 33% of the total. The next closest Church had 206 baptisms to NewSprings 6,551!
After seeing this information, if you were using the principles of the now old Experiencing God Bible study by Henry Blackaby, certainly you would think that "look what God is doing and join Him" would be the order of the day here. Surprisingly, at least from an outsider looking in, that is not the case. It is quite the opposite as a matter of fact. I hear more criticism concerning NewSpring Church than any other 10 churches combined. If you type in the name Perry Noble on YouTube there are series videos of pastors across the nation from as far as Arizona that bash the ideals, teaching, and principles of Perry Noble. I myself am a speaker and evangelist, and about every where I go I hear people that take the opportunity to complain about NewSpring Church. In the list below I will share some of the things I have seen and heard, and what my experience has been.
1) Perry Noble preaches an easy believe ism and waters down the gospel. I hear this one a lot, so I took the time to listen to some (not all) of his messages. I also went through their statement of beliefs on their website including those on salvation. This is what I heard and read. It starts with Jesus. He loves me and wants to change my life. I have a problem called sin. Sin separates me from God. Jesus came to live a perfect life for me. I need to repent of my sins and turn to Him in faith. Trusting what He did for me on the cross. Then I need to follow Him. Hmmmm I have heard that somewhere before. It was in the Bible. Maybe its because they don't scream it, or they say it with concern, but that sounds pretty good to me.
2) NewSpring Creates Decision makers not converts. In today's Christian culture that seems to be a very dominant issue with today's theologians and ministers. I always wondered who appointed them as value judges on people's conversions? Do I believe that everyone who prays a prayer is converted? Certainly not. However lets look at it this way. Suppose out of the 6,551 people that were baptized at NewSprings that 6,200 were not truly converted. That would mean that only 351 were genuine. That would still be 145 more than the second most baptisms in the state of South Carolina. Wow!
3) NewSpring is just sheep swapping. (They take our church members.) I think this is the criticism that I hear the most about NewSpring. I am not on a church staff presently, but I served on several for over 15 years, and I assure you that church members going to the "Hot" church did not start with NewSpring. Church members have been doing this for many many years, long before NewSpring came around. I looked around their website, and listened to many messages and I have not seen or heard anyone from NewSpring advocate "leave your church and come to ours". Have I been invited to attend NewSpring? Yes I have, and in turn I can say that in my life I have invited many churched and unchurched people to my church. Wouldn't it be cool if we just got excited that at least someone cared enough to invite us TO church?
4) People just come for the show!- This one has always perplexed me. Let me explain. I wonder how many people in the Bible woke up and said "Hey lets go see Jesus and get saved!" I was not there but I bet it was more like. "Hey lets go see this guy who raises people from the dead and ticks the Pharisees off!!" In Jesus' day, He was the show! There was no tv, celebrities, college football, or Duck Dynasty to watch! My point is that even though people may have come to see the show. They ended up following Jesus. Faith comes by hearing, and you can't hear unless you are there.
5) People that go their just get lost in the crowd- (It doesn't lend itself to living out truth.) I am going to answer this one by telling you about some friends of mine who attend NewSpring. Their names are Randy and Carla Morrison. During Perry Nobles overwhelmed series, Randy was challenged by Perry's preaching to put action to his faith (Book of James). He has a care group who helps assimilate new converts into the "following Christ life". One day Randy met "Angel". Angel was a gang banger that had been kicked out of his house by a grand mom who could not handle his drug using lifestyle. While in school one day, another student asked Angel to come to NewSpring with him. He told Angel he would give him a ride not only to youth group, but to school everyday. Angel attend the "Gauntlet" service and gave his life to Christ. Enter Randy and Carla Morrison. When Angel told Randy he wanted to get out of the drug life, Randy began to check into Angel's life. He found out Angel at 17 was living by himself in a motel. He was only supported by the money from his brother (another great story) and the money he could sell from drugs. Randy embarked on finding Angel help. After a month of searching Randy found out there was not help for Angel. God spoke to his heart and said; "you are his help"! Randy and Carla Morrison took Angel into their home to live with them. He is a part of their family now. I don't know about you, but that sure does sound like living out your faith to me!
In conclusion I want to say that I have no problem with disagreeing or even opposing someone on hard fact theological errors and differences. However when the opposition stems from insecurity, jealousy, envy and speculative opinion we can be sure that these things are from the sinful nature. Do I think NewSpring is a perfect Church with a perfect pastor. No I don't. I also don't believe that Church will exist until it is taken up as the Bride of Christ. I'll tell you this. If your Church is about Jesus being the only way to get to God. If your Church brings Him glory. If your Church invites the lost to know Him. If your Church believes the Bible speaks to real life! If your Church brings you into the presence of the living God.
I love Your Church!
**Follow Chris Wells on twitter @Basschaplain
Well said. (No pun intended. )
ReplyDeleteAmen, Mr. Wells. That is definitely Well and well said. (With me, it's most always pun intended. :-)) Praise God for how He has used NewSpring Church to bring so many to faith in Christ. Praise God for how He's used so many other churches to bring so many to faith in Christ. We are all brothers and sisters in The Lord serving alongside each other- let's remember Romans 12:16 and 13:8 and Psalms 133 and keep living that way. If you can honestly find damnable heresy being preached, then by all means- address it. (In love and to the pastor privately, without slandering his name and the church's name- and most importantly God's Name- in public.) Otherwise, if it's not a salvific issue- whether you think they're right or you think they're wrong- pray for them regardless. We all need it. :-)
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, obviously, if someone will not listen to correction and is continuing to preach false doctrine that would leave people condemned, then that is a place where the warning can be taken further to warn others- but even then, it should still be done in love and grace. We should never be afraid to speak The Truth boldly, of course.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing i hear about Newspring is that people "go for the show".
ReplyDeleteAnd yknow what? Yes. Many people do. They go for the flashy lights and the loud music and the thrum of the bass and the wisecrack jokes of the pastor.
You know how i know? I was that person. And even though i only 'went for the show', Jesus changed my life. He showed me who He is by using people in my life to bring me into an environment that I would eventually be willing to listen to him. Bringing me into an environment that i would losen my defenses, just a little.
Yeah. I did go for the show. For years. Then Jesus changed my heart. Thats the whole point.
If Jesus did indeed change your heart where do you attend now? As Christ changes us and we begin to hate the things God hates and according to his Word he hates Bible twisting, Perrys twisting of scripture must have boiled your blood before you left.
DeleteMr. Wells,
ReplyDeleteThis article doesn't actually address the real and substantive issues re: Newspring and Perry Noble in particular. I will list some of the more recent issues since listing all of them would be too long of a list to post in the comments of a blog post.
1. Newspring church has admitted to paying $30,000 to ResultSource in order to game the New York Times Bestseller list and make Perry Noble into a "best selling author". The scheme also required Newspring to purchase 11,000 copies of Noble's book, Unleash at full market price. Each book retails at $15.99. That means that when all was said and done Newsprint spent about $200,000 in tithe money in order to deceptively make Perry into a New York Times best seller.
In case you're not aware, Mark Driscoll also engaged in this type of deception and this is one of the reasons why Mars Hill no longer exists as a church.
2. On Christmas Eve Perry Noble told the people of Newspring that God told him to give a message in which he (falsely) claimed that there is no Hebrew word for "Command". He then proceeded to re-write the 10 Commandments and turn them into promises.
I suggest that you read this http://www.pajamapages.com/noble-rescinds-the-ten-commandments-for-2015/
Again, this is the TIP of the iceberg when it comes to Noble's bible twisting and claims of direct revelation from God (all of which actually contradict God's written word).
So, before giving Perry Noble a clean bill of health I suggest that you look deeper than the surface and actually address the REAL concerns and REAL issues.
Read Article two. I address his take on the commandments. Driscoll was not only removed due to his deception of the best seller list, but his arrogance. I know Perry personally, and I addressed the issue to the depth that it required. Thanks for taking time to comment.
Delete