I
write this with a heavy heart, knowing very well the myriad emotions
that flood your hearts and minds at this hour. A man you've known
and loved is gone... just like that. In many ways it feels like a
death in the family, even though Perry Noble is very much alive.
As
a brother I'm putting out this appeal to those of you who journeyed
with Perry at NewSpring. My heart is to see that this painful
experience is maximized for God's glory... that restoration, healing,
and fruitfulness would abound.
For
those of you who are members, this is a time to freshly assess where
you are in Jesus. Are you secure in Him, freely serving with your
gifts in the ministry God has for you,
or have you been content to be a mere spectator or even a busy
religious worker bee serving as an extension of someone else's
"ministry"? God created you to be much more than a
cheerleader in the stands applauding and building into the "ministry"
of a celebrity preacher. Do you even know what your
gifts are?
In
Ephesians 4, the Lord lays out his plan for the church, for apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to build you up for the
work of ministry. In reality this rarely happens. Most real
ministry does not happen from a pulpit on a Sunday morning. It
happens in work places, in neighborhoods, in the streets during
everyday life. And God uses people like you
to do it, not paid "professionals".
I
recently had the privilege of interviewing and getting to know a new
friend who has written an awesome book called "Sustainable
Church". Walt Russell lays out a vision for churches with every
member operating in their gifts. If this resonates with you, a good
starting place would be taking the spiritual inventory test available
at this link:
There
is also an excellent book on leadership that provides much needed
adjustment to our understanding of leadership in the Church.
Jesus
is building His
Church with people growing in mutuality, serving and loving one
another. Is this the desire of your heart?
As
for NewSpring, my hope and prayer is that no one replaces Perry
Noble. Truthfully, we've practiced at least 1700 years of religious
dysfunction, building "churches" around "pastors"
rather than Jesus. (And I'm still waiting for someone to show me the
title of "senior pastor" in the scriptures) I know this is
heresy to the modern day church growth movement, but we need to
reexamine several irrefutable truths:
-Jesus
truly discipled (pastored) only 12 men. He equipped them to serve
others relationally, not to build ministries around themselves
-The
Church is a living 24/7 organism, not a meeting or an event.
-The
American "church" as we know is dying. Membership and
attendance are declining across the board, even in megachurches, and
if we are honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge much of what we
have done is simply "Christian laundering", moving people
from one religious venue to another. For the most part, growth is
not happening because we are making new disciples or welcoming new
believers in Jesus.
The
religious landscape in America is riddled with wounded and damaged
believers still recovering from man centered McChurches in Chicago
and Seattle, just to name a few. God will not be mocked.
It
is too easy to believe in the veracity of our own press releases. At
this critical hour I urge the leadership at NewSpring to get
objective perspective from outside the church growth echo chamber.
There are faithful servants who can provide timely wisdom in how to
proceed at in a way that exalts Jesus,
the true builder of the Church. (I can recommend several who have
deeply enriched my life and others).
For
those believers outside NewSpring, in the Upstate and beyond, now is
not the time to self righteously look on in judgment at the failures
of one man or organization or rejoice in the opportunity to expand
our own religious empires... to profit from the likely turmoil at
NewSpring. (be honest, for some of you this is an opportunity to get
one up on the "competition". If we are wise, we will see
that self examination is in order for us all. The same issues and
questions apply. The size of the religious institution doesn't
matter. For our Father, it’s all about our hearts.
Above
all, this is a time for us to look to Him
to fulfil the promise to build His
church, not to build ours.
1
And
he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds
and teachers, 12
to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body
of Christ, 13
until
we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ, 14
so
that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by
craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15
Rather,
speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him
who is the head, into Christ, 16
from
whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with
which it is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the
body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Vince
Coakley
Greenville
Radio Talk Show Host
P.S.
Finally, pray for your embattled brother. To the extent you are
able; please reach out to love on Perry Noble and his family. His
greatest need is not accountability or any of the other religious
mumbo jumbo nonsense we've manufactured. Now more than ever he needs
to experience the love of our Father directly, and the love of his
brothers and sisters in Christ... love detached from the titles,
positions, and roles he's embraced, and those imposed on him from
others.
