I followed a link on YouTube today. That is a way to start a story that could go in many different directions, right? The link led me to a video of a pastor preaching to his congregation. The video was only shot from the side, so it was really hard to see much, but is seemed pretty obvious that his congregation would fit in my living room. That is not a slam, but it is part of the story.
As this guy in his three-peice suite began to speak, it became clear why there were 10 people listening. For over 20 minutes, this guy ranted and raved about a family member that attended a church in another town. Based on the pastor's message, this church seemed to be overtly satanic. For 20 minutes, this pastor bashed this church. Raked it over the coals in every direction (kinda like I feel I am on the verge of doing to this pastor).
The funny thing is (among many), the church in question is changing lives all over the place. People are being led to Christ in big numbers. God is using their staff and leadership to change people big time. But they are not traditional in any way, they don't look too religious, and they seem to actually enjoy being at church (imagine that).
My question is simple: why does the church hate change and progress? I know that nobody like change, but the church seems to just be completely opposed to change. I am not old enough to know, but I bet when the first organ was brought into a church service, the Christians in attendance freaked out, too. As a leader, I hope I never see the future, our culture, or what is next as a threat. More than that, I hope that I can always look at what others are doing or experimenting with and learn from them, not throw them under the proverbial bus.
One of Satan's greatest successes has to be how he has created such an insider focus in our churches. How he has led believers and church leaders to become so ridiculously focused on our own kind that we pay absolutely NO attention to those around us that are far from God. In fact, it is worse than that. Not only do we ignore and alienate the lost, we actually create an environment that makes it extremely difficult for them to meet Jesus Christ. And before we know it, we are preaching to a living room full of people...
Let's not be this way any longer...and let's do all we can to push everyone we know to be a more accurate representative of our Lord and Savior...cool music or not.
Gavin Adams, Lead Pastor, Watermarke Church
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