Planetshakers’ Beautiful Woman Woman?

I don’t know what more to say about this…

Planetshakers Blog Hiatus…

Firstly, thank-you to Mice, Amanda, assembliesofwhat, Grace, theoriginalmattyc, Jason Van Haaster, Grant and all of the others (there are so many of you!) who had positive and thoughtful input on and off this blog.

Your comments were the reason I kept the blog running, and I eagerly looked forward to hearing what you had to say.

Obviously I haven’t been blogging much lately.

The bible talks about guarding your heart…

At my heart, I’m an optimist. I see the positive potential for change. But there were always a handful of bad apples in the bunch – at Planetshakers itself, and visiting this blog.

For these people, change is looked at with skepticism.

Their “Christian” beliefs are so shaky that questioning is met with an almost hostility – almost to a point where they would say “God made it this way, so shut up and deal with it or go find somewhere else.”

The negativity gets to me…

I put church aside for a while…

And I put this blog aside for a while.

I haven’t attended Planetshakers, or any church, in months. And to be honest, the last few months have been some of the best months of my life.

I haven’t worried – worried faith, God, heaven, hell, purpose, direction, sin, worship, life, whatever – I have more confidence – I have purpose – I’m more fulfilled – I’m more successful at work (even being sent overseas to a $8,200 conference) – I have a better relationship with my girlfriend, my immediate family – and so much more.

I’m far away from God – but never felt closer to his promises of peace, wisdom and purpose.

Christians often talk about “filling a hole with Jesus” – that the hole is Jesus-shaped. For me, it was like I was trying to cram Jesus in there.

After years of a desperate search, perhaps he doesn’t want to be found. Perhaps I’m looking in the wrong places. Nobody has been able to tell me yet. I think most haven’t found them, or have fooled themselves that they have him found when what they have found is something inside themselves.

I may continue to search for the true and real God again.

I may continue to blog again.

I don’t know.

But in the mean-time, I wish you peace, happiness, success and fulfilment – however it arrives.

~P.S.I.

Planetshakers Beautiful Woman 2009 Conference

I’m still struggling to find my thoughts on this Planetshakers ad for the 2009 Beautiful Woman conference at Planetshakers City Church.

Initially, I found it bizarre and somewhat shocking… And now I’m just asking questions 😉

Where are the non-slim, non-blonde, non-white, “Beautiful Women”?

What is the message of the Planetshakers 2009 Beautiful Woman conference?

Is this worshipful to God, idolatry to [wo]man, or is there a message I’m missing?

Is it promoting the inward beauty that Matthew 5:5 talks about (the first line of the advert)? Or is it promoting outward beauty?

I’m told a prominent Planetshakers Pastor responded by saying “It was just marketing – [prominent women’s brand] do it – why shouldn’t the church?”

Should the church set itself apart from the world in marketing? Or does it need to market better in order to save souls?

Planetshakers, and Why We Should Shake-Off Bad Beliefs

I had someone who didn’t leave their name, but is apparently a Planetshakers member, ask a question recently:

…do you truly believe that this blog contributes any value to the church? If so how?

By asking questions; by being public and open; by engaging people, and getting people to think deeper; by questioning beliefs so that beliefs that are wrong or mistaken can be shed, and beliefs that are correct and stand up to questioning can be strengthened.

All protestant churches (non-Roman-Catholic churches – including Pentecostal churches like Planetshakers) came out of the Reformation – and began with Martin Luther.

The catalyst for the reformation was Martin Luther’s “Ninety-Five Theses” – which he nailed to the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Saxony (modern-day Germany).

These were 95 points for debate that criticized the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope.

The “Theses” included points criticizing practice of selling “indulgences” – the Roman Catholic Church at the time was making people PAY MONEY in order to be forgiven of their sins, and be sanctified in order to gain God’s favor and get into heaven.

You know it’s wrong, I know it’s wrong – but the average person at that time knew no better.

At the time, the Bible was written in Greek – (Martin Luther himself was responsible for the first translation into the “common man’s language”, which put the bible in everyone’s reach). So the church was able to get away with practically anything

Martin Luther, because he understood and was able to interpret the bible, and wasn’t willing to accept a bastardized version of God’s message – a version that benefited the Church financially, but was wrong biblically – so he spoke up.

His work began the reformation – and the reformation saw the Bible being translated into common languages worldwide (including the King James Version in England – which we still use today), it saw some of the greatest Christian philosophers in history (including Calvin and Luther himself), eventually led to most non-Roman-Catholic church movements (Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Anglican, Pentecostal, Revivalist, etc), and saw the church come much closer to the ideals described in the Bible.

This was one of the most influential turning points in world history, let alone Christendom.

And it came because someone spoke up when they saw something was wrong.

People accused Martin Luther of bringing about “disunity” and “dissent” – they made him an outlaw, banned his work, and called him a heretic – someone who was “of the devil”.

And in many ways he did create disunity and dissent – but he also spoke the truth.. And as a result, he did God’s work.

You see, God doesn’t call us to blind unity, for the sake of unity in the body of Christ.

Take Jesus’ example – when he came across the money-changers and herders in the temple, he angrily made a whip of cords, drove out the animals, violently turned over the tables strewing the money all over the ground…

“Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Jesus acted when he saw wrong.

Martin Luther did the same.

I’m far from anything that Jesus is, and I’m no Martin Luther either – I’m just a human, and I sin as much as the next one.

But I see things that are wrong – and I speak out too.

Just like every Christian should.

Certainly I don’t act as violently as Jesus acted, and certainly not as loudly or as controversially as Martin Luther – but I speak out and act nonetheless.

Is it wrong that I should speak?

Just as one example – In the Bible, Paul writes (in 1 Cor. 14:27-28):

27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

So is it wrong if I were to question whether or not we are justified in God when Senior Pastor Sam Evans speaks in tongues at the end of worship at Planetshakers (with no interpretation), and encourages others to join in?

Is it wrong that I question Planetshakers for claiming they had nothing to do with Mike Guglielmucci for the past 18 months, and distancing themselves from him, when it was clear that his cancer lie started while he was at Planetshakers 22 months prior?

Is it wrong that I look around and see hurting people and people with weak faith, and question what pastoral care these people receive when their small-group leaders aren’t skilled enough to help, don’t recognize the problem, or are too busy to do anything?

Is it wrong to wonder why people cheer loudly when a preacher is “on a roll” in his sermon, or when a superstar preacher’s name is flashed on the giant screens – and wonder whether people’s focus is on Jesus or the Church? And similarly, wonder whether the church is focussed more on growth, or building deep relationships between churchgoers and Jesus?

Planetshakers is a good church – but Planetshakers is not the way, the truth and the life – Jesus is.

So when the church falls short (like we all do) – who questions?

Or are we so blindly following Planetshakers that we forget to follow Jesus?

The most frustrating part is how blindly people will follow – without questioning anything at all.

In fact, some people are willing to go to any extreme – just so long as you don’t disagree, have a different opinion, or question a belief.

• I can live with people hating me;
• I can live with people calling me every name they can think of (which is part of the reason why I’m now moderating slanderous posts so heavily);
• I can live with people signing my email address up to spam email services (it’s started happening lately – I got the opt-in messages to prove it);
• I can live with people trying to hack into my email account to stop this blog (it’s happened 8 times so far – I’ve got the password reset messages to prove it);
• I can live with people trying to silence this blog by trying to gain access into the admin panel (it’s happened 5 times so far – again, got the password reset messages…);

But why would a Christian do any of this, instead of just speaking the truth?

I assume that these people are Christians if they are offended by what I might say – but whoever they are, why would they choose to act out of hatred or malice, and want to be slanderous and hurtful and attack me rather than simply disproving me – if I am so obviously wrong in what I might write.

But the surprising (and at times frustrating) part for me is how little some christians seem to want to do anything – just so long as they don’t have to think for themselves.

Even when something is so opposed, so contradictory to what is in the Bible – when the shepherd might be leading them astray – they seem to simply follow.

For unity, perhaps.

• Perhaps I’m dealing with deep-ingrained and evil spiritual forces that are much greater than me and this blog.
• Perhaps I’m just encountering Christian zealots who believe what I’m doing is wrong – but don’t have the biblical knowledge to potentially see where I might be right, or if I’m wrong to disprove me.
• Perhaps they believe that if I’m wrong and evil, acting against me in any way is justified – even if the action they take might be sinful itself.
• Perhaps their faith is weak, and rather than building their faith on the rock (Jesus) they have built it in Planetshakers – so anything that questions Planetshakers also questions (and shakes) their faith.
• Perhaps I’m missing something.

I don’t know.

I don’t know what good this blog will do – but surely any sense of accountability, debate, and questioning beliefs in order to find the truth is a good thing, because it means we’re vigilant – and if we’re vigilant (as the Bible says) we avoid being led astray, and we avoid trouble from our enemies.

Surely our faith is strong enough for us to ask questions.

Surely our faith is strong enough that we’re willing to be vigilant, rather than blindly follow a church because… well, just because.

As I said at the start of this post…

Asking questions; being public and open; engaging people, getting people to think deeper; questioning beliefs so that beliefs that are wrong or mistaken can be shed, and beliefs that are correct and stand up to questioning can be strengthened – surely this is good, and not bad.

Planetshakers Placing Son On Stage Too Young?

Received an interesting message via SMS.

Tomorrow’s Father’s Day church service at Planetshakers will feature 3 generations of the Evans family… Including Russell Evans’ eldest child, Jonathan (still primary school aged).

I wonder to myself… Is this appropriate?

Obviously it would be inappropriate to have Jonathan delivering a message, because 1 Timothy speaks against promoting novice pastors.

But is it also inappropriate to be placing the child on a pedestal alongside his revered father and grandfather?

I can’t help but think of Mike Guglielmucci, and the shame and torment that began for him at a slightly older age. Surely some of this was caused by the expectations he felt he had to live up to, as we heard that he bottled his sins up inside, put his best foot forward – while suffering horrible physical and emotional symptoms.

While every good parent (and I don’t doubt Russell Evans is a good parent) wants to build their child’s self esteem, and lift up their son and say “This is my son, in whom I am proud” – it seems unnecessary and potentially harmful…

… And yet again, it takes the focus off Jesus and places it on the Superstars of Planetshakers – in this case, the Evans Family.

When is someone ready for leadership?

“The Doctor” posts an interesting series of ponderings:

A few things I have been pondering on …

Firstly, 1 Timothy contains instruction that would encourage elders (pastors) to be appointed who are not young men – promote not a novice. From what I have read although Timothy is referred to as a yound man, he was probably in his late twenties or early thirties … How old was Michael when he was appointed and annointed for minsitry?
Whilst there may be a case for the appoinment of some young men such as Timothy the clear injunction for the church (and Senior Pastors who seem to have two votes on most eldership boards) is not to appoint too early, take time to observe character – not charisma! And of course the family name seems to open doors that are often closed to other “lesser lights”.

Secondly, it seems to me that bad teaching plays a part in leading to this type of behaviour. After all having to acknowledge sin as a habitual problem in your life is considered amongst those who have it “all together” as a sign of weakness. The magic formula works for us (your peers in ministry), it should work for you. If it doesn’t then the problem is yours – you are not doing it right, not trying hard enough, or let’s maximise the guilt and shame by saying, you just don’t have enough faith brother! After all what place does weakness have in this type modern derivative of Christianity influenced heavily with a KINGDOM NOW Theology. That is, ALL of heaven is mine to enjoy NOW, in this life, right NOW – healing NOW, sinless perfection NOW, financial prosperity NOW, success in all I do NOW.

Thirdly, we as Christians are called to forgive and distribute mercy as freely as we have received it. We are all sinners and can bring the name of Christ into disrepute through our actions. The tragedy in Michaels case is the tremendously damaging effects of such a public fall from grace – it magnifies the reproach to the name of Christ because of the media and internet.

In closing, this is a timely reminder of the days in which we live where in the last days men will fall away because of iniquity. Therefore we should exhort each other to live a life that honours Christ and His holy Name, rather than the modern approach which exalts charismatic men and makes idols of them. Rather than the greatest shall be your servant we now have the servant shall become your master.

Honour and Serve Your King, and keep your “lesser light” shining !!!!

The question “The Doctor” raises about the right age for ministry is interesting. There’s no shortage of young leaders within Planetshakers – Russell Evans, Mike Guglielmucci and many more Planetshakers began working in ministry at reletively young ages.

Yet again, read this post at face value.

I have more questions than answers.

It’s just a shame that the culture of Planetshakers discourages discussion of these sorts of questions…

The Blessings of Prominent Pastors, Todd Bentley, and Mike Guglielmucci

I saw this image today on the blog of prominent Hillsong/Pentecostal critic,Tanya Levin:

The picture of Mike Guglielmucci being prayed for by the AOG Executive reminded me of the prominent pastors who blessed Todd Bentley, just prior to his incredible fall from grace after the Lakeland Outpouring, as a result of adultery issues (which were known among his senior leadership):

I’m not going to comment on this beyond saying that one reminded me of the other, and it’s amazing how two men who had the blessings of so many prominent pastors, fell at roughly the same time.

I’m reminded of Dutch Sheet’s comments, following the Florida Outpouring:

We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or spiritual maturity.)

Just for the record… I disagree with most things that Tanya Levin says on her blog, believe she’s wrong and defamatory in her views that liken AOG leaders to the mafia (although her testimony of Hillsong does include stories of abuses of power and thuggery of Hillsong leaders, which is the likely reason). However, that’s beside the point…

By the way – who are the pastors interceding for Mike Guglielmucci? It looks like – Brian Houston, Alun Davies (or possibly Wayne Alcorn), Ashley Evans (Russell Evans’ brother and son of Andrew Evans), Steve Penny, and (judging by the bald head, which is our only clue) Ian Woods.

Edit: It’s obvious that in the Mike Guglielmucci photo that they’re praying for healing from cancer – but this isn’t a crippled man (Acts 3:1-10) laying at the gates of the temple – this on the stage, at the Assemblies of God in Australia National Conference, and a certain level of endorsement comes with this type of display.

Planetshakers: Pastoral Care, The Power of Confession

“Pillars are Just Crutches” is a former YWAM missionary, current Bible College student who (like many Christian Bloggers) has been watching the Michael Guglielmucci saga.

He blogs on The power of pornography and the power of confession:

There is nothing that will destroy a man more quietly than shame.

There is nothing that a man will avoid more than shame.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the source of Mike Guglielmucci’s fall. It’s an all too common threat, especially since the internet, that has deceived many young Christians. What is the deception? Just one look.

What young men and women don’t understand is that once is never enough, and the enemy of our souls knows and understands this. And in a Christian culture where there is a lot of shame attached to sexual sin, and especially pornography, that shame is more of a stumbling block to healing than the actual sin itself.

There is something particularly powerful that a lot of Christian do not do. Maybe because they think it’s Catholic, maybe because they think that it’s between them and God, maybe because they’re ashamed to do it so they use the other 2 excuses. Christians do not confess things to each other.

I’m not talking about confessing to anyone. It should be someone you completely trust and someone who is godly and mature. It may be a good friend or a pastor, or an elder in your church, ask someone. Nothing will kill shame faster like confessing it to a godly person, asking God for forgiveness and then praying together.

Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. (James 5:1)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 8:1)

Can we really blame Mike Guglielmucci for not confessing his addiction to pornography sooner?

Had he confessed – what would have happened to him?

I expect he would have had a lot of fear… That he would lose everything he’d worked so hard for – everything that God had entrusted to him – his own good reputation included.

After all, as Dutch Sheets referred to, in pentecostal churches, “looking on the inside” is rare – so what would have happened if Mike Guglielmucci had have showed his sin?

We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. Frankly, we often don’t even try to discern. We assume a person’s credibility based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. (Miracles and signs are intended to validate God and His message, not the messenger; sometimes they validate the assignment of an individual, but never the person’s character, lifestyle or spiritual maturity.)

We know how ruthless and unforgiving Christians can be to one another…

But would it have mattered?

Would Mike Guglielmucci’s confession to a smaller sin, even in September 2006 (just prior to the cancer story/myth/deception, but still while he was under Planetshakers’ authority) – would this have ended it all before it got “out of hand”?

My point remains – Planetshakers needs true pastoring, where we might receive a soft shoulder, insightful word, caring teacher, probing question or a firm rebuke…

Delegating authority to one man (Urban Life Group Coordinator, Ben Fewster), who in turn delegates authority to dozens of small group leaders who aren’t trained or skilled in pastoral care – what hope is there for the broken, the misguided, the hurt or those lacking in faith.

Planetshakers – please shepherd your flock!

I’m going to finish on a comment from “Julia”:

It´s sad that Planetshakers reaction is: Mike didn’t work here anymore, we didn’t know about it, etc etc. In other words: “DON’T BLAME US”. It seems like that’s all they care about.

Mike was involved with them for a long time, during his addiction. In those 16 years of his addiction, he didn’t feel safe enough to find ONE person to tell the truth to.

In my opinion, everyone who was involved in Mike’s life, ESPECIALLY church leaders (but also his family & friends-but I’m sure they already do that), should examine right now if they contributed to an environment where Mike was put on a pedestal, where there was no accountability and where there was no safe place for him to admit his addiction.
Planetshakers was a big part of his life, and they shouldn’t be thinking about their reputation, they should very very seriously analyse if they worried enough about their pastoral care and how this could have happened.

That’s the saddest part for me, that he felt like he had to carry this burden alone for 16 years, that just speaks volumes to me.

Have You Seen This Man: Russell Evans, Planetshakers Senior Pastor

The title of this post is tongue-in-cheek, but the question remains… Have you met Pastor Russell Evans?

I was asked today (via email) whether I had met Russell before.

It was a relatively pointed question – the person asked whether he was out amongst his flock, as a shepherd should be – whether he was serving his church.

It made me realize…

No, I hadn’t..

Neither have any of my friends at Planetshakers.

In fact, the only people who I’d met who have met Pastor Russell Evans are in senior leadership positions throughout the church.

I’ve never seen him in the foyer after sermons either… He just, sort-of… disappears…

I realize he’s wanting to build his church through “disciples”, just as Jesus did, but even Jesus walked among his flock.

Is my experience uncommon? Have you met Pastor Russell Evans?

I would be happy if I heard otherwise from hundreds of other Planetshakers members – but it was only that someone brought it up that I came to think how odd it was.

Planetshakers Dilemma?: Quality of Belief over Quantity of Believers?

Planetshakers boasts to be one of the fastest growing AOG churches in history.

Let’s flip that coin for a moment…

Mike Yaconelli (until his death in a car accident in 2003) claimed to have “…the slowest growing church in America” in Yreka, California, and wrote several popular books for youth leaders.

Here’s a quote that was left on this blog, from Contemplative Youth Ministry by Mike Yaconelli.

“Remember always that human need is infinite, and that the number 5 bears the same relationship to infinity as does the number 5 million.

Therefore, wise persons are going to make conscious decisions that have a qualitative impact on infinity rather than a quantitative one”

Planetshakers, Mega-Churches: Small Problems Get Amplified into Big Ones?

I received an interesting comment from someone named “Heimi” today. I don’t agree with everything that Heimi says, but I think Heimi raises some interesting points that deserve consideration:

Hi,

A ‘big thanks!’ for hosting this blog and giving a platform for Christians and non-Christians to critique the mega-church phenomenon called Planetshakers.

Doubtless some comments will fall into the ‘gossip’ and ‘criticizing’ form. The reality is gossip and criticism already exists whether we like it or not. And yes, perpetrated by Christians and Planetshaker members themselves. It happens when churches get too big and doesn’t have time to listen.

The point is it is not always gossip and criticism. In fact, the majority of genuine believers hold fast to the ideal of not gossiping and criticizing. Many (wrongly) stifle hurt and pain in order to keep this commandment. And consequently, this has led to a situation where we play dumb, stay mute, close a blind eye when we should have spoken out about things that are unacceptable, ungodly and plain old wrong but done in the name of Jesus. (see Todd Bentley fiasco)

With megachurches, there is the amplified dimension of human pride. The bigger we get, the more humble we should be. Theoretically. But in the last few years, we’re noticing this ‘anomaly’: certain celebrity pastors getting less and less humble and more and more off-base. The way they carry themselves, the way they live, their outlook on materialism, the way they handle disagreement and dissenting opinion, they way they promote leadership, they way they relate to the ordinary believer on a day to day basis – it doesn’t tally with the Bible.

Within the Pentecostal churches, it is not uncommon to hear tales of pastors saying ’sorry mate, you don’t like the way we do things here, go somewhere else…’ or ‘.. too bad.’ Tragically, such anecdotes aren’t coming from non-believers, the immature in the Lord, or troublemakers just out for a stir-up. They are coming from Christians who have served faithfully, with a proven record of keeping God’s commandments, and are part of a long-term commitment to the fellowship.

We all suspected in mega-churches it’d be more and more difficult for people to go to a senior pastor to talk things out. We just didn’t realize how bad it’d be.

This scenario is now common:

The Senior Pastor is too busy being top cat. His corporate duties, his evangelistic ministry to countries on the other side of the globe, his speaking engagements, his book signings, his concert tours, his obligations to secular politics.

He thinks he can solve the problem by appointing assistants and home group leaders. So he appoints dozens of them.

Problem solved? No way! What happens is in fact the man has now placed himself in a glass bubble. He is surrounded by a massive structure, echelon-upon-echelon of secondary leaders, associates and assistant pastors (quite often aggressive young bucks who mistake ‘aggressiveness’ for ‘passion’).

These secondary leaders, being human, are incapable and untrained to communicate accurately just exactly what a lamb is saying to its shepherd. It is the proverbial pass-the-message-down-the-chain-gang parlour game. Then some assistant leader will have his own agenda, or, out of good intentions, decides it’s better not to convey the message at all. Hence, we have censorship of communication.

A few years down the road, what is essentially a small problem becomes a ridiculously big one. People are hurt, people leave. Or some lamb self-implodes. And kills half a dozen sheep standing nearby. And the Senior Pastor sits in his little study and wonders why. All along, he’s thinking he’s doing a fantastic job: the sheep are well fed, feeding on the right grain, ready to reproduce healthy and robust kids in springtime. Can it be true, he thinks, is half the flock dying, some are being chased by wolves, some are eating grain but purging everything out because it doesn’t agree with their stomach, can it be?

Micheal Guglielmucci isn’t a phenomenon. He is indeed the making of a megachurch who isn’t listening as well as it should be.

I think blogs such as this one are crucial to keep megachurches listening to some frank talk because for a long time, there has been no other way.

This believer supports blogs!

Interesting food for thought.

Planetshakers: Triple J Wants To Interview You

I’ve received several emails from David, Producer of John Safran’s show “Sunday Night Safran” on ABC’s National Youth Radio Station, Triple J.

Triple J wants to interview a Young Person from Planetshakers to get an honest insight into what it’s like to be a part of Planetshakers City Church in Melbourne.

Unfortunately, Planetshakers is no longer available to do this interview – the interview is being recorded very soon – and I’m not 100% comfortable about doing it myself.

That’s why Jon Safran’s producer, David, asked me to ask if anyone was interested in filling the gap:

I produce Sunday Night Safran on Triple J. We have a weekly segment called Religious Song Of The Week. Healer my Michael Guglielmucci made headlines all over the world this week so this week it will be Religious song of the week.

A lot of people would have heard about Planet Shakers for the first time in relation to this story, so I would like to speak to a Young person involved in Planet Shakers so they can explain what Planet Shakers is all about it is all about. Why it’s fun, what makes it different etc etc. It would also be good to talk about the role music plays at Planet Shakers. It will be a really short interview, like 2 to 3 minutes on the phone.

Please give me a call asap if you are able to talk to us. I’ll be working late tonight. My number is 03 9626 1950

David

(If you’re lucky, you might even get to ask John Safran off-air about his exorcism experience in his TV series exploring religion) 😉

ACC / AOG focus not on Jesus

Received an email from someone whose identity I promised I wouldn’t reveal, due to the sensitive nature of their position in the church.

I received permission to publish some parts of the email, and wanted to share it with you in a way this person couldn’t themselves.

When the news started breaking last week, my reaction was total disbelief at first. How could such a situation have slipped under the radar? How could so many of the “best and brightest” lights of the ACC movement have gotten caught up in something so awful and so outrageous?

Well, I agree with your question on the blog … Is Church Culture To Blame? … and the answer to that, after much reflection, is a YES. But its much bigger than being a Planetshakers issue. The ACC itself exhibits some characteristics which are unhealthy, some of which you have already documented, such as:

— a “cult of personality” revolving around leaders of big churches
— a “don’t question the leadership or our direction” attitude
— treating all criticism as negativity, and thereby dismissing it
— focus gradually moving from content to presentation style
— a complete obsession with numbers (i.e. how many people, how many churches)

The “don’t talk” rule which is in operation, which prevents healthy questioning and criticism from coming to the fore, would have prevented anyone with a question or critcism of the Mike G scenario from coming forward. Nobody would have listened, and would have dismissed the questioner as being negative, pulling down God’s annointed leadership, etc etc.

Healthy critical analysis is essential to preventing us from slipping into error, or falling into a trap. Without it, we are accountable to nobody and are therefore prone to error

WHAT TO DO?

Our National Executive need to take a step back from the particulars of this situation and have a look at our culture. In particular, they need to consider whether the pendulum of “leadership” has swung too far and needs some correction. Such change can only come from the top. So I pray that they will have both wisdom and courage enough to confront ACC culture and take corrective action where it is needed.

If we think the problem (Mike G) is the problem, we’re wrong … its a symptom and a warning shot across our bows.

There is one answer, and one answer only: Jesus!

Any time our focus is drawn away from him and on to “the church” or “numbers” or “leadership” or “worship” or “building the kingdom” or whatever, then we’re missing the point. Our focus is Jesus, and everything else stems from that personal relationship we have with him.

For the most part, I’ve left my own personal convictions out of this blog and taken a questioning and soul-searching approach.

However, I have to agree with this email.

It’s my hope too that focus is no longer on leaders, or numbers, or sound and light shows – but on Jesus, and developing deep personal relationships with Him (in the Trinity) through the Holy Spirit.

Final Note: As I’m pressing “Publish” on this, I’m thinking about Planetshakers being the fastest growing AOG church in history. Perhaps God chose Planetshakers to stumble in order to highlight the problem with focussing on the numbers, and not focussing on Jesus.

Planetshakers Difficult Choice: How To Respond on Sunday?

This Sunday will be a big day at Planetshakers City Church, which is meeting at Melbourne Town Hall.

Guest speaker, Ps Glen Berteau, has been invited to speak at Planetshakers City Church. So Planetshakers will need to be sensitive about giving their invited guest a chance to speak.

But this is poor timing for Planetshakers.

At a time when they need to deal with the fall-out caused by Michael Guglielmucci’s fraudulent cancer claims, effort, time and care needs to put into dealing with the anger, resentment, disappointment that has been caused by the revelation of Michael Guglielmucci’s lie.

Particularly as most Planetshakers members will have had a close emotional experience with Michael – through his music, through his influence as Youth Pastor, through his altar calls where many young Planetshakers made their first decisions for Christ, and through prayer for Michael Guglielmucci’s healing.

So how much time will Planetshakers leadership dedicate to pastorally caring for their flock in the wake of Mike Guglielmucci’s lie, and how much of the stage will go to a man who by most accounts is an outsider to the church’s daily activities, Glen Berteau, as a result of their commitment to their guest remains to be seen.

Surely any sermon on healing should come from Planetshakers leadership itself, rather than a man who, while being involved with the church, is not within Planetshakers leadership.

I read in the news:

“…A statement about the preacher, who is the son of the founder of the Edge Church at Reynella in Adelaide, will be read at churches on Sunday.”

This would be an appropriate response to churches that had known of Mike…

…but for his home church, this would be a disappointing and underwhelming response if Planetshakers ignored people’s hurt and coldly kept to a prepared written statement.

With team of three pastoral carers, serving a church that boasts membership in the mid single digit thousands, and small groups run by leaders whose core skills and training are not around pastoral care, pastoral care at the best of times is not Planetshakers strong suit.

Given current difficulties, it will be interesting to see how the shepherds tend to a flock of disappointed, angry and philosophical people who are all searching for answers in a time of difficult faith.

I’m sure they’ll do more than simply reading a statement; but will they choose to ask their guest to step down so that they can more personally and effectively deal with the hurt and anguish their flock is facing themselves?

Why Blog This?

I blog about Planetshakers City Church because I feel passionately about the church.

There’s so much it does so well.

However, in the light of recent incidents, and my growing un-ease around current church culture (around areas that will turn cancerous if left unchecked during Planetshakers’ rapid growth), it’s time to start an intelligent conversation about the church.

Why online? Why not quietly, and within the church itself?

Unfortunately, current Planetshakers church culture doesn’t take kindly to any level of questioning. Questioning is seen as disunity, and disunity is subversive, and subversiveness is a cancer, and cancers should be cut out of the church.

So it’s because I like Planetshakers, I want to remain at the church, but I want to see positive improvements to church culture, that I’ve taken my musings online.