Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pastor Andy Stanley Responds to Questions Over Homosexuality Stance.
WELS Babtist Hero Typical Emergent Leftist


'Fighting for the Faith'/Chris Rosebrough's latest podcast lays out that Peter Drucker's leadership of the Emergent Church isn't due to Drucker's creation of management techniques applied to Church Growth Movement. I'd believed that, that the Emergents were merely applying management techniques to 'best grow' the church. Doctrine isn't necessary, after all, if you're just trying to fill the seats with creative marketing of sex sermons and rock n roll.

Instead, Drucker's background is that he was raised in Vienna between the Wars; his father giving weekly dinner parties for the intellectuals. Drucker adhered to Post-Enlightenment, truly fascist principles. There is no individual, just community. In America he tried to build the corporation as community. Failing to realize his social change through business, he turned to churches. (The smallest unit of society is the organization, not the individual. The smallest unit of church is the cell group, not the member.) Is it a surprise that Immanuel Kant was a Lutheran Pietist? Mark Driscoll: We shouldn't sing, 'Jesus love me, this I know.' It should be, 'Jesus loves us.' Rick Warren: "In order to make the church grow you must change the role of pastor from minister to leader." "Deeds not creeds." "Heart knowledge, not head knowledge." (Postmodernism/ truth is unknowable.) "Plurality of truth." Perry Noble: "You want to go deeper into Scriptures? You're only as deep as the last person you served. Let's check your tithing record to see how deep you are. Deep? Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience anyway."

So what is one effect of all these Führers running churches? If a member disagrees with the vision of the Führer, he is to be exiled from the community.


Ski is in a rapture with Andy Stanley, on the far left.
Eight WELS workers attended one of the Drive conferences.

Buske, Changer, with Andy Stanley, left.



Pastor Andy Stanley Responds to Questions Over Homosexuality Stance:


Pastor Andy Stanley recently left some Christians questioning his stance on homosexuality after preaching a message on grace and truth that included an account of a gay couple last month. He told The Christian Post he may issue a statement in the near future.


(Photo: North Point via The Christian Post)
Pastor Andy Stanley preaches at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., March 11, 2012.

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In the meantime, he pointed people to his 8-part message series on what it means to be Christian, which concludes this Sunday.

"We are requesting that everyone watch the entire series: Christian. It concludes this Sunday. It's 8 parts. That's a lot of content to wade through. But I figure that's better than a sound bite or an interview," Stanley, who leads North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Ga., said in an email to CP.

The sermon in question was delivered on April 15, titled "When Gracie Met Truthy." While preaching on the tension between grace and truth ("the truth is 'you're a sinner,' and the grace is 'I don't condemn you'"), Stanley told the story of a divorced couple who formerly attended North Point together. They separated after the woman's husband began a same-sex relationship with another man, who was still married to a woman.

The man and his partner wanted to serve as volunteers at the church, but Stanley explained that the two men were committing adultery since one of them did not finalize his divorce yet and thus could not serve as volunteers.

The "messy" story, as Stanley described it, ends with the gay couple, the first man's ex-wife and their child, as well as her new boyfriend and his child from another relationship, all coming together to worship together at a big service at North Point Church. The pastor refers to them as an example of a modern day family. Christians, he said, are called not only to hold on to the truth, but also to grace which includes forgiveness and love.

That message prompted a few Christian leaders, including Dr. Albert Mohler of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, to ponder whether Stanley was condemning only adultery and not homosexuality.

"Stanley clearly and repeatedly stressed the sin of adultery, but then left the reality of the homosexual relationship between the two men unaddressed as sin," Mohler wrote on his blog this week. "To the contrary, he seemed to normalize their relationship. They would be allowed to serve on the host team if both were divorced. The moral status of their relationship seemed to be questioned only in terms of adultery, with no moral judgment on their homosexuality."

Dan Delzell, pastor of Wellspring Lutheran Church in Papillion, Neb., also commented that Stanley seemed to send "mixed messages."

Both Mohler and Delzell are hoping the Georgia pastor will clarify his stance and "affirm the biblical declaration of the sinfulness of homosexual behavior, even as he preaches the forgiveness of sin in any form through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ," as Mohler stated.

The first seven parts of Stanley's "Christian" sermon series are available for viewing on North Point's official website. His story about the "modern day family" begins half-way through Part 5: "When Gracie Met Truthy."


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GJ - Click on this link for many posts about WELS' love affair with Andy Stanley.