Francis Chan

Eph 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.


***Update***

November 7,2019:

Bible teacher and best-selling author Francis Chan announced he will be moving to Asia in February to be a missionary and challenged other Christians to ask themselves if they, too, are willing to boldly follow God’s call on their life. ~Christian Post

CNN reports :

“Even in my own church I heard the words, ‘Francis Chan’ more than I heard the words, ‘Holy Spirit’,” he said.

That was a big part of the reason he walked away at the peak of his professional career.

“I think there has been too much emphasis on me. I want to be used by God, but I think we have this desire to make heroes out of people rather than following God and the Holy Spirit.”

End quote.

The Holy Spirit? The emphasis should be on Christ, not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ Jesus, and Christ Jesus glorifies the Father. Chan's concern about "The Holy Spirit" being talked about seems more along the lines of a Charismatic view than a biblical view. And I'm not saying we don't talk about what the Spirit of God is doind in our lives. But to have that be the focus instead of a man, is still not the right emphasis. In addition, for most men, being a pastor is a career, not a calling. You can quit a career, you can't quit the calling God has called you to.

And if he's so done with all that, then why is he still speaking around the us? Just like Piper...quit, but not totally---give it "all" up, but not really. This is fake humility. If he wants it to not be about him, then no more interviews, no more speaking engagements, no more books, and no more DVDs (and yup that's his latest angle).

More concerns: he claims he never made more than $36,000 which I don't believe, not in Simi Valley California, and not including all his speaking engagements, the Seminary of which he is president (the dude has enough money and time to spend on a surfboard and trapse around to go surfing--or was that just another gimmick for his dvd "Just Stop and Think" that they sent out to thousands of homes in Simi Valley?). Why is he so proud of how "little" he made? Why is he letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing?

"Chan plans to return to the states in January. He is already scheduled to appear at the Passion Conference in Atlanta, which has drawn a crowd of more than 20,000 in the past, and do a stint in the chapel at the NBA All-Star game in February."

See? If he's trying to escape being a celebrity "Christian" then why does he continue to feed the monster?

These celebrity "pastors" whine about being a celebrity, when they are the ones that fed into the whole thing by selling books and going on national or even international speaking engagements. Part of the problem is that they aren't shepherding their own flock...they are feeding their egos by going everywhere else...seminaries (don't we have enough of these man-centered things?), youth conferences, Emergent conferences, Desiring-I-Don't-Know-What-Kind -Of-God Conferences, book writing, etc., instead of sitting still and feeding his own flock. If you don't write books and go on speaking engagements, then you won't get "famous". Yeah, you'll "just" be a pastor. That's not too exciting for some who easily get bored apparently.

Flashback to April 2010:

Quote:

Chan made clear that his decision to depart wasn't prompted by immorality, discipline or disputes within the church. Rather, he has long felt a restlessness and stirring to let go of the church he founded 16 years ago to "do something different."

"I started to just feel too much like this earth was my home in some ways – you know you just get your roots in and get comfortable. And then I started feeling this call and there's all sorts of fears," he said.

Just five years ago, Chan was struggling with whether he was willing to completely surrender himself to God. He realized he was and was willing to go anywhere for God.

At that time, his calling was with Cornerstone Church. Today, he's feeling a tug somewhere else.
The well-known preacher is still unsure of what his next adventure will be or where God is calling him to though he's feeling drawn toward Los Angeles. Part of him wants to go somewhere where he is unknown, he said. He also has a sense that he's being called to do church differently, not necessarily with formal Sunday services.

Chan will preach at Cornerstone through the end of May and participate in speaking engagements over the summer. He then plans to take his family to a third world country – possibly Thailand – where they will care for victims of the slave trade and orphans while spending time seeking the Lord.
After a few months overseas, Chan plans to launch something new at the beginning of next year. While fearful, he expressed full trust in God.

End quote.

Sorry, but God doesn't call a pastor away from a flock like this. Chan has emphasized in youth ministry for a long time, and its not of HIM when a senior pastor wants to get out of his comfort zone--he by his own admission, has gotten bored and wants to move on to do something different. Being a pastor, a TRUE pastor IS to lay down your life for Christ Jesus and HIS sheep. Chan thinks it means giving up a house (but not speaking engagements and selling DVD's). And frankly I find it dishonest for him to whine about "stop making about ME" when HE'S the one making about him: his "little" salary, his celebrity, his comfort zone, etc. Then again that's his "gospel"---man-centered, so this is the fruit.

Contrast that to the maturity we see in someone like John MacArthur or Spurgeon, Gill, etc. Here's something interesting MacArthur said:

I am committed with all my heart to the church, and not just THE church in a generic sense, but this one. The average pastor stays in a church three years in America, just long enough to accomplish nothing. It's true. Three years. But I'll tell you one thing you do accomplish, you send a message very loud and clear to your congregation that you didn't make a commitment to that church, then try to convince them that they should for a lifetime. It's a tough sell.

In the eighteenth century in America, for example, seventeen hundreds, eighteenth century, 71 percent of pastors in that century at one church their whole life...71 percent. There was one particular church that was pastored by a father, a son and a grandson for 123 years. They only knew one family...one family. There was another church I read about in the eighteenth century where the pastor died and a young pastor came and married the widow...and so they knew that family and that new man. That was pretty typical. Men spent their entire life in the same church. Four percent of pastors in the eighteenth century had three churches. One was the norm, 71 percent. You gave your life to the church and then you could tell your people to give their life to the church. Pastoring a church wasn't climbing a ladder, it wasn't sort of a road for self-promotion. It was...it was like a marriage. In fact, when a person went to candidate at a church, the minimum stay was three months. You didn't go in there and preach two sugar-stick sermons which were a lot better than you could produce every week, and wow them, you know, with your best shot. You went for three months, maybe six months, maybe even a year. And at the end of that time they determined whether you would come. And then they had what was tantamount to a wedding and you made a commitment, a vow to the church. In today's environment there are lots of divorces. It's very hard if pastors aren't committed to local congregations to expect people to be. In fact, in some cases I think pastors move faster than people do. But this is a day of non-commitment, isn't it? This is a day of "I need my needs met." "I want fulfillment...I want to be happy," etc., etc., so we bounce along thinking we can find a more favorable place. That goes all the way down through our whole culture. Everything we do is that way and the church tends to accommodate that with a very high mobility in the pastorate and a very high mobility in the people. And even more than that, the people are looking for the briefest kind of association with the church. If you can hit me with a Sunday-night service, I'll really be happy, "one hour, I'm in there and out of there and don't mess up a whole day" mentality. And this shows up in the unwillingness of people to join the church.

End quote.


Joh 10:11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
Joh 10:12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
Joh 10:13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
Joh 10:14 "I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
Joh 10:15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.