What’s Wrong with That?

A friend encouraged me to listen to an Andy Stanley message that he had found helpful. I accidentally listened to the wrong one, then found the one he recommended. I was struck by the fact that in both messages, Stanley was well over half-way through his allotted time before he mentioned the Bible in any way. In “Paper Walls,” the recommended one, it was at minute twenty-seven of the thirty-two-minute message when the anchor Scripture was brought up. I admit to being interested with and agreeing with Stanley’s ideas up to then, but I had to ask myself if it was really a Bible sermon or just a well-presented self-help counselling session with Bible back-up.

I asked myself: what’s wrong with that? I’ve had a week or two to think about it, and I have convinced myself that on one level, there’s nothing wrong with good counsel that finds its roots in Scripture. However, my preconditioned, semantically critical self says it’s not Bible teaching. What Stanley did in the two messages I heard was what Bible scholars call eisegesis. The more acceptable form of Bible teaching employs exegesis. (Sorry for the Greek lesson, but here it comes.)

Eisegesis means to “read into” what the Scripture says. In other words, the speaker makes a point and then relates it to a passage from the Bible. He says here is something I find to be true, and here is where the Scripture supports my opinion. That may be fine if the speaker doesn’t take the passage out of context or misinterpret it in some way. Stanley tied his “Paper Walls” message to Hebrews 12:1-2 in an acceptable way – barely. The verses say, “Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us.” His message warned against making excuses for bad behavior which he identified as sin. His definition of sin was anything that causes harm to a person. Making excuses may harm the excuse-maker or those around him, so it qualifies as sin. It should be “put aside.”

What’s wrong with that? Probably nothing. It’s just that solid Bible teaching generally uses exegesis not eisegesis. This method is sometimes called expository preaching. The speaker “exposes” what the Scripture teaches; he “reads out” rather than reading into. Usually this involves using contextual references such as historical, cultural, grammatical, and literary clues. (For more see “Understanding the Bible as Literature”) What Andy Stanley (and many other televangelists) does is not pure Bible teaching; it is Bible related social or personal commentary. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want.

In the case of the “Paper Walls” message, there is nothing wrong with using a specific sin as an example and then tying it to the Bible proscription against sin. And Stanley’s message does tie properly to the Hebrews point but in a tenuous and tangential way. In fairness to Andy Stanley, I must admit that in the last five minutes of the message, he did show how this particular sin (all others as well, I may add) will damage our relationship with God. What bothered me originally was the five-minute portion of Scripture discussion tacked on to a twenty-seven minute counseling session.

This formula apparently works for Andy Stanley (and many others) as evidenced by the statistics. Outreach Magazine lists Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Church as having average weekly attendance of 22,473 at its 30 partner churches. A Wikipedia article lists attendance at 38,589. (His messages are simulcast to the partner churches.) If numbers were the only measure of ministry success, this would be a stellar confirmation. If revenue were the measure, it is worth noting that Andy’s net worth is above $50 million with an annual salary of $3 million. The Stanley family business, In Touch Ministries, also scores well with $97 million in income for 2019. Andy’s father, the famous Charles Stanley, though retired still works thirty hours per week to earn an annual salary of $530,225. Note that average pastor salary in the US is between $85-117,000 per year, with many making far less than average.

I am going to make my own Bible reference now quoting Paul’s letter to the Philippians regarding contemporary preachers who had questionable motives. Paul said, “What is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.” I guess my attitude should be to say if a few dozen pastors are raking in astronomical salaries, what’s wrong with that if the gospel is proclaimed.

Here’s what feels wrong. Throughout the “Paper Walls” message, Stanley repeatedly said that he did not know his audience; he did not even know if they were believers. This is no surprise. Studies suggest that a pastor can only minister effectively to about 100 people. This would suggest that 22-38,000 people are beyond Andy Stanley’s reach as a “pastor.”  This might also explain current statistics on church size. According to Lifeway Research, “While the average U.S. congregations gathers in a building that seats around 200, only 65 attend the median church each week. This means that half of all churches have fewer than 65 people in their weekly worship service.” Seven of ten churches have fewer than 100 attendees at weekly services.

I believe Andy Stanley and those like him fall into a class of minister not imagined in the Bible. While it’s true Jesus did speak to large crowds on occasion, feeding 5,000 and 4,000 on two occasions, He generally worked best one-on-one or with small groups. The Samaritan woman, the Centurion, Zacchaeus, His twelve disciples were the common audiences the Son of God taught. Again, at the founding of the church, Peter did address upwards of 3,000 people, but throughout the book of Acts, the missionary audiences were likely similar to today’s average church – far less than 100 at the largest.

My intention is not to disparage or incite jealousy of mega-church leaders. If God is using them to grow His kingdom, what’s wrong with that? My point is that “real” church ministry takes place on a much smaller scale than that at which the Stanleys of the world operate. As I wrote in Lead a Horse to Water, the Great Commission commands every believer to make disciples, teaching them all that Jesus commanded. We don’t need simulcasting and Internet connectivity to do that. We just need the willingness to do what Jesus commanded: live our lives as disciple-making examples of His love. People may not come in droves to that, but if each one reaches one, look what happens. What’s wrong with that?