I have to be honest with you. All the hype about megachurches and church growth strategies and vision statements and Purpose-Driven™ whatever is really getting thin with me. For awhile there, I was intrigued by churches like Willow Creek Community Church and Saddleback Church; and I have to admit, those churches are pretty intriguing. There’s nothing wrong with looking at those churches and seeing what God is doing. There’s nothing wrong with going to conferences and stuff.

But the obsession has to stop. In the 1960’s, everyone wanted to be Jack Hyles. In the 70’s, it was Jerry Falwell. In the 80’s, Bill Hybels became the golden-haired boy; and then it was Rick Warren. Now, there are so many I can’t count them. People want to be Joel Osteen, Rob Bell and whoever will be the Christian world’s best seller next year. No one wants to be the servant of God especially designed and wired to serve his body. No one wants to lead a small group of people who love Jesus. Everyone wants the big church; the multi-site ministry; the multi-tiered small group ministry; the huge conference; the book deal.

And on the other side of things are all of these guys who are so stubborn and set in their 1950’s (or earlier) ways that they believe anyone who doesn’t have an altar call or Sunday School at 9:45AM or an evening service is a heretic on par with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They haven’t changed a lick since they graduated from whatever Podunk Bible college gave them a piece of paper that made them feel self-important; and they never will. They preach from a shallow reservoirs of sermon topics (easily summarized as #1 – Get saved; #2 – Get right; #3 – Get others saved; and #4 – Don’t have sex until your married and even then, only when you have to); and their theology hasn’t been tested since before the invention of the moveable type printing press.

Am I the only pastor out there who thinks all of this is just a little crazy – just a little? Sometimes I wonder if I am, if I really am. Yes, I was enamored with both sides of things. I grew up in the latter and for awhile pursued the former. But ultimately, I had to decide if I was going to do what God wanted me to do or what men wanted me to do.

This was brought home this afternoon, as I sat at lunch with some of my closest friends in the ministry. All they can talk about is this strategy or that strategy. Right now, the current rage is Simple Church by Thom Rainer. “Oh,” they say, “We need to create a transformation path and just keep things simple.” Is this supposed to be something new? Do we really owe Thom Rainer for the greatest innovation since God made woman? Honestly, didn’t Jesus figure this out a long time ago? And didn’t he do it without Zondervan Publishers and Powerpoint presentations? He didn’t need surveys or cool graphs to know that keeping the main thing the main thing is the best way to do ministry.

BUT – WHAT IS THE MAIN THING!?! See, that’s the problem.

At the same meeting, another dear friend talked almost fawningly about Joel Osteen and Lakewood Church. “Forty-two THOUSAND people every weekend,” he muttered with awe not unlike that which men experience every time Beyonce Knowles shows up on the television. So what? Osteen preaches the same sermon every Sunday. “God wants you to prosper and be happy.” And that sermon is at odds with the counsel of God’s Word. God’s Word shows us suffering, difficulty, challenge, sacrifice. I’m not saying Osteen isn’t my Christian brother, but he falls short of the full truth of the Christian life and is misleading those 42,000 people if they believe the Christian life is all about rose gardens and BMW’s.

The main thing is this – God SPOKE and IS SPEAKING. The main thing is the Word of God, and the main topic of the Word of God is Jesus Christ. That’s it.

Someone asked me recently, “Don’t you want your church to grow?” And I instinctively responded, “Of course I do.” But I have started to reflect on that answer, and you know what? I’m not sure my answer was correct. In the first place, the church is not about what I want. In the second place, to do God’s will is what I should want for the church and nothing else.

Our church has faced tremendous difficulty over the past five years. We have been growing in a strange and amazing and unique way. Things are happening that are refining us for God’s purpose. Would we like to grow? Of course; but what is more important is that we have a total commitment to God’s Word.

You know what? I don’t give a flying flip about whether we do what anyone else is doing. Our church doesn’t look or smell like any successful church I’ve ever encountered. We do things differently; and we’re going to keep doing that because that’s our DNA – that’s who God is making us. And if that bothers people – good. Maybe it will make the traditionalist stop listening to their past and start looking to their future. Maybe it will make the consumers of the church growth books realize that what is more important than anything else is not drafting your vision statement, but doing God’s stated vision.

I’ve shied away from being vocal about all of this, but it is just getting on my nerves. I am tired of living up to men’s expectations. We know what needs to be done. There’s no reason not to do it, and do it with everything we are.