He pastored a 4,000-member church in California. He was a sought-after speaker at major conferences, wrote two best-sellers and launched a DVD teaching series.Read the rest of the story at the link. I think a lot of people are expecting some sort of scandal to pop up, but after reading the piece I think this guy just decided to re-prioritize his ministry. Nothing wrong with that.
Then he abruptly resigned and left the country.
But in Francis Chan’s unexpected journey there apparently is no hidden scandal, no money trail, and no ‘other’ woman.
“I just want to disappear for a while,” he said in late September as he prepared to leave Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California for an undisclosed location in Asia.
Before selling his house and packing up his wife and three children, Chan was becoming “Christian famous” in Evangelical circles.
“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.”
He quotes the apostle Paul, who told his followers “I didn’t die for you.”
In his world of big conference crowds, multiple services each week, and instant access to social media, the notion of pastoral care had begun to change. His fame was straining his work as a pastor.
“When there is a large constituency, there’s a lot of voices,” he said. “It makes you arrogant or it makes you want to shoot yourself. When thousands of people tell you what they think, how can I be quick to listen, like the Bible says? I don’t want to be a jerk and tune everyone out. At the same time you, can’t love every single person and answer them.”
So after lots of prayer and soul searching, Chan decided it was best to leave the church, country, and Internet behind to focus on serving others one-on-one.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Pastor Abruptly Leaves Megachurch Ministry, But You Won't Find a Scandal
You'll just find a guy who found himself becoming bigger than the ministry and he didn't like it:
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6 comments:
Uh, so basically the guy has reached his personal level of dysfunction?
Then by his justification for leaving, the next pastor is just a self-absorbed knucklehead that's just fine with ignoring his flock, or being arrogant, or being self-loathing; whatever it takes to pastor a church of 4,000?
Obviously the man's motives for ministry sucked from the beginning and/or he really hates people in the first place, and they bug him to the point of distraction.
He's probably in the center of God's will "finally," because God tends to flatten out the earth over time by moving people around.
Pastoral ministry, regardless of size, is a calling, mission and a cause. When it ceases to be that people drop off the map.
I've read some of Francis Chan's works, Mr. Palmquist, and have found him to be humble and most caring. It also doesn't surprise me that he would want to lift up the Holy Spirit, and reduce himself. I hope we are both on hand to see his reward from Christ!
~ Beth Johnson
Lift up the Holy Spirit by abruptly quitting an ongoing ministry; forcing the congregation to find another pastor...? Really ...you find this particularly "humble?"
Paul was willing to risk being whipped, jailed and his head chopped off by angry Jews... and yet he didn't give in to any temptation to crawl off into oblivion when things got tough.
Meantime, Mr. Francis burned out. Period. That's a result of burning candles at both ends and/or not balancing one's life adequately for the task at hand. This is a character flaw, not a spiritual strength.
My dad was a pastor and worked himself (some say to death), hard. No, he didn't build a church of 4,000, but he certainly worked as hard or harder than any pastor of 4,000, I've ever witnessed, but at the same time felt no compulsion to slither off and abandon a responsibility he created for himself.
The problem I have with this pastor's departures is his foggy, if not blatant, "spiritualization" of a mid-life crisis. I have pity for him, but no more respect for him than anyone who quits their job and moves on.
The other times I've witnessed anything similar, there was hidden sin going on, and the stress of it coming to light was too much, and that person left the ministry to "church plant."
Now, "church planting" by a former large-church pastor has come to mean to me, "I've got a girl friend somewhere," or "I can't find a church and/or I got kicked out of the last one and I need to look like I'm doing something constructive and noble."
Which is your dog in the fight, Palmquist?
I don't know or your church--Simi Valley was mostly Orange trees last I was there.
I don't have a dog in this fight...
However, the guy says,
“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.”
The last time I heard this from a pastor, the next thing we knew he quit the ministry over an issue with pornography. This claim is consistent with somebody hiding a problem.
Otherwise, we are all to be salt and light in this world. Part of that means being seen. And of course we're just a reflection, not the source of light, nonetheless.
However, all of the sudden, he doesn't want to be seen ...or reflect God on the scale he has been, because of why, again? People idolize him...? His ministry is just too big...? He had too many facebook followers...?
Nah, something is wrong in paradise.
Hmmm.
The reason(s) a person would not want to reflect God brightly and broadly is because there's something about to get reflected very poorly, it would appear to me. I'm not rubbing my hands together trying to be right.
I'm just not willing to take this rationale for quitting this ministry at face value. It doesn't ring true to me. And I'm one to give pastors a wide berth, having grown up in the church.
I am happy to be wrong here, and hope I am. Otherwise, we're gonna hear a shoe drop sometime down the road with this guy.
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