Crisis at North Point

There is a crisis at North Point Community Church. North Point is the super duper mega church in Atlanta founded and led by Andy Stanley. Stanley has enormous influence through North Point, his books, and conferences. For many, Andy is the go-to guy when it comes to effective communication and leadership. But there is a crisis at North Point. This crisis is dishonoring to God, destructive to God's people, and threatens the churches influenced by the Atlanta mega church.

If you were expecting some salacious detail or breaking news then this will be rather disappointing to you. The evidence is readily available. Indeeed it is supplied rather proudly by North Point. The sickness at the heart of North Point is on full display in the following video which captures the goings on at a recent woship service.

072416 Opener - 90s Boy Bands from North Point Web on Vimeo.

Perhaps I'm naive but "Love The Way You Turn Me On" should have been a tip off to those in leadership at North Point that something was not right (at this point I don't expect those who continue to attend to have sufficient discernment to recognize what is wrong).

Honestly, I am tired of hearing about good intentions and great results when it comes to garbage like this. This stuff does nothing, absolutely nothing to "reach" anyone. It only confuses. I would not care so much except for the fact that I once served as pastor of a church in Philadelphia where Andy Stanley had influence among some of the top leaders. And there are many other churches whose pastors, youth ministers, and children's directors are influenced by Andy Stanley and North Point. I don't know who has influence in Andy Stanley's life but I hope that among those who do, someone will have the courage to call him to repent of such foolishness. This sort of thing is destructive to the people of God. When imitation of the world is allowed to flourish in a church it is clear that the shepherds have become predators. 

As a side note, you may remember Andy Stanley famously saying in a sermon earlier in the year that people who go to smaller churches are "lazy" and don't care about their children because those churches cannot provide the same sorts of experiences as do big churches like North Point. When I watched this video one of my first thoughts was, "How lazy it is to go to a church like this."