5 Influential Christian Pastors - The Good

There are a lot of current Christian Pastors who are doing a great job of ministering to the culture in which they live.  These men have a love for Jesus, the Word, and a passion to reach their own community for Christ.  If one wanted to see what living boldly means, you can look at these ministers and see what their ministries are doing to influence their culture. 

5.  David Platt, Senior Pastor, The Church at Brook Hills (Birmingham, AL)

A very young pastor who is an incredibly gifted speaker.  I have heard him several times, and he preaches with passion.  His remarkable gift of quoting the Bible blows me away.  He preached one time quoting almost two chapters of Romans by heart.  This alone gets him on my list.  He is just 29 years old, but hold 2 Bachelor's Degrees, 2 Master's Degrees, and a Ph.D.  He is an absolute freak of nature when it comes to study.

4.  Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York)

Tim Keller is a Pastor who influences other Pastors.  He is a guy whose church plants other churches.  He church has planted around 100 other church in his city of New York.  He wants to see his city transformed by the power of the Gospel.  His impact in New York alone makes him one of the most important pastors in the United States, combine that with his influence on other pastors means that he makes a huge impact Globally.

3.  Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church (Lake Forest, CA) 

His Purpose Driven Life has sold over 20 million copies, making it one of the best selling books of all-time.  He founded Saddleback Church which is the largest church in California.  He has been featured on Larry King Live, numerous other publications, and is a featured speaker all over the world.  

At first I was skeptical about the man because I thought his Purpose Driven series distorted the Gospel because it never taught about sin.  He preaches about sin though, and his sermons are definitely powerful enough to change people's lives.  Also...he reverse-tithes, meaning he lives off of 10% while he tithes 90%...that is an incredible testimony about who he is.

2.  Mark Driscoll, Preaching and Theology Pastor, Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA)

Mark Driscoll is my favorite preacher on the face of the planet.  He preaches with wit, passion, conviction, and he is not afraid to call people to repentance.  He is the founder of Mars Hill Church which is one of the fastest growing churches in America.  He is also the founder of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network.

He desires to see men lead the church, which has made him a target of feminists.  He wants to see churches plant other churches, which has made him a target of jealous church leaders.  He wants to see Jesus' name great in his community.  

He also is the founder of thersurgence which gives out free theological resources.

This guy is my personal favorite on the list but I think that he would agree with my number 1 (they are both great friends):

1.  John Piper, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church (Minneapolis, MN)

Holy Smokes!  Piper is a prolific writer, incredible preacher, and a great pastor.  He loves the Lord, and has probably influenced as many people as Martin Luther (seriously!).  He has written over 30 books, with his most successful and influential book being Desiring God which still blows my mind everytime I "attempt" to read it.

This quote rocked my world and I still dont know what to do with it: 

"God is most Glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him"

There are other Pastors who should be mentioned, I am sure, but these men are a step above most other guys by the shear nature of their influence on other pastors.  They are gifted, and God is using them in a global way.

Is the Church Simply Club Membership

"'They joined the church.' The reduction of Christianity to club membership

can't be said any better than that."

-Reggie McNeal

It seems that maybe we have made to much out of the church. In the South it seems that people judge your walk with Christ by whether or not you go to church. You can be the worst person in your community but as long as you are in church on Sunday morning, everything is okay. Why is this? Membership. Why even use this term?

We have taken something that should be a living, breathing organism and we have turned it into an organzation. In our effort to bring people in, we have made it so much more easy to leave people out. Church should be an amazing place of love, fellowship, friendship, but when all we do is make it an organization we might as well just give out badges and pay dues. In our effort to bring people in, we have made people feel so alienated if they don't come and because of that we have a church that lacks any sort of importance in the culture around it.

I believe that the church should make a difference in the society aroung it. It should be a vibrant place of hope. But when the emphasis of church is simply adding numbers to it, we have missed the point. Too many times you ask someone how church was with the response being: "It was great someone joined the church."

What the heck does that mean? 'They joined the church'

Was their life changed? Did they experience the love of Christ in such a way that they wept? Did they met a group of people who made an impact on them? Will they leave and come back? Did they experience Christ? These are some of the things that need to happen when someone goes to church...they need to experience life-change.

Church should be more than a place of club membership. It should be a place that truly leads others to experience Christ. When it does, it will be such an amazing place. A place where hearts are changed, and lives are touched, it will be a place where the love of Christ flows freely, and people joining wont be the most important thing. It will be an afterthought.

Dreaming.

Adam

Reflections on Church

What is Church?

I mean, if you had to write out a definition of "church" what would it be? I have had the priviledge to be involved in the church my whole life...but because of that I have seen the things that keep people out of it.

Fights. Judgemental attitudes. Sarcasm. Lack of love. Hypocrisy.

I have seen it, been hurt by it, done it, done it again, condemned it, done it again...

But what troubles me now, is that we as the Church have gotten so far away from the love of Christ, and have become so enbittered by the world, that we have lost our God-given call to be warriors for Christ. We have pimped ourselves to the world, only to find that our bodies have become stained and scared by what we thought would pay off.

I am a sinner, I although I try to be better daily, and I try to fall madly in love with Jesus...I fail. I want to bleed, Jesus. I want to be used by Him, I want to draw people to Him...I want big things. But what I have found over the past few years is that only when we allow ourselves to be drawn to Christ, Himself will we be able to draw men to Him.

We will not have a church that meets needs of people. We wont have a church that is missional. We wont have a church that allows Christ to change and transform lives. We will have just dusty buildings that people strive to stay away from. Not because they dont think that God is good, but because they see us as so bad.

God change our hearts...

Dreaming,
Adam