Driscoll and Harris probe Francis Chan on his new “calling”
In this interesting interview, Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris probe Francis Chan on his decision to leave his church because he thinks God has called him into a different kind of ministry. I’d be curious to get your reactions to the discussion that ensues. What do you think about the concerns that Driscoll and Harris raise, and what to you think about Chan’s responses?
Posted on August 30, 2010, in Ministry and tagged discernment, Francis Chan, Joshua Harris, Leadership, leading of the Spirit, Mark Driscoll, Ministry, pastoral ministry, responsibility, will of God. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
scientia et sapientia 
great to hear a “celebrity” recognising the attendant problems with being such and taking radical practical steps to get reality in line with belief. don’t know anything about Chan, but based on what he shared there I’d have a lot of time for him.
have to laugh at Driscoll “what if God wanted to sanctify you through riches and success”!!! Yeah, what if?!!? I’m going to steal his “simplicity, suffering and poverty,” i think that is a wonderful triad.
I would definitely like to hear more of these guys talking about the dangers of the celebrity pastorate. It was good to hear that part.
I really liked with Driscoll and Harris were both asking with the “simplicity, suffering, and poverty” issue. Although I think most Americans need to hear the dangers of materialism and commercialism much more loudly, they were right to point out that there’s an opposite danger in concluding that sanctification comes through a new kind of monasticism. That can be an expression of sanctification, but if we make it the cause of sanctification we have a problem.
It’s interesting that at the beginning of the interview Driscoll and Harris seem to be worried about the “Pastor Focused Church.” What will happen will you leave? Why didn’t you go multi-site so you could do the preaching in two locations? Is the new guy any good? I prefer Chan’s concerns about people showing up to see the celebrity pastor….
I heard their questions more as expressing concern for Chan’s church and whether he made sure that they were taken care of and had explored other, less radical, courses of action.
Although I would probably have phrased the questions a bit differently in places, I think this is a great example of pastors holding each other accountable for the decisions that they make. In many ways, you could look at this as Driscoll and Harris just sitting down with Chan and asking him some tough questions: “Have you made sure that your church is taken care of?” “Have you considered the possibility that you’re just doing this because you’re bored or because you have a need to constantly pursue ‘new’ things?” “Are you sure that you’re not locked into a ‘works’ based understanding of sanctification that is driving you to ‘achieve’ your own holiness?” These are great questions. Driscoll’s rather pointed way of asking the questions can be a bit off-putting, but I really thought they were great and timely questions.
I also thought Chan did a nice job answering the questions. They probed him on some really good issues, and I thought he demonstrated that he’d thought through them all and wasn’t entering into this decision lightly or naively.