Why People Get So Mad at Pastors

Excerpt from Sifted, by Wayne Cordeiro and Francis Chan (Cook, 2012)

In our well-meaning attempts to promote Christianity as the answer to everything, we sometimes over promise when we present the gospel. We want churches to be happy places, so we end each service on a high note, giving the impression that happy feelings always come from church. Or we want to help everybody we meet, so we have churches filled with broad spectrums of ministries for every conceivable need, but we end up doing many things poorly rather than fewer things well. The answer to all of this is to strip down the gospel to its essence: mankind getting right with a holy God.

With that in mind, we may need to help people understand the following truths if we want to help them develop realistic, healthy expectations about the church and the role and abilities of those in leadership:

• Church will not always make you feel comfortable.
• Church will not be the answer to your every need.
• You will sometimes not like what happens at church.
• You might leave a service unhappy once in a while, particularly if you are seeing yourself in light of God’s righteousness.
• If you are a single person, going to church will not guarantee you a spouse.
• Going to church will not guarantee that your children will not rebel.
• Going to church is not the answer to all your financial problems.
• You might not get along with everybody you meet at church.

Disappointment with God

If the ultimate solution to the disappointments our people experience is pointing them to Christ, letting him be the Great Physician in their lives [or Senior Pastor], then once we have done this, disappointment takes on a different nuance. Now, if people are disappointed, they are ultimately disappointed with God.

Family Gathering Points of Communication from Pastor Gregg and the Elders

• Leadership Community Gatherings (LCG). We gather KHC leaders on a quarterly basis. Our emerging view of the difference between ministers and leaders is that ministers build people (training mentoring, personal discipleship, etc.) while leaders build groups of people. Like wings on a bird we need both ministers and leaders to fly straight.
• KCH reaffirmed Mission and Values Statements are up on the Pastor’s Blog (the website will be updated soon)
• We will have the report from our recent online survey available soon. Much of the data will be a great help for the search process (thank you to everyone who participated)
• Reworking the doctrinal statement – Content is fine yet Elders, Staff, and TT think we could say things a bit better.
• Search update: 1) Search Team application questionnaires have been sent to first tier of nominees, 2) We are staffing a sourcing service (Vanderbloemen Search Group) to help us engage the very best candidates.
• Upcoming Fall Series on Mission and Vision. The staff, with elder participation and input, is seeking to simplify the way we do church. We want to do three things REALLY well – 1) Proclaim the gospel in four weekend services, 2) Invite all attendees into a Community Group to do life together, and 3) Serve God and people — both inside and outside of KHC.
• The staff, again with elder input and participation, is working on a combination “welcome to KHC” and basic “foundations in the faith” class (KHC distinctives?) and it is very likely that we are moving toward reinstating membership at KHC.
• Reconciliation with the former pastor. The elders have been waiting since May for the former pastor to provide the information he agreed to provide so that the reconciliation process can move forward.

KHC Mission Statement

Love God, Love People, Make Disciples

We exist to bring glory to God by loving God supremely, loving people unconditionally, and making passionate disciples of Jesus in the South Bay and beyond. (Matthew 22:36-40; Matthew 28:19-20)

KHC Core Values

Core values bring clarity to the things that matter most at KHC.

1. PROCLAIMING the good news of reconciliation with God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit to all people.

The ultimate good news is found in the gospel, which is based solely on what God has done for us, not what we do for God. God has reconciled us to Himself through the sacrificial love of Jesus that was accomplished by His death and confirmed by His resurrection. We never outgrow our need for the gospel because it not only saves us but also sanctifies us through the active presence and power of the Holy Spirit. With this in mind, KHC is “gospel-centered” in our focus, seeking to identify and proclaim the good news of the gospel in all our teaching and preaching of God’s word. Additionally, we seek to equip every believer to share the good news of the gospel with others in timely and effective ways. We also seek to train and release people into vocational ministry both locally and globally.

Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 16:15; Luke 10:1-12, 24:46-47; John 3:16, 20:21; Acts 1:8, 28:28; Romans 10:15; Colossians 1:23-29; Ephesians 4:11-16

2. CULTIVATING a passionate relationship with God by glorifying God, enjoying God, and treasuring Jesus Christ above all else.

That we were created to enjoy God now and for all eternity is a life-altering discovery. We enjoy God through accurately and intimately knowing God in both private and public settings. Privately, we seek to know and enjoy God through personal devotion, reflection, prayer, and study. Publically, we seek to know and enjoy God in weekend worship services where we encounter God afresh in profound and participative ways that enrich our souls through worship—which includes singing, prayer, giving tithes and offerings to God, reading, teaching, and proclaiming the Bible, celebrating the Lord’s Supper and baptism — and being refreshed by the gospel’s redeeming grace.

Psalm 37:4, 73:25; Nehemiah 8:10; Romans 5:5; Philippians 3:10; Hebrews 10:25, 12:2; 1 John 1:3-4

3. BUILDING a strong church family that meets consistently in various small group settings to “do life” with one other.

The gospel saves us into God’s family. KHC is one expression of God’s global family. As the gospel changes our heart, identity, and motivation we will relinquish our tendency to isolate ourselves in order to pursue a deep and authentic sharing of our lives through meeting together in small (and mid-sized) group settings to laugh and cry together, pray together, study the Bible together, eat together, and serve together. As we grow in gospel grace (discipleship) we will learn to trust God and one another in new ways, becoming quick to repent, forgive, and reconcile. Whenever possible, we desire to do things through organic community and lay ministry.

Psalm 133:1; Acts 2:42-47, 4:32; Romans 12:15; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:3, 16; Hebrews 10:24-25; 1 Peter 3:8

4. SERVING the poor, lost, sick, broken-hearted, and marginalized in the South Bay and beyond with active help, love, and care.

Serving is one of the most biblical of values. The Bible records God continually reaching out to and pursuing a broken and fragmented humanity. Ultimately, God sent us His Son, Jesus, to restore and reconcile us to Himself. When our heart is awakened to this new reality, we are compelled to share our time, energy, and resources with others in grateful response to God’s persistent mercy and compassion. At KHC we have a rich history of reaching out beyond ourselves, to meet the needs of the weak, defenseless, and marginalized.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Psalm 18:16, 23:6, 139; Matthew 5:14-16, 25:40; Luke 4:18-19, 14:13; Galatians 4:4-7; Philippians 2:3; 1 John 4:19

To view these on the website click here.

Many of the world’s most important holidays are tethered to Christian themes and events. This is obviously true of such days as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It is also true of Halloween (Hallowed Evening) which once was closely linked to All Soul’s Day.

Father’s Day, too, is linked to Christianity in that it was founded to celebrate the ideals of fatherhood set forth in Scripture.

The first widely-promoted Father’s Day celebration of modern America was held in Spokane, Washington on this day, June 19, 1910 (a father’s day had been observed in Fairmont, West Virginia two years earlier with little publicity). The Spokane event was the brain-child of Sonora Louise Smart (Mrs. John Bruce) Dodd envisioned an event as focused in special religious services and involving small gifts as well as loving greetings from children to their fathers. She brought up the matter with her pastor and he communicated the idea to the local pastor’s association. The mayor of the city and the governor of the state endorsed her concept and issued proclamations in support. The famed politician William Jennings Bryan weighed in with words of encouragement.

Mrs. Dodd dearly loved her father. When his wife died in childbirth, he was left with six children. Somehow he overcame the difficulties of rearing them while operating his farm. His devotion to his children sparked Louise’s gratitude.

Father’s Day was slow to catch on. What Louise had done was not even well known in her own state despite the governor’s proclamation. The idea of honoring fathers with a special day was actually reinvented independently in several other places, each locality thinking it was starting something new. Curiously, circumstances led other founders to select the month of June. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson had endorsed the idea and in 1924 Calvin Coolidge recommended national observance of the day “to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligation” and strengthen intimate ties between fathers and children.

Despite these presidential pronouncements, it was 1966 before President Johnson established the third Sunday in June as the date of the celebration. Even so, this not made official until 1972 under President Nixon.

Adapted from an article on Christianity.com. To view the article click here.

Get to know some of the best minds in the field. Most are current while some have passed away. They range from world-class philosophers and thinkers to internet and radio apologists. But all have made an impact with their works and ministries. They are in alphabetical order. (This is not a top 50 list, and theologians and church fathers have been left out.)

Click on any blue link to find out more.

1. Darrell Bock – Research Professor of NT Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary
2. Ted Cabal – general editor of The Apologetics Study Bible
3. G.K. Chesterton – famous author, philosopher, theologian, apologist
4. Gordon Clark – Christian philosopher, apologist, and theologian.
5. Kelly James Clark – notable philosopher of religion, author; Calvin College
6. Steven B. Cowan – Associate director of Apologetics Resource Center; Areopagus Journal
7. William Lane Craig – philosopher, theologian, apologist; Debater par excellence.
8. Phil Fernandes – Christian philosopher, apologist, debater with audio resources.
9. John Frame – Reformed Theological Seminary; reformed apologist; Van Til expert
10. Norman Geisler – prolific author of over 70 books; Classical apologist
11. R. Douglas Geivett – Professor of Philosophy Talbot Department of Philosophy / Biola
12. Simon Greenleaf – legal scholar famous for his book Testimony of the Evangelists
13. Douglas Groothuis – Christian philosopher, author, teacher
14. Shandon L. Guthrie – philosophy, apologetics, atheism, comparative religions, ethics
15. Craig Hazen – director of Biola’s Christian Apologetics program
16. J.P. Holding – founded Tektonics apologetics website; author
17. Anthony Horvath – Athanatos Christian Ministries and online Apologetics Academy
18. Walter Kaiser – scholar, writer, educator, and distinguished Professor of Old Testament
19. Timothy Keller – urban pastor, author and apologist
20. Greg Koukl – apologist and president of Stand to Reason
21. Peter Kreeft – professor of philosophy at Boston College, noted apologist
22. John Lennox – philosopher of science, mathematician, Oxford debater of Dawkins
23. C.S. Lewis– famous author, lecturer, apologist; Narnia books, Mere Christianity
24. Gordon Lewis – philosopher and theologian; author of Testing Christianity’s Truth Claims
25. Paul Little – late apologist and author noted for his simple style and easy communication
26. Walter Martin – most famous for his Kingdom of the Cults book; the original Answer Man
27. Josh McDowell – famous for Evidence that Demands a Verdict
28. Alex McFarland – itinerant apologist targeting young people, teens
29. Alister McGrath – Oxford professor of theology, author and opponent of new atheism
30. Albert Mohler – president of SBTS, worldview cultural commentator, author, radio host
31. John Warwick Montgomery – perhaps the most famous evidentialist apologist
32. J.P. Moreland – Christian philosopher, noted author, apologist
33. Ronald Nash – Professor Philosophy and Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary
34. Scott Oliphint – Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology WTS
35. Amy Orr-Ewing – Director of Training of the Zacharias Trust
36. Alvin Plantinga – world-class philosopher; reformed epistemology, philosophy of religion
37. Michael Ramsden – European Director of Zacharias Trust, speaker for RZIM
38. Fazale Rana – PhD biochemist with Reasons to Believe
39. Mark D. Roberts – pastor, author, speaker, blogger. Emphasis in NT / Gospels
40. David Robertson – Scottish pastor famous/notorious for his Dawkins Letters
41. Hugh Ross – astrophysicist apologist and old Earth creationist; founder Reasons to Believe
42. Francis Schaeffer – famous late cultural apologist, author, philosopher; founder of L’Abri
43. Mary Jo Sharp – author, apologist, debater; founder of Confident Christianity
44. Matt Slick – founder of CARM.org with extensive apologetics encyclopedia
45. R.C. Sproul – notable theologian, author, and classical apologist
46. Lee Strobel – journalist famous for his Case for Christ series of books; popular apologist
47. Dallas Willard – Christian philosopher; notable works in philosophy, discipleship
48. Peter S. Williams – Christian philosopher; notable works countering Dawkins
49. N.T. Wright – Archbishop of Canterbury; notable work on the resurrection
50. Ravi Zacharias -perhaps today’s most notable international cultural apologist