I am sure Chris Rosebrough got all giddy when he read this blog from a pastor renouncing the emergent movement. I thought to myself, “oh goodness, another watchdoggie pastor, that’s just what Christendom needs.” So, I went to Chris Elrod’s blog, pastor of Compass Point Church in Lakeland, Florida, and was impressed by one line
It is not my place to name names or expose those “voices†of Emergent. They do not fall under my accountability…nor do I have access to them. However, their heretical views and false teachings have now been brought into the field of the Compass Point flock…and it IS my job to protect the sheep.
He is not calling out names, making sure the world knows who is, and isn’t a heretic… he is simply protecting his sheep. If all the Watchdoggies just did this… took care of their flock, instead of worrying about every other church in America, they actually might be somewhat effective.  Somehow their message gets lost on the name calling, outlandish accusations, and getting the story by any twisting of logic necessary. I support Pastor Elrod’s move. I may not stand eye to eye with him in some of his methods (for the record…I do not support most emergent movements either), but I can respect how he is going about this. Maybe it is possible to have a positive move towards truth without having to shout insults from the rooftops of the blogsphere.
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Really and truly I say “Good for Chris Elrod.” I don’t know him, though we have crossed paths in the blogosphere. He saw a problem, and he is acting. I may not agree with him, it depends on who he calls emergent, but I think he’s doing a good thing in a manner that honors God.
I would wager that names will be forthcoming, matbe not on his blog, but from the pulpit or at least in private with his parishoners. It is almost inevitable. However he doesn’t seem like the type to attack anyone personally. I may visit his church as soon as I am strong enough. (20 minutes away)
He still lists Gary Lamb and Perry Noble on his blogroll.
Perry is PDL all the way.
they both are
Ah, I see your point.
Apparently to get on the watchdoggies nice list its not about what you believe its about who you attack. So a PDL church that attacks emergents are two thumbs up.
It is an interesting thought to run down. I don’t know. I know Chris R. and he is a good guy. He’s not like Ken. I respect him a lot. I also respect Chris Elrod.
Chris R is a person who you can have a reasonable disagreement.
Nathan,
Your hypocrisy cracks me up. You praise Elrod for not naming names but your post names me within the first 5 words of the first paragraph. Personally I don’t mind if you name me. But, if your going to complain about or praise a particular practice, don’t you think you should model the behavior you are praising through your own actions?
Also, something to think about here. Point 2 of Elrod’s doctrinal clean up operation states:
There is no practical way for him to execute this part of his plan if he and his ministry team hadn’t already identified ‘heretical’ emergent authors and blacklisted them. Elrod may not be broadcasting his ‘black list’ on the internet but he definitely has names on that list of banned resources.
Although, I don’t agree with everything Elrod does I think this decision was the right one and it should be imitated by other pastors around the country.
1. no one here is announcing heretics in the church. We do not consider ourselves protectors of doctrine, but protectors of the innocent and unfairly accused.
2. He refuses to publicly accuse people. Publicly accusing people, and regulating curriculum within his leadership are two different things.
Disagreement is never the problem. In disagreement we must be civil (christlike?)
In my catholic hating days I remember a priest who I had publicly taken to task over his heresy. At the time I was very vocal about the abortion issue. In the mail come a letter from this priest complementing me on my stand. Very very very nice letter. He totally disarmed me. He showed me a better way.
Today I would share a drink with that priest and rejoice with him as my brother. (He’d drink beer. I’d stick to Baptist Beer-Pepsi)
Bruce
I’ve been enjoying reading all of the great comments here. I did want to take just a moment and clear up a few things.
No names have been named to our congregation…or even our lay leadership concerning our Emergent stand. Of course the Elders of Compass Point (a small group of Godly men with integrity) talked about specific people within Emergent and their views. There is no way to have the conversation among our overseers without naming specific people, resources or quotes. However, we have gone overboard not to name names or specific resources to our people. We made a very sweeping change to our small groups in which we write our own study material now. We had been moving toward that from day one…it also allowed us not to have to deal directly with any specific resources that could no longer be used.
We have talked very openly about the heresy of the universalism “doctrine”. We have done that without naming names or specific resources. We have simply preached the whole counsel of God’s Word and allowed the Holy Spirit to give our people the ability to discern. So far it has worked very well. We knew if we came out and started naming names…we would have lost the ability to correct. We have learned it is possible to correct without clubbing. We just preach the Word Of God without compromise…and trust that God is big enough to water the seed being planted.
As for the Purpose Driven assumptions I read in some of the comments here…we are no fans of the Purpose Driven model. We truly believe that God’s Word is promise driven…not purpose driven. When I say promises I do not mean in the “prosperity doctrine”…but i the promise that God will use us as His servants if we will do our best to live according to the Scriptures.
Gary Lamb is a close friend of mine…Perry Noble is someone I am beginning to get to know better. Our churches are like night and day from each other…as Compass Point does not use worship services as outreach events. There is much that Perry, Gary and I do differently…but the common ground we share is that we are trying to spread the Gospel to people that other churches are not trying to reach. The makeup of our flocks are very similar…so there is much in the way of leadership and shepherding that we are discovering together. We don’t always agree…and occasionally bump heads…but we are definitely challenging each other to follow God as close as we can for His will for our churches.
I’ll close with this. The Elders of Compass Point and myself see the heresy of universalism teaching as one of the greatest threats to the Church in America. Until the last year there were many things that we saw that inspired us about the churches and leaders identifying with Emergent. We believe that the Church must emerge outside the four walls of the church….that being doers of the Word not just hearers of the Word, helping people in the margins and taking care of the world that God has given us the privilege to live in is quintessential to following God’s Word. Unfortunately God’s Word does not promise that everyone will see the gates of Heaven. The reason that a stand was taken against Emergent is because the “voices” of leadership of the Emergent movement have recently begun painting that false teaching as Biblical “truth”. We prayed, fasted, read Scripture, discussed and sought outside counsel for many months before a decision was made and my blog post was written. It has been one of the hardest decisions we have ever made as the shepherds of the flock of Compass Point.
Chris Elrod, that is superb. That is precisely how I believe heresy should be dealt with, and I believe that is what we see modelled in the new testament. Many people choose the “grace route” or the “truth route”, but Jesus was a man of Grace and Truth. What you have modelled so well here is how it is possible to take a couragous stand for truth, but in a gracious way! For that, I salute you.