This week on 11 and 12 August 2011 I attended the Willow Creek Associations Global Leadership Summit via a simulcast. The summit overall was very good. The speakers all presented very informative and helpful ideas and approaches to leadership both in the secular arena and the church. I was impressed with everything about the summit and the way it was conducted.
Some of the highlights for me were, Len Sclessinger speaking on using "Entrepreneurship" to provide the kind of organizations we would aspire to create. Michelle Rhee speaking about the importance of educating children as well as speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves, and her willingness to speak out about her present spiritual struggles with coming to faith in Christ. Corey Booker urging us to stand for something because others were willing to stand for us and God expects nothing less from us.
Bill Hybels passionate and wonderful explanation of how we as Christians are not anti-anyone concerning the withdrawal of Howard Schultz from his speaking commitment at the summit because of a petition stating that the WCA was anti-gay. As Hybels said, Willow is not only not anti-gay the church is not anti-anybody and the mat at all of the doors of Willow says "WELCOME". He went on to say that what is true is that Willow Creek Church challenges both homosexuals and heterosexuals to live out the sexual ethics laid out in the scriptures for their sexual conduct. I was delighted when Mama Maggie Groban spoke urging us to leave everything behind to find the beauty and power of God and how when we are willing to become nothing God is everything.
John Dickson's presentation about what humility really is, and Steven Furtick urging us to dig those ditches and then see what God does with them. Dr. Henry Cloud speaking on how to deal with truth and reality and what a person does and how they react when the truth comes to them. Patrick Lencioni related to us the importance of vulnerability in service and how our job isn’t to look smart it’s to help other people do their work better.
For me there was only one low point in the summit and that was the concluding speaker Erwin McManus. He spoke on the necessity of a mind shift in leaders in relation to a reformation of reality. He started well, at what I think is the best place to start, that being scripture. Unfortunately it went downhill for me from there. He started out in Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 and spoke about where Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun. Then he proceeded to tell some 150,000 plus listeners that Solomon was wrong. McManus said, “Something inside my soul felt like I was suffocating under this theological framework” McManus also went on to explain that he did not think the Bible was wrong but what Solomon said was wrong. I understand how sometimes things we read in scripture can be difficult to understand and even accept, but we have to accept the truth of the difficult parts as well as the truth of the parts we like so somehow along the way I lost his logic on this one.
If the Bible is the inspired word of God written by men, such as Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and God's word is truth and without error, and being wrong is being in error, then how can Solomon record something wrong (i.e. something in error) in the Bible and not then have the Bible itself be wrong? This just doesn't make sense.
Erwin McManus just told anyone who was listening, all around the world, that a biblical author inspired by the Holy Spirit got it all wrong! McManus then went on to say, Solomon said there is nothing new. He's wrong, I don't believe him so let me tell you how the world actually is. If you read between the lines what Erwin McManus just told us was to ignore what an inspired author of scripture and one who was given a gift of wisdom by God Himself says about the world, because he (Solomon) is wrong, and let me (Erwin McManus) tell you how the world actually is. Mr McManus said at the beginning of his presentation that he believes the Bible, but then went on to say, "I don't believe the Bible is wrong...Solomon is wrong".
This is confusing on a number of levels but I think we need to work this idea out to a logical conclusion. If this idea is true what stops Mr. McManus from deciding that the Bible isn't wrong but Paul is wrong, or the Bible isn't wrong, but Peter is wrong, or eventually even saying the Bible isn't wrong but what Jesus said is wrong. Do you see how this whole idea of Solomon being wrong which is what Mr. McManus built his whole presentation on just falls apart when worked out to its logical conclusion?
I want to point out that Mr. McManus had some good things to say, I agree with him that there is apathy in the church in America, and that many who profess to be followers of Christ are sitting idly by waiting for God to do something. I agree with him that if you live your life outside of God you are destined for a life of endless repetition and monotony, but when you live in the light of Creation all things become new, which by the way is exactly what Solomon was telling us in the scripture passage where Mr. McManus tells us that Solomon is wrong.(If that is the case then isn't Mr. McManus telling us that he is wrong as well?)
I agree with him that when we live our lives connected to the Creator of the Universe, we become God’s instruments for creating the future. I agree with him that we have been entrusted with this stewardship to redeem our lives to reflect the heart of God. I agree that we need to be creative and to tell the great stories.The truth is that we need to tell the best story in all of creation and history, and that is the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That story is what the Bible is all about and we can't change that story by just simply saying that we as created beings think that one of the authors of Holy Spirit inspired scripture is wrong!
Mr. McManus is correct about needing creativity,beauty, good stories, and well stewarded human talents and abilities to participate with God in creating the future He has planned for us. Where he is wrong is in saying Solomon is wrong. Mr. McManus is wrong here because he has taken the words written by Solomon under the influence of the Holy Spirit and used them outside of their intended context, and what Mr McManus has done is at best just simply wrong and at worst extremely dangerous. The ability to be creative is built into us as beings created in the image of God. The truth is that beauty and renewal and majesty are realized only when we fear God and love him with all our heart soul mind and strength, and as His Son taught us to obey God's commandments the greatest of which are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. When we profess that someone who is an author of scripture is wrong we do neither.
The summit was an amazing time of learning and introspection and growing, the sad part for me as an attendee was that the summation of such a great event was sort of anti-climatic. Brenda Salter McNeil asked us what is it that moves us to action, what is your catalytic event? I think as we process the summit we need to ask ourselves what were the catalytic events for us as individuals as we experienced and participated in the GLS. For me the presentation by Erwin McManus was a catalytic event. It reinforced some ideas and perspectives I have about the church and leadership in it, our responsibilities to participate in God's plan for us and steward the gifts we have been given, as well as our responsibilities to listen to and trust in God's revelation to us in scripture. It also reinforced in me the importance of not using that scripture out of context and taking the risk of having someone ignore all you say because you are wrong about scripture being wrong. Taking scripture out of context is always wrong, even when it may reinforce a valuable understanding or belief.
I think Erwin McManus believes in the saving power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has some great things to tell us about how we should steward the amazing gifts God has given us. The problem is that when you mix in just a little yeast it infiltrates the whole batch of dough. When you mix in a little untruth with the truth it corrupts the whole truth. By saying that Solomon was wrong Mr. McManus mixed in a little untruth and that untruth causes him to risk losing people recognizing the things he had to say that were valuable. For me that is an unacceptable risk and it is my hope and prayer that he will see it as an unacceptable risk as well and recognize as Solomon did that in untruth there is no beauty, majesty, or creativity, only meaninglessness.
I will pray that those who attended this years Global Leadership Summit will take what they heard and saw and use it to become better leaders and better witnesses of the love of Christ. I will also pray that God's word, the Bible, will always be seen for what it is; pure, beautiful, and perfect truth.
Yours in Christ's amazing love, Bob Best
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