Below is an article I came across respecting Gene Appel one of the key speakers at the already sold-out StickyTeams 2.0 Conference to be held at North Coast Church in Vista, CA in October of 2012.
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| Gene Appel |
Perhaps it will be a place to start...
(note: yellow highlighted text is my emphasis)
Question About Willow Creek
by George L. Faull
Dear Brother Faull,
What were your thoughts when you heard about Gene Appel and Mike Breaux leaving their large Christian Churches and joining Bill Hybel’s as Pastors at Willow Creek, a non-restoration Church?
ANSWER:
I had many thoughts. I list them, but I do not remember the order that I thought them:
1. They only responded to the clarion call of the Restoration movement Churches’ publications, Colleges, Camps and para-Church organizations today. “Repent and be Baptists.”
2. Perhaps they wanted to speak at the North American Christian Convention. The N.A.C.C. prefer to give the highest honor to inter- denominational preachers and they would be more apt to invite them to speak. If so, they were rewarded as they spoke this month.
3. Perhaps they responded to Cincinnati Bible College’s Professor Bill Baker’s article in the Christian Standard encouraging the Restoration Churches to be evangelicals. Who is more evangelical than Willow Creek? It just follows that ambitious men would seek the highest pinnacle of success.
4. Perhaps they wanted to be featured in the Christian Standard like Dudley Rutherford was when he joined his Christian Church with the shepherd of the Hills Baptist Church. If so, they have their reward! (See the Christian Standard’s 06/27/04)
5. Perhaps they are among the pragmatists that our Colleges are turning out who say doctrine is not important, but do whatever works. They have gone to the Church that is renown for its pragmatism. Seems natural to me pragmatists would end up at Willow Creek.
6. Maybe the faith of their fathers was not theirs, or their fathers memory and honorable reputation was not of any concern to them.
7. Maybe since there are so many today who are apostatizing God ran out of donkeys who could “rebuke the madness of the prophets,” as he did Balaam.
8. Maybe they are just a couple of naïve men who think they could make a difference in a Church of 20,000 observers and 531 employees. Appel had already set the Lord’s Supper in a side room in his Las Vegas Christian Church. Breaux had already introduced Saturday night communion at Southland. They did not take a large step, they simply backslid.
They already believed baptism is the first act of obedience of a Christian. They do not seem to realize it is the last act of a sinner, not the first act of a Christian. In scripture it is sinners who are baptized, not Christians.
Do they hope to restore Willow Creek to a New Testament Church? Maybe, but it would have been good if they had not tried to convert their own Christian Churches to Baptist Churches by wearing the name “Pastor,” abusing the ordinances of Christ and accepting the pragmatism of Willow Creek before they went.
9. Perhaps there is a bright side to their leaving. It’s proof that the warning many of us have been sounding, concerning apostasy, is true. At least they had the integrity to leave. They were not Restorationists speaking where the Bible speaks or attempting to follow book, chapter and verse in all things. Max Lucado finally did the right thing and took the “Churches of Christ” off the door of his Church.
10. At least I have not heard where Appel and Breaux are like some apostates like David R. Reagan, who continues to speak in our Churches while calling us a cult and mocking the Churches of Christ. He lies and calls us “water regenerationists.” These two men got out and I respect them more than those who are Baptists in principle, practice, polity, and pragmatism, yet remain in our Churches.
11. This is not the end, but only the beginning of the harvest of the practices of our Colleges and Churches who do not hold to the Apostles’ practices, polity or vocabulary. Read our Colleges’ monthly newsletters and notice where their Alumni serve. The graduates of our schools are in every kind of sectarian Church and para-Church organizations imaginable. We must face the fact that we send our money to educate denominational clergymen. These men are not unique. We have dozens of men who have left our Colleges who are not filling our pulpits. They have no problem of preaching for Churches of any stripe. They think the only difference between our Churches and others is merely Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are totally oblivious to the Calvinistic nature of the books and literature that are used in our Churches and Colleges. Our schools do not teach objective truth but operate under the stupid philosophy that “we do not teach you what to teach, but give you the tools so you can study and think for yourself.” Is that what Paul did? Didn’t Peter say he needed to remind them of the truth? II Peter 1:12-15
12. I guess mostly what I thought was what John said, “they went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” I John 2:19
These men are simply the natural result of a brotherhood who has denied their roots, look with disdain at the work of the Restoration fathers, and have forgotten the sacrifices of these who fought the battle against open membership in the last century. We have learned nothing from history. The N.A.C.C., the Christian Standard, the Christian Colleges do not hold these men’s feet to the fire of truth, the way apostates should be held. These men like Appel, Breaux, Lucado, Reagan, Rutherford are set forth as men to be listened to at our conventions and featured in our journals. They need to be held up in prayer for repentance, not held up as models for our young preachers to follow!
In Standard’s article concerning Appel and Breaux, they blame God for the decision to go to Willow Creek, “God was making it clear we were being called to Willow Creek.”
They also felt Hybel was right when he said to Mike, “You, Gene and I could team up and help lead this ministry and we could really change the world.”
Breaux says, “God still seems to be bringing His plan together.” He said this because one day in Minnesota decades ago when only one mile apart, he and Appel (unknown to the other) were both having a “God moment.” They later found this out. This is pure subjectivism.
Appel says, “In Acts 2, they apparently observed it (the Lord’s Supper) daily in their homes.” He says, “I guess you could say I treasure weekly communion, but that is not a theological hill I would choose to die on.” The breaking of bread in Acts 2:42 is not the same as that in Acts 2:46, which lacks the definite article.
You want to keep in mind, Robert Schuller is Bill Hybels’ mentor!!! Schuller denies almost every fundamental Christian doctrine and says we should not call people sinners as it hurts their self-esteem. Those who live in glass houses do not throw stones and those who preach in glass Cathedrals, don’t either.
Also notice Appel admits that for 15 years, he had been deeply influenced by Willow Creek. How? He had been to their conferences! He says he was comfortable with Hybel and his Elders. Willow Creek includes women elders.
Question – Did Appel influence Willow Creek or did Willow Creek influence Appel? At Willow Creek, members are told that if they cannot accept women in leadership and Eldership roles, they would be better to look for another Church. One wonders just what hill these two men would be willing to die on.
Mike Breaux says, “The infrastructure of Willow Creek is set up so that when you talk about changing the world, you think you have a shot.” It’s just too bad that the Lord didn’t think of their infrastructure instead of the one revealed in the New Testament. We might have had the world won by now! Their infrastructure can be seen on their website.
What happened to these men will repeat itself over and over when the heroes of evangelicalism and denominationalism are made the “poster boys” for ministry and their Churches the “prototypes” for Church growth. Inviting in interdenominational men and attending their conferences, seminars and clinics has a high price.
The Lord said “when the Son of man cometh, will He find the Faith on the earth?” It is a rhetorical question, which usually requires “no” for the answer. The Greek has the definite article. “The Faith” is getting hard to find taught in our Churches. It is my opinion that this generation of Restorationists does not deserve the name. We are pragmatists who do not “restore” but rather “customize” the Church to the latest fads. Our designers are Bill Hybel, Rick Warren, Billy Graham, C. Peter Wagner, and Donald McGavaran. George Barna and Mr. Gallup with their polls are as relative as Paul. You can expect this trend to continue until God raises up new and faithful men like Josiah who found the Word of God amidst the rubble of God’s temple and was upset because God’s Word was not obeyed. (See II Kings Chapter 22.)
You can’t make models of men without losing your sons to their ideology, philosophy and theology.
Am I attacking Appel and Breaux personally? No. They’re probably likable men. I do not know them, nor have I ever heard them preach. Take note of the words “perhaps”, “maybe”, in my attempt to figure out their motives for their change. I do not know their hearts. They may be as sincere as a Jehovah Witness may be and as dedicated as a teenage Mormon elder. They may be as fervent for winning the lost as I am for upholding to the “pattern of sound doctrine.”
This is not about Appel or Breaux, or me. This is about men and women being saved and the Church remaining the “pillar and ground of the truth.” It’s about the Restoration Movement continuing to attempt to “restore” the Church in its doctrine, life, polity and practice. It is not possible in my mind to be an innovator and a restorer at the same time.
Willow Creek is renowned as innovators and in following the fallacies of Schuller, Wagner, McGavaran and others of that ilk, it cannot be expected to be scriptural.
If this article helps young men not to go in the direction Appel and Breaux have gone, I will be content.
Willow Creek’s Website Shows:
- 5 of the 9 Elders are Women!
- Although immersion is encouraged, sprinkling is accepted!
- Baptisms are saved until Wednesday nights!
- No one under 12 can be baptized! Baptism is merely a symbol as a wedding ring is a symbol of marriage. (You can be married without wedding rings.)
- Many Christian Churches are members of the Willow Creek Association.
- Their statement of faith is a generic “Faith Only” creed.
- They do not meet on the first day of the week to break bread!
