Response To Some Previous Comments

Hey Canterbury Roommates and Friends,
You can contact me at chilledzealot@gmail.com. You can tell I am often too slow to respond, but I will try. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think a lot of people from ACC (I was one) would dismiss criticism in general, but especially from outsiders. They shouldn't! Some of the comments you made were right on the mark.

I really believe it is impossible to be friends or be in a relationship with anyone from ACC if you are not a part of ACC. This is not because leadership prohibits it like a weird secret society type thing. It is more that the "shared experience" you spoke of and common goal of building Christ's kingdom for Him demands so much freakin' energy. There is no time for hanging out unless it is for the spiritual reason of strengthening relationships in your lifegroup, section, etc. Relationships are so void of real meaning, but the weird thing is that when you are a part of it, you think it is so purposeful because that is what you are told all the time.

I have posted here before and others have left comments about how screwed up friendships are -- lots of forced relationships with people that you don't have a lot in common with -- and once you start to get out of the leadership structure, 90 percent of those friendships disappear.
As far as dating goes… wow, where to start. It is messed up. My wife has much more to say about it than I do, but one of these days I would like to do a post on it. I did not have to interview with her "mentor" but there was a lot of other strange dynamics within the church. I would be very wary of trying to date someone that is really involved at ACC, unless you are as equally committed to some strange teachings – and even then you will likely go through much more heartache than you expected.

I would suggest if you deal with depression and feel depressed every time you visit you should really, really, really try to limit your contact there. You feel depressed because you can't live up to legalistic, non-bibilical standards, but they are preached as "non legalistic" and "early church"-type-biblical revival inducing standars. You are being told “this is the way,” “all those other denominations are full of legalistic, dead teachings,” “we want you to experience Jesus,” “it’s easy to pray for an hour a day, evangelize to a few people each day, go to 4 or 5 meetings a week, etc. when you love Jesus and are doing it through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Oh yeah, “and if you have any illnesses, Jesus heals you, if you confess you sins (and all your family’s sins), and you believe enough, and you keep asking” etc.

So the conclusion is that when you have difficult questions, or you burn out of your endless meetings, or question if the friendships are what you envisioned, or you sit in church feeling numb and everyone is bouncing up and down in worship excitement, or you have a truly debilitating illness that no one understands that isn’t healed on Prayer Night --- wait for it --- IT’S YOUR FAULT. YOU DON’T LOVE JESUS. YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND GOD. Because the church is telling you it’s easy if you do it abiding in Jesus. The point of my blog was to try to highlight that ACC’s methodology, experience, values, or whatever you want to call it has very little to do with the character of God.

Unfortunately, Jimmy preaches and those that attend believe that they have found “the way” to follow Jesus. So when you have found the way, you have to share it, and if others don’t believe it then they have really missed something profound. This fosters a pride and elitist attitude that is hard to describe unless you are an outsider who feels it or an insider that quit. ACCers will never, ever believe that they are prideful in their faith. I did not realize I was, and I am sorry for it.

Keep The Conversation Going

There have been some great comments on the blog so far, most of them on the previous post “Searching For Answers”. I am glad that this has been a small outlet for people that have felt the way I have over the years. CheekyMonkey had a great idea of identifying yourself with an alias so it is easier to understand who is saying what. Here are some comments that have really resonated with me because they were my experience. Thanks.

“I was even "friends" with many of the higher-ups. When I left (I moved away, but I had been gradually weaning myself off for half a year or so), I felt almost abandoned by those who I thought were friends.”

“I don't wish to speak negatively about ACC. I actually think (and maybe this is just faith in the non-religious meaning of the word) that many people associated with ACC truly believe in what they preach and really are good people at heart.”

“Many people you have come to know as friends, people you trust in and people you look up to probably won’t understand why you are pulling away. One of the administration (who I think is no longer there) asked, upon me telling her I was transferring to another school, how I was going to remain faithful (in my opinion, she was implying that leaving ACC was in effect a renunciation of my faith).”

“But there was so much hero worship at the lifegroup level. I mean, there were people who stood in awe at the fact that I talked to several high-profile individuals in the church on a regular basis. It was unsettling for me and created an odd dynamic between me and my friends.”

“Spreading Christ's love does not require the sounding of a trumpet from a mountaintop in some exotic land for all the world to hear. It is enough to truly connect with one person in pain and offer them some hope. “

“To know Jimmy better you have to understand his mentor, Robert Ewing. If you do a search on him you may find some interesting information.(Salt Sister). “ [Comment from ChilledZealot – Thanks for pointing this out. Jimmy used to talk about Robert Ewing and how it impacted him. This further confirmed my research that the Latter Rain Movement heavily influenced Antioch’s core philosophy.]

“The last time I looked the Church in the U.S. wasn't being executed. Now maybe we are a little late to get in line for Chuy's, that's only if you go to the late service, but no death, no torture, and no imprisonment. So the plan that this little Chinese couple was given by God, cannot be translated into a worldwide movement by pasty white College kids that have never paid taxes other than the sales tax on their American Eagle skinny jeans, and have only seen persecution on CNN.”

My guide for life used to be, "What would Jimmy do?" "How would Jimmy respond?"

“When HBC wouldn't do it he said he'd leave and take half the church with him. HBC decided it would be bad for the city, for the people and honestly, bad for their reputation (can you say "Don Crossland"?) for there to be such an ugly split, so they agreed to call it a "plant" and even gave ACC a chunk of change in seed money. “

“Every person I've ever talked to who has come out of the ACC thing though has blamed themselves for it on some level - usually blaming the organization, the leaders, etc. dead last. "I wasn't spiritual/discerning/faithful/dedicated/fill-in-the-blank enough" - and blaming one's self when mistreated by others is a very co-dependent mindset.”

“I mean, how can two college-age kids or just-out-of-college, not married to each other, not even necessarily legal to vote, kids be a covering one for the other?”

“All the leaders are called "Apostolic" and they are type A movers and shakers ( accept maybe Danny Mulkey). If you are gifted pastorally your are "B team" bringing up the rear. That is a huge area where ACC devastates people. Newbies come in and try to fit in. Everyone is trying to be Jimmy. Those who are teachers or gifted pastorally will try to change to fit the mold. They become frustrated because they can't be the type A "apostle" and so they eventually leave, devastated and questioning any worth they have to God the Father. “

“There, there are the C's (which stands for "Cash" - all the folks who are expected to cough up piles of money for the A's and B's to carry on their work…”

"I was so sincere and I so believed that all those hours of relationship building meant something, would mean something. And all I have to show for it is one friend -and we were never in an accountability group or discipleship group or anything. We were just plain old friends. The people from my discipleship groups? Never had time for me once we'd all moved on and up. One eventually became a zone pastor and after a long period of not returning calls actually emailed to ask for a schedule of all my open two-hour time slots in the next two weeks."

Searching For Answers

It has been several months since I have posted something new.  When I think of things to write, I realize that most of what I want to say has been said in previous posts, and I don't want to exhaust you with criticism.  It's kind of like going to church on Sunday morning and wondering after the hour-long exhortation if the pastor couldn't have made his point in fifteen minutes.  Brevity is often lost on those who think they have important things to say.

Despite there being fewer comments than I was hoping for there is substantial traffic on this blog each week so I hope that you are finding some of the ramblings interesting.  For those that are first time visitors, I would suggest reading the "Blog's Purpose" link and start at the beginning.

Please feel free to leave comments so all of us can learn from your insight!

-Chilled Zealot

Quotes I Like

"I dislike those who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." – Susan B. Anthony

“Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.”

– François de la Rochefoucauld

"The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good."

– Samuel Johnson

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei

“We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.”

– Seneca

“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” – Voltaire

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” – Winston Churchill

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.” – Ecclesiastes 9:7

I've Been Healed!

I know I have been a little skeptical about faith-healing.  I can't completely nail down my belief in this area.  I do believe God heals people.  He created an amazing process where our bodies self-correct.  The last time my son scraped his knee, it miraculously got better.  Every once in a while, I think He supernaturally intervenes.  I don't believe he often uses a group of frenetic college students standing around you to do it.  I don't think your sin or your non-submission to authority has anything to do with it.

I ran across the "testimony page" on ACC's website.  It brought back bad memories of my experiences there.  Here's one of the testimonies.  Anything wrong with this picture?


Tracy had not been to Antioch in about two years, and she was excited to come and visit and to see her friend get baptized.  She has breast cancer, and we gathered around her to pray.  Interestingly, when I laid my hand on Tracy, the left side of my lower back started hurting.  We prayed for God to heal the cancer, and then I asked Tracy if she also had back pain, and she said yes.  I asked her if it was in her lower back on her left side, and she said yes.  She said that she had a cracked vertebrae, the second vertebrae from the bottom, and that she had severe pain.  I told her that since my back had started to hurt when I laid hands on her, I believed that the Lord wanted to heal her back.  She was eager to receive prayer.  We prayed for her back for several minutes and asked how she was doing, and she said that she was still in pain and that nothing had changed. 


I confirmed that she had given her whole heart to Jesus. She earnestly said that she had.  We prayed more, and I felt God speak that we needed to repent as a group for not submitting to authority.  If we are insisting that demons submit to the authority of Jesus, then we need to be submitted to Him as well.  I repented on behalf of all of these women (and myself!) for a lack of submission to God, to husbands, to pastors, and other men in authority.  We all knelt down together.  Something broke.  Tracy started crying and smiling, and she said the pain was completely gone. 


I clarified to see if it was "mostly gone" to see if we needed to pray more, and she said, "No- it is COMPLETELY gone!"  I asked her, "What is something that you couldn't do before because of the pain?" and she replied, "Reach down and touch my toes."  We encouraged her to get up and do it, and she did, with a very giddy look on her face.  She immediately wanted to testify- she was so excited.  She went up to the stage and was able to share on the microphone. It was awesome! Christi 2/25/07


If you peruse the page of testimonies, this is one of the more dramatic.  I guess it is because they did all of that repenting.  I find it curious that all of the testimonies are related to back pain, knee pain, ear pain, finger pain, and basically things that can't be diagnosed by a physician and then tested later by a physician.  But hey, I guess Jesus wants her to touch her toes -- no word yet on the breast cancer...


The thing that makes me angry about it is that it distorts the character of God.  It says, "this affliction is in your life because there is hidden or unrepentant sin in your life."  Give me a break! There is tragedy in this world.  Let it drive you closer to Jesus.  Let Him embrace you, comfort you, and comfort your family.  Don't let an over zealous weekend warrior suggest that it is because you forgot to repent for yelling at your husband last week!  Bad theology, uh, I mean methodology.

Comments Welcome

There have been some good comments on the blog so far.  I hope everyone reading it will contribute to the conversation.  I wanted to respond to a few comments.  One stating that they haven't heard the teachings that I have posted on the blog (Watchman Nee, John Wimber, Rick Joyner, etc.) taught at Antioch.  I would agree that apart from Nee's Spiritual Authority, the others are not overtly preached from the front.  (Although Mike Bickle spoke at World Mandate in 1998 and Rick Joyner did a video series at Highland in 1996 upon an invitation from Jimmy.) However, the teachings I outline have contributed significantly to influencing the teachings at Antioch.  It was pointed out that a few of the books are sold in the book stores.  I know that the training school was more influential in presenting some of these teachings.  I also want to say that even though I was involved in the college group, I was very involved with other ministries as well.  When I talk about senior leadership, I am specifically talking about Jimmy, Jeff, Danny, Kevin, etc.  Jimmy is not a cheerleader for any specific authors or teachers that are out there.  He just gets excited about anyone that has a really sensational story, especially if it involves signs and wonders and revival.  Revival is the most important thing.  The other stuff about intimacy with Jesus, prayer, fasting, etc. is really just means to an end.  Revival.  Building Christ's Kingdom for Him!

I don't know if it is still shown, but in the late 1990s, Jimmy was particularly excited about some videos that he had seen on vacation.  David Hogan was the new guru.  He had Power!  Jimmy had his entire staff watch the videos during staff meetings and started showing them in the training school!  He even got a haircut like him.  You have to question the teachings of a church that get its teachings from people such as these...

Google some of his videos if you want to truly be amazed.

More on David Hogan Here:
http://www.pfo.org/exploits.htm

• He raises people from the dead;

• He is thrown supernaturally across rooms into walls;

• He multiplies food;

• He drives his vehicle underwater;

• Angels are assigned to him and have to go where he goes;

• He is miraculously transported from place to place without the aid of planes, trains or automobiles;

• He is invigorated when new demons are unleashed on him;

• A demon has tried to tear out the innards of his child;

• He has a little son who has a hanky that is so anointed he can make people fly just by shaking it at them;

• He has seen limbs grow on limbless people;

• He has seen the creation of new brains in a brainless baby;

• Jesus talks to his dog and horse;

• He has seen people fly around the room under the anointing of God.

Foundations: Revival Theology - Weighed and Found Wanting

I ran across this publication when I was looking at some of the teachings that have influenced Antioch's leadership.  The focus on growth, revival, and "intimacy with Jesus" are not new.  I have come across several Internet articles regarding the Latter Rain Movement.  It appears that this movement founded in the 1940s and 1950s heavily influenced many of the teachings that formed ACC's "theology."  The Toronto Blessing (attended by ACC leadership), Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, John Wimber, and many more ascribe to these teachings that the works of man are central to Christ's return.  If you have the time, this is worth looking through.  I will paste a few interesting sections below.  Antioch is steeped in these teachings.  The training schools used to teach this and I assume to some extent still do.  While not all of these people are on the reading lists, the ideas are so ingrained by now that no one really remembers where they came from.  If you do some research on the names and organizations below, you can see how some of these very strange teachings lay at the foundation of Antioch's worldview.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/docs/WeighedAndFoundWanting.pdf

• We are supposedly the ones who are to evolve into a “great end times army that will put God’s enemies under our feet,” we are supposedly the ones to whom God said, “Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for your inheritance.” In short, the church either replaces Christ or “is THE Christ.” Whether the movement calls itself the Latter Rain Movement, the Manifested Sons, Kingdom Now, Dominion Theology, Restorationism, The Faith Movement, or the Third Wave, all have either come to or been based on this erroneous conclusion. The Latter Rain believes that the work of restoration is not over yet. 
• They hold that Davidic worship, teaching, ministry, evangelists, and prophets and even apostles in all of their authority are currently being restored. According to a commonly held misunderstanding of Acts 3:21, they teach that Jesus can’t come back even though He wants to because WE haven’t fully “restored all things.”

• Thus, the “Latter Rain” Revival centered around the following themes: Restoration of fivefold ministry (Eph 4) (especially apostles and prophets.) This teaching is crucial because it is this ministry that is supposedly going to unite the church, and perfect the Body of Christ; the restoration of personal prophecy, the impartation of spiritual gifts through laying on of hands; deliverance, healing and baptism of the Spirit through laying on of hands, and the complete unity of the Body of Christ. Denominationalism was seen as “Babylonian Captivity” and subsequently a host of churches affected by the “Latter Rain” broke away from their denominations and became independent churches, many being “set into the body” by the newly discovered apostles. This “revival” which started in Canada, was primarily about Christians “coming into their own fullness,” and not necessarily the conversion of sinners.

• The evolution concept of the church fosters pride and arrogance. Both Rick Joyner and Mike Bickle have said, in effect, that the apostles of the Book of Acts will want to wait in line to interview the superapostles of our day.

• In another more extensive (224 pages) prophecy, Rick Joyner can see the day coming when, "The feet of the body of Christ will carry the credentials for all of those who have gone before them. They will be joined to each other like no other body of people have ever been joined, but they will be also joined to the true believers of all ages who lived and prophesied of this day. As Jesus promised, the things that He did and even greater things will be done in His name, because He went to the Father. His faithful will soon walk in unprecedented power and authority. In the near future, the church will not be looking back at the first century church with envy because of the great exploits of those days, but all will be saying that He certainly did save His best wine for last. The most glorious days in all of history have now come upon us. You who have dreamed of one day being able to talk to Peter, John and Paul are going to be surprised to find that they have been waiting to talk to you!"  Do you notice the emphasis on greatness? But who, according to this scenario, is going to be great in those days? Not necessarily Jesus.

Awaken Trip

Reader, thanks for the question.

I'm a baylor freshman and have been going to antioch since about this past september. I started out as just going to my lifegroup but now also attend the wednesday service frequently. I actually just got back from the training day for the awaken trip...that's why I'm commenting. I wanted to know what your experience has been with the trip. 

You can tell from my posts that I am not the biggest fan of ACC-style missions. I think you will go, have a good time, meet fun people, and see a little bit of Mexico. I don't think you will make a lasting impact on the community in terms of church growth or economic development. If it is like past Juarez trips, I think a lot of the conversions and healings have more to do with miscommunication due to language barriers, and I think ACC spends little time on work projects.

Here is a scenario for why I think the fruit of these types of trips are overhyped: There are a bunch of poor people hanging around the neighborhood on a lazy Sunday afternoon. A group of energetic college kids who are dressed really well show up to play soccer and put on some skits. They have nothing else to do so a crowd gathers. They see that people that respond to the message are getting a lot of attention from these young, attractive Baylor students. More and more people respond. They are told that Jesus is all powerful and can fix their life. If they believe hard enough and let these nice college girls pray for them, then their life will be better. They think, "why not?, got nothing else to do today."

There is a very natural group excitement that I think has little to do with the power of the Holy Spirit. I do think God works through it because the Word of God is powerful. However, I think a lot of what happens can be explained as natural rather than supernatural. But since you were told all morning long during the 3 hour worship and teaching session to see everything through eyes of faith, then you as the messenger see it all through a supernatural prism.  You are not there long enough to know these peoples prior stories or what happens to them next week.  God knows - sure - and hopefully they seek him. I am just saying that the returning stories from these trips don't reflect reality because you don't know the reality.

I am not sure short-term missions aren't worth the cost. (I made that last post as something to think about.) I know several missionaries that I respect that were introduced to missions on short-term trips. I do however think it is good to know that when you go on a short-term trip, it is really about you. It is about introducing people to missions or a specific country or people group. There is little lasting impact, especially given the cost. I don't know a good solution to that problem. I think going somewhere and spending a significant amount of time building something or serving an existing ministry like an orphanage or clinic is more worthwhile.

Antioch uses these trips to hype signs and wonders, easy conversions, and push commitments from college students to become cogs in a machine as church planters. There is little reality to what it takes to make a lasting impact as a missionary.

Study Questions Whether Short-Term Missions Make a Difference

Study Questions Whether Short-Term Missions Make a Difference

Interesting article.   I always found that mission trips focused more on the team than on doing anything lasting in the location.  I remember in Juarez attending worship/exhortation sessions for 3 hours and going to a work site for 45 minutes, where in the end, most of the team goofed around.  That was contrasted to the Mexican believers who labored to make our meals and coordinated our visit who worked all-out for the entire week.

Someone Else's Story

I found this post on another website, BaylorFans, and thought it was relevant to this blog.  Unfortunately, I could not contact the original author.  Hope you find it as interesting as I did.


Background 
I attended ACC from its inception until a couple of years ago. Before that, I attended Highland for many years. I was about as involved as humanly possible--and I loved Jesus passionately with all my heart for a long, long time there. Loved worshiping, spent time with Jesus daily, and sought the Lord about almost everything. I've held personal relationships with so many at ACC and to this day love them very much, though they have for the most part cut off communication with me (and I don't know why that is, honestly).

My Experience
Something about the hundreds of discipleship/mentoring meetings and the psychological layers behind most teachings eventually left me in a hole. This happened very gradually, after many years of involvement. It's as if you feel you can't disagree with what is said, because it is very much Biblical and seems as though the Holy Spirit enfuels it. Even so, you find yourself losing your identity for some reason and feel overwhelmed by everything about your relationship with God. You feel so loved and connected to everyone because of the community, yet you aren't fulfilled. It's a double bind.

Reading this you will think of things like--'it's all about Jesus'. 'He is enough.' 'Churches don't hurt you, people do.' 'When all else gets confusing and overwhelming, turn to Jesus.' Right. All of these statements are reinforced in you over and over through sermons. They're true, too. Jesus is enough. But this is what I have found, after moving away and starting my life over: You are a person of many components--body, mind, spirit, soul. Jesus is everywhere. Of course, if you are an ACC member, you believe that in theory, but are very dependent on the friendships and discipleship relationships you've developed at ACC and therefore feel sort of lost apart from ACC.

I believe that the way of following Jesus taught at ACC and other places similar (i.e. Metro Christian Fellowship in KC) is toxic. I was extremely screwed up emotionally, mentally, and psychologically because of my extreme involvement with the two churches. Yes, you can hear the Lord and follow what He says. Yes, that pleases Him. But you must also know that you are a person with a will, and that is also holy. He gave it to you, and you are in fact an individual. A nameless faceless generation is not what he intended at all. He intended you to be you. God loves you for  you, not for what you give to him in the way of time spent with him, prayer, or fasting, or anything. 

If you, like me, one day find yourself feeling depressed and overwhelmed and eventually find it necessary to leave ACC, please feel free to contact me. It's a hard process of re-wiring your brain to think independently and is very painful. I don't suggest going it alone. Find a friend who will listen. You will need all the support you can get.
Peace.

ResplendentPrism


ps...this may not make sense to you now. It takes years of immersion sometimes for one to get to the point I got to, and I know many other former leaders that have had similar experiences. I hope you don't have to go through what we did.

Loving an Idea more than Reality

For the amount that "reaching the nations" is discussed and prayed about and pushed at Antioch, there aren't that many missionaries overseas.  There are lots of people who have been on mission trips.  There are lots of people that sign up for a church planting team.  There are thousands of young people who pledge to go (at the height of World Mandate weekend).  However, there are few committed missionaries in the nations.

It is indisputable that Antioch sends more missionaries than the average church.  I am just saying that in relationship to how much it is emphasized, and how many people pledge to go, it is small.  Yet the judgment towards other missions organizations including ones very similar to their own such as YWAM or Vineyard is very biased, yet subtle.

When I was there, going to the 10/40 window was the only acceptable place to plant a church.  It wasn't the case that if you felt the Lord calling you to plant a church somewhere else that they discouraged it (because they wanted as many as possible.)  It was just that going to the hardest places in the world was talked about more, the missionaries that were planning to go there were revered, and missionaries that went there were talked about as super-Christians.

I already discussed the flaws of many of the processes in my previous post "A Better Way To Do Missions," so I won't cover it again.

What I think is interesting is that most of the senior leadership has never served long-term overseas.**  Many of the hardcore college leadership didn't go overseas like they intended in the early years.  They planted churches in the U.S.  Why?  Because it is the most dangerous, most unreached, most unchurched?  No, because it is a lot easier to go to Wheaton (for example) and reproduce the ministry experience they had at Baylor than it is to do it the Middle East.

I am amazed at the number of churches that are in the U.S., near university campuses, that are doing what ACC in Waco did.  They have an endless supply of impressionable college students to feed a machine called cell groups.  They like the idea of "reaching the nations." They like large, emotional worship sessions.  They like thinking about being influential in worldwide revival.  They go to other places in the U.S. and tell other college kids that they should go to the nations, but don't do it themselves.

They like the idea of mission trips, because who doesn't want to have a cool trip to a foreign country paid for by supporters.  They go the country for a few weeks, do some prayer walking at the most famous tourist sites, witness to their taxi drivers, have worship and devotion time, and call it a success.

If you look at the most recent World Mandate video, you will see that the idea of missions is a lot more fun that the reality.  How much time is spent giving a cup of cold water?  How much time is spent talking about it?  Many people are trying to do the right thing.  It is just that the system is setup to fail them by getting them all excited for something, yet not providing the tools to do it right.


World Mandate 2010 Promo from K E on Vimeo.


**I will be generous and say long-term is 5 years, but in reality it takes much more than 5 years to see something worthwhile to leave behind as a church plant.  It is amazing how few missionaries from Antioch aren't overseas for even 5 years.

Foundations: Spiritual Authority

One of the goals of this blog is to look critically at some of the theology and processes at ACC and AMI that cause damage to believers.  I believe one of the most important ones is the leadership's buy-in to the belief that church authority should not be questioned.  This foundation of authoritarian rule comes from the teaching of Watchman Nee's book, Spiritual Authority.  It is required reading for any student going through the training school, and I often heard Jimmy Seibert talk about how important this book was in shaping new students.

If you are a church member attending a lifegroup, you might never realize that this is important.  However, if you are a lifegroup leader for a little while or go on to the training schools or staff training it becomes more and more clear.

Covering theology is gaining popularity in lots of charismatic-evangelical churches and has many dangers. It trains believers that all leaders above you (Christian and secular) are appointed by God so if you rebel against them you are rebelling against God.  This opens up people's hearts minds to undue manipulation because who wants to rebel against God!!!

The problem comes when this authority is given to new or unwise believers which is often the case in cell churches focused on fast growth (see previous posts).  If you are lucky and you are a pretty healthy person with a good understanding of the Bible and the character of God AND your leaders are also, then this theology only slightly screws with your understanding of the God.  However, if you or your leader don't fall in that category - huge messes happen.

One example when I was attending Highland Baptist Church was of a rising star of a lifegroup leader named James Stalnaker.  He always gave great testimonies during leadership meetings about people being saved and healed (later learned through friends that many of these stories were lies).  He had a charismatic personality and people liked him.  He got so much attention for the "fruit" that was borne in his cell groups, that he was one of the first college students to be selected by Jimmy and Jeff Abshire to work in their office as an administrative assistant.  Several months later about six college guys revealed to church leadership that he had used his position as lifegroup leader to sexually abuse them, usually after long periods of using spiritual influence to get them to drop their guard.

There is an excellent website that discusses the faults of this theology in detail:  http://coveringandauthority.com/

I will copy some of the more relevant stuff to Antioch, but please spend some time there.  It has great stuff.

Covering theology emphasizes the following:

• Sin is disobedience to God’s authority
• Grace is the power of God to obey him
• All authority is instituted by God
• God establishes his rule in the church through people he has delegated to be his authority
• The 5-fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) represents God’s authority on earth
• Obedience to the Lord requires obedience to God’s delegated authorities (employers, church leaders, civil authorities)
• Rebellion against God’s delegated authority is rebellion against God
• Rebellion to authority opens one up to the demonic realm resulting in deception
• People should live by the principle of obedience rather than reason
• People should always obey authority unless they are clearly instructed to violate scripture
• The line of authority extends in the home where the father holds the highest authority
• Spiritual authority and blessing flows to those who suffer under authority
• God does not judge people on the fruit of their life but on how faithfully they followed authority
• Those outside the local church and the covering of its leaders are at serious risk of spiritual attack

Why it is False:

The lynchpin in Covering theology is the interpretation of Romans 13. Does God appoint all authorities in every realm of life? Do these authorities directly represent God? According to almost all Protestants the answer would be no. If human authority and God’s authority exist in two different realms then leadership has to look different. It doesn’t mean there are no leaders, but we give leaders the right and responsibility to lead organizations and guide people as long as they continue to be faithful, loving servants of Christ. We put people in positions of influence, positions of authority based on character and giftedness. We expect those leaders to lead by example, as servants, rightly dividing the word of truth. If it is proven that any leader doesn’t meet the criteria for leadership or begins to use underhanded or manipulative methods we are called to correct them. If that doesn’t work we must reject their leadership. In order to do this we need the body of the church to be active, discerning and think critically.

The challenge in crafting theology is coming up with ideas and concepts that best represent the whole counsel of scripture. To get “Covering Theology” to work requires ignoring significant relevant passages in scripture. It just doesn’t fit with Jesus’ words about leadership. It doesn’t fit with Paul's concept of the church as a body. If submission to church leaders is based on their position is so important why isn’t it clearly laid out in scripture and reinforced by example? Why would Paul go to such great lengths to convince the Corinthians that they should listen to him because of his life and ministry and not the people who had “letters of recommendation” and judge things according to the flesh? How could prophets like Jeremiah and John the Baptist say such negative things about their leaders if we are called to be unconditionally submitted to authority? Why aren’t we warned in the New Testament that we open ourselves up to demonic deception and spiritual disaster if we don’t submit to the authority of church leaders? This would be a really big deal if it were true and yet the entire New Testament is silent on it?

We must also consider the fruit. Have the churches that implemented this teaching ever experienced the revival that is promised will accompany this so called alignment? Why are there continual reports of abuse and spiritual shipwreck in the lives of the people?

I have no doubt there are sincere Christians that have accepted covering theology and a great many others that could rightly be considered wolves in sheep’s clothing. To those who are sincere I ask you:

• Do you really want to reject hundreds of years of protestant/evangelical biblical interpretation?
• Do you really think that you’ve discovered some hidden structural change to bring about revival? Has it worked so far?
• Do you really want to accept a theology that redefines the central concepts in our understanding of salvation such as faith, sin and grace?
• Have you ever winced inside when you observed the application of this theology and watched people go in to great distress?

Short on Wisdom

1 Timothy 3 - It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do....and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.


James 3 - Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.


The problem with Antioch and many other cell-based ministries is that in their constant desire to grow rapidly, they choose inexperienced believers that don't understand the weight of responsibility given to them.  The responsibility is talked about, it is preached about, accountability is stressed, but in the end a lot of new Christians or newly-devoted Christians are put in positions of influence over even newer believers.


The Bible stresses the importance of seasoned followers to become the leaders of the church.  Many of the hurtful stories I have heard from Antioch usually involve good intentioned lifegroup leaders making stupid decisions.  But since they heard these really cool motivational stories from the front about demons being cast out of the afflicted, they channel this new revelation towards their lifegrouper who is clinically depressed.  Lots of zeal - little wisdom.


Ultimately, the senior leadership is responsible because they set up a system that gives counseling roles and spiritual authority roles to inexperienced leaders.

A Better Way To Do Missions

Cell churches planted by the local church is absolutely the best way for unreached peoples to experience revival. Those other missions organizations which have been sending missionaries for decades have been doing it all wrong.

It's so easy.... What you do is plant a church with a few "experienced" leaders (probably 22-27 years old) that have done this at a very unreached Baylor University campus. (The only more unreached campus might be Liberty or Oral Roberts.) They have multiplied a lifegroup, raised up interns, and done an intensive year of biblical study at Elevate and 24:14 (formerly Master's Commission and Antioch Training School) and Staff Values Training. The curriculum is mainly inspirational teaching that if you pray, fast, and believe hard enough you will be the channel that the Holy Spirit uses to bring about the long-awaited revival for some forgotten war-torn country in the 10/40 window. You learn about the country by reading wikipedia, a few guidebooks, and the Operation World prayer guide. Since you know more about the country than the average ignorant-on-world-affairs American you must be ready to go!

The plan is to go hangout in the country and learn the language. You don't want to get a job in the country because that takes too much time away from planting churches. You don't want to learn the language before you go, because that will delay the urgent revival that is going to happen there. You spend a year "working" in the U.S. by support raising. You've been told that you are sacrificing the best years of your life to spread the gospel so you think you need a salary that is at least as good as people serving themselves by working 8-5 in the U.S. You have to include airfare to all the retreats, conferences, and furloughs. You also need money for trips out of the country every six months to renew your visa because you aren't in the country as missionaries or employees (you didn't take time to prepare for something like that). You are in the country technically as tourists.

You take your training guide from AMI and expect to spend the first year learning the language and hanging out with people; your second year building a core church; your third year continuing to build your church and establishing a training school, your fourth year raising up new leaders and by year five you are outta there! Now you are off you your next country to establish a world-wide movement of revival. You don't get bogged down by things that affect other missions organizations like relief work. You stay focused - purposeful.

I don't know where the timelines and missions philosophy came from, but I know that these goals - touted as the way that God works - often fail miserably. The number of churches that Antioch has planted is always used as proof that they are abiding in Jesus and that their process is better than all others.

What is never discussed is failure.

Numerous mission teams have fallen apart. They go live the life as expats in a foreign land, but unlike other normal people, they don't have jobs. They might live a life of wealth that many in that land could never hope to attain. They hang out at shops or the tennis club (seriously) and find ways to strike up conversations with people about Jesus. Well, they don't speak the language for a long time, so the first and often only people that they befriend are those that already speak English. Someone in Uzbekistan, Russia, Lebanon or Turkey who already speaks English and sees wealthy Americans who don't have jobs must be pretty interested. "Please tell me about this Jesus." He must be the secret to their success.

Many teams don't ever stay long enough to really learn the language. They are not committed for the long term because the AMI training guide told them that they should be sailing along after a few years. When this doesn't happen, they question themselves, they question God, and they quickly have a revelation that God is pointing them in a new direction! Home.

These decisions are never discussed from the front of the church at ACC on Sunday morning let alone analyzed to learn from failure. The missionaries might come back to AMI for a few months and find a new job supporting the troops in the field or they might silently shrink away. The processes don't change. The machine keeps rolling on.

There are 200 freshmen Baylor students at World Mandate who have yet to experience the real world. They are filled with dreams and ready to take the lead....

Relationship Fantasy

Cell groups are the answer. Your friendships are there. It is how you learn about Jesus in a community. It mimics the early church. It is how you reach non-believers in a non-threatening way. This is what the leadership at Highland Baptist Church and Antioch said so it must be true.

Cell churches was the way that the Kingdom would come on this earth when we finished the job! But I have been a part of several cell churches and have rarely seen a small group work the way it is intended. For starters the focus on growth, multiplication, raising up new leaders, etc. usually gets in the way or building friendships and community. The timelines to grow and multiply groups is ridiculous. When I was leading, the goal was to multiply a group every six months to a year. How can you possibly even get to really know a person in six months, let alone become friends with someone?

It created a culture in which friendship was only based on an outcome. If you were a leader, you were "friends" with your section leader or zone pastor to usually discuss accountability issues (because you can't experience revival if you are sinning) and to discuss how well your group is going. If you are a lifegrouper, you were sure to be meeting with your "friends" to discuss your sin issues and your plan to spiritually develop so you too could become an intern.

Every leader was on the lookout for their replacement so that they could multiply their group and move on to the next stage. Now, I know that consciously everyone was not thinking about growth on a weekly basis, but the push for growth made this the underlying current for relationships.

The culture was one of personal meeting after personal meeting. You weren't really friends with anyone because you didn't have time to be. You had to get your lunch with your mission trip team leader and your breakfast with your discipleship group and your afternoon coffee with your intern and your hour at the prayer room. You knew people's sin and what they confessed was holding them back from experiencing more of Jesus, but you didn't have time to really experience life with anyone.

It is telling that the leaders at Antioch don't have friends outside of the leadership at Antioch! They don't have time. The husbands meet in accountability groups. The wives do some of the same. They hear a lot what is going on, but they don't experience any of this together. Their life goes from one hour meeting to the next thinking it is relationship, but it is an illusion of friendship.

From my time at ACC, I am really friends with my former roommates and some people that shared similar interests. Very few of them were ever in my lifegroup.

I Hate Antioch Community Church and Antioch Ministries International in Waco

I don't really hate ACC and AMI, but I do often find myself thinking about my experiences there with frustration and at times would call my emotions anger. A former leader, training school trainee, and zealot I believe I knew the early days of "the movement" well. I don't know it at all any longer, and don't claim that I do. However, I still talk with lots of former leaders, lifegroupers, mission trip leaders, former Baylor Landing tenants, etc. who are weary, confused, and disillusioned with Antioch. It affects their life and faith.

But no one has a place to share or process their thoughts when they are thrown out of the machine of "a Passion for Jesus and His Purposes in the Earth." They shrink away. Some burn out fast and leave with a bang! Others fade slowly, taking time to choose a different way. Any who speak out about something being wrong are quickly discredited as having "sin issues" or something similar to make sure their voices do not scare the flock of young, Baylor students anticipating the next World Mandate.

When I visit Antioch on occasion, I still see the same thing rolling on with little regard to all the broken people "the movement" has left along the way. Jimmy Seibert is still teaching the same things. Lifegroups still go the same way. Churches are still being planted the same way. Jimmy always says that you can judge a ministry by its fruit. I think that is true!

I don't think that the church or leadership honestly looks at any of the rotten fruit that comes from the ministry. Everything good is because of their passion for Jesus. Everything bad is because of a leader's sin issue. They never stop to examine if there is theological beliefs or organizational process that cause these failures.

This blog is just a small attempt to examine some of these issues. It is a place for dissent because none is welcomed in the church. Please use the comments section to raise your own questions, give your own examples, share experiences or disagree with me.