Monday Morning Insights

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    “Loud, Rude, and Obnoxious” Church

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    “For whatever reason Compass Point has received the scorn of other Lakeland churches and pastors since we began. In our early days a local pastor actually preached against us from his pulpit. When I asked him why he said, “Because Compass Point is loud, rude and obnoxious!” I totally dug that...it made me feel like a member of Motley Crue or Guns N’ Roses! You know, he never said we were unbiblical. He never said we weren’t reaching people for Christ. He never said we weren’t missional...he just said we were loud, rude and obnoxious. As a fan of pirates, hard rock and rebellion I like that assessment of us. Loud, rude and obnoxious has worked pretty well in reaching other loud, rude and obnoxious people for Christ...I think we’re going to turn loud, rude and obnoxious up a notch!!!”

    Chris Elrod, Pastor of Compass Point Church

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    Here's a quote from Chris Elrod, Pastor of Compass Point Church. Some 'unnamed' website has picked up on this quote and written Chris up pretty badly. I'm wondering about what you think about the quote... Take a read and let me know!

    Comments

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    1. Peter Hamm on Tue, August 21, 2007

      I love it when preachers take the time to decry another church from the pulpit…


      ...NOT…

    2. Brian on Tue, August 21, 2007

      It is a well known fact that Motley Crue found their guitarist, Mick Mars, when they answered an ad that read, “Loud, rude, aggressive guitar player available.”  Maybe there’s more of a Crue connection than he realizes?


      File this under “Things that make you go ‘hmmm.’”

    3. Leonard on Tue, August 21, 2007

      But would they have let Carter be interviewed?

    4. Mike Ellis on Tue, August 21, 2007

      Chris Elrod is a great guy with a fantastic heart for the Lord. If you haven’t done so lately, check out the back of the Bible. Jesus Christ is NOT coming back looking like a Breck girl in a white dress.


      I want to be “dangerous” to a dull and boring religion. I want a faith that is considered “dangerous” by our predictable and monotonous culture.


      - Mike Yaconelli


      The truly holy people I’ve met in my life are really interesting people. They’re a mix of the most incredible godliness and at the same time, the most unbelievable earthiness. I know a woman who curses like a sailor, but she’s the most holy woman I know. She is! I’m not kidding. We’ve created this image of what holiness looks like that’s just nonsense. Good holy people probably drink too much some times, and have colorful language, and there’s plenty of room in the Bible to see people like that. We have to see life for what it is, entirely more complicated then simple. Spirituality is not simple; it’s complicated. It gets messy sometimes.


      - Mike Yaconelli

    5. Shane Allen on Wed, August 22, 2007

      I have read the above posts and was pretty disgusted… this guy idolizes Guns N Roses and loves Rock N Roll… HUH.  A lady that curses and is HOLY.  Peter cursed when he was backslid.  I want to be dangerous to a predictable Church world yes, I want to preach “1 Peter 4:17-18 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”  That is dangerous to a loose living, do what you want, be rude, idolize rock bands and curse like a sailor religious people.  Lord, forgive me for wasting my time writing this post… PS Christ ain’t coming back looking like a rock star who thinks that pirates, hard rock and rebellion is cool.  See what he says about rebellion in his book called the Bible.

    6. DanielR (a different Daniel) on Thu, August 23, 2007

      Shane, I also will ask the Lord to forgive you for writing what you posted.   I’ll also pray that everyone who reads it just ignores it.


      As for the subject, I’m not a big fan of Loud, Rude, or Obnoxious, although I have been told that our church is loud.  Actually it was a woman who brought her newborn into the service rather than leaving him in the nursery and when he started crying she said the music was so loud it made babies cry.   Well, our church does rock!  I’m also not a fan of Motley Crue or GNR, I’m more of a Bob Segar/Bruce Springsteen kind of guy, but I understand Chris’ sentiment.  And if I remember correctly, Jesus was considered something of a rebel in His time. 


      I would surmise from this that the median age of Compass Point is a somewhat younger that that of the church that called them Loud, Rude, and Obnoxious.  That church is probably dignified, somber, and dispassionate.  And it probably serves it’s congregation well.

    7. RevJeff on Thu, August 23, 2007

      Who cares about being loud or rude…. do they teach about tithing and are they as cool as Todd Rhoades? Those are the real essentials.

    8. Chris Elrod on Fri, August 24, 2007

      RevJeff - We’re not nearly as cool as Todd Rhoades…though we are working hard to reach that level.  I’m preaching on tithing this coming Sunday…as a amatter of fact.  I hope this clears up your questions.  http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/grin.gif

    9. Lee Cummings on Sat, August 25, 2007

      wow! I am new to this blog site and really enjoy the dialogue. I am a little blown away by this story and the comments though. Can’t we be loud and relevant and “cool” pastors without having to resort to immature responses that side us with rebellion, swearing, and drinking? Haven’t we forgot the definition of “holy” to begin with. I am not prescribing a hymnal and starched shirt but come on brothers, let’s grow up a little. If our skin is so thin about our methodology than maybe we should just be quiet, loving and polite.


      Maybe instead of celebrating works of the sinful nature that we all battle with, let’s demonstrate Christ likeness and let the fruit speak for itself. Dude!

    10. Garry Mullen on Mon, August 27, 2007

      I don’t know.  I really like the quote and I think it could very easily have been said about Jesus.  Maybe all of our prayers should be - Lord, make me more Loud, rude and obnoxious so that some one actually hears your voice.

    11. James on Thu, August 30, 2007

      “As a fan of ... rebellion I like that assessment of us.” -Chris Elrod


      “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” - Samuel the prophet.


      I wonder who wins in this exchange.


      P.S.


      Mike Yaconelli(’s comments listed above are) is an idiot(ic).

    12. Leonard on Thu, August 30, 2007

      James,


      The rebellion you cite in scripture is bad but it s a rebellion against God.  Chris is not endorsing this.  As for the late Mike Yanconelli being an idiot, I would say you might be a bit presumptuous in your judgment, especially if you are judging him on a couple quotes.

    13. James on Thu, August 30, 2007

      Rebellion (the spirit of) is bad, period.  The inetersting thing to me is that people often cite Jesus as “the rebel,” when He was, truly, far from it.  All Jesus ever did was obey the Father.  Hardly rebellious.


      Yes, I know that there was a “rebellion” against “the system” and the “leaders” of the day, but was this rebellion or reformation, but this defense to me (even when I used it for myself) seemed fishy; almost as if Jesus’ “rebellion” made ours ok, even though what we really wanted was to just be rebellious and not fall under authority.


      One of the interesting things I found out in my study of Luther is that his intention was never to leave the Catholic church.  That blows me away even now.  He saw horrible things going on and yet did not “rebel” but instead attempted, out of love for his church and the people therein, to bring about reformation.


      As to the Yaconelli comments (that’s why I used these clever things - parentheses most people call them.)  Sarcasm aside - my apologies - but his comments were stupid.  Moreover, and far more importantly, they say to people who are loud, rude obnoxious, foul-mouthed drunkards, that they can stay that way and be holy.  That’s worse than stupid or idiotic; it’s eternally dangerous.

    14. Leonard on Thu, August 30, 2007

      I think you might be splitting hairs on this.  I was loud, rude and obnoxious as a kid because I invited lost people to Christ.  I grew up in a church that paid lip service to that mission but I was often the cause of a conversation or meeting simply because we refused to be a silent witness to Christ.  I was rebellious but not against God.  I think this is what Chris would also tell you if you were to ask him and while he may not be the conservative fundie poster boy, he certainly does not deserve the label as rebellious against God.  To give him that on a cursory read, without the benefit of conversation and research is too far.  Today I pastor one of those loud, rude and obnoxious churches.  Though so by churches who reach no one and whose struggle with holiness are hidden behind image and shame.


      As for Yanconelli’s comments, I really doubt the foul mouth drunkard sees these comments as permission.  If you think that then you might not know enough foul mouthed drunkards.  If you were to know Mikes ministry before he died, if you were to know his own struggle and his truth and grace efforts to those who struggled you would see these words in context of his life, ministry and in their use. 


      As for Luther, he may not have considered himself rebellious but those around him did, especially those who he confronted, those with power and those who had something to lose.  This is the kind of rebellion I am in favor of.

    15. DanielR (a different Daniel) on Thu, August 30, 2007

      Wow, James, you’re making some pretty big leaps there.  You’ve gone from a church being called loud, rude and obnoxious and added that they are foul-mouthed drunkards.  Bravo for being more discerning than me, I had no idea they were also foul-mouthed drunkards. 


      And, yes, Jesus was rebellious against the religious authorities of His time, while he was obeying the Father.   You’re taking Chris Elrod’s comments about being called loud, rude and obnoxious and assuming (and you know what happens when you do that) that he advocates rebellion against God. 


      I’ve been invited to visit a few churches in our area and at a couple found the type of fire-breathing, hell and damnation, fundamentalist preachers I grew up with.  I thought they were loud, rude and obnoxious, but I’m sure if they came to our church they would say we’re loud, rude and obnoxious because we’ve replaced the choir with the church equivalent of a rock band.  Notice I said I thought they were loud, rude and obnoxious, but not less holy or less righteous.

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