I have been a member of NPCC for nearly 10 years and the choice to invite FLOTUS is very surprising. The church has gone out of its way to remain apolitical, but its roots are southern baptist and it is an evangelical mega church. Andy gave the invocation prayer at the Obama inauguration, but he has not indicated in any way that he is a supporter. I believe the invitation to the FLOTUS would not be approved by over half the congregation because of its political overtones, not because of the particular message. Many times since I have been a member NPCC has passed on events that have even the slightest political tone to them. I am almost sure that the vast majority of members are conservative, but have no data to back it up, although I have been intimately involved in activities with many members throughout my membership. One of the previous posts suggested Andy had jumped the shark on this one and I tend to agree, but am confident that it was done with significant thought and almost always this church gets “it” right. FYI, I did not and cannot ever vote for or support Obama, but don’t like bringing that into our church. To give some idea of the conservative nature of the church message in general(evangelical as opposed to political), Andy gave a terrific sermon on July 4th, that everyone who loves our country and its history would appreciate. It talked about the other side of freedom which is personal responsibility. Also, about a year ago he gave a two-part sermon called “God and Country” that was all about needing to keep the Judeo/Christian viewpoint and more generally, God in politics. In fact I attended Glen Beck’s 8/28 rally and have followed Beck regularly and have been surprised by how closely some of Andy’s messages over the past year have paralleled Beck’s message. You can view many of Andy’s sermons www.northpoint.org and unlike Barack Obama with his pastor, I am able to confidently defend any of Andy’s messages, and to whole-heartedly agree with them. That is why this invitation is such a surprise. It may be nothing more than a follow-up from the invocation prayer because the worship center is so large it can accommodate the site, and it would have been awkward to refuse.
“I am almost sure that the vast majority of members are conservative, but have no data to back it up, although I have been intimately involved in activities with many members throughout my membership.”
I am not suggesting that the church is in any way, left-wing or liberal. But many Republicans voted for Obama - especially among the wealthy & hip crowd - because they were swept away by the centrist image created by the media (and the whole racial guilt thing).
That is the only explainable I can think of for why North Point would swing that way.
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“I am able to confidently defend any of Andy’s messages, and to whole-heartedly agree with them.”
No doubt. And I seriously doubt that Andy was among those who voted for Obama.
I had a NPCC member just tell me on my Facebook something like “Andy is a great and godly man and I trust his decisions 100%”.
Sorry, but that worries me. I have always liked Andy, I have listened to him speak, I have several of his videos and books. I don’t even question that he is a conservative (yet).
But having said this, he REALLY got this wrong. It worries me that people like my friend look at Andy and think because he is a good man and has been an outstanding leader, that he is infallible. He is allowing a person to come into their church and teach a world view that is in direct opposition to God’s word.
I really REALLY hope people in his congregation are confronting him instead of blowing it off as this friend did. I don’t want to see Andy Stanley going off the deep end like Rick Warren did.
He should heed the words of his own father: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100703/influential-pastor-warns-americans-of-socialism-departure-from-god/