NCC in CT

Randomly ran across a big picture of Mark Batterson out at the CT website. Sure enough, they've got a nice puff piece on National Community Church. Mark is a gifted communicator who has definitely taken some ministry risks and has now built up quite the little spiritual empire. I attended NCC for several years and it is a fascinating place. Where else can you be old at 29?

They've accomplished a lot with that youthful energy though. It's mostly focused inwardly, but that spiritual vortex brings in a lot of the young and hip who wouldn't set foot in a church otherwise. And when they arrive, they won't hear much to scare them off. Mark is a friendly people pleaser (by his own admission) with a knack for connecting with folks and avoiding the controversial.

If you read the article, you'll see that Batterson's approach to politics is "loud silence." I can vouch for that: never did I hear a pro-life sermon, a call to fight global warming, or anything to hint that a war was taking place (much less give us tools to discern if this was a good or bad thing). Corporate evangelism was limited to easily digestable events like an Easter egg hunt and a coffee house that mixed a few Christian songs into the background music. (Both undertakings were effectively executed to be sure, and I'm happy to have bought several of the bricks composing Ebenezer's Coffee House---despite Mark insisting on the what might be the world's worst name.)

NCC favors a stealth approach---it is a "quietly" an Assemblies of God church (no speaking in tongues on most Sundays and not an AG logo to be found). It is even more quietly associated with the secretive group The Fellowship. Batterson mentor and Fellowship higher-up Dick Foth was a regular guest preacher---and a good one---during my day.

If I seem conflicted in my assessment of NCC, I suppose that's because I am. I always worry about personality driven churches---where one man serves as a quasi-messiah figure even as he tries to point others to God. But the Bible is filled with such figures I suppose (Moses, John the Baptist, and Paul come to mind). The tightrope of the "humble leader" is a difficult line to walk and such people need our prayers.

Celebrity pastors like Rick Warren say "It's not about me." Yet, they know at some level it is always about them. Mark is making his run at the big time and I pray he walks that high wire successfully.