Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

Before I do this review, it’s important to do some “disclosure” caveats.  First, I am friends with Warren Smith.  I met him nearly a decade ago right after I moved to Charlotte and it was an instant connection.  We come from different branches of the “evangelical” tree – he is grafted “reformed” in his theology having moved away from this Southern Baptist stock.  I am what I prefer to call a “fundagelical” having been raised in a strident branch of fundamentalism with which I have since disassociated over matters ranging from “soteriology” (I reject the name it/claim it version of cheap salvation) to tone to raising issues of tradition to superseding doctrine.  At the same time, I do not identify with the squishy theology and associations that have plagued the “evangelical” movement for the better part of sixty years. Thus, I find myself somewhere in between the two as a “fundagelical”.   Also, it would be inaccurate to call me a full-blown “Calvinist”.  (I like to say that I’m a Calvinist to the extent that I accept about 2.7 of the five petals of the TULIP and I reserve the right to define the terms.)   In addition, I have worked with and for Smith over the years.  I wrote for the Evangelical New Services which he owns and I also wrote regularly for the Charlotte World and other newspapers that he has owned.  We have both taught for Southern Evangelical Seminary, have spoken together at conferences and have worked on projects together.  In addition, I was shocked to discover that I am even quoted in this book – something of which I was unaware until I actually read it.

However, this history with Warren may make me a tad bit more critical than I might otherwise be, just to demonstrate that I can write an even-handed review of this work.  I might simply skip this exercise, except that I find the book too important to simply relegate to the stack of “read books” that clutters my offices.  Having been asked to review it, I shall.

Over the years, I have grown increasingly frustrated and at times disenfranchised from my conservative Christian heritage because of some of the trends and practices which seem to dominate evangelicalism and fundamentalism on a regular basis.  There is a certain “lemming” mentality among Christians that I find disturbing, even though at times, I have found myself rushing headlong to the cliffs with my fellow evangelical friends.  This is the only world I know in terms of my theology.  Born and bred a Baptist, I have moved in the circles of Bible-believing Christianity my entire life.  And I’ve watched the silliness and trendiness from a front-row seat.

I remember trends like: week-long revivals, fighting the Southern Baptists, starting Christian schools, having a bus ministry, joining moral majority, opposing the World Council of Churches, prophecy conferences that assured us that Christ would return no later than 2007, Pastor’s schools, Willow Creek, Purpose-Driven Youth/Church, worship wars, small groups, Bill Gothard, cell groups, church planting, emergent, megachurches, church growth conferences, Gaither Homecomings, Catalyst, Passion, Prayer of Jabez, Purpose-Driven Life, Promisekeepers, Beth Moore, Toronto Blessing/Brownsville Revival, Christian Coalition, The Passion of the Christ, King James Only Movement and an armful more.  Most of these I simply observed and to my embarrassment some of them I joined.

Warren Smith’s book, “A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church” looks at some of the most egregious trends in the evangelical church and in doing so, gives all of conservative Christianity – from the militant-to-strident fundamentalist to the sloppy agape evangelical – a well-deserved wrap on the knuckles.  What follows are my impressions…

Smith begins his work with the standard introductions and an explanation of his perspective and origins.  Then he immediately launches into bursting the bubble of what he labels the “Evangelical Myth”.  That is, that the evangelical movement would not simply be a religious movement, but would bring about cultural and societal revolution as well.

I was a little surprised that Warren took this on and so early in his book for two reasons.  First, he holds to a “Reformed” view of theology and many within the Reformed movement (though not all) subscribe to a “Kingdom” mentality (reconstructionism) that is consistent with their amillennial eschatology.  (I recognize that some Reformed folks are premillennialist, but many more are amillienial.)  Many believe that in order for Christ to establish His millennial reign, there must be the establishment of a theocratic form of governance that will recognize Christ as the Sovereign Leader He is.  Obviously, Smith does not hold this view.

The other reason I was surprised was because during the 2006 elections, I caught some heat from Warren and many in the “Christian Right” over my decision to distance myself from politics in my role (then) as a Pastor.  I wrote several articles about it and as a result, the Charlotte Observer, my own legislator, Sue Myrick, several other media outlets and my good friend, Warren Smith either discussed it with me or took me to task in varying degrees.  Warren had me on a radio show he was doing at that time as a substitute for Stu Epperson called “Talkback Live” and we spent a lively hour or so debating the matter.
Warren’s conclusion is that whether we are talking about evangelical political movement, the evangelical “marketplace” of goods and services that has emerged or other examples of monolithic influence or impositions on our culture, there is more smoke than fire and beneath that smoke you are just as likely to find rather “unchristian” motivations like money and power than you are to find the Gospel of Christ at the heart.

In his next chapter, Smith labels the attitude that has emerged in evangelicalism as a “new provincialism” in which we ignore our heritage and traditions founded on sacred scholarship and we fail to pause about where we are heading with our illusions of wealth, power, influence and what is all-together a rather worldly methodology and scale of evaluation.  In this chapter, Warren provides the readers with a brief, but vital overview of the First and Second Great Awakenings in American History and leads the reader to a damning conclusion that the Second Great Awakening was more of a myth than a miracle and he lays the evidence and the blame of the emotionalism and manipulation that sprang from the techniques of men like Charles G. Finney – a man who is often exalted like an apostle of his era.  I won’t go into the full case, but this chapter alone is important enough to know to justify the purchase price of the book.  In the ministry of Finney, we see much of the seed sown for the excesses and unbiblical conduct of today’s evangelicalism and fundamentalism.

I will note that in this chapter, Smith takes on premillenialism which is more than likely a reflection of his Reformed Theology.  As premillenialist myself, I found myself disagreeing with a rather “broad-brushed” approach to defining the history and the impact of this eschatological belief.  At the same time, I am not such a premillenialist that I will not even entertain the criticisms and the challenges to that position.  I certainly do not elevate one’s eschatological beliefs to be equal to other core theological stands and so in this, I listened thoughtfully to the arguments without completely buying into them.  At the same time, Smith is thought provoking in how he deals with the topic and he also points out some tendencies and fallacies that have risen from those who practice a loose eschatological position without regard to other important doctrines and practical philosophy that emerges from a Biblical worldview.

With Chapter Three, Smith approaches, in rapid-fire order, some of the major “quarrels” that he and thinking believers should share with where evangelicalism is as a movement.  He first targets “Sentimentality” which reduces the sovereignty and the very definition of God.  Smith takes a courageous poke at some of the “stars” of the Sentimentality gurus including Joel Osteen, Bill Hybels, leaders of emergent churches and the megachurch celebrities.

Catch this quote, “We have lost, for example, the ability to look at a book by megachurch pastor Joel Osteen and see that its very title offers the same promise as the Serpent offered Even in the garden of Eden: “Your Best Life Now!”  That Osteen could title his book thus, completely without irony, and that much of evangelicalism could accept it without criticism, are proof enough that these ideas are not irrelevant to modern evangelicalism.” (I apologize for not having the exact page in Chapter three for this quote as I read it on a Kindle and it does not have the exact pages.)

In his next chapter, Smith takes on what he describes as the “Christian Industrial Complex” with a  scathing examination of the Christian Contemporary Music, Entertainment, Publishing and other industries.  He upsets some serious tables in this sacred mall and in doing so, he will cause even the most ardent “free-market” purveyor of “Christian” wares to take a second look at this industry and ask whether or not it a part of the solution or a part of the problem when it comes to what evangelical Christianity has become.  If the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, then Smith squarely sounds a warning call to any who buys or sells the wares in this industry.  Of course, some would point out the irony in that Smith has, for years, benefitted from this “complex” whether by selling them advertising in his newspapers or publishing this very book.  That said, he makes a point that is worthy of discussion.  With the skill that a journalist brings to a book such as this, Smith also shines the light on some unsavory techniques that high-profile “ministries” bring to the market place of Christian consumerism that will make most of us squirm a bit in our seats.

One of the most controversial, but important chapters comes next and is entitled, “Body-Count Evangelism”.  In this section, he takes on no less of a national icon than Billy Graham and others, like Rick Warren” who seem to have evangelism statistics that are “too good to be true” and asks the importunate question “where’s the fruit?”  He goes so far as to boldly “call out” some of the practices of body-counting “decisions” as opposed to those who are experiencing genuine Biblical “conversion”.  He also takes a rather insightful look at the “parachurch” phenomenon from a historical perspective and as a modern institution.  In this chapter again, Smith’s Reformed leanings factor into his conclusions and he makes some valid points.  My concern is that again he over-simplifies what he describes as Armenianism and at the same time, there needs to be additional discussion of why evangelicalism is filled with a soteriology that is more about sentimentality and cheap grace than repentance and conversion.  This chapter includes some great history of the “camp” and “brush arbor” movements of the 1800’s and also makes some interesting connections to men like Graham and Jerry Falwell.  I should note here that this is the chapter in which Smith lifts a rather embarrassingly transparent admission I made in one of my Evangelical Press News commentaries regarding my own involvement in the “Passion of the Christ” fiasco.  My article was entitled, “Pimping for Hollywood” and actually does not cast me in a very good light.  Smith goes on to discuss in a subsequent chapter the “Great Stereopticon” which is a fascinating critique of the Christian media and its impact on how we “do church.

Finally Smith closes his book with a call of action of sorts that is somewhat of a criticism of short-term missions and a challenge to plant churches.  It’s in these chapters that I find myself in sharpest disagreement with his thoughts.  Warren seems to miss the impact of short-term missions trips on the “go’er” by focusing almost exclusively on the mission field.  Yes, short-term missions involves a lot of people, spending lots of money, to have a mission-field “experience.  But that’s a little cynical.  What he fails to realize is that when one gets out of the materialistic Western/American culture, for even a few days, and sees what God is going elsewhere, it invariably impacts them dramatically and permanently.  Many young people who are preparing to go to the mission field themselves today would point back to a short-term missions trip.

The irony is that in conclusion, Smith himself shares the consequences of a short-term missions trip he made to India a few years ago where he observed K.P. Yohannan’s ministry and how that has forever changed his perspective on church-planting and foreign evangelism.  Now, he himself, has experienced the way God works through short-term missions trips and he is spreading that influence to those with whom he comes into contact around the world today.  While he calls the reader to the ministry of planting small, indigenous churches around the globe, he does so like it is a new phenomenon.  For many of us who have been doing this work for the better part of a quarter of a century, we’re glad to see others discovering it, but it’s hardly a new innovation.

In the end, like a good movie, I wanted more from Smith.  I think he was just getting started on many of the fallibles within the evangelical movement.  And in the end, I don’t know if Smith offered any tangible or practical solutions.  Maybe there’s another book in there for him on that topic.  I hope so.

How important do I think this book is?  Well, I’m ordering a case.  Half of those I’m giving to some friends of mine that are dabbling with the Emergent Movement and other things that Smith hits on in this book.  The other half will be used in a college class I’m teaching in Boston in January – a class of young church planters who are being regularly seduced and approached by much of what is wrong in evangelicalism today.  I hope they’ll read this.  More importantly, I hope they’ll learn from it.  Before it is too late. If you are going to buy a book this week, put this one at the top of your list.

To order your copy, click HERE.

I had been seeing the advertisement and reading stories about the movie, “Facing the Giants” for several months. I’m a fan of football movies of just about any genre, so I gave the articles and ads more than a passing glance. In addition, the story of how this movie came to be was intriguing to me as well.

In short, a member of a Baptist church in Georgia had a dream of producing a Christian movie that would get play in regular theaters. His first attempt went straight to video. But his second try, Facing the Giants, was picked up by a distributor and started appearing in mainstream theatres in October — mostly in the South and Southeast areas of the so-called Bible-belt. The movie was funded as a missions project by the church to the tune of $100K. They’ll now be reaping millions of dollars in profits and they’ve said they plan on using it to fund more positive family and spiritually-positive movies.

I read several reviews by multiple Christian movie reviewers and frankly, the reviews were as I expected. Negative, critical — at times, almost dismissive and mocking. Filmed on a tiny budget of $100,000, the movie has no special effects, no professional actors and none of the traditional trappings that make Hollywood movies popular and expensive.

Now, let me just interject here that I’ve come to expect some pretty unsatisfying movies springing from the imaginations of well-intentioned believers who fancy themselves breakthrough or breakoutartists in one of the most corrupt industries in the world today. In addition, there’s the whole sad library of Christian movies that were shown in church basements on New Year’s eve throughout the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Some of the worst were “The Burning Hell” (you aren’t really a true fundy unless you’ve seen an Estes Perkle film replete with maggots and the most AWFUL acting in the history of theatre including “Jews” with terrifyingly Southern accents.), “A Distant Thunder/Thief in the Night” (Rapture scare movies that made the Left Behind movies look like Shakespeare.) and the ridiculous “If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?” which asked the burning question “Will you survive as a genuine believer when the communists take over America?”. Somewhat better, but so over-shown they became cliche’ jokes were the movies by “Unusual Films” (from Bob Jones University) like “Flame in the Wind” (starring BJII), “Wine of Morning” and my all-time favorite — “SHEFFY” which I saw at every watchnight service I attended for about 10 years straight. The recent LaHaye/Jenkins/Cloud10 movies based on the “Left Behind” series were so laughable and ridiculous (from the theology to the special effects) that they were the cinematic equivalent of a Jack Chick comic.

I don’t really consider “The Passion” a Christian film, though I saw it and it moved me. It was truly a Hollywood production like the 10 Commandments, Ben Hurand The Robe and other Hollywood religious-themed movies.

So, let’s just say that my expectations were pretty low. I almost skipped going to see “Facing the Giants” completely, but I kept hearing people who had gone say that a) they really enjoyed it and b) they thought magazines like “World” and “CT” that trashed it were way off base.

So last week I took my gang to see it. I’m glad that I did.

Let me say up front, this is not Lord of the Rings or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. To the professional critic and the artistic elitist, there is plenty to “diss” on this, I’m sure. But I didn’t go in as a critic. I was just wanting to spend an evening with my family.

In a nutshell, this is the story of a Christian high school football coach who faces multiple professional and personal obstacles and through prayer and character, sees God provide amazing reversals and ends up victorious.

Let me say up front, this movie is Christian idealism plain and simple and unapologetic. It is completely formulaic in the finest of “Rocky” traditions. The acting is by amateurs, but I will also say that as the movie goes on, the acting gets progressively better as the actors find their feet and relax. It goes right up to the brink of being schmaltzy, but never quite crosses it. There’s “preachiness“, there’s humor, there’s contrived drama and there’s just loads of idealism.

But here’s what I noticed and experienced. Everyone in the theatre that was nearly 3/4rds full, really got “into” the movie. Throughout, people laughed, cried, clapped, cheered, hooted and at the end applauded soundly. (Something I’ve never quite experienced before in a movie of any kind.) It made it fun. And this cynical old coot found himself with a lump in his throat and a tear in his eye several times during the movie as some of the experiences of the coach (both personal and professional) hit just a little too close to home to my own life experiences.

I expected to hate the movie and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, I’ve recommended it to multiple people and I’m recommending it to the readers of this blog. Go see it. Have an open mind. Relax and just enjoy it.

Here’s why I think I liked it so much. First, the characters were totally relatable to believers. I KNEW the people in this movie — not personally, but because I’ve worked, worshipped and walked beside these folks all my life. These fresh-faced kids on the football teams have been in my classes for the last two decades. The slightly eccentric prayer warrior has been in every church I’ve attended or pastored. The coach — he’s worked for me before and sometimes he’s BEEN me. Even the fickle fans and player parentsI’ve seen in church pews and bleachers all my life. Unbelievers might mock these folks, but I’ve loved and ministered to and with people like them for years.

Secondly, it was idealistic and I like idealism. Christianity is all about idealism. We all know that life always falls short of utopia and the ideal, but the message of the Gospel and Heaven and Salvation IS an ideal. I’m OK with that.

Thirdly, I liked the messages. Perseverance, faith, worship, character, integrity — they were portrayed positively and upfront. Simplistic? Yes. Accurate and important? Yes and yes. I didn’t have to see a hypocrite or a failure or a realistic depiction of negative outcomes in order to make the movie more realistic. Life does that for me every day. I liked the fact that everything turned out positive in the end. I mean, it’s JUST a movie. It’s OK if the good guys come out on top.

I’m more than a little irritated at the artistic snobbishness that trashed this movie in many Christian magazines and websites. You know, I don’t particularly care of the schlocky paintings of Thomas Kinkaide or the cheap porcelian collectibles of the “Precious Moments” collections. But I sure know a LOT of people who do like them. They represent values and messages and memories that mean something to a lot of people. So what’s the harm in letting them enjoy it. Of course they aren’t Rembrandt’s. They aren’t the equivalent of timeless hymns or sculptures by Michelangelo. But not everything has to be worthy of the Louvre or Academy Award-worthy to be an OK evening out with the kids.

I also really like the fact that this Georgia church took a leap of faith and invested $100K in a project that will become an inspiration to millions of believers in this country. We sent our junior high kids to see it as did several other Christian schools in the area. I told our head football coach to go see it and he did and I believe he’ll now be using this to teach some values to future teams.

So, here’s my recommendation. Take a look at the trailer by clicking HERE. Then, if it comes to your town in the theater and if you go to movies, then load up the fam, get the large popcorn with extra butter and sit back and enjoy it. It’s worth it. Oh, and take a couple of extra kleenexes. You might just need them.