Andy Stanley Says 12-14 People Check His Sermon Outline To Ensure It Doesn’t Land Poorly With The Wrong Crowd
North Point Community Church pastor Andy Stanley, lately known for his host of pro-LGBTQ controversies (see endnotes), recently joined Carey Nieuwhof for a conversation about disagreements in the church, especially around politics.
In the interview, Stanley advocates his usual brand ‘clean hands’ third-wayism, insisting “the way forward is to disagree politically, disagree culturally, disagree theologically, and love each other unconditionally” without getting picking sides of the political realm.
While the mantra sounds nice and pithy, Stanley doesn’t elaborate or put meat on those bones, such as giving practical examples of how to work this out when the person worshipping next to you is one of North Point’s openly gay-affirming pastors (again, endnotes) or is in charge of doing ballot collection for the abortion-loving Democrats in the area.
When asked whether or not he ever regretted any sermon series he’s done, Stanley offered that he didn’t because he has over a dozen people reviewing his sermon outline to ensure his doesn’t land poorly with the wrong crowd.
12 to 14 people have my sermon outlines at least three weeks before I preach them. So if there are red flags in the outline, somebody or some somebodies brings it to my attention, whether, ‘hey, Andy, this word doesn’t mean what you think it does, it used to mean this, now it means that,’ or I’ think this is too harsh,’ or ‘all your examples are about men,’ or ‘you’ve talked about this before,’ or I mean, so I invite feedback way before I strap on a microphone to preach.
So that, I think, keeps me out of some of the ditches that I would have a tendency to go into when I let my emotion take over.
And when I’m dealing with racial issues, I invite different people into the outline, not outline process, but say, ‘here’s the outline. If you’re sitting in the audience and you hear me say this, how’s this going to land with you as a woman, as a Democrat, as a Republican, or somebody of different ethnic backgrounds?’
Because this is a mine field.
Editor’s Note. We’ve been writing about North Point for a long time, documenting the theological drift of one of the largest megachurches in America, frequently with exclusive reporting. Some of the stories include:
North Point Church Is Sending Children to All-LGBTQ Therapists: We Profile One of The Counselors
Celebrating Transgenderism?! North Point Church Staffers Rejoice After Man Comes Out as Woman
North Point Pastor Recommends Struggling Christians Attend ‘Queer Parent Summit’
Report: North Point Church Personnel Knew ‘Lap Dance Leader’ Was Gay-Affirming+ Andy Stanley Responds
Exclusive! Andy Stanley’s Children Ministry Overrun and Led by Pro-LBGTQ+ Activists
North Point Pastor Praises Gay Man’s Affirming Org. ‘Lord, Let Him Create More Allies for the LGBTQ Community’
North Point Church Baptizes Openly Transgender ‘Man’, After Giving Blessing to Transition?
North Point Church Staffers Found ‘Liking’ Pride Parade Celebration
Surprise Surprise, Another North Point Church Leader is Gay-Affirming and Wildly Liberal
Dr. Michael Brown Says He’s Spent 8 Years Exchanging Texts and Emails with Andy Stanley, Who Has REFUSED to Condemn Homosexuality
For other non-LGBTQ Controversies, he made waves for encouraging Christians to essentially throw out the Old Testament, arguing that believers should “unhitch” themselves from portions of Old Testament Scripture. He denied the Genesis account, saying God only said it to ‘accommodate to our capacity,’ repeatedly told his congregants, ‘I’m not arguing that the bible is correct,’ and told his church the ‘foundation of our faith is not the whole bible.’
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Here is a SHOCKING idea. How about preach God’s Word chapter by chapter, verse by verse? I know, I know, Andy, that isn’t what the world wants to hear. Well, Jesus specifically said what to do regarding the world. You must have missed that class.
If I understand this correctly, Stanley filters anything he attributes as from God/Jesus through the human DEI filter in order not to offend other humans. Sure God is pleased someone is softening His word to make it more palatable (Sarc). Seems to differ from the Bible verses from JC stating “I come to divide husband and wife, child and parent, etc.” over following a true faith and revulsion of sin.
These apostate preachers and congregations are unbelievable. Sure they’ll be surprised when they enter Tribulation.
The fear of man bringeth a snare…Proverbs 29:25a
the Bible speaks about apostasy… this is scripture full filled
Pastor by committee.
What a novel concept
This reminds me of the time my sermon manuscript said, “I hate the prosperity gospel” and Grammarly suggested I change it to something less harsh. I did not change it. Like, a committee, AI can be helpful, but it doesn’t write my sermons.