That has been one of the most asked questions on blogs according to Technorati. Who is Steven Furtick? Most people have no idea how to answer that question, but I have the joy of being able to answer it…somewhat.
Recently, Steven Furtick shot to number one on Technorait blog search engine (currently he is number two). Now scores of people are talking about him in all kinds of languages. Most are asking who is this guy and why do so many people care.
For me, I go to know Steven as the white-Kirk-Franklin-Jesus-Freak. He rolled through my alma mater and from the moment he stepped on campus everyone knew he was special…or different, but if nothing else they knew him.
He posed for his yearbook pictures with thick black rimmed glasses while eating an ice cream cone. He began a praise and worship team on our campus that took off landing them on weekend tours, even going to Gospel great John P. Kee’s church. At that point, I was interning for the state Baptist newspaper and I did a feature on him and the praise band.
Sometimes, he would preach on campus during our bi-weekly chapel service. I always remember the buzz around campus. “Who’s speaking in chapel today?” “Furtick!” “Oh, this is going to be good. I have to go.”
Everyone knew two things about Steven’s chapel services: 1) He was going to preach God’s word and 2) He was probably going to rip everyone in the audience a new one. He was never afraid to step on toes, but he was also there to help those struggling.
You know the other reason people talked about Steven? He and his future wife pledge to not kiss until they were married. Yeah, not just not have sex, but not kiss. They made it and his first kiss with his wife was after the “I do’s.”
Steven seemed to be able to achieve that Jesus-balance. The “in, but not of the world” thing. He was steadfast in his love and life for Jesus, but he was no big-Bible-thumpin’ fashion case. He also knew how to speak the truth in love. He had no bones about telling people that things in their life didn’t line up with God’s word, but people knew that he was doing it out of love.
You know, how Jesus was able to call a woman out for having five husbands and living with her current boyfriend, but she didn’t get mad. She told everyone in the town about Him and ended up seeing most of the town become a follower of Jesus.
But, just like Jesus, Steven doesn’t put up with religiosity and sacred hypocrites. People forget that sometimes Jesus wasn’t nice. He called the Pharisees “white-washed tombs full of dead men’s bones.” That wasn’t nice, at all.
I remember last year, he spoke at a conference to which I took my youth group. He opened up his message with “I will be posting some random MySpace pages of youth at this conference here on the big screen. Well actually they won’t be random, with permission of your youth pastors I went through and pulled out some of the worst.” The murmurs and gasps that slipped out from the teens told him all he needed to know. He confessed that he really didn’t have the webpages to put up there, but that the students knew they had things they would be ashamed of on there. He challenged everyone to let God have every “space” of their life. It was a powerful message.
This technorati thing crystalizes another thing that Steven has in common with his Savior – people can’t help but talk about them. Think about all that Jesus did and said. He only spent just over three years of his life in ministry. Steven is 27 and the pastor of a church plant in Charlotte, NC. How could Jesus be the Messiah? How could Steven be the most talked about person on blogs?
Don’t confuse this post at all. I’m not saying Steven is perfect. He will tell you he is far from it. If he is anything like me, his wife could tell you even better. Steven is a fallen sinner just like me and everyone else reading this or wondering who the hekc he is on Technorati. He is quick to point out that all glory and praise go to God.
But somehow he has become one of the most talked about people in the blogging world. It makes me laugh to read his blog, which I just discovered recently. I keep saying to myself, “That’s Furtick.” Who knows how he shot to the top?
It could be the post about Technorati itself and how he is banning himself from it. He said that he has to keep himself away from those who think he is the “anti-Christ.” This is how he sumed up his feelings:
I’ll let Jesus and those who know my heart inform my perspective of who I am and how I’m doing…
Not every college student living in his mom’s basement with a blogspot and a cable modem.
Yeah, he said that.
Or it may be his post about church-hoppers, those who jump from church to church trying to find the one that “best meets their needs.
Here’s how the post came about and his initial reaction:
The other day, a lady said something to my wife that made me sick to my stomach upon hearing about it. Literally.
She was talking about how she visited Elevation with her family over the summer.
So far, so good…
In fact, she continued, they have visited “just about every church in Charlotte, looking for the church that’s perfect for us.”
Uh oh…
My wife doesn’t have much tolerance for church hopping Southerners.
Neither do I.
Then the woman made one of the most absurd comments I’ve ever heard from a churchgoer, even here in the Bible belt. That’s saying a lot.
“I wanted to let you know that there’s one praise song, I can’t remember the name of it, that ya’ll do better than all of the dozens of churches we’ve been to in our church shopping quest.”
Ma’am, if you’re reading:
Who do you think you are? Simon freakin’ Cowell?
Have you reduced the worship of a holy God to a singing competition?
To see which band can cover Chris Tomlin to your exact standards?
If that was not enough, he rocked the boat just a little more toward the edge with this:
This is madness. It makes God sick. And it makes you a spiritual bastard.
The Church is the bride of Christ.
Quit sleeping around and pimping her out to satisfy your own personal preferences.
Again, I just smile. I share his sentiment (and anger) about church hoppers, but I just smile because “that’s Furtick.” Those who have never met him have no idea who Steven Furtick is, but you know what, now that he has stepped into the blogging world, just like when he stepped on our college campus as a freshman, everyone knows him. But what makes him Furtick is that now that everyone knows who he is, he is going to make sure everyone knows who Jesus is. That’s Furtick.
Distributing the Gospel better than Wall Street.
Turning the world upside down the way the Holy Ghost summoned it to be.
Steven Furtick. Deep calling unto deep!!!
I want to beat Steve Furtick at his game. Help me get above him on the technorati search list.
Steven Furtick is obsessed with church numbers and doesn't seem to have a lot of sincerity, in the sermons I've heard him preach.
I would have to agree with Stephanie, I heard him speak at lifechurch.tv and he seemed to be obsessed with number and not much sincerity. It seemed like race was a big issue with him telling stories instead of just saying that person, he would say that white person or that african american or black person. I am neither white nor black and I just didn't understand how that was even relevant to the preaching?!
LOL, I was just introduced to Steven Furtick yesterday (on the web) and it is amazing how so many have so many opinions of this guy. Some hate him, call him a heretic; while the fruit appears to be clearly serving his community of belivers and non-believers. I am so sick of the Pharisee's of today…wake up people! Jesus was a "get in your face" type of guy too!
cheers
What it all boils down to is its just another hip, trendy mega church that entertains the masses and keeps them satisfied with easy to hear sermons that tickle their itching ears. I hate the term 'relevance'. As if God's word and the saints who died for the Kingdom are nolonger relevant? Sadly, relevance has replaced reverance in today's church. God is most holy and omnipotent. He is not your buddy.
Anytime a preacher becomes a celebrity, it calls into question who is truly at the center of Elevation church? Do they really come to connect with Jesus, or do they really come to be entertained with good music, slick sermons, and social activities and opportunities?
Kurt, do you speak from personal experience and knowledge or are you simply a drive by commenter, taking a drive by shot at a brother in Christ?
Have you heard Steven Furtick preach, so that you can say it is just tickling itching ears? Maybe you're right, but I'm taking a wild guess that you are basing your charge simply on stereotypes not on accurate information. What is it that the Word says about those that judge wrongly – ie not based on fact, but on personal opinion?
Dear Kurt,
I am an ordained minister and have been going to Elevation Church for over a year, rarely missing a Sunday. My wife and teenage daughter also go faithfully. Your comments implying that Pastor Furtick waters down the gospel are ridiculous, and sound a lot more like an assumption than observation. You see a fast growing church and assume it's got to be trendy and non-confrontational. In my experience, it's anything but. Pastor Furtick teaches the Word accurately and forcefully and confronts virtually every sin there is (including his own.) Listen to several sermons online and you might change your opinion. Blessings & peace, Mike Steinberg, Matthews, NC
When people defend a pastor this vehemently it makes me worried. I did this for a former pastor of mine (defended him to others and didn't listen to any validity in their criticisms of him) and when he had an affair it was really hard for me. I saw him fall from a pretty high place. But we as a church body had put him there because he was pretty effusive and relational and "relevant," you might say.
I think being so protective of my former pastor was a way I created an idol.
Just something to think about.
People thronged to hear Peter and Paul preach. Read Acts! Furtick like many other men of God, is leveraging every ounce of influence that comes his way to lift up the Word of God, namely the power and NEED for the gospel. Steph, as far as your experience goes, I feel your pain. I’m a pastor that replaced a pastor who had a similar fall. I will only defend a person so long as they are defendable. Steven Furtick, to our knowledge, is not only affair-free, but is fearlessly preaching the Word of God, and people are responding. When others accuse him of being or doing otherwise, what’s not to defend? I am a Christ-follower. and I support any other brother or sister in Christ that follows likewise.
What's so special about Steven Furtick…
Upon my first attendance at Elevation Church, today on Easter Sunday, God used Steven Furtick to set off a realization in me that I had never had from any church or book or message or friend or family member on any previous day,… and I'm a "seasoned" Christian from a "Christian family." In the past few hours since, I've realized that God was only able to reach me because Steven isn't afraid of his congregation. On the contrary, he LOVES it. Really. And that is exactly why he is able to dig deeper and further, beyond depths I doubt most pastors have ever reached. Working for a large church in Atlanta, sadly, I know that fear (and also in many cases thick church politics) can often sway or even dictate the content of a message for many pastors. Ironically, they are restrained from FULLY communicating the gospel of the very person the church was founded to ESTEEM, until one day the lucky few wake up and realize they haven't been worshiping Him at all (see Francis Chan)… — On the other hand, Steven's unbridled communication of the gospel was refreshing, thorough, and insightful. Beyond that, it was challenging to the core. And yet, people welcomed his words, knowing he spoke the truth. You can literally almost FEEL his sincerity. I can't describe it better than that. As such, I admire Steven, not as an idol or because for a brief hour he was a pastor that made the Word a little more relevant for me, but for his personal commitment to ESTEEM God (see Isaiah 53:3), and the resulting transparency that embodies his character. It's a transparency in Steven that I believe all people will notice and respect, as it is held up and maintained by a love for God so alive that it's almost visceral. Steven Furtick goes against the grain, putting God first above even his own comfort as he stands before thousands, truly giving life to the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:13. And that is why, despite all conjecture and controversy, he will succeed.
_Kevin
Atlanta, GA
It is tough to call Elevation a megachurch I think. It is also tough to call Steven Furtick a celebrity. My wife and I have been attending Elevation for 2 years now, and to us, he's just our pastor. When you
attend and listen to his sermons, complete series, or even read a blog or two, you eventually understand that this is a guy who loves God and loves his calling. Is he a
"by the numbers" guy? Sure! How else can you quantify results? Phrases like "I feel" "I think" "It seems that" often don't get the message across about the true results that God is
demonstrating at Elevation. However, numbers, whether baptisms, commitments to Christ, attendance, etc. really make attendees and prospective attendees quantifiably
understand that "hey, something is happening here". Those are just my thoughts. I've heard a lot of great preaching in my time. From the one-room school house
church that I grew up in out in the country to a megachurch in the midwest and now to Elevation in Charlotte. Furtick and the Elevation team are great assets to the
kingdom of God.