Andy Stanley’s astonishing lack of discernment worsens

Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Church, has once again drawn attention to himself. This time for featuring a Beatles medley presented at North Point’s Sunday morning worship service. As previously reported, Stanley recently received criticism for allowing a raunchy stage act at the mega church he pastors where the song “Love The Way You Turn Me On” was performed by a “90s Boys Band.”  As Mortification of Spin co-host Todd Pruitt pointed out in a scathing blog post, “Andy is the go-to guy when it comes to effective communication and leadership.” Pruitt believes that the sort of entertainment North Point allows dishonors God and is destructive to God’s people; thus it has no place in a worship service.  He went on to say that those who watch the video will see that the “sickness at the heart of North Point is on full display.”

“Why write about this?” asks Steven Kozar in a blog post entitled Hands Up For The British Invasion At North Point Community Church. He responds, “Because Andy Stanley and many other churches use these tactics which in the end detract from focusing on the gospel at an official church worship service.”

Kozar informs us that last Sunday “They sang segments from Beatles classics, ending with Hey Jude. They called upon their audience to sing along and wave their hands to the Beatles tune as they sang, “na na na na na na na…”

Following is just a snippet from Steve Kozar’s excellent piece.

Andy Stanley quote

Official church worship services are not extra curricular activities. There is plenty of time for fun, recreation, and out of the box creativity, but that can be done outside of an official church worship service.

I used to agree with, and promote these approaches to ministry. It took a “rude meanie head” to open my eyes. I hope this article serves as eye opening food for thought.


In case anyone is asking themselves, “does North Point Church know that this form of “worship” might be a really bad idea? Maybe they are just making an innocent mistake? Maybe we should just let them have some fun and not make such a big deal out of this…”  

Here’s what you need to understand: North Point Church is deliberately doing these secular cover songs in church in spite of objections from fellow Christians. They are going so far as to remove Bible verses off of their own blog, and now they have stopped allowing any comments at all. Why aren’t they allowing any comments on their blog? It appears that they don’t want people to read all the Bible verses that have been posted there (or the Bible verses that people have tried to post there). Here’s a screen shot from August 3, 2016-over a week since they put up their “boy band/love the way you turn me on” video on July 25:

North Point Church knows exactly what it is doing:

“Secular songs? Yes! Bible verses (that might make our strange choice of songs look bad)? NO!”

This type of “worship” service was unthinkable just a decade ago. With the huge influence of Andy Stanley and North Point Church (one of the biggest and most influential churches in the world) it’s sad to think that more and more churches might be abandoning worship and replacing it with mere entertainment. Here’s an article about the top 50 mega-churches in the USA (btw, this is a “puff piece” about these mega-churches). Here’s an excerpt: “As an individual congregation, North Point could be much more influential in the public arena, but it chooses not to be in order to extend its influence through the training of hundreds of thousands of leaders. North Point has opted for exponential influence…”

How long before true Christians say “enough is enough!” and stop tolerating such worldliness in their churches? Continue reading

See our White Paper on the Purpose Driven, Seeker Sensitive, Market Driven Church

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9 Responses to Andy Stanley’s astonishing lack of discernment worsens

  1. healingInHim August 5, 2016 at 1:00 pm #

    So sad but not surprised to see this. Andy Stanley has been off the narrow path for quite some time.

  2. Manny1962 August 5, 2016 at 1:26 pm #

    Again, more of the same…..apostate. It’s not about Christ or being broken in our sins, it’s about entertainment, feeling good and being in the world. The Great Apostasy is in full swing. Sad when we compare the church in Paul’s day to what passes for Christianity today.

  3. Kevin August 5, 2016 at 3:45 pm #

    My former pastors are big fans of Andy Stanley, when they went to one of his conferences, they posted updates akin to giddy school girls who got to sit next to and touch hands with one of their favorite boy-band members. One of my former pastors stated they are using Stanley’s book, “Deep and Wide” as the template on how to run the church. The same pastor also illustrated with pen on paper how the pastors want broaden the road as much as possible to bring more people into the church. He did not say the church wants to bring more people into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, but just get them into the church. There are a lot of wanna-be sycophants of the mega-church CEO’s who desire to replicate the mega-church methods to get the mega-church results (more bodies in the theater seats and a bigger budget).

  4. Susan August 5, 2016 at 7:35 pm #

    ‘Out of box creativity.’ Oh please. He is a hirling…

  5. Sheila Beers August 5, 2016 at 10:21 pm #

    I can understand using Paul McCartney’s song, “Maybe I’m Amazed,” as the words CAN be conveyed with a scriptural meaning, that a person can be amazed by the love God has for him. However, the rest Andy Stanley’s antics are way, way off the “straight and narrow” path. Christ said He came to reconcile the world to Himself, NOT to reconcile Himself to the world, and I believe this statement by our Lord says it all.

  6. Jeff G August 6, 2016 at 11:34 am #

    I just want to know if they sang this music 5 minutes before the start of the worship service, is that okay – so that it will not corrupt the worship service? Because if so, then let’s just make sure we all understand that evidently worship is only for certain times and days of the week…
    Why does each facet of the Christian community always think there is only one way to worship, one way to have church and only one way to live a Christian life? For a God who created variety in nations, people, food, cultures and personalities, why must we continue to “box” Christianity? Christians need to be united around salvation and the saving of others from an eternity in hell; not criticizing other Christians and churches because they are not like themselves.
    I am as uncomfortable as where the “secularization” of the church will eventually lead over the long term, but there is no doubt North Point Ministries is leading many, many people to Jesus Christ and changed lives all over the world. And a number of these people’s lives that are being changed are not interested in “traditional” churches. The “contemporary” churches are meeting a sector of our world that for years Christianity has no effectively reached.
    My request is that we celebrate salvation and changed lives and try to complain a little less about our differences…

    • Sola Scriptura August 6, 2016 at 6:39 pm #

      The Beatles were occultists, who loved Aleister Crowley and helped introduce new age teachings and practices to the west, perhaps more than any other. The Bible is clear…we are to have no fellowship with fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather are to reprove them. Ephesians 5:11. There is much about separating from doctrines of demons and demonic activity(1 Cor 10; 2 Cor. 6, etc). If you pretend that the Beatles weren’t highly occultic then you are deluded. There music should never, ever be a part of any church of Jesus Christ. The Bible alone should govern all things connected to church. Tony Robbins and John Maxwell style leadership speeches, and secular music that, like it or not, comes from the enemy rather than Jesus Christ, should never touch a church either. Read Paul and see how seriously he took sound doctrine.

      HMMM…leading people to Jesus? ?What Jesus? The real one, who hung on a cold hard cross for our sins. or the fake american Jesus who wants us to be leaders and culturally relevant, and have thriving businesses so that we can give to the “church?”
      If I hear Stanley preach that he and is congregation must do as John 14 and 1 John 2 says so clearly…obey all of the commands of Jesus, not as law but because we love him. There is no talk of sin(or at least sin as the Bible defines it vs. social justice garbage) in these mega churches. It is all silly american corporate leadership nonsense, all of which will burn in the end. Jesus is who he is in the scriptures…God who became man to pay the debt for sin we could never pay ourselves…and he paid that debt with his own blood, washing us in it to ransom us from eternal fire. THAT is why we love him and preach the gospel. We need to burn away our wicked culture from our churches and get back to what we know is true…the unchanging, everlasting word of God.

  7. Manny1962 August 6, 2016 at 1:25 pm #

    And the message in the worship? Is that Ok? Beatles music? Suggestive music? If we take the bible as an example for living, where is the world in worship? I guess tolerating a little leavening is ok? If the worship is so tainted, how about the doctrine?

  8. Kalev August 24, 2016 at 9:46 am #

    1 Corinthians 3:3-4.

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