Tim Chaddick’s session on the Emergent Church

Just got done – finally – listening to Tim Chaddick’s workshop session on the ECM. I was very deeply impressed with it; both since Tim’s very Emerging in many ways (in the good ways), and very knowledgable RE: the ECM, and since he and the two other speakers (Britt Merrick and Brian Brodersen) were very fair and balanced – took great pains to point out that:

You’ve got to be really super duper careful about making any blanket statements about the ECM – you have to take each author/speaker/personality as an individual
Even with the nutjobs like Brian “Orthodoxy Schmorthodoxy!” MacLaren and Rob “Jesus’ Dad Was Larry!” Bell, there’s a lot of guys in the ECM who are actually quite good (my personal favorite, Mark “Blankety-Blank” Driscoll earned an honorable mention a few times during the session by all three presenters).

It was so good, I’m making the MP3 available to the Servanthood here on the Lakeshore – it really is the best short-format treatment on the subject that I’ve encountered.

While dealing very clearly and very firmly & decisively with the problematic and outright heterodox issues with the EmergENT side of the ECM, the tenor remained fair, balanced, even-handed, non-sensational…and just plain good.

If you weren’t able to make it to the conference, you need to give Tim’s session a listening-to.

Mike Says:

July 15, 2008 at 7:50 am

Hi Mike,
I just did a google search on “tim chaddick emerging” and your page came up first. I wasn’t able to attend the conference (I live overseas) but my senior pastor phoned me the day after the conference to tell me all how how great this Tim Chaddick guy was and what a great message he gave.
For the past couple years I have watched with dismay as CC circled the wagons and began to load their weapons in order to “defend the faith” against the latest heresy of the emerging church. While I absolutely agree that there is much to be cautious of in the movement, i know there is much to be embraced as well, and I’ve cringed to read some of oversimplifications that comes out of CC pastor’s mouths regarding this issue. I’m so glad that the leadership of the conference let a young guy who knows what he’s talking about have a session.
Do you know of anywhere I can download this teaching online? I’d love to hear it for myself. Thanks man!

mike macon Says:

July 15, 2008 at 8:18 am

Yeah, Tim’s session was awesome – balanced and fair. It smacked the ECM upside the head where it needs to be smacked, but it also gave credit where it was due, and affirmed the legitimacy of the much that is good about the ECM.

You can’t download it, that I know of; but you can order it from The Word For Today at http://store.calvarychapel.com/cccm_store_/catalog/display.php?cat=133.

Believer Says:

May 25, 2009 at 4:34 pm

I was looking up Tim Chaddick and your blog came up…”are actually quite good (my personal favorite, Mark “Blankety-Blank” Driscoll earned an honorable mention a few times during the session by all three presenters).”

What did you mean by this?

I attended a CC for almost 14 years and recently left, in part due to their promotion of Rob Bell in many of their ministries. Pastor Mark Driscoll helped me to see the influence that I had been under at the CC I attended. He explained the Hersey of Bell, Pagit and MacLaren. He wrote an excellent article in the Christian Research Journal and has posted youtube clips from his messages on the 4 lanes of the emerging church. Additionally, Pastor Mark has taken responsibility for any use of words that are not appropriate stating so publicly and on his blog.

I don’t know from your post if you like Pastor Mark or you are putting him down, Could you explain? Did these three you mentioned in the above mentioned him in what light? What does Calvary think of him?

I have just recently started to attend a new church that is in the CC family. I was also considering one of Pastor Marks church plants.

Having my cc church take a sharp turn to the left but being able to remain a CC this subject is of interest to me. Hearing the good word from Driscoll has refreshed me and I have been excited for what the Lord is doing reaching a new generation.

If you could help me understand what you wrote I would appreciate it….Thank you.

May 25, 2009 at 4:44 pm

I do like Driscoll, yes.

CC in general doesn’t promote Bell. In fact, it’s been a focus of the last few Pastors’ Conferences – the dangers of the Emergent movement, of which Bell (though he vociferously denies this) is a part. Of course, you have your renegades who are CC in name only, but they are very much the minority.

Overall, CC probably likes Driscoll. In fact, a few years back, the CCOF office (the office responsible for overseeing the CC pastors & churches) put one of Driscoll’s sermons on the Emergent church on their “For Pastors” website so that the pastors of the CC movement could listen to what he had to say; I still have that MP3 (somewhere). Other than the fact that Driscoll insists that people who aren’t Calvinists are automatically therefore at best Semi-Pelagian, he’s got some good stuff.

May 25, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Thank you response.

My family and I were very involved with our church, this made leaving hard on all of us…so I have been somewhat reluctant…really wanting to know what the church believes.

I have pray for our former church and hope they will listen to the leadership of CC concerning these matters.

This direction is also hurting my brothers and sisters that attend there…some of my best friends lives have been damaged over it.They are returning to things they left behind, going to spiritual yoga and the list goes on…

Thank you for this blog and your leadership in this area.