Max Lucado Speaks Out on Gateway Church's Crisis and the Power of Faith in Jesus

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Max Locato, thank you so much for joining us here on Charisma to just give us an update

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on what's been going on at Gateway Church.

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We are so grateful that you have been able to step in and help this church, which is

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going through a crisis that nobody was really prepared for.

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And you and Pastor Joe Aquim-Lunquist are kind of sharing the load of delivering the

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word to this congregation.

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Can you give us an update on what's been going on?

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I have a pretty long history with Gateway.

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I've been a guest speaker there many times over the last decade.

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I know many of the elders as well as staff members and ministers.

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It's just a wonderful church, and they've done amazing things.

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My heart was broken like everyone else's hearts were broken at the revelation of the scandal

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that came to light last June, I believe, when it was first revealed.

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I immediately reached out to the people I know at Gateway who are members and express

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my love and prayers for them.

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I was actually on vacation at the time, and upon my return, Gateway reached out to me

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to see if I could come up one weekend and fill in and speak.

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I did, and while I was there, I met with some of the elders, and they asked if I would be

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willing to help them in a teaching capacity for about six months.

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That was the initial estimate of how long they would need to kind of regroup.

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As you mentioned, I was invited, and so was Pastor Joachim Lundfest from Sweden, just

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a delightful man.

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He and I are splitting the teaching privileges at Gateway.

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My assessment is, by the way, I'm still in our church in San Antonio.

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I've not moved, but that rumor got out there, but I'm not.

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I'm staying right here in San Antonio, but I'm happy to fly back and forth.

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It's very convenient for me.

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I believe that the church is showing some beautiful signs of health.

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Here we are almost two and a half months, maybe three months into this.

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Initially, of course, understandably, they were shell-shocked.

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Every time I go, I sense there's more energy, there's more joy, there's heartfelt worship.

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They are being reminded, as any Christian is at some point in their life, that we don't

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put our trust in a person, a leader, or a pastor.

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We put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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That's what they're doing.

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They're trusting Christ.

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The elders are prayerful.

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They are coming to an end of 40 days of prayer.

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The elders have involved a Haynes and Boone legal firm to oversee every detail.

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They're trying to uncover every rock and make sure that everything is done correctly.

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I applaud the elders for their fastidious faith.

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They're being extremely, extremely careful, not moving too slow, trying not to move too

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fast.

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I think they're moving at a good pace.

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I'm sensing from the church some renewal.

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It's going to take a while, but I'm sensing some early signs of renewal and hope in the

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church.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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That's a great update to hear.

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I want to know, as you're preparing messages to preach, how are you seeking the Lord for

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these particular messages?

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These are not just your normal... If this was your church in San Antonio that you've

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been with this whole time, but this is a church that's going through a bit of a triage time,

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how are you seeking the Lord about this?

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What is the Lord speaking to you about how to communicate the gospel in ways that might

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be unique in this situation?

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Yeah, great question.

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What I sensed is that I needed to seek the counsel of the elders of Gateway in selecting

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my messages.

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They know the church.

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They're right there, boots on the ground.

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I went in one of my early meetings with them, maybe my third meeting with the elders, I

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presented three different ideas for three different series of sermons.

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Without a doubt, they said, what we need you to preach on is this idea.

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It was a series of sermons that I had yet to compile, but I could do because I'm so

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familiar with the teachings of the life of Jesus.

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I said, what if we have a sermon series called Just Jesus?

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Just Jesus.

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We're not going to dig into any deep doctrinal questions or understand any prophetic interpretations

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now.

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What we need to do is just talk about Jesus, feeding the crowds, loving the poor, raising

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the dead, preaching the gospel.

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And boy, did they resonate.

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And so it was a pretty clear decision that the Lord was leading us to a series of lessons

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based on the life of Christ.

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And that's exactly what I'm doing.

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And that's what I'll continue to do until the end of my assignment.

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Yeah.

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You know, you and I have talked earlier about a book that you wrote for kids as just in

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case you ever feel alone.

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And I know that during times where there's a leader that has disheartened you or maybe

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there was abuse in somebody's life and they're kind of they feel very alone in this.

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How can we as brothers and sisters in Christ, how can we reach out to those that are hurting

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whether I mean, not necessarily just gateway, but there's people that are hurting throughout

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the entire world that have been disillusioned by a leader or they've been hurt or abused

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in different ways.

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How can we help bring healing?

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That happens to anybody because leaders are human beings.

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I'm not excusing what happened at gateway and not excusing what happens at any church.

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Leaders are human beings and inevitably some of them are going to mess up.

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I've been disappointed and I'm quite certain I've disappointed some of our church members,

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especially in a situation of moral failure.

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It's very, very difficult.

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But if you know somebody who's going through that, you just reach out to them and you remind

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them of what has not changed.

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Though much has changed, what has not changed is that God still loves them.

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God still knows them.

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God will guide them through and ultimately God is the shepherd.

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Our Lord Jesus is the shepherd.

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So sometimes under shepherds will let us down, but our Lord Jesus never will.

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So give them that word of encouragement and let them know you're there to pray and talk

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with them whenever they want to do so.

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Amen, Pastor Max, thank you so much for giving us this inside update on what's been happening

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at gateway.

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And again, thank you for taking the time to help them through this crisis.

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It's my honor.

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It's my honor.

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Thank you.