Yesterday, in an attempt to shed some light on what I consider to be an abnormal veneration of the Humble One by Bob Kauflin, among others, I tweeted the following:
Here is the actual video in question:
Bob Kauflin responded with a few tweets of his own.
Kauflin’s tweets set off a torrent of responses, I will include only a few here. Feel free to go to Twitter and read further responses.
What is readily apparent to me is that Mahaneyites have been immersed in this culture of flattery for so long, encouraged by the Humble One himself, that they cannot recognize what those outside of their church culture see as an obvious “over-the-top” adulation for their leader. The individual who posted the “Bob Kauflin Worships CJ Mahaney” video stated in his description that “this pathetic song speaks for itself.” That sums up the feelings of many non-Sovereign Grace members. If I were Bob Kauflin, I would be embarrassed to have this video made public. Kauflin doesn’t seem to be embarrassed at all, responding that he simply views his song as a way to thank someone for years of service.
Another observation – how many truly humble Christian pastors would even have allowed this evening of idolatry to take place, much less reveled in the adoration? When I think back over my life, I was privleged to know a few pastors I consider authentically humble; I know they would never have allowed this ceremony to take place. They were obviously uncomfortable if a man spoke one sentence praising them.
Here are a few more examples of Mahaneyites praising the Humble One. First is an audio of pastor Kevin Maresco and then a video that again, can best be summed up as pathetic.
Upon further reflection, maybe I am being too harsh on Kauflin, Mahaney and the Sovereign Grace church members who have “entrusted their souls to them.” After all, here are a few other religious organizations, whom I esteem equally with Sovereign Grace Churches, that also sing worship songs to their leaders!
The article on Furtick may be viewed at the Charlotte Observer’s website.
A bit late to the discussion here, but thought some history might be in order.
Kauflin was the nicest guy in the world according to folks that knew him way back. He was an asst to Ron Klaus of the Philly Living Word Community churches that birthed out of John Poole’s ministry. Poole was close to the Ft Lauderdale Fab 5, the heavy shepherding and discipleship movement. Poole took off with another woman and left behind a wife and kids. Klaus was a brilliant man and good teacher, but also allegedly very harsh and authoritarian. I was told this by a higher up in John Hoehn’s sister church. (Klaus eventually got caught giving a woman in the church who was mentally ill and lived in their home a naked bath, and it was a scandal that saw him ousted.)
All of those churches hung out with Larry and CJ at conferences, and greatly admired them. Not sure when CJ got Kauflin to join his group.
Kauflin shared at a Celebration in Indiana PA, mid 90s, about how he was confronted with his anger, and plunged into a deep depression lasting months. It was actually a marvelously humble and open testimony in a group where being depressed was sin and shameful. I think he helped a great many people with his honesty about his struggles.
Ok, now here is where it gets weird. CJ talked him into leaving wherever he was and packing up and coming to Mecca, uh, Gaithersburg, so he could be with CJ. Here is a guy steeped in shepherding doctrine, who was under an abusive and harsh pastor for years, wrestling with anger and depression, and instead of getting real help, he gives his soul to CJ. The way he talked…..it was like he adored and revered CJ. I don’t know what it is with CJ and young men, it isn’t sexual, but it is like he seduces them, and the ones with some gaping needy hole in their soul fall for him. Father figure maybe? God figure?
I just don’t think we should view Kauflin as “normal”. I don’t fault him for his childhood or for his depression, but somewhere along the line he chose to nestle into the arms of the loving daddy CJ and I assume finally found relief. Like I said, weird. But not healthy and normally masculine.
I’m just a little confused: did Bob Kauflin sing the same song at T4G 2016 that he sang years ago to CJ (the video was posted in 2012, and is from a number of years ago)?
I am grossed out by all things SGM. I was in the system for 12 years, 3 of which I worked for them! I can’t understand how seemingly intelligent people can follow the drivel that comes out of CJ’s mouth. Oh wait. I did it for over a decade. Sigh.
Hi Jennifer,
Kauflin didn’t sing the song of adulation he composed for CJ at T4G, (that was a private worship service for CJ that was conducted for his fake retirement from the pastorate). But Bob sang a lot about the gospel at T4G, which he and his family members are good at doing. Like how he and his son Devon, who was studying theology at the SBTS, went to the Philippines in 2013 to conduct a WorshipGod conference in Bohol and Cebu. While they were there a catastrophic event occurred, and they found themselves at the EPICENTER of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. They weren’t hurt, but there was devastation all around. What did Bob do in response? How did Bob demonstrate the cross-centered life CJ Mahaney had modeled for him? How did all those times CJ led Bob again and again and again to the cross pay off?
Bob Kauflin boarded a plane as fast as he could and ran for the comfort of his gospel-centered home, where his wife and kids gave him a hero’s welcome.
And I can relate to your 12 years in SGM! Been there done that 😐
Hi Jennifer,
As Paula said, the video in question was made at the “worship Mahaney fest” on the occasion of CJ transitioning from the role of senior pastor of CLC to executive chairman of Sovereign Grace Ministries. Youtube has videos available for all the speakers at that event and everyone involved was over-the-top in their praise, adoration, and if I may be so bold, worship of Mahaney. It was and still is a sick, sick culture. Insiders don’t realize it, or if they do, they soon become outsiders.
I wrote the tweet asking if the song in question was sung at T4G in hopes of exposing many ignorant T4G attendees to the sick culture existing within Sovereign Grace, specifically, and especially as it relates to the relationship of Mahaney and Kauflin.
First-time commenter here. Been reading for a couple of weeks.
That was one grotesque and disturbing video. I did think it couldn’t be real at first…but it is. That is worrisome on so many levels. “By their fruits you shall know them”. What a lot of rotten fruit we’re seeing…
Thanks for commenting Ron; and yes, very disturbing. And it is disturbing that Kauflin doesn’t find it disturbing. This is a guy who makes a living going around the country teaching protestant evangelical worship leaders how to conduct worship that is pleasing to the Lord. HELLO! Any churches sending their pastors to any conference or seminar taught by a Sovereign Grace leader really need to re-evaluate what they are doing.
It was some months ago that one of the posts “CJ Mahaney is no CH Spurgeon” brought up the fawning introductions and creepy flattery that goes on, Kauflin’s song is yet another example. It might be excusable if it was a once a lifetime event at Mahaney’s retirement but this seems the norm and appears to be expected if not required.
Kauflin embarrassed himself and then furthered the degradation with his “obvious” insufficient defense. Kauflin needs to go into detox before more defilement robs him of any sensibility.
He dun been robbed already!
Pathetic flattery is the warp and woof of Sovereign Grace culture. I experienced it regularly at Sovereign Grace Gilbert. The pastor, when introducing a guest speaker, or even a colleague, would resort to flowery words of flattery, which always included what a servant’s heart the guy had, how his love and tender care for the church members is evident to all, and what a humble man he was. This was followed by the mandatory standing ovation.
Someone has to say something about what Kenneth Maresco said, starting at the 00:13 mark: “We pinch ourselves that we have been the most blessed beneficiaries of your personal care.”
Please Kenneth, let’s hope afterwards you went and wallowed in the mud since apparently only CJ Mahaney has the power to lead you to the cross, cleanse you from sin, and take you to the promised land. Where would you be without his beneficence? Keep pinching yourself Kenneth. Hopefully during one prolonged one you will wake yourself up.
If a leader had actually pointed people to Jesus, surely the appropriate tribute would be a song about Jesus.
Well said!
“Upon further reflection, maybe I am being too harsh on Kauflin, Mahaney and the Sovereign Grace church members who have “entrusted their souls to them.” After all, here are a few other religious organizations, whom I esteem equally with Sovereign Grace Churches, that also sing worship songs to their leaders!” LOL Todd! Hilarious – and so true!
Al Mohler has stated that no one can provide any sort of biblical basis to disagree with Mahaney, that all of us who do, do so on the basis of taste or opinion. Yet, here we see clear and convincing evidence of the kind of culture Mahaney created, that he constantly claimed was “gospel-centered,” but which, within, he really occupied center stage. Kauflin wasn’t just thanking Mahaney, he was ADULATING him. Apparently Mohler doesn’t have any theological difficulties with this sort of thing. I know all of us here at thouarttheman.org certainly do.
I’ve known some pastors who possess actual (rather than performative) humility, and I guarantee they would be absolutely mortified by this kind of blatant public adulation. It’s so uncomfortable to watch because the tone is almost identical to the typical worship song, only the “you” is referring to C.J., not God.
Agreed. The lyrics, “you brought us to the promised land,” addressed to Mahaney, are really creepy. Thanks. Janna
Wow, quote from the first couple of lines in the song: “…our lives are more like Jesus because we’ve followed you…” with the “you” referring to CJM. I guess I misunderstood the Scriptures all these years. I’ve always understood that it is Jesus who begins the work and Jesus who is faithful to complete the work (Phil 1:6). I always thought it was by God’s doing that we are in Christ and that righteousness and sanctification and redemption are from God so that men only boast in the Lord (1 Cor 1:30). I always thought the scriptures taught that God sanctifies us by the Spirit and faith in the truth (2 Thes 2:13). Silly me, I’ve had it wrong all these years, we’re actually more like Jesus (experiential sanctification) because we follow celebrity preachers. I’m so glad that Bob Kauflin cleared that up for me!
Fiveonly,
Excellent comment. You do a great job of highlighting what is wrong within the walls of Sovereign Grace. It’s hard to believe, but this type of thinking is not only accepted, it is promoted by leaders within the denomination. And just how wretched a state has Evangelical Christianity reached when men like Al Mohler, Mark Dever and Ligon Duncan promote Mahaney and his church? They even let Sovereign Grace Churches hold a break-out session at the last T4G conference where their express purpose was to recruit churches to join their denomination!
This was one of the reasons why we left CLC around 2000. In the late 1990s there was a period that it seemed like every other week they honored one of the pastors; each other. I said to myself, to give them some credit, well, it’s a big church, and it’s a way to introduce all of the pastors to everyone in the congregation over time.
We got sick of hearing how hard they worked, like no one in the congregation worked hard at their job. We took my mother in law to a service there and not too long into it, she up and left; she had driven herself. I asked my wife later what was with her because it was abrupt. She said, she was not going to sit there and listen to them bragging about one of their own. How was it she could see what others did not? Well, she had been the wife a man who had been a pastor for 35 years and she had seen enough of it for a lifetime.
LTTG, I believe your mother-in-law and I would get along great. Neither one of us suffers fools gladly!
I have discussed the very thing you talk about numerous times. I experienced the same thing at the Gilbert church. Hard work for these prima donnas consists of fetching their own coffee! I really don’t believe the pastors had any concept of what their average working member’s life consisted of. Suffice it to say many of us put in long hours of hard work, then attended all the church functions and “served” in duties before and after church, worked at conferences, worked at Alpha courses, helped fellow members move (I never once saw a pastor show up for that job), were berated as poor husbands for not having a weekly date night, were cajoled into spending our vacation time at one of their “Celebrate” gatherings, and yet dutifully stood for the obligatory ovation for pastor X who had “served us so well.” That was “doing life together.” It was almost the death of me. We decided we’d had enough after Glynn McKenzie called all our care group into his office, couple by couple, to browbeat us for not attending every meeting. Truth be told I was very uncomfortable with the leaders methods of sin-sniffing. Obviously, many others were too, as attendance started to dwindle. The care group leader was replaced, but not before Glynn exploded at me in his office during our meeting. I set him off because I actually spoke my mind and didn’t acquiesce like most everyone else did. But thank God for the volatile McKenzie. He turned the switch and the lightbulb came on for me. We left shortly after our meeting. What freedom to be out from under their system!
Todd, it obviously took you a while to see the light, but by circumstances the LORD kept putting it in your face. Those he cares about, who in my estimate, He has mercy on, and He loves, He wants them to see the truth and to ACT on it. Some see it easy and some it takes the LORD to shove it in your face. LOL!!
Here’s a few ‘events’ for you to get a laugh over. I mean, they are not big things, things are just going to happen in a ‘church’, but here’s a few.
As for the Alpha course, here’s our laughter out of it. We volunteered to bring a dish on the Wednesday nights for the guests for they were served dinner. One of the days, we still needed to get the chicken for the dish. It was a frosty icy day. I told my wife, forget it, but she would not listen to me. I said even if they have the meeting, so what? Is it worth going out to the grocery store in this; but we had promised she insisted. We were both at home that day. Out the door she went. 15 minutes later she returns back with the whole front of the car smashed, and I mean smashed in, full of tears. Front of car looked like an accordion. It was like $3,500 damage. So, we call up the church to tell them no chicken delivery tonight. Now CLC was a big church and there were plenty of people who you never knew. But the woman who answered the phone let it be known she was not very happy about the chicken not being delivered. There was no mercy. It just added to the icing on the cake, so to speak.
Concerning the care group meetings. A friend of mine had been in the church seems like since near the inception. He met someone in the church who was from another country and they wanted to get married. So they went to meet with one of the pastors. They admitted that she had not paid income taxes on some of the meager wages she had earned cleaning houses. That was about the only work she could find while she was here. They were told that there was no way that they would be allowed to be members of the church or be married by them if she/they did not agree to pay the tax back. So they started paying the tax back. If I remember correctly they were allowed to go ahead and get married and be in the church as long as they were making up the tax they figured she owed. Now here is what happened.
They were in a care group and the care group leader took him aside at one of the meetings and scolded him for his wife not being at the care group meetings. Problem was, that that was the night she was able to find extra work to pay the back tax. He told me the whole story himself, being exasperated. I’m not trying to say that she/they shouldn’t have paid the tax. That’s another issue. But when you put this ‘not paying tax on cleaning houses by someone from another country,’ in comparison to what they have been accused of, it is down right pathetic in my estimate. My friends were required to pay the tax, but it doesn’t seem to me that those who required this of them, that they held the same measuring rod up to themselves in regards to all the allegations and facts as known. Like two sets of books being kept. One for them and one for everybody else.
LTTG,
Thanks for sharing your stories, they are, sadly, a typical reflection of what passes as Christian compassion in Sovereign Grace Churches. The story of the foreigner is so very sad. Mahaney can give $115,000 of denominational and CLC offerings, and $100,000 of his money to Al Mohler; another $10,000 to Mark Dever, another $5,000 to Thabiti Anyabwile, and an undetermined, but most likely significant amount to Wayne Grudem, yet they do not even consider helping a poor foreigner pay what was probably a small amount of money to settle her tax debt and therefore meet the leaders imposed requirement for marriage. What hypocrisy! Let’s also remember they paid for a lawyer for Dave Adams criminal trial, where he was convicted of raping his daughter while they kicked the bedraggled wife and her abused children to the curb! Thankfully God is revealing their outrageous behavior to the world.
Wow. I thought that Broadway number was a joke about someone other than CJ Mahaney. Wow.
Did Kauflin write the score for that one too?
Embarrassing.
You’re not the first person to think that video was a joke or parody. It’s been confirmed by many reliable sources as being part of the celebration Covenant Life Church put on when Mahaney handed the reins of the Church over to Joshua Harris.
Chances are that Bob Kauflin did write the score although I cannot even try to verify that hunch on my part.
Thanks!
Actually that Broadway skit is from a well known Broadway musical called Mame. It was written by Jerry Herman in the 1960’s who also wrote Hello Dolly and La Cage aux Falles. I just think its important to be factual.
Thanks for the info, David!
It occurred to me that the general skit may be from a Broadway musical but the lyrics are not. 😉
I’d say it’s likely that Bob Kauflin wrote the song lyrics since he’s SGM’s principal song writer and this skit was preformed at a major event. 😉
Agree with you. The song is from a classic Broadway musical but the lyrics are totally re-written.