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

0:00 Max Locato, thank you so much for joining us here on Charisma to just give us an update on what's been going on at Gateway Church. We are so grateful that you have been able to step in and help this church, which is going through a crisis that nobody was really prepared for. And you and Pastor Joe Aquim-Lunquist are kind of sharing the load of delivering the word to this congregation. Can you give us an update on what's been going on? I have a pretty long history with Gateway. I've been a guest speaker there many times over the last decade. I know many of the elders as well as staff members and ministers. It's just a wonderful church, and they've done amazing things.

0:41 My heart was broken like everyone else's hearts were broken at the revelation of the scandal that came to light last June, I believe, when it was first revealed. I immediately reached out to the people I know at Gateway who are members and express my love and prayers for them. I was actually on vacation at the time, and upon my return, Gateway reached out to me to see if I could come up one weekend and fill in and speak. I did, and while I was there, I met with some of the elders, and they asked if I would be willing to help them in a teaching capacity for about six months.

1:28 That was the initial estimate of how long they would need to kind of regroup. As you mentioned, I was invited, and so was Pastor Joachim Lundfest from Sweden, just a delightful man. He and I are splitting the teaching privileges at Gateway. My assessment is, by the way, I'm still in our church in San Antonio. I've not moved, but that rumor got out there, but I'm not. I'm staying right here in San Antonio, but I'm happy to fly back and forth. It's very convenient for me. I believe that the church is showing some beautiful signs of health.

2:14 Here we are almost two and a half months, maybe three months into this. Initially, of course, understandably, they were shell-shocked. Every time I go, I sense there's more energy, there's more joy, there's heartfelt worship. They are being reminded, as any Christian is at some point in their life, that we don't put our trust in a person, a leader, or a pastor. We put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what they're doing. They're trusting Christ. The elders are prayerful. They are coming to an end of 40 days of prayer.

2:56 The elders have involved a Haynes and Boone legal firm to oversee every detail. They're trying to uncover every rock and make sure that everything is done correctly. I applaud the elders for their fastidious faith. They're being extremely, extremely careful, not moving too slow, trying not to move too fast. I think they're moving at a good pace. I'm sensing from the church some renewal. It's going to take a while, but I'm sensing some early signs of renewal and hope in the church. Amen. Amen. That's a great update to hear. I want to know, as you're preparing messages to preach, how are you seeking the Lord for these particular messages?

3:45 These are not just your normal... If this was your church in San Antonio that you've been with this whole time, but this is a church that's going through a bit of a triage time, how are you seeking the Lord about this? What is the Lord speaking to you about how to communicate the gospel in ways that might be unique in this situation? Yeah, great question. What I sensed is that I needed to seek the counsel of the elders of Gateway in selecting my messages. They know the church. They're right there, boots on the ground. I went in one of my early meetings with them, maybe my third meeting with the elders, I presented three different ideas for three different series of sermons.

4:34 Without a doubt, they said, what we need you to preach on is this idea. It was a series of sermons that I had yet to compile, but I could do because I'm so familiar with the teachings of the life of Jesus. I said, what if we have a sermon series called Just Jesus? Just Jesus. We're not going to dig into any deep doctrinal questions or understand any prophetic interpretations now. What we need to do is just talk about Jesus, feeding the crowds, loving the poor, raising the dead, preaching the gospel. And boy, did they resonate. And so it was a pretty clear decision that the Lord was leading us to a series of lessons based on the life of Christ.

5:20 And that's exactly what I'm doing. And that's what I'll continue to do until the end of my assignment. Yeah. You know, you and I have talked earlier about a book that you wrote for kids as just in case you ever feel alone. And I know that during times where there's a leader that has disheartened you or maybe there was abuse in somebody's life and they're kind of they feel very alone in this. How can we as brothers and sisters in Christ, how can we reach out to those that are hurting whether I mean, not necessarily just gateway, but there's people that are hurting throughout the entire world that have been disillusioned by a leader or they've been hurt or abused in different ways.

6:09 How can we help bring healing? That happens to anybody because leaders are human beings. I'm not excusing what happened at gateway and not excusing what happens at any church. Leaders are human beings and inevitably some of them are going to mess up. I've been disappointed and I'm quite certain I've disappointed some of our church members, especially in a situation of moral failure. It's very, very difficult. But if you know somebody who's going through that, you just reach out to them and you remind them of what has not changed. Though much has changed, what has not changed is that God still loves them.

6:50 God still knows them. God will guide them through and ultimately God is the shepherd. Our Lord Jesus is the shepherd. So sometimes under shepherds will let us down, but our Lord Jesus never will. So give them that word of encouragement and let them know you're there to pray and talk with them whenever they want to do so. Amen, Pastor Max, thank you so much for giving us this inside update on what's been happening at gateway. And again, thank you for taking the time to help them through this crisis. It's my honor. It's my honor. Thank you.