The Megachurch that's Reinventing Itself

In the yearlong leave of absence from his duties at CCOJ, Kallestad found himself reflecting on the spiritual emptiness he was experiencing, and the growing realization that the megachurch he had helped to create was “missing the mark” in transforming people into disciples of Christ. CCOJ attracted a lot of seeking people, but was there much real spiritual growth happening?

Kallestad’s physical heart was slowly healing, but his spiritual heart wasn’t. In the early morning hours of November 22, 2002, Kallestad found himself on his knees in prayer, sobbing. “God,” he prayed. “I’m broken. I don’t know what to do.” He remembers his body being ice cold and his heart pounding very hard. “The words of ‘I Surrender All’ kept going through my head as I kept telling God, ‘I surrender, I surrender.’ I heard a voice that quietly said, ‘I have healed you.’ I thought the voice was my wife talking to me, but she was sound asleep,” he said.

The next day, Kallestad went to his cardiologist, who was stunned with the healing of his heart. Both agreed it was a miracle.

“My heart attack caused me to get hungrier for God,” Kallestad said. “I was CEO of a burgeoning organization, and dealing with structures and systems and finances. It wasn’t about people and relationships. I could sense God calling me back to what’s most important. And when I realized that what we had [at CCOJ] was not working, my hunger intensified.”

Insights From an Unintended Sabbatical
As 2003 began, Kallestad continued to plead with God to show him the future for CCOJ and began to consider who would be his successor to his ministry. In the recently published book, Passionate Church: The Art of Life-Changing Discipleship (Cook Communications), he shares how this time away from his ministry did anything but give him peace of mind:

“After my heart attack and six-way bypass in January 2002, I began to consider who might be the successor to my ministry. It would have to be just the right person, someone capable of raising and managing a multimillion dollar budget as well as the staff and programs of a megachurch. It would need to be someone who could effectively reach the 20- and 30-year-olds I was struggling to reach.

“I discussed this idea with other pastors across the country. But it was in Washington, D.C. that I felt the ground shaking all around me. ‘Why would anyone want your church?’ a pastor there responded. ‘Anyone who is serious about ministry today does not want to be stuck raising money for maintaining buildings and mortgages. They want to be on the cutting edge of making a difference.’ As hard as it was to hear, I knew what he had just said was right.”

During his unintended sabbatical and recovery from the heart attack, he had time to devote to study and reflect on the church in the postmodern era. He read books on the “missional church” and the “emergent church.” He spent time learning from leaders in these movements, such as Dan Kimball—pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, California, author of The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations (Zondervan), and a regular contributor to this magazine. He also consulted with Brian McLaren, often called a guru in the emergent church, and author of A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-Yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian (Zondervan). (Yes, that’s the real subtitle.)

Kallestad slowly became certain that the church-growth methods he knew, wrote about in his doctorate, and used to build a megachurch, weren’t working anymore—not even cutting-edge methods of entertainment evangelism. “In our zeal to attract seekers, we became very presentational,” he said. “We believed no one wanted to give anything, no one wanted to sing anything, no one wanted to be known—all of the ‘seeker principles.’ In my spirit, I knew that the old principles and practices, including those for seekers, weren’t working. And I was dying inside.”

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posted by Jordon | 8:51 PM | |