Max Lucado is a very popular preacher and religious writer. He has preached for some time with the "Oak Hills Church of Christ," an institutional congregation of the ultra-liberal persuasion. His books (like In the Grip of Grace, Grace for the Moment, He Chose the Nails, In the Eye of the Storm, No Wonder They Call Him Savior, The Applause of Heaven, A Gentle Thunder: Hearing God through the Storm, etc.) are commonly on the best sellers list and are widely read by many Evangelicals and even by many non-institutional brethren. It has alarmed me over the past few years to see more and more college age young people in this area reading Lucado's books in which false concepts are adeptly advanced. When brethren commend his teachings on grace, despite his obvious lack of understanding about the nature and demands of the true grace declared in God's word, they are aiding the unsuspecting soul being lured to danger. Lucado's concepts on grace stem, not from the spring of living water, but from the sectarian well of error.
For several years, Max Lucado has denied that baptism is "for" or in order to receive the remission of sins. In general, he has identified with evangelical and Calvinistic doctrine more than the truth of God's word. This has led him to speak at ecumenical services with denominational churches and even promote joint worship services in which brethren joined with such churches wherein instrumental music was used. After several years of Lucado's tutelage, the elders of the congregation gave the following statement in the Oak Hills bulletin of September 5, 1999:
AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE ELDERS...
The elders want to provide you with a statement about a question that may have been raised. That question has to do with the use of musical instruments in our worship. After many months of careful study and consideration, the elders unanimously concluded that there is no Biblical prohibition of the use of mechanical instruments in worship. We recognize the issue as a matter of diverse opinion and feel that any discussion in the future should be conducted in a manner that avoids division. We merely want to state that consensus to you today without any prediction of what that might mean to our worship services. Our worship style may or may not change, but we are in no hurry to change. We are highly sensitive to your feelings, and we want to hear your thoughts and wishes. Talk to your elders about it. Your feedback will help us as we intend to offer teaching on this matter. We are insistent on allowing God, through our prayers, to lead us in all aspects of our church family. --The Elders.
Whether the elders at Oak Hills knew where they were headed or not, their ultimate destination was predictable. Tolerance for some error always begets more (2 Tim. 3:13). Before you decide to place the spiritual feeding of your soul into the care of a Max Lucado book, please consider where his concepts have led him and ask yourself if you are ready to follow the same path. The following article was carried in the San Antonio Express-News on Saturday, September 06, 2003. The article, entitled Oak Hills Drops 'Church of Christ,' was written by a staff writer for the paper and ran in the Religion section:
Max Lucado hopes renaming his church, opening new campuses and adding musical instruments to the worship service will help bring more people to Christ. Oak Hills Church of Christ is now Oak Hills Church, and although the name has changed, Lucado said the church's core values will not. "When it comes to strategy, when it comes to approach, we want to do whatever seems most effective at the time," he said Friday. "That's what these initiatives are: change of strategy, not changes of doctrine or core values."
Changes include making Oak Hills a multisite church, with campuses throughout San Antonio. "A decade from now, what we'll remember most is the multisite initiative," Lucado said. "This effort will impact the city on the greatest scale."
Vic King, minister of missions and outreach, said that the staff doesn't expect a lot of members to leave over the changes. "It's the sign that we are changing," King said. "We are changing to a sign that more accurately reflects who we are."
Lucado, who has been the pulpit minister for 15 years, said during his Sunday sermon that some find the Church of Christ name to be an insurmountable barrier. "A common comment from new members is this: 'We would have come sooner, but we had to get over the name of the church.'"
Kaye Daughtry, a member for 25 years, said that's because many people are fed up with denominations. "We are going to receive people who will visit here who might not have (before)," she said. Charles Siburt, a ministry professor at Abilene Christian University, a Church of Christ school, said there are other cases of churches that have dropped the name, but it is not a trend. King said it's a public misunderstanding that the Churches of Christ are a denomination. Churches of Christ are independent, have no central headquarters and are nondenominational.
Oak Hills' core values are similar to those of other evangelical churches, emphasizing the need for faith in Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection for salvation. Oak Hills also believes salvation doesn't come through baptism, but that baptism is the initial step of obedience after salvation.
Most Churches of Christ feature only a cappella singing, a tradition King said is based on the absence of the use of instruments in the New Testament churches. But for the first time, Oak Hills will add instruments to a new Sunday evening service, which will be geared toward young adults and will begin early next year. The three main Sunday morning services will remain traditional, and a video replay of the 8:30 a.m. sermon will be added and shown in an overflow room during the 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. services. The church averages about 4,000 worshippers each Sunday.
Lucado's vision also means expanding pastoral care services, which will include hiring a new associate pulpit/singles minister who will preach 12 Sundays a year and help free Lucado, a best-selling author, to write more. Lucado asked members to spend the next 40 days praying about these and other initiatives. King said staff members have not decided when the sign will be replaced.
In the New Testament, the church is described as the "church of Christ" (Rom. 16:16), "church of God" (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:2), "body of Christ" (1 Cor. 12:27) and other descriptions recognizing and honoring its ownership by the divine Christ (Matt 16:18). Why would one retain the word "church" to describe the group, yet eliminate the words "of Christ" in order to avoid an "insurmountable barrier"? Failing to recognize and honor the ownership of Christ in describing His church says one has greater regard for popular appeal than respect for "book, chapter and verse" authority in all spiritual matters (Col. 3:17). That lack of respect for Bible authority is also seen in Oak Hills' abandonment of the New Testament pattern for singing as the only authorized music in worship to God (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). It is also seen in their plan for "a multisite church with campuses throughout San Antonio," reminiscent of the Boston Church -- Crossroads Movement, putting multiple churches under the oversight of a central eldership in violation of God's plan (1 Pet. 5:1-2). As with most cases of digression, the first appeal is made to young people as a way free from "traditions" without noting that traditions based on the precepts and examples of God's word are to be respected and kept (2 Thess. 2:15).
This brings a closing question to mind: With the changes in signs and disdain for so-called "tradition" we have seen in our area of late, not to mention the love of Lucado books, how long will it be before we see similar moves?