August 31, 2007

Final Thoughts On Perry's "Response"

Here is the post that prompted my critique. Yesterday, Perry posted his response to I'm assuming NOT ME, but to other blogs that have critiqued him or NewSpring this week.

One last time: Perry - some of us don't hate you! I know you will find it hard to believe that people can be critical of you or your church and its methods and not actually hate you. But it's true.

And to answer your questions you raised in your post:
1) Yes I do know you. We've met (although I doubt you would remember it - thousands of people come in NewSpring's doors). I have been to NewSpring. I attended a membership class. We enjoyed the time we spent attending.

2) Yes, I would say what I said to you in person. And yes, I said it on this blog. I find your lines about saying things in private and using Matthew 18 a little disingenious since you quite blatantly use your blog to A) Share your private opinions in a very public way B) Bash smaller churches and methodologies you don't agree with and C) Threaten to punch people in the throat. If you live by the megaphone, expect to hear responses via a megaphone as well.

3) No, I don't feel like I caused dissension in what I said. I found the tone of the post alarming and extreme. You can check this blog from the very first post to this one and you'll find that I have never once criticized your methods or creativity. Nor have I ever been disparaging of your passion. I have criticized your blanket assumptions (which are your forte) about how things HAVE to be done to grow or your "all or nothing assertions" that you make quite often. But your blog posts quite frequently take the tone of wanting to pick a fight and that is what is causing dissension.

Even your own staff people are saying as much in their blogs as well.

My encouragement and final words in this exchange are to exhort you as the mega-church pastor to promote the positives of NewSpring and leave the negatives of what you perceive is resident in "Christianity" or "other churches" off of the posts. It's fine to have passion, but this "us vs. the world" mentality you have is ridiculous. You do good stuff. You should be commended for it. Keep doing it and keep your promise to ignore your critics.

TONE DOWN THE RHETORIC!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you want Perry to keep his promise to ignore critics so people like you can continue bashing him with no accountability?

And the extent of your "knowing" Perry is probably a 30 second name exchange so don't pretend that you know him. And if you are willing to say these things to his face, then why aren't you brave enough to email him directly instead of ranting in the privacy of your own blog? Come on man...

Marc Backes said...

Anonymous,

Thank you for your nameless comment. Since you chose to comment as anonymous, I will cordially disregard your "privacy of your own blog" statement. I guess bashing someone behind the veil of an anonymous comment is a hair disingenious to me. My name is on this blog as well as my email. There is no anonymity here. It's as public as it can be.

For the record, I have emailed Perry before. For the record, I would share anything I am saying here to him in any forum (email, phone, face to face).

Lastly, in case you haven't noticed, Perry is pretty public and vocal with his bashing and criticism "of church", "those types of pastors" etc etc... He's also not dumb when it comes to his blog. He knows it generates controversy and critics. It's part of why he takes the tone he does. The more traffic he can generate, the more buzz that surrounds NewSpring and the more he can "rile up the troops" in the us vs. them fight that they have going on down there in Anderson...

He's a smart guy. My posts were not critical of his methodologies or church. They were critical of his tone.

Once again Mr. Oz, thank you for the comment from behind the curtain..

Anonymous said...

Why do you read his blog if you don't like what he says? Need material? If Perry is using his blog to "rile the troops" as you say then thanks for your help.

Perry does from time to time make fun of churches and pastors but he does it out of humor. Everybody knows what he is talking about. There are a lot of hypocritical churches out there. I've been to many and some of the things Perry describes is right on.

Lighten up! Perry wants to see people accept Christ and he is willing do do whatever it takes to see that happen. Something a lot of other churches could learn from.

Marc Backes said...

Anon,

Did I not say in my post that I didn't take issue with "what" he said, but "how" he said it...

Also, once again hypocritical to say that Perry gets a free pass on "making fun" of churches and pastors, but when he himself becomes the object of critique or rebuke, those who do so are just "Perry haters and need to shut up and move on"...

Also, check the original post. I read his stuff, I listen to his podcast. I wouldn't do so if I didn't find value in the things he writes and says. The post was about his tone, not his ideas.

One more thing. I would challenge you to think through the Biblical validity of your statement "being willing to do whatever it takes to see that happen"...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Marc Backes said...

Wow...

The bravery continues. Zingers and put downs all while remaining nameless and gutless.

Hey anon...put your name out here for all of us to see, if not, comments will be deleted...

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I find it hilarious that you feel the need to delete my posts! Have I hit a nerve???

Anonymous said...

wow - anon seems to be green with envy!! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side.

Marc Backes said...

I find it hilarious that a current or former employee of Upward would take anonymous shots at me without revealing their name because they know what they have to hide...

One thing you should always learn anonymous, IP addresses, hostnames, and timestamps don't lie. I'm pretty sure you're a current employee of Upward and I know that you live in or around the Greenville area...which gives me a pretty good idea of who you are...

So I'll say it this way...I'm disappointed that you haven't Mastered the art of having courage to put your name with your criticism..

At least I had the courage to do that...

I'm also fairly disappointed that someone I knew so well would take the tone you have...but I shouldn't expect any less from you..

Have a nice night...and I look forward to you revealing to all of us what I already know...YOUR NAME...

Anonymous said...

Out of curiosity, I googled the site for newspring haters. I have no idea why but i did. I have no idea who you are but i am about to join newspring. its not that i agree or disagree with what you are saying, its just the fact that you really dont have a right. you have no idea what its like to be him and have the pressure of being a pastor of a "megachurch". i find it very ignorant for you to judge his "tone"

he's on fire for god, and i dont think god cares about anyone's tone
just my opinion