The GC2 Summit is a conference being held January 20, 2016, featuring a number of speakers from the broad spectrum of evangelicalism. One of the event sponsors is Lifeway Research. From the conference website:
We are currently in the midst of a refugee crisis. The church has the opportunity to show and share the love of Jesus Christ to these refugees. However, we recognize and understand that we need to know how to most effectively do this…We will focus on equipping Christians and churches to connect with and serve refugees and refugee communities both domestically and internationally. This event will feature top practitioners who are working with refuges around the world using biblical principles to help Christians and churches better understand their responsibility to show and share the love of Jesus Christ to refugees and their communities.
Some notable speakers at the conference include Christine Caine, Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Ed Stetzer…. and David Platt.
Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research, has a history of showing up at events with questionable speakers(See here, here, here, and here). In fact, wherever there is a conference with apostates, you’ll find Ed Stetzer there. But this is a first for David Platt. Platt, who took over leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board (IMB) last year appears to be taking the predictable ecumenical slide of most (if not all) Southern Baptist leaders.
David Platt, who I still highly respect for his solid theology, and excellent yearly bible-study, Secret Church, appears to be influenced by his leadership position in the SBC. There is a push within the SBC to join with false teachers, Roman Catholics, charismatics, etc., to promote political ideology. This line of thinking is a cancer that’s spreading throughout the once solid branch of the church.
But Why?
Christine Caine, one of the speakers at the GC2 event, is a pastrix from Hillsong Church in Australia that regularly travels the world to preach to men. Her “rise up and do good works” form of motivational speaking is generally a far cry from the true Gospel of Jesus. She regularly admonishes people to do good things, to “change the world,” in the name of Christ. Her Word of Faith heresy is heard by millions of people around the world…but SBC leaders “don’t know anything about her.” Take a look at the following tweet from Denny Burk, an SBTS professor, and notable SBC leader.
As if being an “Egalitarian from Hillsong” wasn’t enough to stop his promotion of her last event, he readily admitted he didn’t know anything else about her. Apparently, since John Piper was there, that made the event okay. This is why solid believers should insist on one degree of separation. Al Mohler has labeled Hillsong “a prosperity movement for millennials…that minimizes the actual content of the Gospel.”
Bill Hybels is another speaker at this conference. Hybels, founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and the chairman of the board for Willow Creek Association, also promotes New Apostolic Reformation and Word of Faith theology. And of course, Rick Warren, who also practices and promotes mysticism, and has a hard time distinguishing between true and false Christianity.
While we know where Ed Stetzer stands, I would ask David Platt, is it really necessary to partner with false teachers to discuss this important topic? Are there not enough true believers out there that we can talk about these things, without compromising the integrity of Gospel truth?–without lending credibility to people like Christine Caine? These people preach a false gospel, we aren’t to stand in solidarity with them (2 Peter 2:1, Eph 5:11, 2 Cor 6:14, 2 Tim 3:5, etc.).
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. – Romans 16:17
