If you’re familiar with the “heavy hitters” of Evangelical Christianity so to speak, you’re undoubtedly familiar Pastor Steven Furtick. And even if you’re not familiar with him or his church, if you’re a Christian that listens to Christian contemporary music… you probably have some Elevation Worship on your “Jams for Jesus” playlist. Along with churches like Hillsong and Bethel… they’re leading the pack when it comes to worship music.
Steven Furtick is the relatively controversial lead pastor of Elevation Church, a multi-campus megachurch based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with an weekly congregation of over 14,000. Why is he controversial? A handful of reasons, mainly being that he’s super rich, lives in a big ol’ massive mansion, and generally waters down the Gospel message to make it more likeable to people who aren’t familiar with the faith. An example? They recently received some backlash for actively not wanting to use the word “resurrection” in their Easter Sunday materials (not the sermon itself, but their social media, handouts, flyers, etc…) because it might be confusing or weird to a non-believer.
He’s also been accused, perhaps admittedly, of only chasing “numbers,” AKA new converts, and not “feeding the flock.” In a sermon from quite a few years back, he said told his congregation that “if you know Jesus, I’m sorry to break it to you, this church is not for you.” Ask any numbers of pastors across the country and you’ll find problems with that statement.