It’s the church equivalent of the star of one popular TV show making a guest appearance for a story arc on a different popular TV show. There, it’s called a “crossover.”
Seldom has there been a crossover in church life like the one announced July 27 by Max Lucado, popular author and pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. Lucado, who was ordained in the Churches of Christ, has been named an interim teaching pastor at Gateway Church, a neo-Pentecostal multicampus church based in Southlake, Texas.
“Beginning this weekend, I am going to serve as an interim teaching pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas,” Lucado said on X. “Scripture states that God is near the brokenhearted — there are ample numbers of brokenhearted people in this story. My desire is simply this — love God’s hurting people. I see this as an opportunity to do just that.
Be assured, I am still a minister in my home church where I have been since 1988. I will preach in both locations this fall.”
“It has been erroneously reported that I am no longer at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio. Be assured, I am still a minister in my home church where I have been since 1988. I will preach in both locations this fall.
“My role at Gateway is only in the interim teaching capacity, currently scheduled through the end of 2024. I will have no leadership or administrative role.”
The brokenheartedness at Gateway Church, currently ranked as the ninth largest church in America, stems from revelations that Pastor Robert Morris as a young man repeatedly sexually abused a minor and then allegedly attempted to cover up that information and deny justice to his victim.
That led to the stunning announcement of Morris’ resignation in mid-June. His son, James Morris, was tapped as the church’s next senior pastor, but the church said in an update last Thursday that James Morris also had resigned.
The elders of the church have launched a full-scale outside investigation of what happened with the alleged abuse and who knew what when. That investigation is being led by the Dallas law firm Haynes and Boone.
At the recommendation of the law firm, three elders with perceived conflicts of interest have stepped aside, according to an earlier statement from the church.
This series of events has rocked the nine-campus church and drawn national headlines.
Now, news of Lucado stepping in as a teaching pastor has stunned onlookers yet again. Lucado and Robert Morris come from vastly different streams in the Christian tradition, and Gateway Church and Oak Hills Church also are significantly different in style and theology.
Lucado is the author of nearly 100 books that together have sold 150 million copies. He is so successful as an author that he no longer draws a salary from his San Antonio church. His books and his preaching are pastoral in nature and are based in the mainstream of evangelical Christianity. Oak Hills Church, founded within the Churches of Christ, now identifies as nondenominational.
Morris, on the other hand, founded Gateway Church as a nondenominational, neo-Pentecostal congregation. Morris is closely associated with the New Apostolic Reformation and has been among a group of evangelical pastors counseling and endorsing Donald Trump.
Lucado has been scrupulously absent from politics and draws readers from all quarters of the Christian church, although his theology is decidedly conservative.
Lucado told the Dallas Morning News of his new interim gig: “When they reached out, I just felt like it’s something I’m supposed to do.”
Southlake, Texas, located northeast of Fort Worth, is situated 300 miles north of San Antonio. Exactly how Lucado will serve in both locations was not made clear.
Lucado already was listed as a teaching minister at Oak Hills. Another person, Travis Eades, serves as lead minister.
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