Rarely do I EVER post on the same day…but this you have got to see. When I announced our conference yesterday on my blog a guy e-mailed in and blasted us, saying that all that we do is take other people’s stuff and claim it as our own…
Here is his e-mail…
I just read about your conference. I think i may attend. I want to find out how
you claim to have “authentic” worship at the same time you are plagiarizing
Driscoll and Ed Young Jr and leading your congregation to believe that you come
up with your own sermons. I also want to learn about your definition of being
creative. does it mean in being creative enough to download a sermon and rework
it changing a few items and then claiming its your own? Or is it creative to
copy the latest and greatest church growth movement fads and techniques?
I can not wait to attend to hear the answers to these questions. i will make
sure i register as soon as registration opens.
you are welcome to email me these answers, but I know i can probably kiss your
rear end since i dare to question the almighty Perry Noble.
My email is (BLANK). i will hold my breath while i wait for
your response.
This is a wonderful example of a misinformed person “going off” on information in which he is clueless. We spend HOURS developing sermon ideas…and yes, we do use topics and phrases from others, but the overwhelming majority of the messages are stuff that God allows our team to develop. (If you attend NewSpring Church then you know this is true!)
Well, Jake Beaty, our Outreach Pastor, wanted to respond…so when I gave him the green light THIS is what he wrote.
Hi Sam,
We wanted to respond as soon as possible since you were holding your breath. I hope you are ok and did not hurt yourself from a lack of oxygen. Plagiarizing…wow! Is this what we need to spend our time on this week with so many hurting people that need Jesus?
Just for the record, if you want to accuse us of plagiarism you should probably include Andy Stanley in your list. We use his stuff way more than Mark and Ed combined. Sam, do you ever plagiarize? I hope that you do not gain any knowledge whatsoever from commentaries, or other books (the Bible) and share those thoughts with someone else. We are greatly concerned at the large volume of plagiarism that happens to the Bible on a regular basis. Based on your definition of plagiarism I guess Jesus and the apostle Paul are guilty as well because they quoted some of what David, Solomon, Moses, and many others said without stopping what they were saying to give reference to the author, chapter, page, and copyright information to their audiences (I guess Jesus gets a “get out of plagiarism free card” since he inspired all that scripture - Imagine that a mega church that really believes God inspired the bible - can you believe it).
Would it even matter to you if you knew that Perry had a personal relationship with Ed, Mark, and Andy and they all share ideas with each other on a regular basis. I remember sitting with Ed and Perry several months ago and watching those guys come up with creative ideas by just talking about the sermon series they had done and were working on for the future. By the way I remember Ed Young saying one time that if you ever hear of a good idea steal it and make it better. There was also a guy named Solomon that said one time that there was nothing new under the sun…I’m so sorry…I think I just plagiarized both of those guys.
Sam, your e-mail is discernment______, so I hope you can discern my sarcasm. I also hope that you know that God has called you to a greater purpose than to waste your time and ours by sending us constant emails with pointless complaints in them. Please take some of your drive and passion and time in the future and use it to build up the Kingdom of Jesus and to reach out to a dying, lost, and hurting world instead of trying to criticize and complain about things that are not going to matter for eternity. In case you don’t know this…We are on the same team!
This will be the only email that you receive from us. God has called us to focus on more important things.
WOW…I love the team I serve with!!! Pastors, when people around you are as passionate about the vision as your are—then your church will go places!!!