#4 - Matt Chandler
About a year and a half ago I downloaded my first Matt Chandler podcast…and I was hooked. The dude is reformed in his theology…teaches with passion and authority…and God is using Him to do incredible things.
(His series on Ecclesiastes is one of the best freakin series of messages I’ve ever heard.)
Someone may be asking, “Isn’t he younger than you?”
Yep…by about four years…which brings another myth that church world has held on to for WAY too long…
...that in order for us to learn from someone…they must be the “older/wiser” person who has had YEARS of experience.
That’s just not true!
Pride is the thought behind that statement! If people actually think that more years somehow equal superior knowledge…then they cut themselves off from some of the greatest leadership instruction that is out there.
I learn SO MUCH from people who are younger than me; in fact, in our creative planning sessions there are way more people in the room who are younger than me than older. (Which used to not be the case at all…I’m getting older!!!)
What the Lord has done in and through Matt Chandler over the past several years is nothing short of a miracle. He took over a church that was basically on life support…and it has grown to over 5,000 in attendance every single weekend. (Or maybe it is 6k.)
When you listen to messages by Chandler he really downplays his involvement in this move of God…but I ain’t buying it! God is using the man…and I know I could learn from him in regards to how to handle stress, how to be a godly father/husband and how to really challenge people to go to the next level in their walk with Christ.
Some may also say, “You and Matt probably don’t see eye to eye on church and the style in which it should take place.”
And you may be right…BUT…once again, just because I do not happen to agree with someone does not mean I can’t learn from them. God’s got his hand all over the man…and I know there are things that he knows that I don’t know that I probably need to know!
AND…I hear his voice doesn’t match what he looks like. Once again, I’ve never even seen him in person. If he were to walk into my office I would not know him unless he said, “how are we?” (If you don’t get it…then I ain’t explaining it!)
AND…BTW…he’s not THAT much younger than me!