Perry Noble, NewSpring Church and Our Obsession with Numbers

I don’t want to pile on. Honest I don’t. So I pray this post doesn’t come across that way. I was sad when I read the news about Perry Noble being asked to step down from NewSpring church. I still am. (If you haven’t heard about it, catch up here.) I prayed for Noble, his family and the church. That was going to be it. I had no intention of commenting on it in any way. I don't know Perry Noble and I've never been to NewSpring, so what business is it of mine? None. Then I read Noble's statement about why it happened. Not what others said about him – what Perry himself said was the reason for his problems. While people are wringing their hands over his confessed abuse of alcohol (a problem, to be sure) it appears to be a symptom, not a cause. Meanwhile, I'm afraid we're going to miss what Noble himself said was the reason for his failure, because we don't want to see it.

July 11, 2016

by Karl Vaters

I don’t want to pile on. Honest I don’t. So I pray this post doesn’t come across that way.

I was sad when I read the news about Perry Noble being asked to step down from NewSpring church this past weekend. I still am. (If you haven’t heard about it, catch up here.)

I prayed for Noble, his family and the church. That was going to be it. I had no intention of commenting on it in any way. I don’t know Perry Noble and I’ve never been to NewSpring, so what business is it of mine? None.

Then I read Noble’s statement about why it happened.

By his own words, Perry’s self-confessed “obsession to do everything possible to reach 100,000 and beyond” cost him deeply. And it led him to do things he should not have done.

That’s why I’m writing this post.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.

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