Pastor steven furtick church location tv#
When Furtick preaches, he’s apt to refer to a TV show as well as a biblical scene. “He’s very modern, saying things in a new way.” “The pastor makes everything relate to you,” said Maggie Amos, 16, a student at Marvin Ridge High School in Waxhaw, N.C. At a recent service, Elevation staffers distributed black rubbery rings to remind the wearers to invite friends.īut the star is Furtick, a passionate personality who blogs, plays guitar, wears pointy-toed European shoes, and studies videos of other preachers. There’s also the cool factor, stoked by a marketing-savvy Elevation staff of flip-flop-and-T-shirt-wearing twentysomethings. A ‘very modern’ pastorįor many, it’s the church’s loud Christian rock music. These friends and mentors, who lead big churches like Elevation, set his salary, which Furtick won’t divulge. The church, which started in early 2006, has adopted a governance system that has Furtick answering not to a group of lay members, as in many churches but to a board of five out-of-town pastors he chose. Elevation made headlines again when members followed up by pledging $6.4 million to the church’s capital campaign for worship space. Last year, Furtick made headlines when his church doled out $40,000 to members, in envelopes filled with $5, $20, even $1,000, and told them to spend it kindly on others. “They’d come and they’d go, ‘Is this the youth group? Where’s the real church? Down the hall?’ ” “When we first started the church, we couldn’t get people over 40 to stay around for anything,” Furtick said. Increasingly, these young “Elevators” are bringing their curious parents.
With more than 4,000 attendees at its seven services every Sunday, Furtick’s church is also one of the youngest around, drawing new families as well as high schoolers and college-age kids. Less than three years after launching Elevation, a pop culture-friendly church with an orthodox Christian message, Furtick has powered it onto the Top 10 list of fastest-growing evangelical churches in America, as determined by Outreach magazine.
His church, Forest Hill, has lost some members to Elevation. “They really are the major show in town for (those) 20 to 32,” the Rev. Others salute him, even envy his success: They say he’s innovative, connects with young people bored by old churchy ways, and brings souls to Jesus at a dizzying rate. His young staff puts “Pastor Steven” on a pedestal. Some criticize: He’s taking members from other churches. Part spiritual athlete, part rock star preacher, Furtick is the talk these days in Charlotte religious circles. “It’s where the pastor gets his game face on.” “It’s a pretty intense room,” said Larry Brey, Elevation’s Connections Pastor and one of the jumpers. Then, along with crew members crowded into the tiny camper, the platinum blonde minister began jumping. The 28-year-old lead pastor at Elevation Church in Charlotte anointed his lips and head with oil, knelt to pray with his entourage, and sang and danced to “What an Awesome God You Are,” a gospel-rock song that was a new favorite on his iPod. Steven Furtick went about his get-ready ritual in a camper parked outside. – As his young flock streamed into the auditorium of Providence High School in Charlotte, N.C., one Sunday morning last month, the Rev.
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