Who's Responsible for the Defects of the Knowledge Based Products of the Druckerite Companies?

Many Christians have an incorrect view about what the Purpose-Driven Network, the Willowcreek Association and Leadership Network are. Many mistakenly believe these organizations are churches, or some form of a quasi-denomination. They’re not. These organizations are businesses and these businesses offer knowledge based products to the church leader / pastor market.

The reason I am circling back to clarify these points is that yesterday I called on Peter Drucker's disciples, Rick Warren, Bob Buford and Bill Hybels to issue a safety recall for their entire Emerging Church product line. This type of language seemed odd and out of place to a few people since speaking of Leadership Network, the Purpose-Driven Network and the Willowcreek Association as businesses contradicted what many people assumed about them. Part of the reason for this confusion is that two of these organizations are headed up by men who also happen to be pastors.

Therefore, what I want to do in this post is explain the real nature of these companies so that you can properly understand what these organizations are doing and can properly and realistically scrutinize their offerings in a correct and Biblical way. But, this means that I will need to make some statements that may challenge your assumptions about these companies.

In order to accomplish this task I will put forward a series of ‘theses’ that will help paint a realistic picture of these organizations and their leaders. As basic as these 'theses' may appear, many people have not taken the time to think through them and their implications.

1. Rick Warren is the head pastor of Saddleback Church.
2. Rick Warren is also the functioning CEO of the Purpose-Driven Network.
3. Saddleback Church and the Purpose-Driven Network are two distinct entities.
4. When Rick Warren is preaching at Saddleback he is functioning in a Pastoral Office.
5. When Rick Warren is making decisions about the direction of the Purpose-Driven Network he is functioning in a Chief Executive Office.
6. Therefore, the Purpose-Driven Network is a business entity that is separate and distinct from Saddleback Church but it happens to be run by a man who is both a CEO and a Pastor.
7. Bill Hybels is the head pastor of Willowcreek Church.
8. Bill Hybels is also the functioning CEO of the Willowcreek Association.
9. Willowcreek Church and the Willowcreek Association are two distinct entities.
10. When Bill Hybels is preaching at Willowcreek Church he is functioning in a Pastoral Office.
11. When Bill Hybels is making decisions about the direction of the Willowcreek Association he is functioning in a Chief Executive Office.
12. Therefore, the Willowcreek Association is a business entity that is separate and distinct from Willowcreek Church but it happens to be run by a man who is both a CEO and a Pastor.
13. The Purpose-Driven Network’s target market is church leaders / pastors.
14. The Willowcreek Association’s target market is church leaders / pastors.
15. Leadership Network’s target market is church leaders / pastors.
16. The Purpose-Driven Network develops and sells knowledge based products to its target market.
17. The Willowcreek Association develops and sells knowledge based products to its target market.
18. Leadership Network develops and sells knowledge based products to its target market.
19. Knowledge based products are concepts, ideas, models, methods and practices.
20. Although knowledge based products are not tangible products like iPods and cell phones they are products none the less.
21. Knowledge based products are delivered via books, DVDs, lectures, conference keynote addresses, articles and one on one coaching.
22. Knowledge based products must be developed just like tangible products must be developed.
23. When the Purpose-Driven Network (PDN) holds a conference at Saddleback Church, it is not a church function it is a business conference where PDN’s knowledge based products are delivered to church leaders for a price.
24. The business conference also happens to be hosted by the church that Rick Warren pastors.
25. When the Willowcreek Association (WA) holds a conference at Willowcreek Church, it is not a church function it is a business conference where WA’s knowledge based products are delivered to church leaders for a price.
26. The business conference also happens to be hosted by the church that Bill Hybels pastors.
27. When the Leadership Network (LN) holds a conference at a church, it is not a church function it is a business conference where LN’s knowledge based products are delivered to church leaders for a price.
28. LN, PDN and WA although they are separate companies offer very similar knowledge based products and services to the church leader / pastor market.
29. LN, PDN and WA all sell knowledge based products and services that are based upon and firmly rooted in the leadership, management concepts and theories of the late business guru Peter Drucker.
30. Just like McDonalds, Burger King and Wendys all sell hamburgers... LN, PDN and WA all sell Peter Drucker’s business and management ideas.
31. Drucker’s leadership theories form the common ground for all of the knowledge based products that LN, PDN and WA sell to the church leader / pastor market.

With these theses in mind, there are several other things that you must also keep in mind regarding my call for the Druckerites to issue a safety recall for their entire Emerging Church product line.

1. I am calling on Rick Warren the CEO of the Purpose-Driven Network to take responsibility for the defective knowledge product known as the Emerging Church that PDN helped develop and bring to market.
2. I am calling on Bill Hybels the CEO of the Willowcreek Association to take responsibility for the defective knowledge product known as the Emerging Church that WA helped develop and bring to market.
3. I am calling on Bob Buford the CEO of the Leadership Network to take responsibility for the defective knowledge product known as the Emerging Church that LN helped develop and bring to market.

All three of these Druckerite CEO’s bear some responsibility because of their roles in helping to develop and release the knowledge based product known as the Emerging Church. The reason they are responsible is because none of these businesses have put quality control measures or systems in place in order to insure that the knowledge based products that they bring to market and sell to church leaders / pastors are not infected with false doctrine and heresy.

If Pastor Warren and Pastor Hybels want to continue moonlighting as CEO’s then they must take responsibility for the doctrinal safety of the knowledge based products that their businesses are developing and selling to church leaders / pastors.

Comments

[Daniel]

I recognize your point about how these organizations are seperate from the churches pastored by these men. They are indeed businesses which are offering products to their customers (other pastors/leaders)...

What strikes me however, is that I see nothing which should prevent us from recognzing the churches themselves as businesses, and yes, that would then apply to all churches, not just the three being headed by these men.

If these Associations/Networks are really just big businesses (and they definitely are), then they are more of an "internal industry" type of business, akin to a company that say makes medical equipment, since they aren't targeting the broader consumer market, but a rather specific strata of professionals.

The churches then (and that would mean all churches, not just mega-churches...) would be the "retail" setups. That's where the "product" eventually makes it's way through the industry insiders and eventually to the mass public. The local pastor is the shopkeeper, so to speak...

How would we draw the line which would make Drucker and Co. guilty of wheeling and dealing in intellectual property, and the rest of the American churchscape innocent? Because we call them "churches"? If Warren and Hybels and the like are "moonlighting", then they are really just doing what would be the common-sense entrepreunerial move. They've discovered a largely untapped market, and jumped in. While other pastors are content to sell their "knowledge-based products" to the relatively small confines of a local congregation, these guys have their sights set higher. Can we really criticize them for that? So the product got out of hand and has now taken on a life of it's own, so what? That happens right? They can't "recall" it, because it has now been put into the hands of countless others. It's not their baby anymore. But that's not even their concern really. The major concern of someone who is hocking "knowledge" isn't faithfulness to the Truth, but rather when their next product line is coming out...

So in answer to your question (i.e. the title of your post)... Maybe we're all a little responsible, because in one way or another, we've all been sucked into the trap of turning the Gospel into just another "knowledge-based product"...

[Phil Hodge]

A classic problem of competition is the erosion or decline in quality standards over time. Standards erode, or fail to continually advance with competition. To the extent that the businesses LN, PDN, and WA are in competition to sell to the church leader and pastor market, the erosion of doctrinal safety is predictable. It is very easy and almost too tempting to keep focus. Even Drucker would agree. So, I believe your admonition is right on. Christian churches today are fragmented enough because of the CEO driven model and therefore in “competition” for support. An added parallel “business line”, unattended for doctrinal accuracy, is by nature confusing and problematic at best.

[MDS]

Wow, great insight. But not to steal your thunder, this was already figured out by a guy with the initials ML...Kingdom of the Left meet Kingdom of the Right. You rightly point out the difference and the fact that what is happening is a disastrous result when the K of R tries to fuse itself with the K of L...or maybe, the other way around?

[cynthia curran]

Well, some research has found that the past 10 years are the slowest growth years for evangelicals in a long time Granted, the big churches get the crowds but actually a lot of people have dropped out of small evangelical churches. Both Cook County IL and Orange County Ca still have a lot of people not committed to any church. According to even Gallup and Pew both counties have church attended below the national average which means both Hybels and Warren have failed miserly even with large churches to attract the non church types. Too much modernism and lack of a historical awareness of the christian church thru out the ages.