“Why was David Hughes invited to speak to the Pastors Conference? Because a lot of the pastors attending want to be just like David Hughes. Or Steven Furtick. Or Andy Stanley. Or Ed Young Jr. Or Beth Moore. Or Bethel Church. They’re pragmatists.”
(Gabrial Hughes – The Midwestern Baptist) Perhaps you heard the sound of a massive creaking ship rocking the online community, and you turned in your boat to see a commotion aboard the U.S.S. Southern Baptist Convention. That’s because on Monday, the Pastors Conference, which precedes the annual convention held in June, announced the line-up of speakers who would be addressing the ministers attending this year’s event in Orlando. And that line-up is a mess, to say the least.
The headlining name at the top of the announcement from the Baptist Press is bestselling author Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu. Not only is Cordeiro not a Southern Baptist, he’s not even sound. He’s a pastor in a Foursquare church, a pentecostal denomination founded by heretic and con-artist Aimee Semple McPherson.
Cordeiro is cut from the same cloth as Joel Osteen, Joseph Prince, and Joyce Meyer. He’s a prosperity preaching motivational speaker disguised as a pastor who wants you to live Your Best Life Now. Cordeiro preaches things like “Jesus came as a dream releaser,” and “nothing can rival the power” of the dream God has given you. But, “unless that potential is recognized and released, it remains richly unproductive.” (Quotes taken from the first few pages of his book Dream Releasers.)
Cordeiro’s church has a pastor on staff who’s a woman, Cyndi Burgess. The SBC statement of faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, states, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastors is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” So Cordeiro’s church could not be part of the Southern Baptist denomination, operating contrary to clear commands of Scripture. Yet this man is listed as the headlining name preaching to Southern Baptist ministers?
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