Steven Furtick is a gifted, charismatic, and popular speaker and has blitzed the internet, bookstores, and music stores with his sermons, books, and other products. Some, however, have concerns about the direction of Furtick’s teachings.
Steven Furtick is a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate with a Master of Divinity degree. He is now the pastor of the multi-site Elevation Church based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Furtick founded Elevation church in 2006, where he remains the lead pastor. The church’s tagline is “See what God can do through you.” The church reached number seven in Outreach Magazine’s 2022 list of the largest participating churches. Elevation boasts a membership of 26,000 people.
1. Steven Furtick started Elevation Church with just eight families. They met in a senior center, and Furtick used a small closet to pray between services.
2. Steven Furtick has a close relationship with Oneness Pentecostal pastor and influencer Bishop T. D. Jakes (pastor of The Potter’s House, a megachurch in the Dallas, Texas, area). At a revival, Furtick introduced Jakes, saying, “I want you to stand up on your feet right now, and let’s welcome to the stage, the Greatest Preacher of Our Time—Bishop T.D. Jakes. Come on, let’s show him some embarrassing love.”
3. When asked if his church is “all about the numbers,” Furtick described himself as a “numbers” guy who believes every number tells a story. He went on to say, “It’s unacceptable to me as a pastor that we would stop growing when the Lord wants to add to our number daily those who are being saved. And in order for that to happen, we need to track every scrap of statistical data at our disposal.”
4. The book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala inspired Furtick to become a pastor.
5. Steven Furtick takes his “Elevation worship” on the road, with tickets starting at around $40 up to around $300.
6. Furtick is largely mum about his finances, but according to Market Realist, he purchased a house and land for 1.7 million dollars in 2013. Steven Furtick’s 2023 net worth is estimated to be $60 million.
7. Furtick teaches modalism, a doctrine that holds the Persons of the Trinity exist in different modes, not distinct and coexisting. Specifically, he has described God as changing forms.
8. Furtick associates with and holds forums with Word of Faith teachers and New Apostolic Reformation teachers.
9. Elevation Church is said to partner with over 400 outreach ministries each year.
10. Furtick is a 2022 Grammy award-winning songwriter and producer (Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for Old Church Basement) and a New York Times bestselling author.
Handling God’s Word accurately is serious business, a requirement of all who teach and preach (1 Timothy 3:2, 2 Timothy 2:15). Various people have raised concerns about Furtick’s teaching, so let’s look at his work.
The following quotes are taken from “It’s Always Been in You,” a May 2, 2021 sermon. After each quote is a Scriptural Counterpoint, considering whether Furtick’s ideas fit biblical teaching. All four quotes are taken from this sermon because giving isolated quotes with no context rarely helps, especially when pastors preach topically. The context of each quote must be known. Also, looking at multiple quotes in a single message eliminates the possibility that the speaker misspoke or got caught up in the moment. Even the most careful Bible expositors make mistakes, for no one is infallible. However, looking at multiple parts of a sermon shows the overall pattern.
The basic premise of “It’s Always Been In You” is that God has placed something inside His people that He desires to bring out in their lives. The thing could be anything—success, talent, goals, achievements, careers, etc. The times provided at the end of each quote are from the YouTube video of the sermon found on the Elevation Church YouTube channel.
1. “The relationship that I have with God is not based on the same covenant Jacob had. Jacob had a covenant with God that ‘God will be with me’ … But look at what happens. On our end of the bargain, we can’t keep that up. Oh? So you followed God perfectly through every season of your life? Of course, in the valley, you faint. Of course, in the hard times, you get led astray.” (29:14-29:42)
Scriptural Counterpoint: The whole point of Jacob’s account is God is faithful even when we are not. God promised Jacob He would be with him (Genesis 28:15). When we read about Jacob, we see how God sustained his life through all circumstances and was faithful to keep His promise, even when Jacob was unfaithful. This goes back to the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 15. One of the most significant details in that passage is God alone passes through the animal halves (Genesis 15:17). This signified God would be faithful to His word, even if Abraham (and, by extension, his heir Jacob) was not. We see this play out in Jacob’s life and Abraham’s.
However, Furtick misrepresents the covenant relationship Jacob had with God. It was never about us (or Jacob) keeping our “end of the bargain.” It was always about God’s faithfulness, not man’s. Our responsibility is to be faithful to God and trust in His promises. God is the initiator, and we do not get to “bargain” with Him.
2. “I don’t have the Jacob covenant; I have the Jesus covenant. I have a covenant that whatever you put on me [shame, guilt, insult, etc.], God put something in me that is greater than what you put on me. So, I know you got a lot on you, but I came to preach. There’s something in you that has always been greater.” (30:43-31:07)
Scriptural Counterpoint: Furtick contrasts the New Covenant spoken of in Jeremiah 31:32 with the “Jacob Covenant.” According to Furtick, The New Covenant refers to God’s unconditional commitment to bring whatever He put “in you” (whatever blessings or potential God put in you) to fruition.
However, Furtick misses the point. The New Covenant is about God’s covenant relationship (or fellowship) with His people, who obey Him from the heart. This is why God spoke of His law as being written on the heart of His people (Jeremiah 31:33). The problem with the Mosaic Law was it did not change the heart; it was all external. True godly obedience must come from the heart (Deuteronomy 6:5-6). Moses anticipated this problem (Deuteronomy 10:16). He prophesied about God circumcising the hearts of His people after their exile (Deuteronomy 30:6). All believers experience this change of heart because of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that writes God’s law on our hearts and makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The New Covenant is about our fellowship with God. Furtick recasts it as being about personal success, with no mention of our loving relationship with God, which is the main focus.
3. “It’s always been in you. And there’s nobody that can leave my life, that can keep God from keeping His covenant with me. I’m not in covenant with a person. I’m not in covenant with a political party. I’m in covenant with God Almighty! I am God Almighty. Get that off you! That’s not your name. That’s not your station. That’s not your end. It’s in me! It’s in me! It’s in me! It is God that worketh in you! It’s always been in you.” (40:44-41:31)
Scriptural Counterpoint: Some critics have discussed where Furtick’s statement “I am God almighty” was a slip-up, and he was simply affirming that God is God Almighty. The larger issue is that Furtick takes a passage about redemption and refers to something else. He refers to nebulous personal success concepts mentioned earlier in the sermon. Furtick defines God’s covenant with you as ensuring you achieve the success He “put in you.” In this view, it doesn’t matter if you’re worshipping God, growing in holiness and obedience, or forsaking sinful desires. What matters is God will bring about whatever desire the listener just dedicated because it is what God “put in” them. This could be anything the listener has named. Furtick claims that God is covenant bound to bring people’s desires to fruition. Furtick misses that the new covenant revolves around our redemption and reconciliation in Jesus Christ, not personal fulfillment.
4. “There are kings in you. There are crowns in you. There’s legacy in you. There’s dreams in you. There’s ministry in you. There’s medicine in your leaves. There is healing in you. There are things God desires to release through your life that will change generations that will share your last name.” (45:30-46:00)
Scriptural Counterpoint: God does not call Christians to produce their nation, legacy, or name. Instead, they are to strive to advance God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33). God calls us to make little of ourselves and much of Him. Even if he didn’t intend his message to be interpreted this way, these statements encourage people to seek their own glory since God’s glory is never mentioned as the driving motive. The biblically-minded listener might be able to adapt Furtick’s generic statements to a biblical principle. However, this means the bible teacher’s responsibility now becomes the listener’s burden to siphon any true spiritual nourishment from the message.
A look at the rest of Furtick’s message shows its other ideas follow the same path. The same holds true for many of Furtick’s other sermons, as can be seen by the following ones:
- A Word for Your Insecurities
- Quit Thinking You’re Not Good
Across his work, Furtick preaches, “You’re awesome, God wants to bless you, but you might have to struggle in faith for the blessing.” His work shows a skewed understanding of God’s Word, which presents a problem since all teachers must handle God’s Word correctly (Titus 1:9).
It’s important for Christians who are aware of Furtick’s teaching to see its flaws. He can be compared to the “ear-tickler” that Paul warns against in his letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:3). This teacher-type adapts their message to the desires of their audience, giving them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. In most cases, the ear-tickler will shrug off sin, neglect teaching about repentance and holiness, and encourage people to pursue their self-interests through God. These teachers never challenge people to be obedient to God.
The message of the ear-tickler is often hedonism disguised as biblical language. This teacher encourages his listeners to mold their lives around their desired blessings instead of the One who blesses them. This teacher speaks of God as the key to accessing all your sinful heart’s desires (commonly called “God’s blessing”) if you grit your teeth and obey in faith.
As Christians grow in godly discernment, the Spirit will help them see false teachers. We are not only called to watch out for false teachers. We’re also called to pray for them, especially for their repentance, and return to the Bible’s truth.
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Jackoo012345
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