The True Power Team
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THE TRUE POWER TEAM
By
Phil Scovell
I suppose in today’s mechanized, televised, and electronically publicized church that everybody has seen the power team with their super human feats of strength. Recently they performed in Denver and I went with my children. As I sat and witnessed the smashing of huge ice blocks set a fire, the bending of one inch steal bars between teeth, the snapping of police hand cuffs, the bursting of hot water bottles as though they were toy balloons, and the pulverizing of concrete walls, my heart ached…something was wrong. I began to examine my thoughts and the Scriptures to determine the cause for my feeling of spiritual uneasiness.
POSITIVE THINGS
There were a number of things I appreciated about the Power Team: They did not water down or in any way tamper with the Gospel itself. John Jacobs clearly preached a message of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and that sin condemned one to eternal Hell. He without apology made it clear that one had to confess his sin before the Lord and then confess Jesus as Lord of His life in order to be born again. He furthermore stated that Christians are required to live clean and holy lives before the world. His message was clear and concise and there was absolutely no guess work in interpreting what he was trying to say concerning the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of salvation.
Besides the preaching of the Gospel, there were a number of other things which I appreciated about the Power Team and their ministry. The fact that they normally rent city auditoriums rather than performing in local churches is refreshing. Such performances should be conducted outside the Church if such is to be performed at all. The Church should never be a place of entertainment. They also have performed in over four thousand schools. Not many pastors or evangelists have been allowed to witness in that many public schools. The Power Team likewise reaches the youth and especially street kids in major cities across the country. One must admit they certainly have an attraction to the youth of America. Their personal testimonies seem solid and clear before the youth to whom they minister. They emphasize a personal relationship with Christ to be more important than anything including physical strength and they likewise emphasize one’s self worth and personal integrity. They preach against drugs, immorality, violence, and sin of all kinds. They have altar calls; people are born again, sometimes some are healed, and Christians are challenged to go all out for God. They attempt to follow up with literature and correspondence with those who have come forward during the altar call. In short, and on the surface, there are a number of good things which can be said of the Power Team and their ministry. Then why did I sit in my seat and wish I had STAYED HOME?
NEGATIVE THINGS
Perhaps the things I’m about to mention should be called the “UNSCRIPTURAL THINGS” rather than the “negative.” If one chooses not to consider these things negative or Scripturally wrong, at the very least I would think we might label them inappropriate. For example, the music was ungodly. As soon as the team ran out on the stage blowing up hot water bottles till they burst, the music was turned up so loud, it would have been impossible to communicate with the person seated next to you without cupping your hands about their ear and yelling. It frankly wasn’t the volume that disturbed me but the type of music. I honestly could not tell the difference between the music played by the Power Team and that I used to sit and listen to in the late 1960’s when performed by Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hindrix, Steppen Wolf, The Who, or any number of modern day rock bands such as Kiss, Mega Death, or Metalica. Occasionally I heard the words Jesus or Christ and prayed the music being played was Christian and not secular rock bands throwing in our Lord’s name for effect. Later John Jacobs confirmed this was special music they had put together for their performances and it could be purchased at their tables following the show. In fact, he said, they got so many requests for good Christian music for the kids who were converted to Christ in their performances and by Christian parents that want to wean their teenagers away from secular rock music, that this was the music they were recommending and selling. I know something sounds wrong with that philosophy but I leave it up to the reader to figure it out. I simply refuse to accept any rock music as Godly no matter who sings it…you may think otherwise. This philosophy, however, sounds like the methadone program the government began in the late 1960’s in order to wean heroin addicts.
Let’s consider, for a moment, and for argument’s sake, that the music isn’t any big deal. Let’s suggest that the music has no effect on those seated in the audience and that the Power Team really doesn’t believe that music is important to their performance. Let me ask the question… “What is the Power Team?” It isn’t the Church. In fact, John Jacobs began the program by saying he wasn’t interested in what church anyone went to; he was just glad everyone came to the performance that night and he hoped they enjoyed themselves and had a good time. Then what is the Power Team? John Jacobs said they were evangelists. Biblical evangelists were men who traveled about the countryside preaching God’s Word, healing the sick, and preparing the way for apostles to come and establish local New Testament churches. Is this what the Power Team does? Let’s be honest! The Power Team are Christian entertainers. Good ones, I might add, but entertainers nonetheless. Thank God they preach the Gospel and win people to Christ rather than just entertain. Is it wrong for Christians to be entertained? [WARNING…THIN ICE!]
Now everyone knows an evangelistic team such as the Power Team, or any missionary, pastor, full time Christian worker etc., needs money. I was very interested in how the Power Team would approach the subject of money during the performance. The program, by the way, was absolutely free. They of course sold T shirts, tapes, books, baseball bats – replicas of those they snap in two during the performance – and other related paraphernalia. In this case, they were brought into Denver by a local Christian business which was plugged repeatedly during the performance. All this was certainly acceptable and I personally believe that if there is a place for such performances, they indeed should be supported by Christian businesses rather than by local churches.
When John Jacobs announced they would receive an offering and began discussing the financial needs of the Power Team, I checked my watch. He spoke for thirty minutes before the ushers actually moved down the rows to pass the offering plates. This did not include the amount of time he spent selling tickets to a banquet which the Power Team was sponsoring the following day for Christian business men and women. What do you suppose was eventually talked about at that banquet? Money maybe? The financial support of the Power Team? I don’t honestly know since I failed to attend. This form of gathering the collections, to which Paul referred in the epistles, is so unscriptural, it shouldn’t even need to be addressed.
I was, however, mostly concerned about the hype generated. Every performance of super human strength was preceded by several minutes of explanation. For example, how many times the performer had accomplished this feat, how many times he had been injured, that he had passed out once from the exertion, or that bones had been broken. When the feat was then attempted, the “Christian rock” music was pumped out to and almost unbearable DB level while the performer struggled to attempt the impossible. In was all done, of course, in the name of Jesus…I guess, or so we were told.
John Jacobs stood on the stage during the remaining minutes of the performance and announced that he and his Power Team members were going to break police hand cuffs. He had a police woman on the stage who hand cuffed a couple of the Team members and as the music pounded, John encouraged the Team members on over the loud speaker system. The emotional excitement continually grew throughout the evening until it seemed as though something just had to give.
Finally, after nearly two hours of showmanship, John said he was going to attempt to snap two sets of hand cuffs. After they were placed on his hands, he spoke until his hands turned blue from the lack of circulation. When he finally announced he was going to break the cuffs, he compared this to snapping the chains of darkness which held the lost in bonds which he said was what Jesus did on the cross. He furthermore requested that no music be played as he did so in order that the audience could hear the snap of the chains when they finally broke. He informed the audience he might faint from hyper ventilation which, he confessed, had happened to him once before. By the way, this entire part of the show took perhaps twenty minutes by itself. His labored breathing, as he built up physically, emotionally, psychologically, and perhaps spiritually – he said this would be done in the name of Jesus for those chained by the Devil – filled the auditorium as it was amplified by the public address system. It was captivating! You could feel the tension in the fourteen thousand attendees; you could sense the secret desire in everyone that indeed John would snap those chains; you could almost tangibly feel the power build up. Seconds passed as the huge auditorium speakers bulged with the heavy breathing – inhaling and exhaling – of the performer. Suddenly a man near me leaped to his feet and cried, “Jesus!” The chains snapped and the crowd exploded! He had done it! He had done the impossible! The lost were set free!
Immediately following the bursting of the chains, John Jacobs began his altar call. He asked each Power Team member to step from the platform and to stand in the aisles to meet with those who came. He made it very clear the altar call was for those who wanted to be born again and for those Christians not right with God who wanted to now make things right. In seconds the aisles were filled. People crawled over the seats to get closer. Children crawled on the floor between legs. Everybody wanted to get to Jesus, or was it the Power Team?
PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS
I have expressed my concern about the improper music played. I am also bothered by the commercialism; the buying and selling; the advertising; the commercialization of Christ. I am concerned about John Jacobs opening statement: “We don’t care what church you go to, we just hope you have a good time tonight.” I am concerned about the plea for money and the fund raising techniques employed to support the Team’s activities. I am greatly disturbed about the hype employed. Are all these things necessary in order to get people to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Has the plane preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lost its power? Is not Christ our example? Did He employe any such techniques in order that people might listen to His preaching? If you say He in fact healed the sick which drew crowds, that would be correct but He did not do so in order to attract the crowds; He did so because He was the Messiah and He had the power to do so. In another words, He preached the Gospel first; the healings were a natural consequence of His Messiahship. What I am suggesting is we do not need the Power Team nor any other para-church ministry to do the work the Church – the Body of Christ – should be doing. Every radio or television show, every traveling evangelistic team of any kind, every special entertainment group not supported fully by local church ministries should disband and go back to the local church ministry where they belong. Christians do not need to be entertained, they need the preaching of God’s eternal Word which changes lives for eternity.
A friend of mine pastoring in western Colorado had moved into a small town of about fifteen hundred people to start a church. The church now runs about one hundred fifty. He heard of an old dying pastor in the small town and went to pay his respects. They visited for some time as the old man lay in his bed waiting for his home going. My friend asked the old preacher if he had any advice for him concerning the church he had just started. “Son,” he said, “whatever it takes to bring them in is what it’ll take to keep them.” I have never forgotten those words. How can the man of God who stands before his thirty or forty people in a small rented store front building; the man who has prayed and cried all week and studied the Scriptures and prepared the message God has laid upon his heart for his little flock; how can this man possibly top the performances of super human strength of the Power Team the night before? It is my opinion that the Power Team and all such Christian entertainment groups are robbing God’s house and short changing the Christians of God’s true blessings for His people. Stop it and stop it now! Go back to Church and spend your time walking the streets with your pastor and knocking on doors and winning the lost to Jesus Christ. That’s the true “POWER TEAM!”