NewSpring megachurch pastor draws criticism from state Baptist president

NewSpring Church pastor Perry Noble is in hot water with the South Carolina Baptist Convention over a sermon he preached at the Upstate-based megachurchurch in which he interpreted the Ten Commandments as 10 "sayings" or "promises" rather than commandments.

The Rev. Tommy Kelly, president of the convention, issued a statement calling on members of the state's largest denominational group to "remove ourselves from these positions and problematic statements and call for NewSpring to correct these positions if it chooses to say that it affiliates with South Carolina Baptist churches."

In his Christmas Eve sermon, which Perry said he believed God had instructed him to preach instead of showing a video that had been planned, Perry told church members that there is no word for "commandment" in the Hebrew language, which most of the Old Testament was written in.

After a backlash on social media and among bloggers critical of him, Perry wrote in his own blog that he had misunderstood what he had been told by a teacher in Israel and that there is a Hebrew word for "commandment" and apologized for his error.

After acknowledging Perry's apology, Kelly put out a statement published in the Baptist Courier, the denomination's statewide newspaper, saying Perry's "Christmas Eve message and his theological position in that message are evidence of continued problematic positions and statements that are inconsistent with the beliefs of South Carolina Baptists."

Neither Kelly, who is also pastor of Varnville Baptist Church in Hampton County, nor Perry, could be reached for comment.

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NewSpring Church, which makes little public display of its affiliation with the Southern Baptist denomination, has average attendance of more than 32,000 a week at 11 campuses across the state.

Based in Anderson, the church features live, professional-quality contemporary Christian music and Perry's sermons on lifelike big-screen video at remote locations.

Noble, a native of Easley who preaches in a conversational guy-next-door style, uses humor as well as high tech visual aids and elaborate stage settings as backdrops for his sermons.

In his controversial Christmas Eve sermon, he told his far-flung congregation that he believed his topic was given by God for a specific person or persons whose struggles over their inability to keep the Ten Commandments was preventing them from "saying yes" to Jesus.

He said he believed God intended the list of "thou shalts" and "thou shalt nots" as not commandments but promises.

"Instead of Ten Commandments that you have to keep if you're going to be a follower of Jesus, they're actually 10 promises that you can receive when you say yes to Jesus," Noble said.

He proceeded to rephrase each of the commandments as a promise. For example, the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me," became, "You do not have to live in constant disappointment anymore."

After drawing criticism for his sermon, Perry said in his blog that he did "way more research than I have ever done," and realized that his statement that there's no Hebrew word for "command" was incorrect.

"In no way was I deliberately trying to mislead or deceive anyone. I simply recalled a conversation I had (which I now see I did not fully understand), looked back at my notes and taught the message," he wrote. "I now realize I should have put way more time into doing research before making that statement."

But he said he found that he was correct that the Hebrew word for "command" is not used in the text regarding the Ten Commandments, but rather a word that means "sayings," which another passage says can be interpreted as "promises."

"However, regardless of what Bible scholars and Hebrew speaking Christians in Israel believe the list of God's 10 points in Exodus should be called (I have heard conflicting positions), the points themselves are clearly written as imperatives — 'You shall…you shall not….' I did not, and would never deny that!"

"My desire in sharing this message was to point people to Christ," he said.

Perry also apologized for tweeting and posting on Facebook, "If those who are angry at what I said about "The 10 Commandments" were actually following all 10 the world would be such a better place!"

"The pressure of this situation has been intense," he wrote in his apology. "I have had to endure people making assessments about my life and ministry based upon one message I preached. The pressure had built up and I put that statement out on social media because I was frustrated and wanted to take a swipe back and those who were coming after me.

"It was wrong."

Kelly, in his statement to South Carolina Baptists, called on all ministers "to be courageous, faithful servants of our Lord by renewing themselves to more sound exegetical study and expository preaching and teaching of God's word."

"All church leaders must take seriously their responsibilities to present well-thought and biblically based sermons and teaching that come from God's infallible, inerrant Word and lead the lost to Christ," Kelly wrote.

He also urged pastors "to treat their individual ministry settings as a sacred trust, void of coarse, profane language as well as choosing music that is sacred in content."