Pastor Matt Chandler is responding to critics who have labeled him “woke” or accused him of abandoning the gospel, saying he remains largely unconcerned with attacks from people who encounter his preaching online.
“I think if you are listening to me online and frustrated with me, that didn’t move the needle at all for me,” Chandler told Dr. Tony Evans during an episode of “The Unbound Podcast.” “Just stop listening if you think I’m a heretic.”
Criticism from people he has personally served, however, carries considerably more weight.
“If you pastor a church, there’s going to be this moment where there are these people that you poured into, you loved, you served, you buried their kid, you showed up at the hospital, that for whatever reason leave poorly,” Chandler said. “Those have always stung.”
Chandler said the backlash intensified in 2020 as churches navigated COVID-19 restrictions, racial tensions and disputes surrounding vaccines.
He also faced opposition for describing ethnic harmony as a gospel issue.
“I’m not left-leaning,” Chandler said. “I just believe the Bible.”
Chandler and Evans argued that Christians sometimes embrace biblical language while resisting its application to current cultural disputes.
“Sometimes people want to hear the Word of God, but not its contemporary application to their decision-making and to their belief system,” Evans said.
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Chandler also addressed leadership failures within Christian ministry. He said he began noticing ministers near his age disqualifying themselves over “money,” “women” and “power.”
Referring to pastors who endorsed Paul David Tripp’s book “Dangerous Calling,” Chandler said, “I’m the only one left on that jacket.”
Those failures forced Chandler to examine his own spiritual and emotional condition. He recalled meeting with a man who discovered that his wife was having an affair with his best friend. Instead of grieving alongside him, Chandler found himself mentally working through church procedures.
“I’m just problem-solving, and it scared me,” he said. “I realized, OK, something’s broken in me, and I need to let the Lord heal it.”
Chandler connected some of those patterns to growing up with an “explosively violent” father and learning to control unstable environments through hard work, usefulness and humor. He said God later “used the shadow while healing the shadow.”
The pastor also discussed the brain tumor doctors discovered after he suffered a seizure in 2009. Given a two- to three-year prognosis, Chandler underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.
The experience challenged the theology of suffering he had previously taught and deepened his compassion for people facing pain. It also strengthened his rejection of preaching that promises Christians uninterrupted health and victory.
“That’s not where real people live in a real world,” Chandler said.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a journalism background from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and at the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
