Francis Chan, one of the founding pastors of Cornerstone Church Simi Valley, California has kindly answered some questions I emailed to him about his life, faith, church and a few other things.You can listen or watch his messages from the church website or download them at itunes
Tell us about how you became a Christian?
I was raised Christian after age 5, but I didn’t really understand it until high school. A friend of mine invited me to his youth group. There I heard the gospel, understood it, and accepted it.
You founded Cornerstone Church 12 years ago, for those who may not fully grasp why church planting is so important tell us the reasons and your personal calling to such an immense task?
I wasn’t really thinking about it being an “immense” task at the time. I just said to my wife, “even if only a dozen people show up, and we meet in our living room to worship God and teach straight from the scriptures, wouldn’t that be better than the worship experiences we’ve been having at church?” I had come out of a church that was filled with petty arguments and hatred. I just wanted to meet with some friends and worship with them. At that point, I had no idea what it would become.
Cornerstone is a very healthy Church and things seem to be going well, I’m sure though that the early days of a church plant is a stressful and difficult time, what were the main causes of stress or difficulty to you in those days?
When I began to hire staff, I realized how difficult I was to work with. My pride and immaturity caused me to make things more of a struggle than they had to be. I can always blame others or circumstances, but the truth was that my own sinful pride led to more stress than anything else.
My first experience of Francis Chan was to watch you on the live feed of Passion 07 and I know many others in Northern Ireland who discovered you (if that’s how to describe it) through that movement. Out of interest, and knowing you love Passion, what is it that you would say is the key to that movements success in an age group that is so difficult to get into church?
Humility and excellence. What I’ve seen across the board from the Passion worship leaders and teachers is a commitment to excellence- too many just try to “get by” and not give God their best. I love the humility I see in the leadership. While others have tried to make them “famous”, their true desire is that God be the only One honoured. These two attributes, sadly, are rare in the church.
The purpose statement of your church is; “To give every individual an accurate picture of God, and to help those who believe become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” I love that! Why would you say it is important to give people an accurate picture of God?
We live in a world where people say that you can believe anything you want about God. Yet God is so clear in spelling out His attributes in scripture in order that others would know what He is really like.
Is it possible to give us a quick glimpse of that accurate picture of God?
It’s a pretty crazy task to try to describe God “quickly.” Start with reading Revelation 4-5 to get a description of Heaven. Everything starts with a healthy fear of Him.
One thing I constantly ask people about is how important they believe that family devotions are, so how important are they in the Chan home and what do they look like?
While we have occasional devotions, most of our teaching takes place while going about our everyday activities. We try to speak of God throughout the day as Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
You have young kids, from one man to another who has just recently had a child what advice would you give to me in fatherhood?
Live it out. Hypocrisy kills. Just stay close to the Lord, and let the Spirit lead.
The Just stop and think video is amazing and Christ is using it greatly, are you surprised by how well it has been received from not just those in your community but also around the world?
Absolutely. Like most things in my life, I had no idea how God would use it.
Northern Ireland, where I come from is known for its sort of racial/religious problems. As to whether someone is born catholic or protestant, though religion really doesn’t come into it. Did you face any hastle or bullying growing up in America due to racism?
No. My experience has been great in America.
How does the Gospel free us from such things as racism?
It commands us to look beyond flesh and blood. It commands us to focus on the spiritual, not the physical.
I love to read and one thing lacking on my bookshelf is a book by Francis Chan, have you any plans to write in the future or is that something you’d rather not do?
I do have a book coming out in the beginning of the year. I’m not sure what the title will be, but I’m leaning toward “The Crux.” It’s about helping true followers of Christ pursue Him passionately even though they may attend lukewarm churches.
Speaking of books, are there any books or authors you’d recommend to anyone reading this? And what websites, magazines etc would you frequent?
Any sermon or book by John Piper.
Who apart from Christ has God used greatly to influence and shape you into a passionate lover of God?
My youth pastor, Stan Lubeck, who has modelled Christ for me since I was 14.
What would you say is the most important thing for a Christian?
Intimacy with God.
And lastly, let me ask you three general questions;
You mentioned at Passion last year about how you had watched 24 season 4, I think it was, have you caught any of season 5 or 6 and if so what did you think?
I loved them both. I’m not crazy about season 7 though.
And if I neglected to ask you about sport I would probably repent and never do any interview things on my blog again. You love surfing, which I have to agree is pretty cool. What do you love so much about surfing and what other sports do you love?
I love being in the ocean. I love the unpredictability of it- size of wave, animals you see, etc. I love staring out toward the ocean and away from anything manmade.
And sorry one more question for those of us in the UK, what do you think of soccer and are there any teams that you would follow, even a bit?
Sorry- I’m an ignorant American when it comes to soccer. I haven’t kept up with sports much in the past few years.
Thank you Francis for taking the time to answer these questions, I honestly didn't expect to get a reply, and so soon since I know that you must be exceedingly busy in serving the people of Cornerstone and in glorifying Christ.
Here's the just stop and think video
Also check out the video 'Why Cornerstone decided to build an outdoor amphitheater rather than a new sanctuary.' It's a huge challenge!
