Back in July, the South Carolina megachurch NewSpring Church announced that their pastor and founder Perry Noble had been fired. They told the congregation that he had made “unfortunate choices” and had been abusing alcohol. Perry went on to seek professional help and treatment.
But this weekend, for the first time in months, Perry returned to the pulpit to the preach a sermon—this time at Charlotte’s Elevation Church, the megachurch pastored by Steven Furtick.
In a recent Facebook video, Perry defended coming back so soon after the fall out:
Peter denied Christ, and 50 days later he preached the Gospel to Jerusalem. Paul, who was murdering Christians, comes to Christ and in Acts 9 immediately starts preaching the Gospel. If God has put something in your heart, don’t sit around and wait for the approval of people who don’t believe in you in the first place. You stay up too late, and you do what God called you to do.
Over the course of the last several months, Noble has posted on Facebook how his struggle not only effected his ministry, but also his marriage. He wrote:
Let me beg married couples…please don’t cease fighting for your marriage by investing your time and attention into other things. Maybe it’s not alcohol, maybe it’s a hobby, or porn, or friendships…or even your kids. Take it from me – the temporary feeling of relief is not worth the long term pain of the consequences.
