Rick Warren and Jack Hyles: What’s Changed?

On the approach and strategy of church growth, Rick Warren and Jack Hyles little differ.   With all the studies Warren did to figure out his scheme, he came up with something along the same lines as Hyles.  Hyles is dead but the Hyles methods and men still operate.  I’m not saying that Warren copied Hyles or that they’re twins separated at birth.  Both of them understood human nature and marketing and used that knowledge to formulate their plan.  The big thing is to give people what they want—target a demographic and customize your pitch to fit the target.  Since what allures and attracts men hasn’t changed much, their plans have mirrored each other.  Warren has a little different packaging, but besides that, he could be a Hyles clone.

Warren and Hyles both recognized what most people have long known—the world doesn’t like church.  The world likes what the world likes, which is earthly things, so Warren and Hyles were faced with a conundrum.  They wanted big crowds of unbelievers to be interested in their churches, and yet the world doesn’t like church.  The world isn’t interested in spiritual things, and the church is all about spiritual things.  Therefore, in order to get their big crowds, Warren and Hyles offered the world the things that it liked in order to get unbelievers to come to church.  It really isn’t even that hard.  Certain types of businesses have taken advantage of the same kind of knowledge in order to draw crowds to make money, namely places like amusement parks, rock concerts, arcades, and movie theaters.

There are differences between Warren and Hyles.  In a lot of ways, Hyles is old school in the same kind of strategy as Warren.  A Hyles church would be noticeably different than a Warren church, although there would be some overlap that I have noticed.  I want to talk about the overlap first, however.  Warren and Hyles would both provide fun activities that the world would like.  Both would do a rodeo or carnival to get people to come.  Warren and Hyles would both give out popular food or beverages.  Both would alter their preaching, albeit in different ways, in order to attract and then keep a crowd.  Both would use business marketing techniques that would catch the eye of unsaved people.  So they have an overlap in technique.

On a root level, Warren and Hyles were the same.  They both believed in building a church through inviting unsaved people to church services.  They both believed in trying to get people to come by offering them things they wanted.  They both conformed the church to their church growth ideology, straining theology to fit what it took to have a bigger church.  Both would say it was about seeing more people saved.  Both tried to reproduce their findings, their pragmatism, in others.  Both have had many adherents and headed a movement built around their particular philosophy.  Both used Scripture to justify what they did.  Both attacked those who criticized them.  Both used their size and success to silence their critics.  Both preyed on the pride and the faux security that comes with bigness.

How do Warren and Hyles differ?  Warren and Hyles have cultural differences.  Warren says that finding the kind of music the world likes is the most important part of church growth.  Hyles used music, what he would call evangelistic music, but he would preach against the kind of music Warren uses.  Hyles believed music should be upbeat and fast and exciting, part of a strategy to thrill the unsaved people, but he drew a far more conservative line about what he might use.  Hyles required a dress code.    He expected modest dress, clothes with designed distinctions between men and women, and he dressed up himself, suit and tie.  His workers did the same.  Not Warren.  Warren emphasizes a lower common denominator for appearance; in essence, dress like the world dresses to make the world feel comfortable being with the church.  Warren zeroed even more on what the world liked, the earthly things, even than Hyles.  Warren preaches from multi-versions with the people in mind.  Hyles preached only from the King James Version, but his preaching was heavily entertainment, very little teaching.  They both prioritize the audience, except in different ways.   Both conformed the subject matter to fit the listeners, just in different ways.

Hyles would call Warren worldly.  Warren would call Hyles legalistic.  I would call them both about the same.  Manipulative.  Secular.  Man-centered.  Carnal weaponry.

However, Warren is far more acceptable to evangelicals than Hyles ever would be.  Many young fundamentalists would never accept Hyles.  But they don’t have such a problem with Warren.  John Piper, a real favorite among many evangelicals and young fundamentalists, and even older fundamentalists, is having Warren come to his next Desiring God conference.  That is not a deal-breaker to the Piper crowd.   If Hyles were alive, and he had Hyles, that would end the Piper favoritism.  Of course, Piper would never have Hyles, and really for the same reason young fundamentalists don’t like Hyles.  Hyles wasn’t worldly enough.  Hyles used the King James Version.  Hyles said women shouldn’t wear pants.  Hyles preached too hard against sin, i.e., he was too moralistic.   Hyles would preach against attending the theater, something like Spurgeon was death on.  They like that Warren isn’t that way.

The rock music of Warren, the casual dress of Warren, the earthly popularity of Warren, the hi-tech success of Warren, and, yes, the bigness of Warren—those are all the things about Warren that young fundamentalists and evangelicals approve about Warren.  It’s why Warren is able to go to Piper’s conference.  John MacArthur’s church uses the same type of Warren formula to attract for their Resolved Conference, so they haven’t shucked the Warren brand entirely.  It’s a working plan, especially for the youth culture.  They don’t go quite as far as Warren, just like Hyles wouldn’t go as far as Warren.  Hyles wouldn’t have a hip-thrusting praise team up leading the worship.

Across the street from our church, a Trinity Evangelical grad, that would be well-accepted, I believe, by many young fundamentalists and evangelicals, kicks off his fall program with a parking lot full of jumpers.   Especially since he went to Trinity and that’s where D. A. Carson teaches.   He’s into the big sermon series, playing off some hit movie or the Beatles hits, if not the lyrics of U-2.  Of course, he “gets it.”  He “knows” what’s really important and what isn’t.

Young fundamentalists and evangelicals talk about the old hero worship of the fundamentalists, about how that too much revolved around big personalities.  That hasn’t changed.  That’s the same today.  It’s just different personalities.  And things really aren’t that much different.  There really is quite a bit in common between John Piper, Rick Warren, Mark Driscoll, and Jack Hyles.  Oh, and the young fundamentalists and evangelicals.  Earthly things.  That’s the common ground.   Earthly things help keep their crowds.   Different types of earthly things, but earthly things. And since they keep those earthly things, they stay big and that’s their success.  Not all their success.  But a lot of it.  And God doesn’t get the glory in all of that.  The men do.  Still.