Perry Noble
Perry Noble (born June 24, 1971) is an American preacher, author, and the former senior pastor[1] at NewSpring Church, a megachurch located in Anderson, South Carolina.[2] His weekly sermons were watched by over 32,000 people at 11 satellite campuses across the state of South Carolina with an additional 7,200 viewers tuned in weekly via online live stream.[3][4][5][6] He has gained notability as the senior pastor at the largest church in the South Carolina Baptist Convention and second fastest-growing church in the United States.[7][8] Noble gained notoriety for controversial remarks made regarding the Ten Commandments during a Christmas Eve service at his church,[9] as well as his forced removal from the church as pastor.
Perry started a new Church in Anderson in 2018 and opened as a church plant in January 2019 under the name Second Chance Church. He is also associated with Freedom Church in the United Kingdom.
Books
Perry Noble is the author of four books:
- Unleash!: Breaking Free from Normalcy
- Overwhelmed: Winning the War Against Worry
- The Most Excellent Way to Lead[10][11][12]
- Overcoming Anxiety: A 30day Guide to Start Winning The War with Anxiety.
Early life and family
Perry Noble was born on June 24, 1971.[13] Perry has revealed that his mother died of cancer when he was 12,[14] and that this experience made him dislike hospital visits for a long time even after he became a pastor. His father was married several times.[15] He married his former wife, Lucretia, in April 2000 and in June 2007 had a baby girl named Charisse.[16]
In November 2017 Noble announced that his marriage was over.
Controversies
During his time at NewSpring Church, Noble was involved in several controversies.
Views on homosexuality
Noble has been associated with hateful comments regarding homosexuality:[17]
“If you’re doing that … just don’t say you love Jesus,” he said. “Don’t show up to church during a worship song and raise your hands when you had your hands all over a girl this weekend. Stop it.” …”Homosexuality is a sin… I believe it,” he said. “Because the Bible says that we were all born sinners…Just because you were born that way doesn’t make it right for you to act on the way you were born.”
and
“Maybe there would be less homosexuality in the world today if there were less greedy Christians who actually cared enough to tithe and spread the gospel.”
Racism
During a Christmas Eve service in 2014, Perry Noble sparked an incident regarding the use of what appeared to be the word nigger.[18] NewSpring Church released a statement in response to allegations that Pastor Noble said the word nigger during his sermon saying,
In regards to your question about the ‘N’ word, Perry doesn’t use that word and doesn’t address anyone in his life by such a word. He did not use that word in his message and what you perceived as him doing so was [a] matter of words getting jumbled as can happen with anyone who is speaking.[19]
Perry Noble was also quoted as saying ″I was also a racist. My grandparents used 'the n word' recreationally. In fact, most white people I knew did —and so I did too. I did not see black people as individual people with real hearts, real souls, real feelings and who really mattered to God — I saw them as a group of people who were different than me, thus allowing me to place them in a category and dismiss them as unimportant," said Perry. He continues, "But … something happened in me in 1990 that would begin to change (and is still changing) the way I see people — I prayed to receive Christ in my life, which truly is the catalyst for the changing of my heart and mind on the issue of the Confederate flag," continued the megachurch pastor.″ [20]
Ten Commandments
Following a sermon Noble delivered on Christmas Eve, a controversy arose regarding his wording at the beginning of his message. He made a claim stating that there was no Hebrew word for "command," when in fact, there was. Much pressure was put on Perry Noble and on NewSpring Church for this mistake, to the point of a heated tweet on Noble's Twitter page. Noble later apologized on his blog for this tweet and his original mistake.[21]
Removal
On July 10, 2016 NewSpring Church announced that Perry Noble had been removed as Senior Pastor, due to alcohol abuse and neglect of his family duties. [22]
Divorce
On November 1, 2017, Noble released a statement on Faithwire announcing his divorce from Lucretia Noble after 17 years of marriage. He stated that, “After being married for 17 years I have found myself in a place I never imagined I would be — as no one who has ever been married ever dreams in a million years that their marriage will one day end in divorce.” [23]
Publications
His book Overwhelmed (2014) deals with his struggles with mental illness.[24]
Perry also authored Overcoming Anxiety released in 2019. [25]
References
- ^ Hardesty, Abe (2016-07-10). "Perry Noble removed as pastor at NewSpring for personal behavior related to alcohol". Greenville Online. USA Today. Retrieved 2016-07-10.
- ^ "NewSpring Church".
- ^ Blume, Butch (2014-03-04). "State of the Church: S.C.'s NewSpring among nation's largest, fastest-growing churches". http://baptistcourier.com/. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ Smith, Charmaine (2014-06-09). "NewSpring Church celebrating 10th anniversary at the Bi-Lo Center » Anderson Independent Mail". Independentmail.com. Archived from the original on 2014-06-15. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ^ Wyatt, Dustin (2014-03-21). "NewSpring Church converts former Best Buy into worship center". goupstate.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
- ^ "Fastest-growing & largest churches tallied - Baptist Press". Bpnews.net. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
- ^ "2013 Outreach 100 Fastest-Growing Churches in America". Retrieved 2014-04-14.
- ^ "2013 Outreach 100 Fastest-Growing Churches in America". Retrieved 2014-04-14.
- ^ Barnett, Ron (2015-01-25). "Baptist Megachurch Minister In Hot Water Over Comments On Ten Commandments". http://huffingtonpost.com/. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ Noble, Perry (2014-07-15). Overwhelmed: Winning the War Against Worry. Lifeway Christian Resources. ISBN 978-1430032090.
- ^ Noble, Perry (20 September 2012). Unleash!: Breaking Free from Normalcy. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-1414366791.
- ^ The Most Excellent Way to Lead. ASIN 1496402634.
{{cite book}}: Check|asin=value (help) - ^ Noble, Perry (24 June 2010). "Eleven Wishes on My Birthday". perrynoble.com. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ https://newspring.cc/sermons/mothers-day-2015/mamas-matter
- ^ https://newspring.cc/sermons/merica-land-of-the-free/how-should-christians-respond-to-the-supreme-courts-decision-on-gay-marriag
- ^ Noble, Perry. "About Perry". perrynoble.com. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ "What's wrong with Hereford's Freedom Church?". Anorak News. Harrow. 27 October 2012. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- ^ Telusma, Blue (4 January 2015). "White pastor appears to drop N-Word during sermon". The Grio. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ Carey, Brian (5 January 2015). "Did A Megachurch Pastor Use The N-Word During A Sermon?". Business 2 Community. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
- ^ http://www.christianpost.com/news/newspring-pastor-perry-noble-reveals-he-was-racist-used-n-word-recreationally-now-condemns-confederate-flag-141458/
- ^ https://perrynoble.com/blog/a-letter-to-the-church-i-love
- ^ https://newspring.cc/news/questions-about-perry-noble-newspring-church
- ^ http://www.faithwire.com/2017/11/01/one-of-the-most-difficult-things-ive-ever-communicated-perry-noble-announces-divorce/
- ^ "Pastor Perry Noble Gets Candid..." Christian Post. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
- ^ http://perrynoble.com/blog/a-quick-update-on-the-overcoming-anxiety-book