Francis Chan Warns against Crowds without Christ on Latest Lecrae Podcast
Francis Chan, a former megachurch pastor and bestselling author, sat down with Lecrae to discuss why he left the megachurch to focus on a more intimate, living-room style of church.
"You had a megachurch in Southern California. You had sold crazy amounts of books. Everyone was doing your Bible studies, your DVDs," said Lecrae. "You walked away from it."
Chan, who wrote several books, including the bestselling Crazy Love, admitted that he made the decision to leave after a sobering conversation with his wife, Lisa.
"If the Apostle Paul or Jesus had a church in Simi Valley, mine would be bigger, and that is bothering me," Chan recalled telling his wife.
"I would have a bigger church than Jesus because I know how to keep a crowd. They didn't," he added.
Chan also searched the Scriptures to answer his own question: "Am I really being like Christ?"
He stressed the New Testament's teaching of "loving one another as Christ loved us" and questioned whether his own love toward others was genuine.
"That's not what I created," realized Chan. "I got a bunch of people—thousands of people—playing church."
Another aspect of the New Testament church that caught Chan's attention was that everyone had "a supernatural gift for the body."
He recalled having "5,000 people with some sort of gift" that he knew nothing about. They're not being used in the church."
"I don't know how to do that in a giant room," admitted Chan.
According to Church Leaders, Chan told Lecrae how God showed him love at his lowest point.
"I want everyone to know that Francis Chan was an absolute loser, that my college years were a wreck. My start in ministry was a disaster, hypocritical, sinful," said Chan. "And God poured his grace on me, and that's the only reason anything good has come out of my life. I'm loved by him."
"God's shown me some things these last few years that I think are big. Really big," said Chan.
In particular, he shared how he wrestled with insecurities about whether God loved him.
"I realize it was so easy for me all those years to say, 'I love God. I love God. I'm going to do these crazy things for God,'" Chan admitted. "But it's much harder to go, 'He is crazy about me. I am so loved by him.'"
Whenever he spoke at conferences, he noted how three-quarters of pastors stood up when he asked whether pastors were "only like 80% sure" Jesus would love them.
Chan lamented how the "enemy has so messed with us" and how he could have perpetuated insecurity within his church.
"If I was so focused on my own actions rather than his, then I probably helped lead a generation that's focused on their actions rather than his," he said.
He added, "I got to rectify that" by renewing his passion to "help people really understand how much God loves them."
WATCH: Why Francis Chan Abandoned His Megachurch for Living Rooms
Photo Credit: ©YouTube/Lecrae
Originally published May 29, 2025.
