Chan Steps Down from Cornerstone, Moves to Asia

Francis Chan has picked up and moved his family to Asia. Chan pastored the 4,000-member Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California.

Chan was making quite a name for himself in Christian circles, penning two best-selling books, including Crazy Love and Forgotten God, and authoring a DVD teaching series. But he has resigned and left for an unnamed country in Asia. Chan reportedly told his church that he “wanted to disappear for a while” in late September.

“Even in my own church I heard the words, ‘Francis Chan’ more than I heard the words, ‘Holy Spirit,'” CNN’s Belief Blog reports Chan as saying. “I think there has been too much emphasis on me. I want to be used by God, but I think we have this desire to make heroes out of people rather than following God and the Holy Spirit.”

Chan is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church. He started the church in 1994. This is not the first time he has left the church. In May he left to work directly in mission with the poor locally and internationally.

“When there is a large constituency, there’s a lot of voices,” Chan said in the Belief Blog. “It makes you arrogant or it makes you want to shoot yourself. When thousands of people tell you what they think, how can I be quick to listen, like the Bible says? I don’t want to be a jerk and tune everyone out. At the same time, you can’t love every single person and answer them.”

Chan is the chancellor and founder of Eternity Bible College and serves on the board of directors for Children’s Hunger Fund, an international humanitarian aid foundation to assist the poor, and on the board for World Impact, an inner-city missions organization dedicated to planting churches among the urban poor in America. Chan has given all author royalties for Crazy Love to the Isaiah 58 Fund.

Chan’s blog offers the following message:

“Francis appreciates that you have visited this site and that you may want to get in touch with him. However, due to the many e-mails that he was receiving with regard to his announcement of stepping down at Cornerstone and the many different requests and suggestions he was also receiving, he cannot answer them individually.

“With regard to going on a prayer walk with he and Lisa to the different cities they are praying about possibly moving, they plan to go alone in order to get away quietly to pray.  He hopes you understand and certainly hopes you will continue to pray for them whenever you think of it.

“Francis is not currently accepting any speaking engagements until January 2011. After this time, if you are still interested, please refer back to this site for a speaking request form.”