Ousted megachurch pastor preaches again – at Charlotte’s Elevation Church

Perry Noble, a pastor fired last July from his South Carolina megachurch for problems that included alcohol use, returned to the pulpit over the weekend – at Charlotte's Elevation Church.

It was at the invitation of Elevation Pastor Steven Furtick. The two are close friends and Furtick chose Noble early on to be among the out-of-town pastors on the church’s board of overseers.

“In July of 2016 I thought I would never preach again!” Noble wrote on his Facebook page Sunday morning. “Last night, (Furtick) allowed me the honor of returning to preaching on the stage of Elevation – and what I thought was dead came back to life again. ... Jesus brings dead things back to life.”

And on Twitter, Noble wrote this on Saturday: “Thank you @stevenfurtick for allowing me the honor of preaching at Elevation tonight – cannot wait to do it again tomorrow!!”

After his ouster from NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C. – one of the biggest churches in the country – he spent 30 days in an Arizona treatment center and worked with a psychologist and ordained pastor on plans to return to ministry, according to a report in the (Anderson) Independent Mail.

In his Sunday Facebook post, Noble wrote that “I allowed myself to be deceived by the enemy and depended on alcohol more than Jesus! However ... during this entire time Steven Furtick hasn’t been someone who ‘had my back,’ but rather has stood by my side and been a source of encouragement, friendship and has been willing to tell me what I needed to hear.”

Also included on Noble’s Facebook page is a photo of him and Furtick embracing at the church over the weekend.

Elevation officials did not respond Monday to requests for comment.

But a video of the Saturday night service appeared Monday on Elevation’s website. It shows Furtick introducing Noble as a mentor and then Noble preaching.

In 2004, Furtick told worshipers, “God gave me a window called Perry Noble,” through which he could see his potential as the founder of a church in Charlotte.

“Now it’s our turn to be a window to you,” Furtick said, speaking on the 11th anniversary of Elevation’s founding in 2006.

Furtick, who grew up in South Carolina, acknowledged in his introduction that Noble had his critics and sometimes went too far. But, he added, Noble modeled “a culturally relevant biblical boldness in the pulpit that gave me permission to preach with my own kind of passion.”

In his 30-minute guest sermon, Noble spoke about his firing last summer and his subsequent time in rehab.

“Back in July, I lost my job drinking too much and I got to go to something called rehab,” he said. “It’s probably the closest to hell I’ve ever been.”

On his third or fourth day, Noble said he told himself: “I had it all, had everything. Now I got nothing.”

Then, one night, he took a walk and, as he watching the sun set, had an experience. “It’s the closest I’ve come to hearing God audibly,” Noble said. “God whispered to me, ‘I’m not finished with you yet.’ ”

A Clemson football fan, Noble also used sports metaphors during his sermon to make the same point to the crowd.

“Maybe, just maybe God sent me here tonight to tell you that there’s still time left on the clock,” he said. “And that if you’re not dead, God’s not done. ... He still has a future for your life.”

Like Elevation, NewSpring, Noble’s former church, is a Southern Baptist church that started small and just kept growing. Founded in Noble’s apartment in 1998, it had 17 locations around South Carolina when he was fired last summer. About 30,000 people were attending services, and the church’s annual report said NewSpring took in about $64 million for 2015.

Elevation is one of the fastest growing evangelical churches in America, drawing more than 20,000 people to services every week in 11 locations in and around Charlotte. It also has extension sites in South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Toronto, Canada.

Elevation Church’s annual report for 2015 reported a “total revenue breakdown” of $41.3 million, according to the church website.

This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 12:16 PM with the headline "Ousted megachurch pastor preaches again – at Charlotte’s Elevation Church."