{"id":3233,"date":"2007-03-28T19:24:30","date_gmt":"2007-03-28T23:24:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=3233"},"modified":"2026-07-19T14:03:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T21:03:54","slug":"global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Pastors Network &#8211; Embracing Contemplative"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20110724032745\/http:\/\/www.gpn.tv\/about\/\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Global Pastor&#8217;s Network<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (GPN) (co-founded by the late Bill Bright) offers &#8220;teaching and training&#8221; to pastors around the world (in over 200 nations). According to their website, they are &#8220;bringing the finest <em>vision-casting <\/em>and training to pastors who may not have easy access to the Internet. Due to the size of this global vision, <em>synergistic thinking <\/em>from <em>many different viewpoints <\/em>have produced the scope, substance and strategy required to complete the Great Commission in our lifetime.&#8221; While the hope of GPN may be to &#8220;complete the Great Commission,&#8221; this &#8220;synergistic thinking from many different viewpoints&#8221; incorporates contemplative spirituality (i.e., spiritual formation) and is going to leave a trail of spiritual devastation in the lives of millions of people. GPN-influenced pastors will be introducing their congregations to spiritual practices and beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God and will ultimately negate the Great Commission all together.<\/p>\n<p>Under the GPN <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080922100749\/http:\/\/www.gpn.tv:80\/videos\/curriculum.jsp\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Division of Studies<\/span><\/strong><\/a> is the Spiritual Formation division. Dr. Thomas Trask, the Spiritual Formations Chair for GPN, &#8220;represents more than 500 million Pentecostals.&#8221; Trask&#8217;s GPN Spiritual Formations program consists of 29 key courses. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080629020635\/http:\/\/www.gpn.tv:80\/videos\/curriculum_detail.jsp?id=4\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">1<\/span><\/strong><\/a> Instructors include contemplative proponents like Dallas Willard (&#8220;Setting Self Disciplines&#8221;), and Dutch Sheets (&#8220;Solitude and Silence&#8221;). The <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080925205958\/http:\/\/www.gpn.tv:80\/videos\/collections.jsp?id=3\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">GPN video library<\/span><\/strong><\/a> includes materials by contemplative proponents Rick Warren, Jack Hayford, Max Lucado as well as David Jeremiah and Erwin Lutzer (both who promote contemplative teachers).<\/p>\n<p>One author that GPN uses to train pastors around the world is Southern Baptist, Ed Stetzer (research team director and missiologist at the North American Mission Board). Stetzer believes that Southern Baptists should &#8220;jump in&#8221; to the Emergent Church conversation.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.crosswalk.com\/1372534\/\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">2<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. Stetzer is one of several GPN influencers who is sympathetic to the emerging church movement, even though mysticism (contemplative spirituality) is the core spirituality behind the movement.<\/p>\n<p>The Global Pastor&#8217;s Network is quickly becoming a major conduit for contemplative spirituality around the world. The ramifications of this are serious and alarming given the wide scope of influence that GPN has.<\/p>\n<p>For those who question GPN&#8217;s level of influence, a <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080422020103\/http:\/\/www.gpn.tv:80\/partners\/\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">look at their sponsors<\/span><\/strong><\/a> should eliminate any doubt.<\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 The Global Pastor&#8217;s Network&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-denominations","wpcat-167-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Global Pastors Network - Embracing Contemplative - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Global Pastors Network - Embracing Contemplative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 The Global Pastor&#8217;s Network...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-28T23:24:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T21:03:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/global-pastors-network-embracing-contemplative\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"headline\":\"Global Pastors Network &#8211; 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