{"id":3434,"date":"2007-01-06T00:42:37","date_gmt":"2007-01-06T04:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=3434"},"modified":"2026-07-19T13:55:57","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T20:55:57","slug":"poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-contemplative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-contemplative\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll Shows Many &#8220;Most Influential Christians&#8221; Promote Contemplative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some say that those who are warning about contemplative spirituality and it&#8217;s invasion into Christendom are alarmists, that it really isn&#8217;t as bad as we are making it sound. Well if the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20070111194209\/http:\/\/www.thechurchreport.com\/mag_article.php?mid=875&amp;mname=January\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Church Report poll<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (where over 200,000 voters responded), which names the &#8220;50 Most Influential Christians&#8221; is any indication, contemplative spirituality is being promoted by some of Christendom&#8217;s top leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Below is a list of those &#8220;Most Influential Christians&#8221; who are contemplative proponents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#3: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/willowcreek.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Bill Hybels<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Willow Creek Church)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#5: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/newsletters\/2006\/newsletter050206.htm#article7\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">James Dobson<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Focus on the Family)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#8: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/leonardsweet.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Leonard Sweet<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (<em>Soul Tsunami<\/em> and <em>Quantum Spirituality<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#10: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/billygraham.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Rob Bell<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Mars Hill Bible Church)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#12: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/erwinmcmanus.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Erwin McManus<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (<em>The Barbarian Way<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#13: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/robertschuller.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Robert Schuller<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Crystal Cathedral)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#16: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/warrenpromotingcp.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Rick Warren<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Saddleback Church)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#27: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/misguidedshepherds.htm#swindoll\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Chuck Swindoll <\/span><\/strong><\/a>(Insight for Living)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#28:<strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"> Jack Hayford <\/span><\/strong>(King&#8217;s College and Seminary)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#33: <strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Max Lucado<\/span><\/strong> (Upwords)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#44: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/bethmoorethumbsup.htm\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Beth Moore<\/span><\/strong><\/a> (Living Proof Ministries)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related Stories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/newsletters\/2006\/newsletter071706.htm#article1\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><strong>&#8220;50 Most Influential CHURCHES&#8221; &#8211; Many Promoting Contemplative<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/newsletterfeb.htm#article7\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">Time Magazine &#8211; 25 Most Influential Evangelicals<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some say that those who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,311],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-contemplative-denominations","category-saddleback","wpcat-167-id","wpcat-311-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>Poll Shows Many &quot;Most Influential Christians&quot; Promote 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\/poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-contemplative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poll Shows Many &quot;Most Influential Christians&quot; Promote Contemplative\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some say that those who...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-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=\"2007-01-06T04:42:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-19T20:55:57+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=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-contemplative\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/poll-shows-many-most-influential-christians-promote-contemplative\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lighthouse Trails Editors\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a36b703d7722ce85599858df8bacc0a5\"},\"headline\":\"Poll Shows Many &#8220;Most Influential Christians&#8221; 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