Now Reading
Q&A: Tullian Tchividjian

Q&A: Tullian Tchividjian

There is no easy way to combine two separate organizations. Tullian Tchividjian, the new pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., learned this very difficult lesson firsthand during the summer and fall of 2009. As he stepped into the pulpit of the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, founder of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Tchividjian preached a sermon series through the book of Jonah. His latest book, Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels [check out our review here], is a product of this trying time. This book is the fruit of his personal trial.

You mention in your introduction that the book came out of an extremely trying season. How is this book personal?

Tchividjian: I’ve been preaching for about 12 years, and I will forever mark my preaching ministry now regarding every sermon I preached before the Jonah series and every sermon I preached after the Jonah series. It was that instrumental in my own life. In that sense, it’s incredibly personal. I feel like during the course of preparing those sermons and preaching the sermons, I rediscovered the Gospel. What I mean by that is, like most Christians, I believed that the Gospel is what God uses to ignite the Christian life. But I was having a hard time understanding how the Gospel is the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day. I had heard people say that sort of thing, I had heard people say that the Gospel is for Christians as much as it is for non-Christians, and I affirm that theologically, I affirm that intellectually, but I was really having a hard time understanding at a heart level what that really looked like. Tim Keller says well that the Gospel is not just the A, B, C’s of Christianity but the A through Z of Christianity. It’s not just one spoke of the wheel, but it’s really the hub in the middle. It was through preparing and preaching Jonah that I came to a much bigger, better, deeper, brighter understanding of what the Gospel for Christians really means.

I preached through that series twice. The first time was at New City Church in Coconut Creek, Florida, a church that I had planted in 2003 that was doing remarkably well. We were all excited about what God was doing. Then, God, through a series of events over the course of a year, made it very clear to both New City and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, that he wanted the two churches to come together. So I re-preached the Jonah sermons in the spring and summer of 2009.

As a result of the merger, things were very difficult at the church for awhile. I felt like the father of a blended family. It was very difficult on me. It was difficult on the church. It was a painful season for us as we made our way through the process.

During that painful season I felt absolutely, remarkably sustained. There were days when I wanted to quit and give up. It was God enabling me to rediscover His amazing grace and rediscover His sustaining grace and rediscover His surprising grace and coming to greater terms with the resources I have in the Gospel because of what Christ has done for me that really saw me through. Preaching through it the first time marked my preaching ministry forever. Preaching through it the second time saved my life.

As we all know, Jonah is running from God. Preaching through this book during this season had a profound effect on you. Were you in any way running from God?

Not in any way explicitly. God wasn’t saying, "Go do this," with me answering, "I’m out of here."

But I would make the point as I do in the book that sin is flight from God, whether in thought, word or deed. In that sense, Christian people are running from God every day in ways they are conscious of and ways they are not conscious of. For years and years, Christians have been singing about their wandering hearts. Our hearts need to be recalibrated and realigned and reoriented by God.

There is no doubt that my struggle through this period had me thinking of ways out. I actually found some internal solace dreaming about how I could get out of this. There were times when it would help me sleep at night to fall asleep thinking I could get out of this. In that sense, of course, I think I was running from God.

God had so clearly brought me there, it was so obvious that this is what God wanted. And it was so obvious to those involved that this was God’s move and we were following His lead, but in the heat of the moment you begin to question. I had to keep reminding myself: "Don’t question in the dark what God has made clear in the light. God has done this." Even preaching that sermon to myself every day I still fantasized about escaping somehow, some way because it was just so painful and grueling.

I’ve read through Jonah several times, but had never noticed nor ever had it pointed out, as you do in your book, the abrupt ending to Jonah’s story. Do you think Jonah ever learned the lesson God was teaching him?

Yes. Most Bible scholars agree that Jonah wrote the book of Jonah. If that’s true, that’s the greatest demonstration that Jonah finally gets it, because he goes before us, tells us his story, while sharing all of the things he tells about himself. He really is the goat of the story. From top to bottom, everything we learn about Jonah in the story we learn by way of negative example. Even as he prays in the belly of the fish, Jonah showcases his moral record. He’s essentially saying to God, "You owe me salvation; you owe me a rescue."

By writing the story, he embarrasses himself. He humiliates himself. There’s absolutely no way you can feel the freedom to embarrass and humiliate yourself unless you have finally recognized that your identity is in someone other than yourself.

View Comments (4)

Leave a Reply

© 2023 RELEVANT Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Scroll To Top

You’re reading our ad-supported experience

For our premium ad-free experience, including exclusive podcasts, issues and more, subscribe to

Plans start as low as $2.50/mo