Why did Francis Chan and Mike Bickle promote the contemplative Henri Nouwen?

In The Way of the Heart, Henri Nouwen explains contemplative prayer:

The quiet repetition of a single word can help us descend with the mind into the heart. …a word or sentence repeated frequently can help us to concentrate, to move to the center, to create an inner stillness and thus listen to the voice of God. (pg.81)

But Henri Nouwen was not hearing the “voice of God.” Contemplative prayer is essentially the same as Eastern or New Age meditation, and will take you into sweet deception. It will alter or addle your theology.

It is wrong to promote a practitioner of contemplative prayer. Henri Nouwen’s particular universalist understanding of God is the result of his contemplative practices; and yet his books continue to be recommended by seminaries and celebrity Christians alike.

Francis Chan and Mike Bickle, for instance, speaking before thousands, asked the audience to vow not to…