Crossing the Line

Know how you feel. There’s a church in my hometown that has a huge billboard directly across from Walmart (so everyone in town drives by it) that is just a picture of the senior pastor and his wife and the church logo. One of those situations where, you may not know anything about the church, their vision, etc., but you definitely know who the pastor is.

I would venture to believe there’s no gospel at his church. If you’d call it a church. More like a motivational speaker’s operations center with a Jesus veneer on it. They do have a nice website though

I had a similar reaction when I discovered this church Web site after reading an article about a helicopter pad the Treats had approved for one of their campuses (so the husband and wife co-pastors can fly back and forth for services).

I think pastors who seek or invite celebrity status like this are asking for it because the bigger we make a “man or woman of God” out to be the less we make of God and the harder that man or woman falls when their sinfully expanded ego gets the best of them.

That said, I think those who flock to preachers like this and faithfully hand their money over to pay for big salaries, glamourous parsonages and helicopter ports are also partly responsible.

The Rock Star mentality is rife in American culture. Think about how many big companies where you know who the CEO is, or movies that are known by their director. More people know that Bono is in U2, what about the others?

In contrast, eastern culture mostly seems to submerge the individual into the group.

In “Good to Great”, a phenomenal book, another kind of leadership called “Level 5 Leaders” was described as a way to get sustainable greatness which transcends an individual leader’s tenure. Interesting reading.

tyler,

we are drawn to men and women. this is how i believe God created us. and God works in many ways – but also through people.

the danger obviously is that we end up worshipping the created order rather than the Creator. and leaders, pastors, and influencers are given the invitation – to reflect the attention to the One who is greater: He must increase and I must decrease.

Re: CT, he’s local in the larger seattle area. God’s grace is bigger so i believe the holy spirit is working in his midst, your midst, and our midst – even in spite of us.

enjoying your blog.

I just had to add one more thought; just because a pastor is “famous” doesn’t make that particular church personality driven. Of course, this guy’s church is obviously personality-driven, but I was thinking of churches like North Point. Most people know who Andy Stanley is, yet North Point Ministries have taken a lot of steps to try and protect themselves from becoming personality driven. There are no staff bio’s on any of their websites, Andy’s face isn’t plastered all over their websites or their campuses and the church has shied away from using traditional titles (senior pastor, associate pastor, etc.) although Andy is listed as Senior Pastor in mediums the church can’t control, such as interviews. What surprised me most was when visiting, it didn’t seem as if the congregation cared about who was speaking. I say that because the church I grew up in was one of those places where if the members knew the pastor was going to be out of town or if a guest speaker was coming, attendance was down. None of the North Point campuses seemed like that when I visited; the audience understands that they aren’t there to hear Andy Stanley, they are there to hear from God and the man who delivers the message is just a vessel.

Just had to say that; I know NP isn’t the only church like this but they’re the only one I’ve actually gotten to visit repeatedly.

Love that comment there Eugene. God always works in spite of us.

I dont have a problem with the senior pastor being in the banner of having a web address. I think it all depends on the person. Clearly some guys become christian celebrities because they are amazing and others kinda make themselves celebrities. I have no problem with the former using their “star” power to draw people to church to hear the life-saving Gospel…we’re supposed to use whatever gifts we got right?

http://www.gospelin3d.com/2009/04/24/among-and-within-not-over-and-around-where-biblical-leaders-should-be-positioned/

I think one thing is obvious: the pastor and his wife save money by using the same hair coloring.

Tyler,

Great post and comments. I’ve often said that the church is in danger of following men. Rock Star pastors beamed (or flown) into mega-campuses don’t (to me) to fit into a biblical model of discipleship and personal relationship.

I have no problem with a church website having bios or pictures of staff; in fact, I think it’s healthy. The visitor or seeker wants faces to look familiar, and since a church is made up of people, not programs, there should be faces to go with it. If I were to visit a church, I would want to know what they were about, and who they were. But when the “who” eclipses God – that’s obviously trouble. The Treat’s should put Jesus in the banner.

A church does not need “star power” to draw people. The bible is clear: God will draw people unto himself. Seeing Christ in you will draw people, not seeing you in lights.

That said, there’s nothing wrong with visibility. If we are to be a light in the world, we need to shine. As long as there is transparency along with the visibility. It’s a delacate balance, to be sure. Looks like CFC isn’t even trying to balance anything.

Actually, I’m a web developer and I don’t like their website (for many reasons). But ultimately websites are not what makes a church. This seems to be a fairly common practice with churches that espouse prosperity gospel.

Hey I think you have hair envy

Haven’t seen you post in a while Mr.Singley!

yeah, God can use anything for good, but I would argue that this is a big reason why church gives a bad impression. Pride is damaging and this is an extreme form of pride

In rural Nevada, Hawthorne, [135 miles south of Reno] there was a guy named John Israel Robinson. He attended the Assembly of God church and jumped back and forth between a couple of others. He “knew” God was calling him to a teaching ministry so he started a bible study ministry called [wait for it] Jesus Is Real.. notice anything a bout the initials?

His bible study met on an evening for a while and then moved to a more convient time, Sundays. When his pastor confronted him about being schismatic he was upset and swore he would never force a schism. So his pastor, remember AG, says, “so why the hell are you meeting during the worship service time?”

Need I say more… He’s moved on from Hawthorne to places unknown I imagine.

Alan

Recently, our senior pastor had emergency gall bladder surgery and was resting for awhile. I was so upset.. and I used that to really think about where I stand in terms of my pastor. How would my faith be affected if he were to leave my church, or worse, to be promoted to glory?

One of the most prominent characteristics of Jesus was his humility. Just the very act of him joining us on earth is humble. The rest of his life reflects that time and time again. Recently I’ve begun to see humility as deflecting the glory from ourselves to the Lord. That is the one thing I wonder about these kinds of people – are they letting the glory rest on themselves?