It’s not easy being a celebrity pastor these days with that pesky Internet around.
Consider the struggles of Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Faced with mounting accusations circulating online ”” plagiarism, misusing church funds to prop book sales, silencing anyone in his church with the temerity to question him ”” Driscoll has urged his followers to stay off the Web. “It’s all shenanigans anyway,” he explains.
Steven Furtick, a megachurch pastor in North Carolina, and Dave Ramsey, an evangelical finance guru, have been taking hits, too, as have the wheeler-dealers on the Preachers of L.A. reality show. This, against a backdrop of culture shifts creating strong headwinds against the leader-and-follower model typified by today’s Christian superstars.
What are a megapastor and his followers to do? Remembering the biblical admonitions against idolatry would be a good start.
Somehow it is hard not to believe this is a good thing. The cult of personality is too much of America and not enough of Christianity.
This story is very compelling on its face, but it also represents a slippery slope. Think about what your church would say if you told them the the new minister was a highly opinionated and argumentative elitist who is a really good speaker, but who makes up his theology with no solid basis traditional scriptural interpretation. He is insist ant that doing things the way we have always done them is one inappropriate and we must change some of our basic beliefs about who is saved and even alter our grounded social norms. He meets with rich people and takes their money to go on trips for the purpose of using his outstanding speaking abilities to get other people, many of whom are totally out of the societal norm, believe his new and unconventional message. He also claims that a dead man told him to do this. Because of his unconventional and new way of doing things, both theologically and in worship, he has been I trouble with both the taxing authorities and other civil authorities. He has actually been in jail having been convicted of activities which are in restraint of trade. He is actually currently participating in illegal activities which could result in very long term prison sentences. Paul of Tarsus?