Celebrity Christianity

Despite having been written over three years ago my post was very angry with Chuck Smith from Calvary Chapel yesterday was the number one viewed page on my website last month.  Number two was my letter to Pastor Mark Driscoll, which is almost a year old.  Now granted, I haven't been writing much so that is part of the reason why they are at the top of my most viewed list, but the truth is, no matter what, they would have been in the top ten, and most likely the top five.

Why?  Because people google search these people.  They are big names, who have done big things, and people want to know more about them.  They are Christian celebrities. This is however not a new issue, its just a different mechanism.

Paul, sees this as a problem and addresses it in his letter to the Corinthians.  "One says he follows Paul, another Apollos, and another Cephas and another Christ".  And then he gets to the core of the matter... "Is Christ divided?  Did Paul die for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul?"

Is Christ divided?

What is interesting to me is that Paul seeing the celebrity thing going on, addresses it in this way:

This causes division
I must put myself in the problem and address my part in it
I must be humble and point others away from me, and towards Christ
I must explain that no man is above another man

This does not seem to be the way with Christian celebrities these days.  It is usually some form of "well I am being blessed for not compromising the truth"  While the others compromise and are "being followed by people with itchy ears,  There is usually a subtle, sometimes a direct refutation of the other leaders.  And the statement "follow me while I follow Christ"

The question we must ask ourselves in a world that worships celebrity, is, how are we to respond? 

I think the church needs to stop building celebrities.  I think the ones that are there need to give serious thought to their ability to deflect that position, and work for unity within the body.  I think we who are not celebrities need to stand up and be who God called us to be, to hold even the big shots to the same accountability we submit to in our body. 

But what do I know, I don't even have a weekly podcast

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A challenge (I need your help)

Lately there have been some challenges put out into the interwebs. Like this one by Jules. To me this is a great challenge, and a great way to confront some of our issues.

But I would like to issue a challenge of my own:

To every Church in the Western Christian world, take one Sunday a year (or twice a year, a month, heck every Sunday), and do not have a service. Take all of the money that would come in, and tell people to spread it around your city. Organize trash pick ups, car repair, free car washes, having lunch or breakfast with the homeless. Take one Sunday, and have a big party where you invite everyone that doesn't get invited to parties, in your homes, in the parks, on your block. On that Sunday visit prisons, and hospitals and old folks homes. Instead of singing songs for worship, sacrifice your time and money to care for those not cared for, the orphans, widows, or the mentally ill. Instead of listening to the word of God, go be the word of God realized, standing up for the marginalized, planting food gardens in public places, or doing a rally for better treatment of low income employees.

What would happen if Saddleback in Orange County, and the Eucatastrophe in Fort Worth, if Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the Revolution in New York, if Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and Awakening Chapel in Long Beach, if St. Patricks Cathedral and Adullam in Colorado, all just changed it up once and a while and sent the real church out, instead of trying to call everyone in? What would happen if we unleashed the talent, the artists, the musicians that we bind up in our programatic Sunday mornings, into a world that thrives on the creative? Can you imagine people with the talent of Willow Creeks band, taking requests from a park full of homeless people, to just sing and play. Can you imagine a homeless guy coming up and singing an old song from his past with them?

I can imagine it. I can imagine experiencing Jesus in a Matthew 25 way.

I challenge Mark Driscoll, Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, John MacArthur, Greg Boyd, Hugh Halter, Phil Shepherd, Jay Baker, Doug Pagitt and countless others to reorder their budgets, to make some plans, to set their hype machines in motion, and do a Matthew 25 worship day, at least once a year.

Now for those of you that may have already done this, awesome, please don't let my ignorance, or arrogance offend you. I am just imagining this wonderful worship, and its effect on a world I am growing to love.

Please share this if you think its a good idea, or even if you think I am an idiot

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When I was younger

At 10 years of age I wanted to play defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, and Randy White was my hero

At 13 I wanted to be a rock star, and Gene Simmons of Kiss was my hero

At 16 I wanted to die in the arena as a Portuguese bullfighter, and my heroes were Juan Belmonte and Carlos Arruza

At 20 I wanted to preach to thousands in stadiums around the world and my heroes were Billy Graham and Chuck Smith

At 25 I wanted to have a huge church made up of thousands of cell churches and my hero was Yongi Cho

At 30 I wanted to be left alone, to follow Jesus in my own way, and my heroes were Buddy Suitor, Alan Hirsch and Mark Sayers

Now I am 45, and I have learned that what I want is often silly, and not what I need. I have learned that my heroes are very fallible, and they should be influences rather than heroes. I have learned that what I plan for, and what happens is actually quite different and that what matters is how I love in the process.

I hope that our community in Long Beach continues to grow into a network of house churches, and intentional communities committed to loving our neighbors, specifically our marginalized neighbors. I hope that I will finish a book that can share our journey with a wider audience. I hope that I might have the opportunity to speak to the church at large a bit. I hope that I grow ever more committed to discipleship.

I am thankful for people like Ched Myers, Neil Cole, Alan and Deb Hirsch and Dave Andrews that encourage me along the way. I am thankful for my friends that are fighting the enemy with me. I am thankful for my community that loves me for who I am and compels me to be better. I am especially thankful for my wife, whom I grow to love more, and trust more every day.

When I was younger I wanted to be something or someone else, now I just want to be a better me

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