Aug. 30, 2007
Blogging · Church · Mark Driscoll · Tim Keller
Church Celebrities Good or Bad?
At this point I must confess that I can be called as a Church Celebrity groupie(see JollyBlogger). There are several preachers that I wish I could met, and even chat with. Two of my top “pastors id like to talk with” are Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll.
In reality I think most guys in ministry are the same as I am, they have certain rock stars, or Celebrity pastors they look up too. I’d rather not call them idols for obvious reasons.
Some guys I know really like D.A. Carson, others like John Piper, others John McArthur, and the list can go on and on.
So here is the question: Is it good to have these Church Celebrities? Do we do churches an injustice when we just focus on one of their leaders? Tim Keller is not the only leader in Redeemer, and Mar’s Hill has 24 elders, but most people just think of Mark Driscoll.
I have friends that visited Redeemer and they said that Keller is sort of whisked away, after he is done preaching.
Here is another question do having these celebrities send a message to other pastors that success in ministry is truly attained when you and your church are on the national stage?
Id love to know if other men in church leadership struggle with these questions.
Lots of good points. One thing I disagree with is your avoidance of the “i” word. Face facts—a lot of us do make idols out of some of these guys. Here’s proof: if we love someone, you’re concerned about the effect that elevating them to celebrity status has on their pride, family, church, etc. But when we worship one of these guys, we’re more concerned about how we’ve “benefited greatly from his teaching.”
If you’ve gone to one of these conferences that has a few of these celebrity preachers on the playbill, it’s sick to see people pushing each other out of the way to get closest to one of these guys.
And you’re right about the pressure on other pastors. Particularly with the availability of MP3s and videos of sermons and lectures, it’s got to be tough for a young pastor whose congregation is comparing him to R.C. Sproul or Don Carson or whoever else is on their iPod. Dr. Keller made that point in one of the interviews for the Gospel Coalition… which I know because I’m as guilty as anyone else here.
Posted by Ray on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007.Ray, good point. Thanks for the comment.
Posted by Sam on Saturday, Sep. 1, 2007.