I just read a blog by Pam Hogeweide on the topic of some preachers who love the limelight and who become "idols" to a lot of Believers. Here is my response.
Pam,
Well written ideas about celebrity. My 2 cents.
Immature folks need some person to idolize. Almost every young believer idolizes a leader, a writer, a preacher or an apostle. Because of that, some narcissistic folks, usually males will puff themselves up and enhance their image.
Most of us will outgrow the need for idols and stop attending the BIG NAME gatherings while the immature will keep pumping them and holding seminars where a few can brag. It cannot be stopped but as God grows people up they will stop it. Here is the catch. When lots of people become “Seasoned Believers” and stop flocking after the big names the press will report it as a "sign that Christianity is dying”. That kind of Christianity needs to die.
There are almost no places where Seasoned Believers can come together for meaty discipleship and in depth interactions. Most people are left to attend shallow, showy, hyper active gatherings where BIG NAMES can talk. I know of hundreds of Seasoned Believers that are bored to tears. The research at Willow shows it but still the BIG NAMES want to put on more shows with bigger screens and more video tapes. That is giving 1% milk to carnevours.
So, we have millions of Seasoned Believers who came to faith in Christ during the Fourth Great Revival of the Seventies who want to become the Fourth Great Awakening but the RULING CLASS of leaders are still feeding them 1% milk.
What to do? Stop complaining about the idols and the immature and focus on the mature so we can go deeper no matter what others do.
Shalom,
Gary Sweeten
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