Let’s Talk about “Celebrity” and “Rock Star” Pastors

Increasingly we’re seeing the terms “rock star pastor” and “celebrity pastor” tossed about. Even though most people acceptably follow and patronize their favorite celebrity actors and performers, and a good number of us grew up idolizing “rock stars” (although, for me, it would have been rap–not rock), the terms in an Evangelical context are pejoratives, derogatory terms of abuse, expressions of contempt. In fact, there’s a good case to be made that most uses of the terms “celebrity pastors” or “rock star pastor” amount to uncharitable slurs.

I hate the terms.  I really do.  They tar and feather good men.

The increasing use of the terms does suggest a need to address an increasing problem.  Now, please don’t rush in judgment to conclude that the problem is the “celebrification” of pastors.  That’s only one potential problem.  The other potential problems have to do with the hearts of those who would use expressions of contempt and uncharitable slurs in the first place–particularly without knowledge of the person they’re so labeling.

 

So, it seems a good review of these terms is in order.  I’m feeling particularly interested in taking up this issue because in the last week the terms have come home to roost.  Following my post on multi-site churches, a couple dear brothers wrote to me privately to push back on the rhetoric, tone, and substance of the post.  Those were wounds of friends.  Both brothers in some way intimated that I might be a “celebrity pastor,” or at least face some of the same challenges as those I criticized in the post.  That was alarming, and the suggestion has by God’s grace been working good fruit of reflection in my own soul.  It immediately revealed that my own sinful pride came to the foreground in that post.  At the very least, I should have confessed more fully that everything in the post regarding pride and the temptation to idolizing self or others is true of my own heart.  I don’t need to leave the bed in the morning before I’m confronted with the corruptions of my own heart.  While I do think there’s a difference of degree created by some forms of the multi-site strategy, I should have made it more clearly known in the post itself (not just in the comments) that there is no difference in kind–all of our hearts are idol factories–beginning with my own heart.   Keep Reading...

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