This news article at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061110/ap_on_re_us/superstar_pastors talks about the "cult of personality" in many American churches, specifically in mega churches. It specifically talks about the recent Ted Haggard scandal, which was all the more difficult for his church because so much of it was built around him.
We've talked a little here before about how worship leaders have become "superstars" of the American Church within the last ten years -- what about pastors? Where do you draw the line, in terms of how closely you identify or "market" a church with a specific figure, such as a pastor?
posted by Bobby @ 10:17 AM
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1 Comments:
I'm surprised nobody commented about this. I had to jump in the Wayback Machine to find it, thanks to Bobby's incessant posting activity... he puts me to shame :)
I was thinking about this while reading the thread on the Sojourn site about peoples' memories of the old building. A lot of people are very passionate about Sojourn and something about that has never sat right with me. When I hear people talk about Sojourn, they talk about the music, art, their friends, community groups, Daniel's sermons... but I rarely hear about how those things helped them grow in Christ. I'm sure it has, but after every testimony I'm left with the impression that Sojourn is a great church where you don't have to sacrifice coolness.
Maybe that's not a bad thing. Without a doubt, Daniel Montgomery is the reason Sojourn is growing. I know God is using him, and God uses many other servants to preach the Gospel, but it's almost like the elephant in the room... the day Daniel hands the head pastor position to someone else will be the day Sojourn jumps the shark.
But maybe I'm wrong... this is simply the way I've felt about it and I've never bothered to express it before. But since you were asking the question, it seemed like a good opportunity to find out if other agree/disagree and why.
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