A friend of mine was sitting next to me in the front row of a conference. It was the opening session and we were listening to the host, a pastor, give the welcome. My friend was going to speak immediately after the pastor was finished.
But just before my friend was introduced, she whispered, “Our host likes the stage just a little too much.”
My friend’s snarky comment was exactly what I was thinking. There was something about the pastors mannerisms that just shouted, “I’m in charge, I’m important, and I belong on the stage.”
I started to laugh at my friends snark but caught myself; there were a few thousand people sitting behind us, many looking at my friend in anticipation of her talk. Not a good time to break out in laughter!
I’ve told this story many times, and even put it in my second book. But I smile whenever I tell it. It was a harmless comment, and my friend said it just to make me laugh. But she was right; the host really did like the stage too much.
The idea of “pastor as celebrity” has irked me for decades. A few years ago I wrote this post about pastors on Instagram, and it remains the most read post on this blog. It resonated with people because so many of us sense something amiss in church leadership. Not all churches of course — thank heavens — but still too many.
That’s why I looked forward to the release of Celebrities for Jesus by Katelyn Beaty. The author comes out swinging in this book, but with a balanced perspective the reader will appreciate. Beaty loves the church and wants to be a faithful follower of Jesus, so she isn’t taking pleasure in pointing out the many faults in our celebrity church culture.
Beaty tackles the three temptations of church celebrity: abusing power, chasing platforms, and creating persona. For obvious reasons, I especially resonating with the section on book publishing.
You might think this book isn’t for you because you aren’t a pastor and don’t have a platform. Well, the book is exactly for you. Because if you aren’t careful, you are the platform.
The book is a long overdue look at a difficult topic. It is well written, well researched, and it will make you think. I don’t normally rate books, but if I did it would have to be in junkyard terms. So this is a loud V8 you can’t ignore.