Posted on 11/24/2013 11:17:40 AM PST by Gamecock
Full Title: The Cool Pastor: An Oxymoron or Just a Regular Moron? The ‘cool’ factor attempts to copy the world and really isn’t cool
I had to do a double-take when I saw the tour bus.
There it was, idling softly in the parking lot, with the pastor’s name and newest book title emblazoned large–in bright yellow letters–across either side. Being advertised on that conspicuous rolling billboard was a “special evening,” (no doubt repeated dozens of times in select cities across the nation) with the newest “it” pastor.
His similitude to a rock star was highly intentional. Autograph sessions would soon follow as well, of course.
You may not recognize him as a pastor at all at first. It will take a moment for the fog machine to clear up, as he takes center stage. But soon enough you will be able to identify him clearly: he’s the guy wearing the sneakers and the torn jeans, possibly even a hoodie and a snap-back too. He doesn’t carry a Bible under his arm—that would send the wrong signal—he carries his tablet computer.
He is the “cool pastor,” the next big thing.
He didn’t come to your city for a show? No problem. He’s building a satellite campus in your suburb next. In fact, there are already dozens of wannabes cropping up in churches near you. They are the next generation. The hipster pastors.
But this whole celebrity minister phenomenon has me wondering: isn’t “cool pastor” an oxymoron?
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with being current. There is nothing wrong with using modern communication tools. There is nothing wrong with speaking in a relevant way to current trends, both societal and cultural.
But the closest thing to the pastoral job description in the Bible is found in 1 Timothy 4:1-5:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
No mention of having panache or chic jeans there. If anything, it sounds decidedly arduous. Difficult. Even subversive.
If I can be completely honest, there was a time in my life when I craved to be considered a “cool pastor.” In the early years, as the morning dawned on my pastoral vocation, I honestly believed it was possible to walk in both worlds, that is to say, the world of cultural approval and the world of Biblical fidelity.
More and more, however, I am not sure this is even desirable.
I am not suggesting that pastors return to monkish albs or don black robes exclusively. (Full disclosure: I do own a robe, but I haven’t worn it in over five years). I am however convinced that my desire to win cultural approval as a minister must die and die soon!
Our current fascination with our pastors’ book sales, name recognition value, and proliferating multi-site video venues ought to be considered a dangerous trend. Never before in the history of Christendom has a pastor’s reputation been graded by any other factors than his doctrine and his personal ethic. Today, we would add his fans.
No, my highest goal as a pastor is not to secure the greatest number of Twitter followers, but rather to model one man: our Lord Jesus Christ. His message must be my own. His methods must be sufficient for me. His majesty must be my highest end.
Though Jesus attracted a large following at times (Matthew 19:2; Mark 4:1; John 6:2) there were other moments when His doctrine and His fiery preaching sent men running in the opposite direction (John 6:66). If we should ask whether our Lord was more often cultural or countercultural, the preponderance of the Gospel materials emphatically suggests the latter.
I am sure there will be some who will appeal to texts such as 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 to justify the coolness factor as the necessary “cross we must bear” to make the Gospel intelligible in a modern context. They will argue that this is how we “become all things to all people, that by all means we might save some.”
But isn’t it ironic how those who use that Pauline text to defend a dogged pursuit of “relevance” end up making the Gospel less relevant to their hearer’s salvation and sanctification? At the very least, interpreting 1 Corinthians 9 as a methodological “free pass” makes light of the historical context surrounding the tensions between the Jewish and Hellenistic Christians to whom Paul ministered.
To assume the role of the pastor is to assume the role of the prophet. I do not need to dress like John the Baptist, but I had better be ready to preach like him as well as to be treated like him. The pastor must more frequently confront a god-forsaken culture than conform to it.
Whether or not I am even aware of it, the subconscious and non-verbal communication that I put out is as instrumental in articulating the Gospel as the words I preach. Unfortunately, the more conspicuous the “show” surrounding my sermon, the less magnanimous the Gospel appears in juxtaposition. It is obscured by bright lights and video clips, high-wires and hair gel.
I will never forget the moment I met John Piper, although I doubt he could possibly remember it. His brown belt didn’t match his black shoes, and his well-worn slacks and tweed jacket wordlessly whispered, “This world has nothing for me!” He wasn’t the least bit slovenly or unkempt, but his entire demeanor adorned the very message He preached: Jesus Christ is supreme above all things.
Here is the bottom line. The unbelieving world will always do “cool” better than the Church. When the Church adopts coolness and relevance as its corporate values, it slavishly agrees to follow, lagging always one step behind the world. (This is why Christian music always ends up ripping off the sounds and styles of their secular counterparts, while Christian film always has a cheesy “cringe factor”).
The church is not called to be the caricature of modern culture; it is called to be the critique (even the foil) of that same culture. When we explicitly model ourselves on the unbelieving world—whether its art, architecture, or ethos—we are implicitly and foolishly endorsing it.
As a pastor, I cannot afford to do that.
Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida. He is the author of Hold Fast the Faith: A Devotional Commentary on the Westminster Confession of 1647 (Reformation Press, 2012).
for later
“The Cool Pastor...”
Talking about me?
:)
Not being religious myself, I should probably not involve myself in this thread, but I don’t know if the author realizes it or not that hardly any younger people go to church anymore.
Perhaps this so called “Cool Pastor” is shooting for a younger target demographic, trying to have a congregation that doesn’t fall asleep after 20 minutes of the sermon. As for myself, thank God for Smartphones! They give me something to do whenever I find myself in church. Usually, the only times I go is to make someone else feel better - such as being asked to go by a close friend or loved one.
Should parents be parents or should they try to be their kid’s hip best friend?
My church is packed with teens and twenty somethings. We sing hymns that have been dusted off with a more modern accompaniment, but no light shows or drum sets. Sermons are 30 minutes long and communion is served every week.
I suggest that churches have been shrinking for the last 40 years because they have been trying to be too cool. People have been drifting away from the faith because they can find what the church has been offering done better elsewhere. The youth of today are smarter than what church growth gurus give them credit for.
I think my daughter is a great example of what I am trying to say. She is a 19 year old college student, sings in a rock band, listens to Pink Floyd. She is on the cutting edge of cool in that her fashion and musical taste are always a few months ahead of her contemporaries. But when it comes to church she wants something different, something real. Not something that apes the culture.
Consider the following quotes:
“He’s building a satellite campus in your suburb next. In fact, there are already dozens of wannabes cropping up in churches near you. They are the next generation. The hipster pastors.”
“Our current fascination with our pastors’ book sales, name recognition value, and proliferating multi-site video venues ought to be considered a dangerous trend. Never before in the history of Christendom has a pastor’s reputation been graded by any other factors than his doctrine and his personal ethic. Today, we would add his fans.”
“I will never forget the moment I met John Piper...”
Interesting.
This pastor, when warning — rightfully — of the trend of pastors trying to be popular he can’t help but place the pastor that *he* looks up to on a pedestal. John Piper has the same “multi-site video venues” that the trendy pastors do.
Don’t get me wrong! I like John Piper, a lot. He is a brilliant teacher. I have many of his sermons downloaded and I listen to them. But we shouldn’t be lifting *any* man up on a pedestal.
The pastorship is completely broken. One man should never be lifted up to be “the head” of any church. That position belongs to the Lord alone. Biblically there should be a number of elders and their authority is shared. Even the “elders that teach well” are referenced in the plural.
I agree with what this brother has written, but I doubt that he knows just how far the problem extends. We need to end the hero worship... in every pulpit in America.
The rise of The Pastor, whether cool or not, seems unbiblical. Paul was a true “superstar” apostle in substance, but he refused to allow himself to be elevated (he made fun of the “so-called” super apostles, who would have showed up in a tour bus if they could have!). In his letters he charged ALL believers as responsible for the health of the body. There were no professionals. No one was “too big” to be humbled or corrected.
I’d suggest the modern church, in so many cases, is no different that ancient Israel, crying out “Give us a King!” Someone to be our figurehead, someone to learn of God for us, someone to talk to God for us so we don’t have to hear his dreadful VOICE!
Someone to be our fleshy success substitute. This is why people give money, cars, houses, etc. to their “pastors”. They call it “love” but it’s pure worship of their earthly king.
The only man believers should have as a king is THE Man, Christ Jesus. He is found outside the camp, in the place of rejection. Who in the tour bus crowd wants that?!?
“The rise of The Pastor, whether cool or not, seems unbiblical.”
It is. The practice of having one man be the leading head of a church comes from the ancient early Catholic church and their priests. The Reformation happened but the practice of having one man as “the leader” was not challenged for the most part.
“I’d suggest the modern church, in so many cases, is no different that ancient Israel, crying out “Give us a King!””
Absolutely right.
I wish that 8 years ago when I chose the screenname “PastorBooks” that I had chosen something different. I thought differently back then.
You rang?
“should they try to be their kid’s hip best friend?” Best friend? No. Hip? Only if you can pull it off! HA
Beyond the Fringe: Religion on the Move
(Starts at 14:40)
The Lord just brought “cool” to my mind this morning in church. I just moved recently to Kentucky and haven’t been able to find a church. Right now I’m going to a non-denominational megachurch and it tries to be “cool.”
From what I understand of cool it’s demonic. When I was a misguided liberal Christian who didn’t know God’s Word and really understand the mind of God (I had grown up in a liberal blue state), I was a college English major. I became very interested in “cool” because it was a word that didn’t come and go but had remained fashionable for decades. I studied it with the intention of writing about it but I did believe the Gospel, as far as I understood it, and I saw how wicked cool is. It is everything that the Bible says is bad, including prideful, self-glorifying, worldly and reveling in darkness but calling it good. This was a passage from Scripture that seemed to talk about it:
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20
If something is “bad,” it’s good, especially having to do with sex. Skeletons and demons embraced in rock music. If God says it’s bad, try to show people that it’s really not that bad at all.
“Cool” is also the concern of the church in places that are rich and without persecution. We’re commanded to remember those imprisoned as if chained with them, but churches are just about totally disobedient on that. I recall a persecution ministry leader saying he wanted involvement from churches in something but got no response. We are ignoring parts of the Bible here and that’s why we are getting like the church of Laodicea.
Sounds like Reverend Tim Tom, the roving reverend!
From that description my first thought was Joseph Prince. He is real “cool” and happening these last apostate days.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16:18
Lutheran and cool!
You have it going on!
Well said.
I’ve never thought that the title ‘reverend’ was fit for anyone less than Jesus Christ.
I don’t imagine John the Baptist in his rough garment of camels hair and leathern belt would be too well received in very many modern day churches. “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Now that was some good, strong preaching.
People who call themselves “reverend” are either:
(1) liturgical,
(2) liberal,
(3) phony,
or a combination of any or all of the above.
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