Friday, March 30, 2012

The Evangelical Industrial Complex? Palm Sunday and celebrity pastors

Palm Sunday shows the starkest contrast in the ministry of Jesus on this earth: the same crowd who shouted “Hosanna in the highest” that day was screaming “crucify Him” five days later on Good Friday. This wasn’t the first time Jesus lost popularity: in John 6, for example, thousands of His disciples left Him when they couldn’t handle His challenging message.

Jesus’ disregard for human popularity seems to starkly contrast with trends in the American Evangelical church world, especially among the great evangelical superstar pastors who have a massive following (among and outside their megachurch congregations), a sure-fire audience for the Christian bookselling industry.

The article here at ChurchLeaders.com about the Evangelical Industrial Complex (a play on President Eisenhower’s famed “Military Industrial Complex” speech of 1961, before he left office) is chilling. Has the American church sold out to a fandom mentality regarding its celebrity pastors, showing a fawning allegiance to them that would make a rock star blush? Give this article a good read and let me know what you think.

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