SUPERSTAR PASTORS...

I recently read a blog concerning Superstar Pastors and I began thinking about some of the observations that I have noted in recent years. It all seems to come down to a statement I read many years ago about how you can tell if a group is a cult or not. The question was, "Does it point to Jesus Christ, or to the leader of the group?" I believe that this is the same question that we need to ask concerning leadership in our churches.

Here are some questions that I believe need to be asked. Is the pastors name more prominate than the church name? Are their billboard ads with the pastor's picture on them? Is the picture or name of the leader the top feature of any publicity coming out of the church? Are the laity involved in the leadership of the church or is it top down leadership with the pastor and a hand picked set of elders or leaders making all the decisions?

Recently while attending a meeting at a church in another city I found something that appeared to be a shrine to the pastor. In the foyer, there was a display case with pictures and momentos of the pastor and his life from childhood to the present. Talk about your "graven images."

Does it point to Jesus Christ? Just a comment from the side of the road.

MONEY, SEX, AND POWER...


Some years ago I read the book by Richard Foster, "Celebration of Discipline." It was an outstanding book that has been most meaningful to me in my personal life and in my ministry. After reading that book I also read a couple of other books by Foster.

One of the books was, "Money, Sex, and Power." In this book, Foster pointed out that these are the three areas of temptation we face in life. As I have looked back over the 40 plus years of ministry and life, his observations seem to ring true. When you look at the political scene, and the religious scene, and business scene these are the areas where corruption takes place. Then I wondered why we are not as concerned about these things in other areas of our society. For instance, we look at the weaknesses of the entertainment community and report on their doing but we don't hold them to the same moral expectations we do for leaders in the religious, political, and business community?

It appears to me that the moral rule of thumb today in most of our culture is, "It is alright, unless you get caught." What do you think, is this true, and why?

THANK GOODNESS FOR TIVO and BLOGGING...


Continuing in my comments on politics as the election hassle continues to heat up. In my state (Tennessee) we have the battle between Bob Corker and Harold Ford, Jr for the Senate seat vacated by Bill Frist. There are times when they run three or four commericals in a row. One ad by the Corker campaign, one from the Ford campaign and one each from the DNC and the RNC. Next Tuesday cannot come soon enough, and if that is not enough the cable news networks are running continuous programming on the election over a week away, and it's an "off year." Don't forget to throw in the mix of "October surprises" as the media sits waiting for someone to mispeak. Can you imagine what we will be subjected to leading up to 2008 with HDTV in it's full glory. I can hardly wait.

Thank goodness for TIVO. I now hardly ever watch a program in real time and have become a master at zipping through the commercials and getting right to the program content. The political season has made this especially wonderful.

Thank goodness for blogging. With blogging I now do not have to depend on the national media for my coverage of what is going on in the world.

Maybe after Tuesday things will be better. Do you think?