I’m not sure that the de-emphasis of the sermon, in favor of the Lord’s Supper, is the answer to the current wave of “preaching hero worship.” Certainly, the Lord’s Supper should not be downplayed and/or done rarely in the life of the local church. When that is the case, it is to the church’s impoverishment.

However, I *have* seen the sermon retain its place of centrality in the worship service of a local church without that church moving toward a near-idolatry of the preacher. This was accomplished through implementing a model of church government which included a plurality of elders– and then regularly rotating the Sunday morning preaching of those elders, to the point that the preaching in the church was not “built” around one man but the Word of God alone.

God Bless

Steve in Toronto

I get frustrated about this tendency, because the Word is still the Word, if it is being preached faithfully, regardless of the “status” of the preacher. At the same time, I have to be patient with people in my church, because I know all too well about my own lack of Christian growth and maturity in certain areas of *my* life…

I have my share of man-idols (Keller being one of them). I know, I repent. My dad is another one of them. I don’t know much about models of effective ministry, but it is probably important to hear from the top the line, what is wrong with the world? I am, and hear it often.

But I will still jump at good teaching when I find it or recognize it. It seems to be a rare commodity.

I have read Mr. Kinnon’s post as well, and I am in full agreement in regard to the ‘hero worship’ of pastors. I would like to add a personal perspective. My father, a retired pastor, provided a great model for me in humbly loving and serving the congregations he was called to pastor. But even humble, gracious pastors of non-mega churches can fall prey to the desire of wanting to be wanted, of allowing themselves to occupy a position of honor that may be unsought or even gratefully offered but draws attention away from the leadership of the Holy Spirit nonetheless. The Spirit constantly convicts me of how proud I am of my humility. So to your readers I would ask that they pray for their pastors to be able to withstand the temptation of a consumerist, celebrity obsessed culture that too often creeps into a congregation, looking to make golden calves of the earthen jars who in their hearts have a genuine desire to love God humbly and serve His people sincerely.

Yours,
Lee

In my short life, I’ve seen one pastor implode and one simply step away over this issue. Great teachers, one Sunday they had 35, next Sunday they had 500. People came to get fed. Those churches are now stabilized but inert as the “guns” ran off to the next teacher.

I guess my question is: What do you do about sudden growth because of personal popularity (be it good teaching or a good show) in the real world?