Comments on: Riffs: 5:30:07: The White Horse Inn on Why We Don’t Need to be Saved + Reformed Celebrity Culture

By: GL

GL — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:07:37 +0000

iMonk,

Just saw this, a week late. All I can say is, “Hit ‘em again, harder, harder.”

Matthew– sweet comment on the “role-playing” of would be Puritan heroes. When I see it I feel like I’m watching children in grown-up clothes, nursing dreams of greatness. Their reflected glory in their blogospheric Hall of Mirrors is little besides the legitimate honor they have as created images of the King.

By: Hutch

Hutch — Thu, 31 May 2007 22:26:21 +0000

Pastor M,

I would not accuse the Reformed guys that Michael Spencer and Timmy Brister talks about of greed. In fact, the Reformed guys give away more stuff for free than almost anybody I know. Mark Dever and John Piper make all of the sermons that they have ever preached at their churches available for FREE download. John Piper’s ministry Desiring God will give anything away for free to those who can’t afford it. If I remember correctly Piper does not keep any of the royalties from his books, but instead he uses them to operate his ministry.

By: Pastor M

Pastor M — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:05:50 +0000

Why where else would these great leaders (and most of them really are) ply their wares (books, DVDs, studies, etc.)? Someone told me about attending a commencement ceremony at a Christian university where one of these frequent conference speakers was invited to give the commencement address. Of all things, according to my source, there were tables in the lobby laden with resources from the speaker. I asked if the graduates at least got some kind of coupon to help with any purchases, but my friend didn’t think that they did. It would have been a nice graduation gift, don’t you think?

By: Rick Shott

Rick Shott — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:06:50 +0000

As a pastor in Rural Saskatchewan, I know about being the only preacher. When I take off for a Sunday, no one in the church will volunteer to preach so someone from outside must be invited. I can understand the need to have accountability but why must this be on such a difficult level of long distance traveling? Is there not a sufficient level of interaction on a local level? If we are pastors who lead spiritually, why do we not set up significant accountability structures on a local level. I think there is something deeper going on here and I think it is rightly linked to a “celebrity culture.”

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:58:55 +0000

Great post. I was really hit by your comments on ‘Reformed Celebrity Culture.” I have noticed this myself over the past 2 years, ever since I started attending a reformed church and thus being exposed to the “reformed subculture” (that’s really what it has become!) I have visited reformed blogs filled with reformed name-droping, reformed gossip, and plenty of reformed swagger, which I am guilty of myself. I’ve even observed something I like to call “puritan fetishism” or an excessesive and unhealthy emphasis on the puritan writers as the the only soure of truth outside of the Bible. Moderators (who are no doubt gracious people) on thses sites fancy themselves mondern-day puritans and engage in dialouge that almost makes me think they are “role-playing” (like those who play dungeons & dragons.)

It is probably not a good thing.

By: K.W. Leslie

K.W. Leslie — Wed, 30 May 2007 16:31:56 +0000

I went to a few of those conferences and wasn’t impressed. I expected the most amazing insights ever, but it was like I was visiting just another church. The speakers didn’t reach any conclusions that I wouldn’t have come to myself if I had just studied.

But after speaking to a few the pastors there, I began to understand why these conferences are so popular. When you’re the only one in your church who does all the preaching and teaching, you lack that iron-sharpening-iron that every Christian needs. If you can’t get it from your church, you have to get it from outside. Hence the conferences. These guys really appreciated getting away from the weekly grind and hearing someone else for a change.

However this also reveals a lack of spiritual health in their churches. The senior pastor should not be the only one who is allowed to speak into the lives of the congregation. Every pastor should be able to recognize a few trustworthy folks in their congregations who can do that. If they can’t, then they haven’t trained their churches properly. They’ve created a congregation that’s dependent upon the pastor and not the Holy Spirit.

And you’re right: it’s also an accountability issue. How accountable is a pastor to a fly-by-night conference speaker? Shouldn’t pastors be accountable to their churches?