There are a few of us that are recovering from a long drawn out toxic spiritual experience so we have informally dubbed ourselves DeTox Church Group. We aren't a church and don't plan to ever become one--but we do have thoughts and resources to share. Don't forget to check out our list of books and blogs we like.
Showing posts with label Christian Voices. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Voices. Show all posts
I am suddenly feeling an anointing (pronounced ah-NOYN-ting-ah) to share some of the twitter account names I've been coming across since I created a twitter account for Detox Church Group. Some of us follow each other on Twitter. We tend to gravitate toward one another since we share a similar ah-NOYN-ting. I'm kind of short on time right now so I'll share as many as I can but can come back to add some more. Better yet, if you have seen any not mentioned below feel free to leave them in the comment section. By the way I added a link to each name if you feel an anointing to go check them out yourself.
So, without further ado here are just a few: (I also have an anointing for rhyme):
Fake Judah Smith(The test of a man is not how big he lives but how big he gives. ~Selah~)
Fake Rod Parsley(Professional shouter and Pulpit Pimp. BREAKTHROUGH!!!!)
FakeJohnPiper(God is most glorified in me when I am most Calvinist in him.)
Fake Driscoll (Mars Hill Church asked me to make it clear that this account is fake. I told them I don't know how much clearer it could be than being called fakedriscoll.)
So proud of the Christians who protested quietly outside their former church today calling for their former pastor Mark Driscoll to resign because of bullying behavior and shunning members who raise questions or disagree. Like one of my favorite bloggers said the other day on CityBusinessChurch.org "Mark Driscoll is learning that you can only be an asshole for so long, before it finally catches up to you."
Photo of Video by Komo News
Click HERE for the link to the article in the Seattle Times today which is also where I got the above photo of our brave and proactive friends who are hopefully setting an example for a new trend in speaking out - taking their concerns beyond the internet to the streets, thank you thank you! Click HERE to watch a video at KomoNews.com and hear what some of them have to say.
IN OTHER NEWS TODAY: Freeatlast emailed me this story posted on USA Today earlier today. I'm so excited to see something like this in print so I had to copy and paste it here! Click link below to the story in case you would like to read the article from their site. Oh, and in the copied version below, my comments are highlighted in red but the orange highlights are USA Today links to other stories. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/07/31/rock-star-pastors-church-celebrity-internet-column/13422869/
Are they selling gospel or themselves? Internet helps to scrutinize behavior.
It's not easy being a celebrity pastor these days with that pesky Internet around.
Consider the struggles of Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Faced with mounting accusations circulating online — plagiarism, misusing church funds to prop book sales, silencing
anyone in his church with the temerity to question him — Driscoll has
urged his followers to stay off the Web. "It's all shenanigans anyway," he explains. (Of course it is - and we all know Driscoll himself wouldn't be up to any shenanigans)
Steven Furtick,(the same guy in the story in the post previous to this one here on Detox)a megachurch pastor in North Carolina, and Dave Ramsey, (tell me it isn't so - i sorta liked that guy)an evangelical finance guru, have been taking hits, too, as have the wheeler-dealers on the Preachers of L.A.
reality show. This, against a backdrop of culture shifts creating
strong headwinds against the leader-and-follower model typified by
today's Christian superstars.
What are a megapastor and his followers to do? Remembering the biblical admonitions against idolatry would be a good start. (Never thought we'd see the day that a news publication like USA Today would link to Bible Gateway!)
Some media outlets have dubbed Driscoll a "rock star" among pastors. He is hip, brash, very interested in sex (TOO interested IMO)and, for a reverend, unusually irreverent.
He doesn't throw televisions out of hotel windows in the manner of
bad-boy rock musicians. But he comes close in the rhetorical sense,
tossing out insults about gay people, women and his theological rivals.
Ongoing enterprise
Also true to his rock-star status, Driscoll enjoys massive popularity. His Mars Hill Church (including its 15 franchised satellite locations) attracts nearly 15,000 weekly. (But for the Grace of God go I)Driscoll's podcast has 250,000 regular listeners worldwide, and his 2012 book, Real Marriage, topped a New York Times best-seller list.(Could be the same audience who read 50 shades of gray)
Ah, that chart-topping book. Driscoll has admitted
to using more than $200,000 in church funds to hire a consultant to
game the system, boost sales and add that magical reference — No. 1
best-selling author — to his glittering résumé. (At least we now know how it's done so Judah Smith reaching best seller status isn't so irksome after all!)This questionable
allocation of church money is indicative of a wider problem that rankles
those in Driscoll's growing flock of critics: the lack of transparency
around Driscoll and church funds.(ya think?)
His salary? Unknown. Who controls church funds? Good luck finding that out. And because of the non-disclosure agreements
that Mars Hill pastors and staff members must sign to receive severance
pay when they depart, little is known about who holds Driscoll
accountable on money or any other issue.
One of the problems with
celebrity pastors is that it's very difficult to draw a line between
advancing the gospel and advancing the preacher. When a famous pastor
grows his audience and fame, doesn't this mean that more people are
hearing his saving message about Christ?
Well, yes.(Ya but who are they really coming to? and think of all the therapy they will need when they finally leave his church)
But as
revealed by the long history of church authority and its periodic abuse,
the dynamic also gives the preacher on the pedestal a too-easy
justification for seemingly everything he wants to do. You don't want to
be against God's will, do you?
Scrutiny shared online (I love this part - this is for us! The balance of power is changing!)
Now,
however, there's a wild card that older-school religious celebrities
did not have to contend with. Thanks to the Internet, any disgruntled
current or former follower can write a scathing blog post, add nasty
comments to reader forums or, as the creator of @FakeDriscoll does, voice a spoof Twitter account in the target's name. This can take a toll — as demonstrated by Driscoll's church, which has had to lay off staff due to declining attendance and giving.
Because
of the Internet, "the audience is now at least as much of a celebrity
as the pastor, if not more," says Jim Henderson, a Christian author and
producer in the Seattle area who is convinced that the era of the
celebrity pastor as spiritual paragon is waning. Henderson produces a
live show called Where's God When ... featuring a very different kind of "celebrity" Christian — William Paul Young, author of the megaselling faith-themed novel The Shack.Young
is, seemingly, everything the megapastors are not: small of stature and
ego, quietly reflective, and open about his painful journey and
struggles (including his being a sex-abuse victim).
Henderson
might be right about this being the beginning of the end for celebrity
megapastors. Until that process runs its course, however, fans of the
Driscolls, Furticks and the rest have a big question to ask themselves.
Who, ultimately, are they following? Jesus? Or their pastor?
Tom
Krattenmaker is a Portland-based writer specializing in religion in
public life and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. His
latest book is The Evangelicals You Don't Know.
