The church doesn’t need a cult of celebrity or larger-than-life personalities who can do no wrong. That isn’t leadership. It’s idolatry.
I would know. For a few years, I was one.
When I traveled and spoke on the independent charismatic conference circuit a decade ago, I got to see this world from within.
I spent nearly 5 years traversing the globe and speaking about the project I was involved with in Africa.
There are many happy memories. I met precious people genuinely seeking more of God who were deeply generous. I’m grateful for the opportunities I was afforded and the friends I met along the way.
But I also saw much of the ugly underbelly of the “charismatic conference industrial complex”. Make no mistake. It is a machine.
The celebrity conference culture it promotes is downright destructive to healthy spiritual growth.
I saw people run from event to event desperately trying to get more of God and then be disappointed when the experience failed to meet expectations.
To be perfectly honest, often I was in their numbers.
Green rooms were filled with speakers swapping business cards and event invites.
I sat around tables where pastors planned who they would bring in based on the speaker’s “draw” or how many people they’d pull into a paid event.
Offerings could be manipulative and many times were mismanaged. (That’s being delicate.)
I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom because people would stop me and pull at my clothes because they wanted an impartation of my perceived “anointing”.
(And I wasn’t anywhere near top-tier famous.)
Everyone wanted a personal prophecy or to have hands laid on them by the celebrity person of power for the hour on the stage. And then felt let down or left out when that didn’t happen.
Been there and got the T-shirts that prove it. Brownsville. Check. Toronto. Check. Redding, Mozambique, Lakeland. Check, check, check.
I regularly had people want to attempt to get my leg (that is missing) grown back and then get angry at me when it didn’t happen… because I didn’t have enough faith. (That is a whole ‘nother few posts on their own.)
It was a wild, wild space.
The longer I was inside it, the more distressing it became. But I couldn’t just stop, because much of our funding came from me speaking and raising awareness.
Even with all that, I loved the people I crossed paths with. I wanted to go hang out with the ones I came to serve. Real heart-to-heart conversations over cups of coffee kept me going.
But the conference machine and the culture it promoted were pernicious.
By externalizing and often commoditizing spiritual experiences, I saw celebrity subculture stunting people’s internal spiritual growth.
There was always the relentless push to go to the next event, get the next super-anointed person to pray for you, and visit the new revival outpouring that just started in such-and-such a place.
Whatever you do, don’t miss out on what God is doing!
FOMO + Jesus isn’t a recipe for spiritual wellbeing.
I would love to say, well that was a phase.
But after a decade now on the outside, these dynamics seem to have only intensified in many orbits.
Many more ministry leaders have amassed celebrity followings in the hundreds of thousands thanks to social media.
And now, in the circles I came out of, that influence is being leveraged for political power to advance a blatantly authoritarian, theocratic agenda.
There will always be leaders who are more well-known than others, regardless of the context. Fame happens. When stewarded well, it can be a tool for change.
But here I’m not talking about that.
I’m talking about the shift of ministry leaders towards pursuing more powerful platforms… the shift from servanthood to savvy staging, from empathy to empire, from celebration to celebrity.
Celebrity culture stands in opposition to authentic spiritual community. Period.
Celebrity culture puts people on pedestals and then crucifies them when they fall off.
Celebrity culture creates unreachable “guru-status” with special inside knowledge or gifting and by default, makes that knowledge seem unattainable apart from the system that elevated it.
Perhaps worst of all, celebrity culture removes accountability and opens the door to egregious abuses.
The way Jesus walked was different. He rejected man’s pedestals and crowns. He turned down political power and rebuked the use of violence by his followers, instead choosing to lay down his life for those he loved.
What if the goal isn’t to be “well-known” but to be known well in the context of vibrant relationships and community?
What if “success” is defined by the quiet moments where we love our neighbors as ourselves?
What might happen if we intentionally cultivated a culture of celebration instead of celebrity?
We create the benchmark of success for the next generation by the dynamics we celebrate in our own.
What if we created spiritual communities that fling wide their doors and hearts to those who are unknown and unlike ourselves?
Where we seek to learn from one another and celebrate the truth that everyone is welcome at this table. That there’s always level ground in a house built by love.
What if we created spaces that were safe for people to be who they are without fear of judgment?
That’s my deep hope here… that we can build a messy, imperfect place to find courage and belonging. We’ll all be richer for it.
All my love,