The fanfare that accompanies the secular Gala’s and the high-societal affairs of the rich and famous are both humorous and pitiful to observe. Actors, actresses, and musicians line the red carpets as they are fawned over by an elite press and, beyond the ropes where the masses gather, the frenetic screams of adoring fans reach a fever-pitch volume.
Such a spectacle has become a main fare of the American culture and, to be honest, the human spirit globally. At the center of this phenomenon, idolatry reigns supreme. Golden calves, groves in high places, or celebrities being fawned over and adored by the masses, are they not really the same? I think the Bible is clear: worship directed toward anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ is first-class idolatry.
I feel old as I write this and I sincerely am trying my best to be objective as I transition–due to age–into a generation that acts and thinks differently than I do in many cases. However, as I age I am suddenly becoming aware of some of the motivations that caused our elders to push back at subsequent generation coming behind them. While I am sure some men were simply regressive and unwilling to embrace any form of change, I have come to see that many of those men simply fought to ensure a voice of caution as they stood on the fast-moving ship of Zion as the helm changed hands.
Youth, though filled with energy, zeal, and the ingenuity to tackle current cultural advances, is also known to lack “big picture” vision. Even on my best day in my 20’s (even early 30’s) I was impetuous, invincible, and felt that I knew far more than I really did. I charged gallantly into revivals and blazed trails marked with righteous zeal and passion. I was utterly convinced that I knew what many churches needed, why the churches were not having revival, and what many pastors lacked. Was I right in some cases? Sure! Has my understanding, perspective, and view of many of those revivals, churches, and pastors shifted after having worked longed enough to dig out the foundation of a church-plant changed? 100% yes!
Where I was once full-steam-ahead, I now better understand the importance of council, caution, and my conscience.
- Council that includes individuals who are not afraid to challenge my thoughts, actions, or ideas
- Caution that is realized in waiting, prayer, and a bigger picture worldview tempered by experience
- Conscience that is more attuned to the “gut check” of spiritual sensitivity
While I am not saying youth lack any of these three features, I am saying that these are features that are more developed with age, learned experience, and the hindsight of many failures intermingled with successes. At forty, I am still learning and I pray I continue to learn into the late ages of life should God see fit I live so long. That being said, I merely wish to make the case that–as a voice of caution–it does not mean that I am against, resistant to, nor antagonistic to this current generation. No, I am for them and we must stop labeling cautionary voices as antagonistic voices! So, let me move into the meat of this article.
Movements and Monuments
During one of his early messages, Murrell Ewing once stated: “when the spotlight shifts from the Word of God to the Man of God, movements become monuments.” When I first heard this, it slammed into me like a ton of bricks and has never left me. What Ewing was trying to caution against was the culture of celebrity and acclaim that has long been a manifestation of the sinful pride of life since mankind first gathered into collectives that birthed competing cultures. He was trying to tap the brakes on the rapid onset of veneration toward men that went beyond respect and admiration alone. He was trying to remind us all that, if we are not careful, we can make more room for personality, oratory, and gifting than we do the God who condescended to use such men.
I wonder what Ewing would have thought on this topic should his message have been preached at the height of social media’s Instagram intercessors who “post without ceasing.” What would he have said differently had he been a part of a generation that is captured by a spirit of promotion at the expense of old-fashioned prayer? To a generation that is led by men whose motives–while pure–are also driven by the continual pressures of performance, production, and goals that are competitively attendance driven.
You’ll have to forgive me, but few will be able to convince me after all the studies, statistics, and research that is out there, that we are praying more following the advent of infinite social media scrolling, the bombardment of video and social media advertising, and the constant litany of production, production, and more production. Almost everything we are doing today is built around a model of engagement, entertainment, and a production-driven efforts to gain social media followers, likes, shares, and comments. Follow the research and we are hyper-engaged with the very means by which this present generation is being crippled while claiming that we are insulated from the same crippling effects.
The over-saturation of social media marketing, livestreams, podcasts, and digital audio streams has thrust so much of Pentecost into a culture that is screaming for followers, likes, shares, and promotion. Almost weekly we are beset with another conference that sweeps into the world of national advertising, social media promotion, and digital marketing. Comments among some planning committes are dropping statements like, “let’s face it, he draws a crowd.” As such, even if the men chosen are anointed and consecrated and led by God, where have we found ourselves in the church community? We have plunged ourselves into a celebrity driven culture that is crown-driven, while still hitting all the high points of spiritual idealism. I fear that we can’t have our cake and eat it too.
No matter how we slice that cake; we are pandering to a mentality that is driven by popularity fortified by a culture of promotion. We have come to understand that people are followers and that their allegiance, attendance, and support to certain events is enhanced by ensuring certain people, places, and things are on the ticket. Interestingly, we even see local churches trying to do this when promoting revivals in their community, seemingly forgetting that the community doesn’t know the person being promoted, no matter how popular they are within the church community. Yes, we have become so caught up in this ecclesiastical cultural phenomenon that we fail to understand that we are replicating to a world that really isn’t interested in good preaching, but in a testimony of God’s saving power!
Has the Train Really Left the Station?
Have we really found ourselves at a point where any form of caution against this cultural trap is met with ridicule and/or discounting? Has the train really left the station or is it possible to add some stops along this train’s route? I would beg for the latter and propose that we can and should hit the brakes, slow down, and take some time to regather our thoughts, pray for direction, and find some alternative ways to start promoting some of the things that really do matter but without all the gimmicks, promotions, and competitive efforts we are currently saturated with on all levels.
We cannot continue to warn this generation of the dangers of social media and preach moderation when we are expecting, even fueling, the very means by which such cautions are thrown into the wind so that we can break attendance records, increase engagement, and utilize all the digital marketing strategies geared toward MORE USE rather than less use. It’s like we are preaching on the need for fasting while promoting foods and engaging in tactics made to drive traffic toward our promotion of the very foods we are asking people to fast from.
I’m sorry, call me what you will but I think speed bumps are beneficial in suburban areas where so much potential for disaster can occur. Set lists, excitement about who is going to preach at what, guest musicians, and the litany of “follower-driven” paradigms of promotion are here to stay I am afraid, but how long do we continue to lay down more track for this train to build speed without taking a step back and realizing, “maybe our favorite preachers wouldn’t have to keep preaching on the lack of prayer and consecration if we started slowing down a little bit and started working to counter some of the cultural negatives we have been embracing.”
I believe in this current generation of young people. I see opportunities, boldness, and apostolic witness blossoming, but I am also observing a decline in biblical hunger, spiritual disciplines, and an active response to the call of God (and starting a business is never a replacement for being a God-called preacher). The spotlight is bright, but are we putting the right things in its center? Let this article serve as the means for caution, even if it challenges the status quo.