I had to do a double-take when I saw the tour bus.
There it was, idling softly in the parking lot, with the pastor’s name and newest book title emblazoned large—in bright yellow letters—across either side. Being advertised on that conspicuous rolling billboard was a “special evening,” (no doubt repeated dozens of times in select cities across the nation) with the newest “it” pastor.
His similitude to a rock star was highly intentional. Autograph sessions would soon follow as well, of course.
You may not recognize him as a pastor at all at first. It will take a moment for the fog machine to clear up, as he takes center stage.
But soon enough you will be able to identify him clearly: He’s the guy wearing the sneakers and the torn jeans, possibly even a hoodie and a snap-back too. He doesn’t carry a Bible under his arm—that would send the wrong signal—he carries his tablet computer.
He is the “cool pastor,” the next big thing.
He didn’t come to your city for a show? No problem. He’s building a satellite campus in your suburb next. In fact, there are already dozens of wannabes cropping up in churches near you.
They are the next generation. The hipster pastors.
But this whole celebrity minister phenomenon has me wondering: Isn’t “cool pastor” an oxymoron?
Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with being current. There is nothing wrong with using modern communication tools. There is nothing wrong with speaking in a relevant way to current trends, both societal and cultural.
But the closest thing to the pastoral job description in the Bible is found in 2 Timothy 4:1-5,
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
No mention of having panache or chic jeans there. If anything, it sounds decidedly arduous. Difficult. Even subversive.
If I can be completely honest, there was a time in my life when I craved to be considered a “cool pastor.” I
n the early years, as the morning dawned on my pastoral vocation, I honestly believed it was possible to walk in both worlds, that is to say, the world of cultural approval and the world of biblical fidelity.
More and more, however, I am not sure this is even desirable.
