Celebrity (?)

When you're a celebrity / It's adios reality (Brad Paisley, Celebrity)

I got an email which pointed to a website which was confirmed by a friend and so forth.  A major worship leader or lead-worshipper has fallen and apparently has fallen hard.  Not that any falls are easy.  This one appears pretty messy and the truth probably hasn't come out fully yet.  It may never and if it doesn't, I'm not entitled to it.  The church he's associated with along with his label have kept it basically under wraps.  So, no names and no gossip.  Just reflection.  But, man, this is a bitter pill.

Billy Graham is often quoted as having prayed, asking for God to kill him before he would do anything stupid to profane Christ's name.  I pray the same prayer and pray it often.  If you're in ministry, I challenge you to take up the same prayer and find a copy of the Modesto Manifesto.

My 2-week reflection on this whole mess revolves around celebrity.  It appears that we have made worship leaders and pastors and other "up-front" ministry types into celebrities.  Faces appear on billboards.  Conferences sell books and CD's.  Tours of both musician and speakers are on the books (did you know you can get Joel Osteen tickets on Stub Hub?  JoelOsteen.StubHub.com).  How is this different than Kanye or Bieber or the band of the moment?

Well, I guess it's because Jesus is attached.  But I'm not sure He really is.  And all of this makes me sad for church, for evangelicalism, for movements of the Spirit, for the celebrities, and certainly, in this case, the families.  And more than anything, it makes me sad for Jesus.

But that's just me thinking thoughts...