Smellmylife

I just finished reading a blog post from a pastor who just returned from the WhiteBoard Conference in Washington DC.  It disturbed me a little bit (ok, a lot!) because he wrote that he was so in awe of all of the “successful” pastors that were there.  He went on to say that he felt that he didn’t belong there…that he was somehow inferior to these other men.  That breaks my heart as a pastor.  I get a little weary of this celebrity pastor subculture that even I sometimes buy into.  We as pastors think that just because Pastor Fill-in-the Blank runs 5,000 in his church that he is more of a success in God’s eyes.  Or if Pastor Fill-in-the Blank has written a book on church leadership or how to get your church to grow, that we are somehow not on the same level as they are.  Look, I’m glad that we can go to conferences and read books and learn from each other, but when we start placing these pastors up on a pedestal, we are missing the mark completely.  God has called each of us to be pastors, to be ministers and he has given each of us different work to do and there is nothing wrong with that, so let’s stop comparing ourselves and our ministries to the so called celebrity pastors and start being confident in the position that God has placed US in!  I thank God for each of the pastors that I have learned from, guys that set the example for the rest of us.  I really believe that most of them would tell you the same thing….

• Rick Warren farts just like everyone else!
• Andy Stanley picks his nose at the red light!
• Perry Noble doesn’t feel “spiritual” all of the time.
• Bill Hybels probably deep down feels insecure about himself sometimes
• Steven Furtick has probably had an argument with his wife in the past few months.
• Ed Young’s breath stinks really bad in the morning!
• Francis Chan questions his devotion to Jesus alot!

I don’t write that to insult those guys…they are great guys being used by God, but that’s the point…they’re just guys like all the rest of us.  Let’s stop placing the pastors on the pedestal and put Jesus there where He belongs!