What if the conservative evangelical church world came to be dominated by a symbiotic network of high profile and charismatic leaders?

“… everyday problems would be subject to mystification so as to place them beyond the competence of the minister and elders and deacons.”

What if Life Was Complex?

Discussion

The aesthetics of success would subtly and imperceptibly supplant the principles of faithfulness

Students at seminaries would rarely, if ever, name their own pastors as the most influential preachers in their lives

Multi-site video churches would spring up

The pastors held up as models of ministry would have little personal contact with most people in their churches

publishers and conferences would recruit writers and speakers not on the basis of competence but of market appeal

A term like ‘gospel centered,’ for example, could easily be turned from a helpful description of a ministry into a kind of mantric shibboleth, implicitly ruling as imbalanced, malicious, or unbiblical any criticism of those who own its copyright.

Whew, good thing we’re not seeing any of those signs today… .