The problem with christianity isn’t that we’re at a loss of preachers. We’ve got more than our share. We’ve got tons of people, each year, graduating from seminaries and bible colleges ready to head to a pulpit and dissect scripture for the masses.
The problem with christianity is that we’ve got no one to model. All of our best and brightest stars have tucked themselves away in a pastor office and behind a pulpit. Instead of having our most trained people on the field, in the game by engaging and dialoging with the world, we’ve relegated them to stay in the locker-room and give pep talks.
This is my current Facebook status: “just had a conversation where it was conveyed that young idealists, when faced with the realities of family and mortgage, will sell out to do whatever it takes to make money. Ever heard of spending less? Living more simply? Loving people? Integrity? …Thanks for the additional motivation to live life creatively and not sell my soul to the highest bidder.”
I work in web development and Internet marketing. The topic of the meetup was how to make money with blogs. One person said that a certain practice lacked authenticity. He was bashed after he left for his youthful idealism, with the bashers being certain he would sell out later. I defended him to no avail, but I was a voice telling them what they usually don’t hear. Apparently whatever works to make more money is fine, and then one can ‘do good things’ with the money we sell our souls to get. We definitely need Christian leaders out in the fields being voices of dissent to a culture that has sold its soul to mammon…sometimes the church as well.