Years ago, I had the privilege to be the dean of students for a Bible college in California. Many of the young men and women at this college would go on to become full-time pastors. Because of this, character formation was a priority. You can have all the knowledge in the world but if you lack character and honesty, it will not amount to much. During this season I helped many future pastors navigate through some of their addictions and shortcomings. These young people had a great opportunity to discover and restore themselves before being released into the bright lights of ministry. In one instance, I had a student that was heavily addicted to pornography and some other things as well. This student came from a well-known family and that meant he often got a pass for his questionable behavior, and he acted entitled because of it. Because my goal as dean was to help this student get restored and become healthy, I made a point of treating him in just the same way I would any other student. After speaking with him about overcoming his addictions, we set a probational period and put in place certain guidelines. The very next day, his mom showed up in my office to remind me of her family’s importance and to persuade me to just make all of it go away. She went into a long discourse about how her son’s problem was not a big deal because all men engage in porn. According to this mom, everyone has some kind of addiction and that’s okay. A disappointing aspect of Tricks of the Church Trade is when the power of money and influence begin to creep into crucial decision making. This was one of my many glimpses into how the upper echelons of church leadership function. I listened to this matriarch of an influential church family and responded that all men do not do pornography and even if everyone did it, that still would not make it right. I stood strong and encouraged my colleagues to do so as well. It was important to understand that we were not only tasked with educating future ministers, but also with helping students to develop godly disciplines. Not with the intent to make them righteous, but to allow them to have opportunities for God to visit them. These visitations of God would prepare them for their future. Pastors today who operate within Affinity Circles often encounter pressures like this scenario as they are striving “get ahead”.
In 1 Samuel we read about the sons of Eli the high priest and how their abdication of responsibility and refusal to do the right thing tore the kingdom of Israel apart. Eli, the judge and high priest, ignored the sins of his two sons when it came to their responsibilities as priests. His two sons took advantage of their authority and used religious laws to benefit themselves. For example, God instructed that when any man offered meat as a sacrifice, the priests were to eat only what their fork could bring up from the pot as the meat boiled. Instead, Eli’s sons instructed those that were offering the fat offering to God to give them raw prime cuts before they boiled it. In spite of God’s law, they wanted what they wanted and would cook it the way they wanted to cook it! The priests also engaged in other abominations, like committing adultery with the women who served in the sanctuary entrances. Again, Eli looked the other way as his sons sinned, but God had another plan. Eli’s sons taking more than their rightful share of meat might sound trivial, but God used it as a way to teach humility and servanthood. In all this mess, there was a young boy named Samuel that lived at the temple who grew up to be the prophet and judge. He learned from his youth how to discern the voice of God regardless of what other leaders around him were doing. God is still looking for Samuels. Samuel was a prophet who was not afraid of speaking the truth. Today we have “prophets” who are more concerned about being accepted by their peers, “apostles” that have exchanged the potency of their office for the power of generating money, “shepherds” that act more like ranchers, and “teachers” that present fables to their look-alike Netflix congregations. I often hear church leaders offer trite explanations: “The church hurt you, God didn’t hurt you” and “Pastors are not perfect.” Well, yes that is true….duh. These excuses serve as shields to protect misbehaving church leaders from having to repent and address what is causing these hurts. Often times it is the actual perpetrator who likes to hide behind these “fun” axioms! Many of us have become just like Eli’s sons… taking what we want while not realizing that there will be a final accounting. God is raising up Samuels that are willing to call what is wrong…wrong and celebrate what is right. Those who will endeavor to make things right regardless of what others might think. The following paragraphs are some examples of Tricks of the Church Trade that continue to perpetuate the sins of Eli within the North American church.
Affinity Circles. Have you ever noticed how many pastors speak at each other’s churches? Let me tell you how this works. From youth pastors to senior pastors, there is an insatiable appetite to speak everywhere they can because your level of notoriety determines your worth as a speaker. An example of this is when you see pastors promoting each other on social media. Endless pictures of each other preaching to large crowds sweetened by a fawning caption such as, “My boy killed it last night!” Christian meme accounts are hilarious but also kind of sad because they make fun of this stuff all the time. Just like narcissistic leaders will mirror you and love bomb you to get what they want…they are just as strategic when it comes to marketing themselves to get hired for yet another paid speaking gig. This is also why some pastors are willing to pay extravagant amounts of cash for guest pastor honorariums (payment). Later, when they are invited to speak at the guest pastor’s church, they will expect to be paid the same extravagant amount. You scratch my back…I’ll scratch yours. The level of accountability is no more stringent than the standard Eli held his sons to. In most church governance models, only the church board/council have the real authority to make things right. The assistant pastor (second chair) does not have this authority, nor does anyone else on the church staff (unless perhaps they are related to the pastor). One of the most ridiculous things I learned was when a pastor I worked with was no longer accepted in his Affinity Circle because he had an abrasive personality, had annoyed all of his peers and was considered a small fish in their pond. His desire to be accepted into a new Affinity Circle drove him to give two separate gifts of $10,000 within a year to a large church in Phoenix. It is amazing what $20,000 will get you. All of a sudden you’re speaking at their church, and you have new guest speakers from their network speaking at your church. Another time a pastor told me that he had “outgrown” his pastor friends and he had to go swim in different waters. The real reason he moved to different waters was that he was no longer accepted in his old Affinity Circle and there was no money to be made. I have a favorite old saying that I have told to every leader that was willing to listen, “Do not fall in love with the crowd of faces but fall in love with the faces in the crowd.” Falling in love with crowds causes the best of leaders to start serving the consumer rather than shepherding God’s people. In a consumer church the consumer is always right, and leaders start accommodating that appetite.
More Conferences. I must admit conferences are fun. But the trifecta of Commodity-Commercialize-Capitalize, Affinity Circles, and More Conferences are a poor substitute for an apostolic, presence-driven church. A conference-driven church generates a lot of money and develops lucrative networks. A slick, highly produced conference is a shiny lure for someone who wants to be part of a great event. The cost of regular church attendance is up to each person and all are welcome whether they give money or not, but a conference has a set price and you have to pay to attend a conference. Here are some things you might not know about why churches are willing to pay so much money to put on conferences. Let’s start with contracting your worship band. Depending on the popularity of the worship band, they can cost from $50,000 to much, much more to come to your conference. The most obvious reason a church would do this is because it would attract large crowds. But the other reason is that it gives pastors the opportunity to network with these celebrity-status individuals in the hope of making opportunities to access a higher status of Affinity Circle friends. It works. Secondly, it gives pastors opportunities to get paid speaking engagements where they will also be able to make more money selling their books. I wish I could tell you that pastors write books solely to teach and edify. But for the most part books are written just in time to sell at their next conference or speaking engagement. Thirdly, this is what most people do not understand, many of these conferences are not actually church events, but are put on by the senior pastor’s personal 501c3 organization that benefits the pastor. Yet, just like in my last article, Commodity-Commercialize-Capitalize, all the auxiliary cost and labor for this money-making event is free to the pastor. Finally, the amount of money that is involved for guest speakers is outrageous! For an average to well-known speaker, costs can start at $15,000 and go as high as $75,000 or more. Recently we had a guest speaker for a youth event, and I realized that the young people were more interested in googling about what the speaker was wearing rather than listening to what they were saying. Why were they googling? Because the guest speaker was wearing high-end clothing which cost in the thousands of dollars. More conferences are coming your way for the same reason the Roman Empire gave free wine and entertainment. It kept the empire distracted from the real problems of the day.
Let me say that God is raising Samuels and by Samuels I mean…YOU. God is doing something great, and He needs your hands and feet to make it happen. Let us not be a generation that just allows these things to happen because it is easier to look the other way.
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