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When You're Oblivious to What's Obvious
- 04/25/11
- 59
C.J. Mahaney tells a story about a man that I think we can all identify with—a man who went out into the world with a cringe-worthy problem. I am quite sure the story is not an original Mahaney (I do not have his book in front of me at the moment so cannot check for a citation). Nevertheless, here is how it goes:
As I sat with my family at a local breakfast establishment, I noticed a finely dressed man at an adjacent table. His Armani suit and stiffly pressed shirt coordinated perfectly with a power tie. His wing-tip shoes sparkled from a recent shine, every hair was in place, including his perfectly groomed moustache.
The man sat alone eating a bagel as he prrepared for a meeting. As he reviewed the papers before him, he appeared nervous, glancing frequently at his Rolex watch. It was obvious he had an important meeting ahead.
The man stood up and I watched as he straightened his tie and prepared to leave.
Immediately I noticed a blob of cream cheese attached to his finely groomed moustache. He was about to go into the world, dressed in his finest, with cream cheese on his face.
I thought of the business meeting he was about to attend. Who would tell him? Should I? What if no one did?
You may not have an Armani suit and a finely groomed moustache, but something like this has happened to each of us at one time or another. Maybe you left the bathroom with a piece of toilet paper stuck to your shoe or maybe you went to church without noticing that your baby had spit up down your back. We’ve all done it. We’ve all gone out into the world completely oblivious to something that is utterly obvious to everyone else.
Mahaney uses this illustration to go far beyond fashion. He uses it to speak of the importance of having people who will keep watch on our lives and who will tell us about those sins or character flaws that are hidden to us and so obvious to everyone else. “As you and I walk through life, no matter how closely we watch ourselves, we are acquiring fresh blobs of cream cheese on our faces. We all have ‘cream cheese’ moments.” Do you have someone in your life who will point out the cream cheese smeared on your face?
Over the past couple of weeks Carl Trueman has been writing a series of blog posts about the big Christian conferences—American Christian conferences. The reaction has been interesting to see. While I wouldn’t say the reaction has been one of outrage, it certainly does not seem that American Christians are eager to hear Trueman’s critiques. His posts have been rather informal, most of them speaking to a particular kind of reaction or feedback. Here they are if you’d like to give them a read:
- Home Thoughts From Abroad
- What Hath Jerusalem to do with Hollywood?
- Thoughts on Marketing and Conferences
- Not Guilty!
- The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
- Truly Honored
- Fascinating Week
Trueman writes as a Brit who now lives in America. I write as a Canadian who attends many of those conferences south of the border. And I readily agree with much of what Trueman writes—and certainly the heart of what he writes. The conferences in America are getting bigger and grander and slicker. The Gospel Coalition was a prime example. It was well-attended (5500 people, I believe), expansive (a huge list of speakers), professional (just check out the quality of the entire event). None of these are bad things. In fact, these may well be God-glorifying things.
But looking at these conferences as a Canadian, I see them as distinctly American events. If they were held anywhere else in the world they would have a very, very different flavor. I don’t know that I can easily define this. But I know that it’s true. Flying home from Gospel Coalition I sat next to a young Canadian couple for whom this was their first major conference. On one hand they really enjoyed it, but at the same time they were having trouble processing it. They saw the celebrity culture, they saw the packs of autograph chasers following those celebrities, and they felt a real disconnect. It felt a long way from New Testament Christianity. Talk to non-Americans and I think you’ll find a good bit of consensus.
And this brings us back to Carl Trueman. Trueman is telling you that America is particularly prone to a celebrity culture. Listen to him. He is telling you that American Christians are particularly prone to blindly following certain leaders or styles. Listen to him. He is telling you that you may be inadvertently feeding these things with these super-sized conferences and their a-list speakers. Listen to him. He has that outside perspective that so easily sees what you may be so blind to. You’d do well to listen humbly, to listen with an open mind and an open heart.
I’m pretty sure that what Trueman is trying to tell you, American Christian, is that you’ve got cream cheese on your face, right as you head toward your important meeting. You look great. You’re all groomed and professional and powerful. And as Trueman tries to point out that glob of cream cheese dangling from your moustache, you are probably not doing anyone a favor if you put your hands over your ears and to refuse to look into a mirror.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
Releasing on April 1, The Next
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Comments (59)
I appreciate that you’ve chosen to weigh in on this. As an american Christian who was raised primarily outside of the US, Carl’s words rang very true to my ears. However, I was disappointed by the general reaction…it seemed like a missed opportunity to humbly accept criticism from our international Christian family. Hopefully your opinion will help more people pause a little longer and really listen to what he was trying to say.
To paraphrase a sermon I heard once from Rick Booye: You don’t know you have garlic breath unless you hang around people who don’t.
“Amen” from an American!
This post was probably difficult to write, as many of your readers are Yanks. But I’m glad you did. Yes, we do have cream cheese on our mustache — but the lure toward bigger, better, and and grander constantly calls us.
It’s a disease that we simply cannot shake. Thank you for pointing out “the obvious.”
www.RedLetterBelievers.com, “Salt and Light”
Yes, a timely a exhortation and warning.
The US pursuit of celebrity, connects with the repetative and banal, not to say unscriptural talk that comes from the US about leadership in the church. Usually they mean leadership by men and women, not leadership by the Spirit of God. I hear little…no, none, about the self-effacing pursuit of ministry, of service, of support and help. These are the callings that seem to be consonant with the New Testament conception of the people of God. “Leadership” US style, is more aking to the type of boosterism that one gets in popular business publications, where seeking the face and leading of God is not on the agenda.
Ive heard a better phrase, “the last one that knows you have bad breadth is you”.
I’ve been reading Trueman’s posts and, sadly, too many will see this as criticism of the USA rather than criticism at how we as American Christians have let culture influence our faith in the wrong way.
So far I haven’t heard anything from you or Dr. Trueman on this issue with which I can disagree nor anything that I haven’t thought myself.
I’ve read some of Trueman’s posts, not all - but I’ve found myself nodding in agreement. In fact, I find a disturbing tendency in my own (American) heart to do exactly what he is warning against - making “idols” out of godly men whom God has mightily used to impact my life and deepen my maturity level. To a man, I believe they would be horrified because I feel their heart’s cry is “less of me, more of Christ.” But our (read “my”) very real leaning toward idolatry and misplaced hero worship leaves me susceptible to placing these speakers/teachers in front of the cross, not behind it. I take Trueman’s words - and yours, Tim - as admonishments from the Holy Spirit to guard my heart and mind. Thank you.
Huh. I hadn’t thought about it that way, but that was how I felt about T4G last year. Awesome conference, but the celebrity culture felt weird (I’m a Canadian working in Asia).
I guess I don’t understand. If this is a critique of the tendency to celebrate personalities…well that’s not really uniquely American. I can think of a particular wedding over in England that lays waste to any argument that our pals over there don’t celebrate personalities. It’s a human tendency, and one Christians need to guard against but I find it hard to believe its uniquely American.
So because of my confusion over that point I am not sure what to make of the critique of the conferences. Should they stop happening? Should they be run a bit less efficiently and maybe charge a lot more money to discourage folks from loving to go to them so much? Should the ‘a’ list speakers stop preaching such quality material so folks would stop being affected spiritually and therefore stop being tempted to idolize them? What would getting rid of the cream cheese look like? Because if your answer is “It would look like people not so obviously idolizing speakers” then you are going to be hard pressed to find a solution to that other than to stop letting these guys write books, preach sermons, and do conferences.
If your answer is “Stop doing these big conferences”…then I say you should also be advocating shutting down this blog, and Justin Taylor’s etc because people idolize them. They are so good at running these blogs, always have great content, they look great, operate smoothly, promote books and conferences by ‘a’ list guys endlessly…too many people visit these sites and love them…lets shut them down.
I just don’t buy it.
In sum, critiquing the human tendency to idolize personalities is perfectly fine. Cherry picking America as unique in this tendency detracts from the critique, and until solutions are offered as to how conferences be done differently to help people avoid this tendency, I am unsure as to what is constructive about any of this. (Maybe someone has done this and I missed it)
And , maybe I have cream cheese on my face…hmmm.
Several things stuck out to me in this post…
1. Do I have anyone now who speaks truth in love to me telling me what I may not see? I am going to pray about this.
2. I want to read the articles you linked and I agree with what you said.
3. I live in South America and church/conferences are done in such a different manner here as you said. There is not that pressure to be perfect, a person does not need to sing perfectly even to be in front, no one is bothered by much, and I have to admit I like the fact that if my kids do something like wiggle too much, not one person will be bothered by it.At the same time, I do enjoy going to conferences when I am home, but there is something to say about Christian celebrity that just does not seem quite right.
Tim,
If you haven’t settled on a new book premise yet…perhaps this is the issue in today’s evangelical culture that needs to be addressed.
This is an issue that is even worse when you step outside the reformed circles. Pastors are often treated as infallible men with near god-like status.
Well, we are a lot defined by our adherence to “Calvinism” are we not? It’s an interesting quandry. Many of the great movements of faith were spearheaded by men of a certain degree of fame and recognition.
I think there is something in us that wants not just a label to hang our theology on, but also an actual flesh and blood leader (earthly prophet/priest/king?)…
And we do “ordain” specific men for the particular roles of leading us, thus the somewhat inherent idea of elevating some men above others is foundational to our ecclessiatical morays…
Therefore, I agree with Trueman. We must be diligent to fight against putting these men into the roles of idols, ever remembering that they are not infallible, nor perfect in all their ways. (Even Calvin legacy is marred with Servetus.)
Very interesting blog entries, thanks for sharing them.
I have to agree that our “Americanism” often overtakes our Christianity. I’ve never understood the desire of folks to have their Christian books signed by the author. It’s the content that is valuable (if it’s a good book), not the book or the author.
As a pastor, I appreciate good preaching and can understand why some preachers gain a following. In one sense, it can be good. A man who correctly and thoroughly expounds the word of God is someone to whom we should want to listen. Many people listening to him means many people are hearing God’s word rightly divided. But I do think that, too often, it starts becoming more about the preacher and less about the message. I think both the hearers and the preachers need to stay aware of that.
I like the idea of conferences announcing topics/agendas but not speakers. I’ve been attending Moody’s Pastors Conference for the past few years and, based on what I’ve seen so far, would probably continue to attend every year regardless of who the speakers are. Because I know that when I go there the word of God will be faithfully preached. And I’ve also found out that sometimes the men whose names I recognize the least turn out to be the speakers that God uses most powerfully in my life.
I can give one possible answer for a question Mr. Trueman raised.
Question: Why does a speaker mention his wife’s beauty?
Answer: He’s with his wife at a conference hotel far away from home and (for the first time in a long time) has a babysitter for both his kids and his congregation. That answer should suffice.
Best,
Chris, Father of 4, Husband of 1 very beautiful wife
Joey, it should be noted that Trueman’s post “Thoughts on Marketing and Conferences” did include some practical suggestions that might reduce the celebretization (not a word? oh well), including cutting way back on the marketing of the individuals and increasing more the marketing of the actual content of the conference, perhaps even eliminate completely the public announcement of the speakers before the conference. I don’t think this would work very well most of the time - the big conferences are all designed from the ground up with the big names in mind, and it sometimes seems like the content is 3rd tier to the mere name of the conference and names of the speakers. Actually, most of the mega conferences it seems (T4G, Gospel Coalition, Ligonier, etc) are put on by the ministry organizations of the big name speakers themselves (didn’t Mohler, Duncan, et al come together and dream up T4G?).
I agree with Joey. Canceling or altering big, well-run conferences featuring well-known good speakers is no solution to idolatry. When such conferences are hosted in America by Americans, they’re going to have a distinctively American feel to them, and that’s going to be uncomfortable to the unacculturated. Duh. Do you also complain that Chinese food tastes too Chinese?
That said, I should add that I think, at least as I look out across this little reformed blogosphere going on, we have a very high propensity toward conferences that may be setting unrealistic ideals for our ministry. In high school we would go to youth camp all week then lament for the next 3 months that our day-to-day lives were not as fun or as spiritual as running around the camp and listening to youth preachers tell funny jokes for hours (though we did get lots of good preaching… it was just a lot more engaging for us kids and easier to listen to than our home pastor). Now adults drag themselves around for months just waiting for that next conference to get away and hear 2.5 days of awesome, energetic preaching to last them until the next conference they can afford.
I read a little blog post the other day encouraging young men like myself to go to such-and-such conference because we would get great godly training from older men that we so deeply need. I found it odd that half the speakers lined up were under 40, and also that the blog writer did not take the time to also extol the readers to seek out older men on a day to day basis within their church and their communities.
As an American living in America we don’t tend to like non-Americans pointing out our faults, especially when they are directly benefiting from our country and its resources. That’s a general statement but one that helps explain some of the reaction to Dr. Truman’s posts (which I have read). Secondly, this is not a uniquely American problem. The Brits have their celebrities as do the Canadians and any other group of people. In fact, you can see the same problem in the Corinthian church or how about the disciples sending their mom to ask Jesus if they could have the place of honor.So let’s don’t jump on the “bash American Christianity bandwagon” too quickly.
Having said that, yes there is a problem with celebrity culture within the church. No question. How do we address it? That is a lot more complex. Well, we could stop having conferences; have these guys quit writing books; have them disband their media ministries. But that seems a little extreme. Perhaps we could not have the conferences as well organized, managed and executed. But that would be disastrous and certainly not God honoring. We could limit the number of people that can attend. But that would be arbitrary at best. How about we have them in different countries and let the Brits run them in Great Britain and the Canadians run them in Canada, etc. (Now we may be getting somewhere.)
No this is a Spiritual maturity issue, a discipleship issue. That being the case, since most of the attendees are pastors and other church leaders or those that hope to be someday (seminarians, etc.) then the problem is even bigger than we imagined. Perhaps the next round of conferences should address the issue directly.
Stephen,
I read that…the one that did make sense was the one about not having special seats etc. That was a good suggestion.
How about those crazy Australians and their worship music?! (just kidding, well, sort of)
But, I think the main issues are these:
1. We are idolatrous people. You can’t escape that. Everyone is.
2. Frankly, we’re used to it. And I think the music scene started it. The Christian music celebrity has been around for some time. People are finally starting to like preaching and writing. That has to be good, right?
3. Simply call people to personal repentance for idolatry. Call out the crazy cat who gets an autograph at TGC. That’s simply ridiculous. Then move on. That same idolatry happens on local church levels as well. Should Matt Chandler stop being the pastor at The Village Church or should they stop meeting together?
I’d like to see a conference done where the same hpye was put into it but they scoured the country for solid “regular” Joes. Would people come to that?
Wouldn’t you be reluctant to attend a conference if you didn’t know who was scheduled to speak? We’re willing to travel to listen to certain speakers because we’ve learned that they can be relied on to teach us things that are in line with orthodoxy and will deepen our understanding of God and His Word. Not listing the speakers would communicate to me that the speakers are so unproven that no one has heard of them. I’m not going to shell out several hundred dollars to go somewhere to hear someone speak on any particular topic unless I already know he’s worth listening to. That’s not celebrity culture. It’s just good stewardship.
Good thoughts. And if I’d known they were streaming those sermons online I might have been tempted to stay home!
Well, I think cream cheese is all over the place—we all have it. Maybe one suggestion is to have these guys split up some and come to small town, ordinary churches. Maybe a pastor mentoring program. I would have loved to go to Chicago and hear some of these guys, just because I am enriched by their books and lectures/sermons I download. But I’m a housewife w/3 kids—not so easy to hop on a plane to Chicago the week before Easter. To me, It seemed like an event for the people “in the business,” per se, not so much for us ordinary people. It would have been great to hobnob w/publishers or try to promote my blog, but again, it would be business—self-promotion. I’m not sure if there’s anything wrong w/that, but not exactly the message on the flyers.
My ordinary pastor could use some mentoring help on the great abilities these guys have to connect with their congregations and audiences. Maybe this would be another good way for them to use their gifts. I’m not “against” the big conferences—just don’t know how helpful they are for us ordinary people. Most people who read my blog don’t pay any attention to them (so not eveyone is celebrity-hungry).
This sure is an interesting article, I recently attended the Shepherd’s Conference and did felt a little akward not because of the speakers or great preaching, but more so because it seem commercialize to some extent. Mind you that I’m a medical professional and have attended many medical conferences and it just appears that both secular and Christian conferences are similiar in the commercialization, but not CONTENT! However, I’m at odds because these conferences are filled with great thelogians and great preaching (albeit not all). Thus, I believe to critique the conferences itself is somewhat pre-mature, obviously there is no perfect church, just like there is no perfect conferences, for it is all ran and organized by sinners. But I believe all Christians are called to be discerning and examine the Word of God (e.g. Bereans), even from great speakers/teachers. Yes it is human tendecies to idolize, however, I hope we look into the individual rather than the conferences because I do believe they are a great resource for pastors, elders and leaders to find rest, fellowship, and encouragement! So essentially what I’m saying is take everything with a grain of salt, and more than anything look to the Word of God, look to the savior, Jesus Christ as the final authority!
My husband and I can’t afford to travel to these big conferences. Frankly, I’m surprised that so many people can afford to go in these economic times. I like the idea of smaller, more regional conferences that are helpful to those of us who can’t afford to travel. I agree with Trueman on the issue of special VIP seats. Really? Why aren’t the big names just saying no to that kind of preferential treatment? I also agree with Trueman about spotting the church planters a mile away due to the tendency to look really cool like some prominent pastors. Another blogger noticed the tendency for many people to spend much of the teaching time on Twitter or FB instead of absorbing the teaching without those distractions.
Hollywood is not so much about celebrity worship as it is about celebrity obsession. The gossip culture is big—who is getting married, divorced, who is hooking up, breaking up, cheating on whom, and who just acted like a complete jerk or who had a meltdown at a restaurant, etc. While certainly the American Christian culture is not exactly the same, there are plenty of ministries who have had darts thrown at them, and not all of the darts have necessarily been at the completely innocent. Look hard enough and you will find something to criticize a leader about, even beyond obvious demoninational distinctives. Blogs with comment threads tend to go against the “worship” of celebrity Christians. I’ve seen a lot of flowery praise of John MacArthur, for example, while also having seen some pretty harsh criticism of him, not every single incidence of the latter necessarily being wrong or unfounded in my eyes. I love a lot of what Al Mohler has said but have (after chewing on it) decided that I don’t agree with him on the issue of unmarried clergy and also thought one of the more significant details in his reply to Brian McLauren’s reply might have been wrong (but I haven’t followed up on it). And certainly he really took it on the chin after his “yoga” post, which I would have a hard time disagreeing with. Other big ministries have taken their lumps at times. Maybe its just me, but I don’t think I have a problem with celebrity Christian worship. But I don’t see it necessarily as prevalent outside of these conferences. Maybe someone could enlighten me more
Maybe the problem is with conferences in general. Yet the last megaconference I went to I got a few things from them that I still remember. But they should not replace what we get from the local church and our own studies.
I think that the favoritism that speakers get at conferences may be a problem, even a big problem. Certainly standing in line to get a book autographed is questionable; maybe if it was a non-autograph meet and greet line it would be better. I also have problems with the amount of money that some of these speakers get from their home churches or organizations. I have a hard time seeing how the best/most popular conference speaker/preacher/leader should take home any more than 150K a year total (pretax American dollars). But I’m certainly not infallible on that issue.
I imagine Peter had a following personally after Pentecost. Paul said “be imitators of me as I am imitators of Christ.” That’s a pretty egotistical statement, isn’t it. But it is inspired Scripture. We don’t want to have idols. But is it OK to have heroes? Elizabeth Elliott said that her late husband should be a hero. And I don’t agree with everything Jim Elliott did or said, but I think I would agree with her. I think its also possible to err on the other side where we are so skeptical and so cynical and so pessimistic that we have no heroes at all, no “fathers” in the faith.
Hmmm….I definitely sense that there is something about the celebrity culture in mainstream Christianity that makes me uncomfortable. Maybe it is uniquely American. Maybe it’s an American expression of one way we’re tempted to idolatry, but temptations to idolatry are certainly not limited to culture, time, or geography. They’ve been expressed in myriad ways since the beginning of time.
Maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem to sit quite right being admonished as, “listen, Americans, you need to think about this and be warned.” This coming to me (and many others), an American who has never been to one of these conferences, from you, a Canadian who has been to many of them, promoted them through live-blogging, and most recently, didn’t I read your blog asking people to come and let you autograph their books? :o) I don’t mean that’s all wrong, I’m just saying that it doesn’t quite seem congruent in my mind to hear these important warnings issued this way either.
If the root issue is idolatry, then surely that’s something everyone needs warned about, not just Americans. Sure, warn about conferences specifically. But who is your target audience for the warning? The ones who put them on, or the ones who go? What about the internationals present in each of those groups? Are they exempt from the admonition since it’s not their own culture responsible for fueling the “celebrity culture” among Christians? Are there no Canadians, or Brits, or South Africans, or others who fuel this at these conferences? I think calling out Americans misses the right audience—sinful men and women, whether they be speakers, conference organizers, attendees, panel participants, etc. It would be different if these critiques were aimed at the concept of these mega conferences, rather than American Christians. Because if they’re dangerous, who cares if they would be done differently elsewhere? Idolatry is dangerous no matter where it comes from, but not because some other country isn’t practicing it this way.
When you are actually looking at a particular conference with particular aims— “what can we change about this particular conference to avoid these tendencies?”—then looking at specific examples from specific countries can be helpful. But I don’t think critiquing in this way (the above post and C.Ts posts) is the most helpful. It evokes the response, “Hey! Maybe this can be idolatrous, but we’re not the only ones doing it! There were Canadian speakers there, and I saw South Koreans looking for autographs!”
Finally, I have wondered about something in this vein for a while. I noticed it again watching some of TGC online. Maybe it would be helpful if the speakers, or panelists, or emcees introducing, did not do so much elevation of the others I just mentioned? Especially during the panel, some would spend so much time prefacing their answer on why so and so was so much more qualified to answer. Or in introductions, there would be so much praise and such draped on the coming speaker. It has reminded me before of those behind the scenes categories on DVDs where the actors in a given film just flatter to no end the other actors who are part of the film. It gets tiring. I understand being respectful and thankful, and giving honor where it’s due. But I don’t think it looks more humble to endlessly elevate those around you. How about a brief introduction with thanks for taking the time to open God’s wisdom for us, and then moving on to the point—elevation of Him.
A personal testimony: I dealt with my “hero-worship” inclination within the first few hours of being at Gospel Coalition conference. The thing the Spirit used to rebuke me?…the giant Crossway banner over the atrium with Kevin DeYoung’s, John Piper’s and Matt Chandler’s photo and endorsement of the ESV bible (along with others). Am I lifting up the Jesus of the Bible, or the men who teach from it? Convicted. Guilty. Run back to Jesus. The rest of the conference was a blessing once my heart was right.
An analysis of my heart: Not having gone to seminary, many of the speakers have been like professors to me and I’ve greatly benefited from their ministries. But unlike a professor, I’ve never talked with them in person, and will likely never do so this side of eternity. So I have people that I love from a distance, but have never said Hello to them or seen them eat a sandwich. That admiration for the speakers coupled with the inevitable set apart-ness is all the opportunity my heart needs to yield to “hero-worship”.
Humble suggestion: Could the event marketers tone things down? I think they should. Could the publishers tone things down? I think they should. Should we get rid of large conferences? Not necessarily. If each person checks his own heart and looks to the risen Savior for confirmation and acceptance and satisfaction instead of to man, the majority of the “hero-worship” issues could be solved, and we could continue to be ministered to by godly men.
Thank you for writing this! I am Canadian but have have lived in the States for quite some time. I just recently discovered your blog and find it so refreshing to hear a Canadian perspective.
I am in agreement with Stephen F. Why should one attend a conference that has a list of names one doesn’t know? When the names are known, it follows that the content will also be known.
Case in point, during the fifteen years that I served as a youth pastor, I routinely picked the week of camp based upon the speaker, simply because I knew what was going to be preached.
Congratulations Tim, after all these years you’ve finally manged to write a blog entry that rubs me the wrong way. Do I completely disagree with it, no, but my sentiments are very similar to Joey’s.
Still love ya brother. Keep doing what you do.
As much as my stiff American neck resists, I nod in assent with Truman and his theory on idolatry. But perhaps this phenomenon wasn’t spawned by the big conferences after all; perhaps it began at the local level — with churches sending their people away to receive what they couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) provide at home. The local church is beset with enemy taunts without and looming doubts within. What if our fears about our own efficiency — or more to the point, the Father’s sufficiency working through us — have sown the seeds of an unwitting incompetence?
I don’t know. I do know that as long as those at the local level sit back, arms crossed, waiting for far-off conference leaders to address the problem, nothing will ever really change.
Brothers, I urge you: you are called by HIS glory and excellence (1 Peter 1:3); you are equipped because He is able.
Honestly, I have my doubts about “big conferences you have to travel to and stay in a hotel for” in general. Mainly due to the cost involved. I’m not sure the “payout” in terms of equipping and encouraging is really “worth” the expense that goes into them, given the many other ways that money could advance the Kingdom.
I grew up in a culture of markedly different conferences. Here in the southeast United States we have a grouping of conference centers around Asheville, NC. The Methodists have Lake Junaluska, the Baptists have Ridgecrest and the Presbyterians have Montreat. Each summer the centers would sponsor week long conferences on music, teaching and preaching, world missions, and other subjects.
I spent many summer weeks at Montreat with small and large groups from my congregation. There were usually about 1,000 people there each week, as that’s about what the center would hold, and after a few years it came to seem like returning to a family reunion every year. Of course there were no giant banners and I don’t even rembember the speakers names but I remember some messages and the impact they had on me.
I have never been to a Promise Keepers like thing or a big conference in a hotel but I would love to return to a Montreat music conference.
Good thoughts. It reminded me of this post by the pyros:
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2009/04/porn-and-paper-pastors.html
Sorry, my last post was directed @ Katie Morgan
Brief comment on the ‘cream cheese’ illustration. I don’t know if CJ has it in a book, but I have certainly heard him tell it first hand in a message - think it may have been T4G ‘08?(NB - heard it on the free MP3 download - a wonderful blessing to pastors like me in the UK who could never justify the cost of coming to a US conference, especially when the ministry is so readily available to download!)
It may sound like the sort of name-dropping that Carl would abhor, but all these big-name conference guys take walks with me regularly - Why, Sinclair Ferguson and I had a wonderful time together just the other day - from Columbia SC, to a smartphone in Scotland!
Hi Tim,There certainly seems to be an emperor prancing around the US in some rather revealing new clothes. I do wonder if it is the conferences that are the problem as much as there is an idolatry problem and this is an obvious symptom.
I live in New Zealand, and from our perspective North American Christianity is huge, loud and flashy. It also achieves some fantastic things and has produced great teachers and missionaries. Where I live, Christians are a very small minority, our churches are in decline, and resources are tight. Yet the result is that those who actively identify themselves as Christian are choosing to go against the culture.
From a distance it seems that American Christians have difficulty distinguishing Christianity from their culture - it is obvious to the rest of us that American culture is NOT operating by Christian principles, unfortunately it is harder to see close up and so the cultural ideals are accepted as ‘the way things should be’. This leads to churches obsessed with numbers, status, stuff and names.Maybe all conference attendees should take a short term mission trip outside North America and see how that transforms their perspective!
Cheers,Mike
Tim,
I absolutely love C.J.’s book “Humility: True Greatness”. It’s the only book I have read more than twice. It’s that good and that honest…..and he’s just wonderfully relatable! Thank you for the reminder once again!
-Danelle (friend/family of Justin & Grace Frye :))
Fascinating exchange of views. As a Brit can I offer my view?
Just a point of correction, our wedding this week is not a celebrity wedding, it will be the marriage of our future king and queen.
I attended T4G 2010. While it was refreshing to hear pastors honored, it became a bit wearing after a while. I suspect that was because our pastors are rarely honoured publicly. The key point is that the teaching was great - manna to the soul. Apart from that I took away great fellowship with other leaders in our hotel. Meeting guys from rural Canada with whom we had a remote link, Dennis from Mississippi in a small church faithfully teaching his congregation week by week. All of us came to be encouraged and we were. Yes - let’s be cautious with factions, but don’t throw the baby away with the bathwater.
Many of the readers of this will recall that the volcano erupted when T4G was on. What many will not know is the hospitality offered to the stranded Brits. In turn we were looked after by SBTS students whose names I can’t remember, a small church and a mega church. Their practical love was above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you 12 months on to Auburndale and Parkside.
This largely a no-win situation for all involved. If I, as an American, protest against Dr. Trueman’s assessment, I’m going to be seen as denying the problem. Any criticism from Dr. Trueman, however, is going to be viewed as snooty anti-Americanism. As Jeff pointed out, we Americans don’t take criticism from outsiders very well. That’s perhaps a bigger fault than our obsession with celebrities.
I also think it’s ironic that we’re having this discussion a few days prior to the royal wedding. I realize that there will be Americans in the throng on Friday, but I’m sure they’ll be a Brit or two in the crowd as well.
As someone who was actually at the conference, though, I do have to say that I didn’t notice any of the “autograph hounds” and special VIP treatment that others are referring to. I saw one person ask John Piper if they could have their picture taken with him, but other than that all the famous preachers seemed to be walking around the hotel and conference center largely unbothered and sitting amongst the rest of us during the sessions. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention, but the only memorable reaction I saw to one of the speakers was when C.J. Mahaney tackled James MacDonald with a bear hug in the walkway on the first night - a story that James MacDonald recounted in his message the next day.
I probably just need to read Dr. Trueman’s blog posts more often. The last one that got widespread attention was when he was criticizing Americans for the Super Bowl. I’m sure he likes some things about America or else he wouldn’t live here, but I’m never seeing those posts. :)
I am an American, and I, too, attended The Gospel Coalition National Conference. And while I can somewhat agree with Trueman’s assessment, I think that TGC, while being put on with excellence, was milder than some other forms of American Christian conferences. I will not “name names” but I have seen some conferences with such spectacular effects and video and light shows that one would think they were attempting to rival a U2 concert. The sense of ‘celebrity’ of the conference speakers and worship leaders (at these other American conferences) bordered on the ridiculous. One is left wondering just who was being worshiped during the corporate singing. The contrast between such conferences and TGC is large by comparison. However, this a not just a particularly “American” issue. I have a worship leader friend who attended a very small conference for worship leaders and song-writers in the UK. My friend, the only American in the group, marveled at their motivation for song-writing. Decisions for lyrics and musicality were based on how it would come off in huge stadium-like settings (think Wembley). It became evident that they were interested in composing the next huge worship song rock anthem! Less a desire for a humble contribution to the genuine worship of Christ’s church than for the potential to be the next great UK worship leader. And it was the American who noticed this. True, America is prone to celebrity worship as a whole. But look at the celebrity contributions that the UK have made to American culture. Before there was American Idol came Pop Idol. Before we had America’s Got Talent there was Britain’s Got Talent. Celebrity worship - both inside and outside the Church - is an issue on both sides of “the pond” and below and above the US-Canadian border.
I read Carl Trueman quite a bit over at ref21; I have to admit that I would only have marginal interest in something like T4G due to its size, but I’ve tremendously enjoyed PCRT in the couple of times I’ve attended. I’ve naively stumbled into the etiquette breach of having a speaker sign my book; actually, he didn’t seem to mind a bit. Nevertheless I didn’t ask him to repeat this year with a different book! I found it pleasurable just speaking with him a bit as well as other speakers and musicians, in many cases about the Gospel itself, church challenges and the like. With just a few hundred people in attendance, the setting was rather intimate and conducive to such discussions at times. I like my space and I imagine that many of the speakers do too - and yet, there’s a common reason we’re all there, and it’s a joy to be able to connect with folks from other spheres of life.I did have to reflect a bit on why conferences such as PCRT are conducted, and while I can only speak for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, I can say that it exists to strengthen churches, pull them away from worldliness, and assist them in recovering the true Gospel. Certainly it seems there were some historical events that caused its creation, but the conferences are an ongoing manner in which it carries out its purpose for existence. I can say for sure tha the Alliance has not lost its personal touch in all of this; at least I don’t have the impression that it has.So in conclusion I sympathize to some degree both with remarks made by Carl Trueman and Thabiti Anyabwile!
Tim…I appreciate this post and also the assessment by Dr. Trueman. I have not been abroad so I have no idea how conferences go there; however, my husband and I have travelled to a number of meetings here. I agree that there tends to be a celebrity approach to meetings. It seems like that happens more often than not.
I first noticed this in smaller gatherings many years ago when a speaker was introduced and all but his blood type was read to introduce him. I wondered to myself then and now….why we have to laud people in order for us to listen to them. The key thing that should draw us to a gathering should be the Word of God.
Self-promotion seems to be very prevalent at both conferences and in other arenas and I just have to question if this is really God honoring or strictly “self” honoring.
I do enjoy certain speakers and don’t mind a drive to hear them, but long autograph lines and outlandish costs in order to attend seem like any other big business conference I have been to. I would rather go to a smaller more down to earth conference any day.
I just have to wonder at times….”What ever happened to a servant’s heart and humility?” God is the only one who deserves all the glory. Thank you for addressing this and pointing to information regarding these observations. Glad I am not alone in seeing this.
Tim, I’ve read through a lot of what Trueman has written and I think he has observations that are worth saying and listening to.
As a Jamaican who travelled to attend the GC conference I too was observing what was done and how it was done (and admittedly at times with awe). My impressions were different from Trueman’s however. I expected throngs of people to be surrounding the “big names”. I didn’t see that. The number of people even after they had just spoken were quite small in my estimation, especially when you consider that at least 5500 people attended those plenary sessions. I actually commented to friends that I was amazed at how accessible the “big names” were after a plenary, and I thought that was a sign of health.
Admittedly I did find some of Trueman’s comments particularly caustic. And I can understand how some of it would be hard to receive considering that it felt like a criticism of “Americanness” rather than a criticism of a global human tendency (which Americans may or may not be more efficient at that others). I suspect that if Trueman had worked a bit harder to gently express what he had to say it might have been a bit easier to receive.
I’m quite shocked that people are considering this an “American” phenomenon. I am an American, who has lived in Asia for most of the last 10 years and has done ministry in several parts of the world.While I agree that the “celebrity culture” in big conferences is often over the line, I absolutely don’t see how this is uniquely American. To be honest, the celebrity culture seems worse to me in most places I go than in the US. I haven’t been to big conferences in Europe or Canada to confirm this, but I can assure you that in Asia (or Africa) the “idol-worship” is much more intensive than it is in the USA.I’m also confused, Tim, how you can give this instruction specifically to American Christians when you attend and often promote these conferences? I know others have pointed this out as well but it’s very odd to me.
Tim,
After reading Trueman’s posts I consider myself to be one of the “spot on” fellows. How can he not be? Sure everyone struggles with some sort of celebrity worship but I have been to more Canadian conferences than American ones but I can tell you objectively that there is a difference. Usually we don’t even have celebrities attending or speaking at our conferences; and when we do, it is usually a small gathering and barely anyone asks for autographs. It’s funny, Tim, I am friends with a “Christian Celeb” and I have never witnessed a time when anyone at home has almost broken down in tears for them. When we went to a large American conference the response was completely different (I’m sure people were close to shouting OMG!). It’s strange that people are denying that this is a problem particularly with American conferences. I want to say to them, “No really, you don’t understand, there is cream cheese on your face.”
Saying that one adheres to Calvinism is different from saying one reveres Calvin since the term “Calvinism” has become a theological term often divorced from the historical teachings man John Calvin (that the Five Points were developed fifty years after his death supports this).