I was listening to Klove a couple of months ago, and they were advertising the need for an "aggressive, experianced marketing professional with a love for God to join their team". Honestly, my jaw dropped. I like hearing christian music on the radio, but not at the expense of selling out God as something to be marketed.
I believe that if you have a message the Lord wants you to share, and that he has for the world, he'll share it. You don't need a marketing professional for this. I guess it's a question of motives: your empire, or God's? Where's your focus? What's your idol in this?
A huge part of the problem that we have, I believe, is unexperienced leadership. I, personally, don't believe that a person should be allowed to become a pastor straight out of Bible school, straight out of, say, high school. You've got to have the message to preach, and the wisdom to lead, before you should be a leader of something so essential.
I was looking for a home church a couple of years ago, and came to a fundamental baptist church. Well, it was a small cozy place, which I happen to like. When the pastor came out, he couldn't have been more than 25 years old. Well, he told a story about how he had had his car stolen in college, and related a sermon to it. Well, by his admission, he had used this same story several times that year to make a sermon out of. Basically, when he was in High School, he decided to be a pastor. He went to School, then he started a church.
I believe he is a very high achieving individual, but didn't have God in mind. He was looking to his glory. He barely knew how to hold this congregation together- both spiritually, and in worldly matters.
Similar to the advertising and marketing problems we are talking about, you have to be very sure about what your motives are. There are many things out there to deceive us in our walks. And, like Comfort (I think) says, "I knew people who, before they were saved, who used their talents to serve them in the world. These same people, now that they are saved, use these same gifts to serve them in the world". He's not talking about a mechanic staying a mechanic. He's talking about a secular musician making money from music, becoming a christian, and now making money as a christian musician.
Anyway, I like to babble, but examine your heart. That's what matters- what's in your heart when you serve.
Grace and Peace... |