This One Is On Us #2

How Not To Become a Christian Celebrity

After my first post on Christian celebrity, the question came, “But Sean, aren’t you a kind of Christian celebrity?” I get the question. My ministry life has been blessed beyond anything I could imagine in terms of reach. I’ve never written a best-seller, I have written three trade books, I also write this substack, a monthly column for Preaching Today, and blessed with serve as Teaching Pastor at a congregation I long admired, as well as speak at universities, conferences, churches, and gathering across the country each year. No one is more astonished by that than me. So, I get the fact that people who know my work might think that I’ve reached some low level of notoriety in the Christian subculture.

At the same time, these are the same reasons that I had to learn how not to become a Christian celebrity. In the previous article, I noted how celebrity is born of popularity, and popularity in the power of the people. In the end, I argue, that no one can make themselves a celebrity, and that we have a part to play and a part we ave played. All the same, individuals, churches, conferences, and the rest do have some role to play in reducing the likelihood of Christians becoming celebrities.

Some have defined Christian celebrity as influence without proximity. If that’s true, celebrity is more easily addressed than many might think.