It’s a family business
Posted on January 21st, 2007 by Samaritan into the Uncategorized categoryThis morning I googled "Judah Smith" over coffee and didn't notice any new links since last time, except for those advertising links in the right-hand column. One link is for a conference January 22-24 called Faith Forward, in So. Cal. The site boasts:
Don't miss this unique opportunity to rub shoulders with the most respected and innovative thinkers of our time.
After cleaning up the coffee I SOKB (spit on keyboard), I thumbed through the site, and list of "respected and innovative thinkers of our time" - 6 pages of them. Of course Judah was there, and his bio makes the claim: Judah had 40,000 downloads of a recent message. The bios seemed to have a couple of recurring themes - one being that the church needed to be transformed to be more relevant to our culture, and the other was an emphasis on media. Yawn.
What really caught my eye was the last page of the bio, where 3 of the great gurus will be Robert A. Schuller, Bobby V. Schuller and Robert H. Schuller, listed sequentially.
I also listened to a couple of the sites 1 minute sermons, hosted on Youtube, and somehow clicked my way to one of Judah's clips, which has the following comment:
… I knew Smith as a kid and the only reason he is where he is at today is due to the fact that he had a silver spoon shoved up his ass. When he was a kid he would cry to daddy, I'm sure he still does …
Nepotism; there's the Schullers, Wendell and Judah, Joel Osteen who took over from his daddy, Jim Bakker and his son, etc. I wonder how many people "in ministry" today are there because the Spirit has called and anointed them (Isaiah 61), vs. how many are just taking over the family business? In one of Judah's sermons I reviewed a few months back, Judah repeatedly called his friend an 'idiot' for trying to make his own way in business, rather than going to work for his daddy. Judah argued "(your daddy) will make you a manager".
The Church, shortly after Jesus death, was infected with nepotism. How quickly James, the brother of Jesus rose to power in Jerusalem, offering up his 'opinions', despite the presence / influence of Peter (the rock) and John (the disciple whom Jesus loved), James and John (the sons of thunder) … James the brother of Jesus was not one of the 12 apostles whom Jesus chose (see 1 Corinthians 15:7 and Galatians 1:19) … how did James become so prominent in the Church at Jerusalem, except by nepotism? And where it was "men sent out by James" who began to introduce OT law to the gentiles (Galatians 2:12), could it be that whenever men promote men in ministry, through nepotism, etc., that is when legalism, pharisee yeast, etc., are sewn into the Body, whereby the men chosen and anointed by the Spirit remain faithful to the Spirit and the teachings of the Messiah?
If you want to attend this conference of innovative thinkers, it'll cost you $249. Sounds more like innovative marketeers to me.
Sam
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January 21st, 2007 at 9:59 am
Franklin Graham taking over for Billy Graham included?
January 21st, 2007 at 10:43 am
Not sure that Jim Bakker’s son belongs on that list, given how he has pretty much thrown aside most of the trappings of his father’s “ministry”. My own experience and background with MFI and CBC leaves me with no doubt that there is an expectation that children of leadership will follow in the footsteps of their parents. It’s easier to maintain control of the organization when you have a farm system that teaches new leaders how to buy-in/sell-out to the system beforehand.
January 21st, 2007 at 11:04 am
Everything but the name.
One of my musical friends has a comical view of the rise to ministry - once he told me “If I had wanted to be recognized in ministry and make it as a professional Christian Artíste, all I had ever had to do was play up the Messianic Jew angle or that I was once a terrible junkie, delivered by Jesus …” … he went on to observe how many in ministry had fantastic tales of deliverance from drugs, prostitution, crime, cults, etc. I too have observed a tendency of people in ministry to “drop names” as a claim to fame - yet there we have Jesus - a nobody - but chosen and anointed by God.
If someone who claims to be a prophet can be ignored if what he/she says doesn’t come to pass, if the measure of life in Christ is spiritual fruit, etc., then why don’t we discern those in ministry by whether or not the Spirit affirms them through signs, wonders and miracles? Or is rubbing elbows with the big names in ministry the only criteria?
Sam
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Samaritan you so hit the nail on the head –if fact you made me laugh out loud
with the coffee remark. Innovative thinkers?? The thing that concerned me with what I saw close up of MFI 2nd generation leaders kids is that they have no education to speak of. It is frowned on yet they were our kids teachers. I know you’ll say its all spiritual –so what they went to 15 different schools. I saw
nepotism close up and it causes division -jealousy and anger by those who carry the burden –a heavy load on their staffs.
And what does it do for their childen except create spoiled big wig wannabees
whose only real work experience is with an expensive clothing store at the mall for seasonal help? Come on –you guys don’t have a clue about what would be
relevant to our culture because you haven’t been in it.
If I could speak directly to the leader–many have tried–but I would tell them you aren’t loving them by making this co-dependent atmosphere and whether you know it or not –they really didn’t have a choice to be there or to even think about what they wanted in life and we saw it expressed physically and mentally in behavior or sickness or some type of odd behavior.
Unexpressed feelings ALWAYS express themselves.
Hey dads –did it occur to you they did express these pent up feelings of wanting to flee to some of the intercessors? Your personal intercessors
by the way. This situation isn’t good for them and certainly not for your people.