Trailblazin Ministries Blog

Faith

I Can't Believe It, or Can I?

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Sunday, 20 May 2007
Filed under: Faith, Stuff on the Web

This past week, I've had opportunity to read two very interesting articles, one by way of a friend sending me the link and stumbling across the other on one of the forums I frequent. All I can say is that I am completely shocked by what I read. The first article that I read had to do with the issue of pastors "stealing" sermons from outside sources (Pastor Inspiration: Divine or online?). Basically the heart of the matter is how pastors are utilizing online resources (and sermons from colleagues) to use as material for their own sermons. A very interesting article indeed. The second spoke about many mega churches sending mixed signals to their congregations. This article spoke of how one church allowed a secular rapper to perform during worship service and made mention of another pastor using multiple references and catch phrases from many of today's popular hip-hop and R&B artists (many of which have vulgar content in the songs he quotes from). Both of these articles were an interesting read and definitely spirit-stirring as I couldn't believe, in some manner, that this kind of stuff would go on in the church, but on the other hand I wasn't surprised one bit.

Now, there was something interesting about these articles that really stood out to me. In both of these articles, there was one pastor and church that was mentioned in particular: Bishop Eddie L. Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, GA (an Atlanta suburb). In the first article, Bishop Long was one cited for preaching a sermon that he had gotten online (without giving any attribution whatsoever), preached it as if it were his own given by God and gotten through personal study, and then was selling said message for profit via his church and website. Then, in the second article, he was the pastor that let secular artist Young Dirty perform at his church during a worship service (allowing him to sing a song that contained references to ballin', bling, hoes, and pimpin'). What's more is that the references to secular artists & their catch phrases came from an elder who pastors one of Bishop Long's satellite churches. Oh yeah, did I mention that Young Dirty is Bishop Long's son?!

On the one hand, this was particularly difficult to read, considering that Bishop Long was one of the few pastors that I had grown accustomed to listening to and gleaning "spiritual truth" from. He was one of the pastors and ministers that I looked up to, at least until I had purchased one of his series in MP3 format (spending well over $100 total for all the MP3s) and noticed a very heavy emphasis on prosperity gospel with poor exegesis and consistent eisegesis throughout the entirety of the series. Then I had watched a few of his sermons on television (which I liked to watch regularly on Sunday evenings) and noticed him saying things that were totally not in Scripture. I won't go into details as that's not important; but let's just say that after hearing that kind of stuff (and seeing the same sort of message in many previous messages of his that I had owned), I had decided to turn a deaf ear towards anything else that he had to say.

With this whole issue of "stealing" sermons, it makes one wonder how many sermons of his are actually original or did he get it from somewhere else and then making a profit with it? As someone with the pastor-teacher gift, I seriously take issue with this concept of using places like sermons.com to come away with a completely pre-packaged sermon and preaching it as if it were your own. I even have issue with hearing a colleagues sermon and then using it as your own without giving the originator any credit whatsoever. Where's the integrity in that? How is that using your gift to the fullest? A well gifted speaker without the gift can get up there and "preach" a sermon from someone else's notes! Last time I checked, the role of a pastor-teacher was to shepherd his flock and to hear the voice of God (through His Word and prayer) so that he might speak a message specifically for his congregation. This is not to say that you won't occasionally borrow material from other places, but you should give credit where credit is due. One thing I love about my pastor (Pastor Bob Bolender) is that he is very quick to let you know when he has gotten material from an outside source, and even when he has modified it, which is exactly the way that it should be. I don't care how busy you are as a pastor, your job and obligation is to hear from God and speak to your flock.

Quite honestly, you're doing yourself and your congregation a disservice by not hearing from God directly and getting your messages from elsewhere. First, you're not growing in your knowledge of the Word and preparing yourself to use what you have learned if you are not studying for yourself. What benefit do you get from using someone else's work? How is a pastor supposed to be ready to counsel his congregation and give them direction if he is unable to hear from God for himself? Sure, I know most of these pastors will say that they only do it on occasion, but that is too often! What about being held to a higher standard and being held accountable to God? Do you think He's pleased with a pastor using someone else's work, and then not giving them credit for it? Thou shalt not steal? That was a commandment last time I checked. Secondly, the congregation suffers as a result. How are they benefiting from a message that was not specifically for them? Sure, they may come away with something, but it won't be anywhere near as personal and powerful had the pastor-teacher done the studying himself. As a result, how can you expect the congregation to continue to grow deeper in the Lord if the pastor isn't? What's more, the congregation is being duped because they have no idea that this message wasn't from their pastor, and then those that do find out have to always question whether each sermon was original or not.

Personally, I try my very best to make sure that everything I teach is given to me by the Lord and comes from my own study. Sure, I may hear or see something that I may use, but I, to the best of my knowledge, give credit where credit is due and let you know where I got the information from. If I ever slip, it's not because I willingly chose to conceal the source, but as a result of absentmindedness. I truly appreciate those who take their calling seriously and put in the work required to be a pastor-teacher, and do it the right way. It's that kind of thing that makes me enjoy the fact that I'm in a smaller church that is more intimate in nature.

That's enough about the sermon stealing because I'm rather heated on that subject (not to say that I'm not heated about this other topic). Point blank, what was Bishop Long thinking by having Young Dirty perform during a worship service?! I don't care if he's your son or not! It's one thing to want your child to succeed in his career path, but it's another thing entirely to allow him to come into the church with it, as a professing believer or not. By no means (and I do mean no means) does a song that refers to what I mentioned above give glory and honor to our Lord and God! And if it doesn't give glory to God, why is it even being sung in a church during worship service, or in a church at all? I don't care if my own son was a secular performer, there is no way in the world that he would be coming up in MY church singing a song like that. That speaks for itself, so I won't go any further.

What about the pastor using quotes and phrases from many of today's popular secular artists? On the one hand, I have to ask myself: why is a pastor even listening to this garbage? Sure, I know the usual answer of: I need to know what's going on so that I can minister to my people. That's ridiculous; that's like saying that you need to sit down and watch XXX movies so that you can minister to someone who has a struggle with pornography. We don't do that, so why should we do this? So we can be relevant and hip? At what cost? Are we compromising our holiness and "set apart-ness" so that we can be the most relevant church on the block and "speak the people's language?" In the rare circumstance, I can understand it, but it shouldn't be a normal occurrence on a Sunday to Sunday basis. Every sermon you preach shouldn't need to have pop culture references in it. Isn't the Word sufficient on its own? Apparently not, if we think we need to spend so much time keeping up-to-date with the latest in pop culture and incorporating it into our sermons. When will pastors realize that there is a price that comes with being relevant? Seriously, how much is your congregation learning about the Word of God when they're hearing the latest secular vernacular?

Yeah, I'm pretty down on the church right now when I read articles like this. But at the same time, I know that these are just a sign of the times. Scriptures say that the time would come when people would no longer desire after sound doctrine, and follow after what tickles their ears and makes them feel good. Sadly enough, that's what's going on in too many of today's churches that are focused on prosperity (especially in the natural, instead of spiritual prosperity) and being relevant and in-line with the current popular culture. When will the light bulb come on and they start teaching sound doctrine again? Unfortunately, many have turned a deaf ear towards anyone who speaks anything "negative" about their ministry and their teachings, even when it is spoken in love and brought from the perspective of the Bible. The experience of some has been to send a letter speaking against their teachings, only to receive an envelope asking for monetary "blessings" for their ministry. What?!

So, since these pastor-teachers are so "untouchable," I'm just going to continue speaking the truth and doing what I can to make sure that everything I teach is sound and lining up with the Word of God so that He alone can get the glory in all that I do. I will also continue to remain steadfast in prayer that they will have their eyes opened and see the error of their ways and return to the truth of the Bible. I'm still left shaking my head, but I know that in the end God will ultimately get all the glory.