Christian Celebs

Question/Comment

Hi dave what are your thoughts on celebrities? christian ones??

Response

When Jesus walked on the earth, I guess He was a celebrity; certainly crowds followed Him wherever He went! I guess that people like Billy Graham would be seen to hold “celebrity status”. In times past, people Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards would all fall into the same categorisation. Today, we have such an active media and, I would suggest that, socially, we are generally media driven – and one thing that the media does is to create celebrities. I guess that there are two type of “Christian Celebrities” – Christians who are celebrities in the world of entertainment and Preachers / musicians who become “church” celebrities. Celebrity status is not something that a Christian should seek, however it is often not something that can be avoided. I suggest that it is important for those Christians who do carry celeb status, to keep in mind that One whom they serve still washed the feet of His followers – humility is the heart attitude that needs mark the life of the Christian who becomes a celebrity. It's not inherently wrong to attain fame or to gain thousands of followers, but never think that only famous people can "make Jesus famous." It is easy to fail in this area and allow pride to take a hold.

I suggest that it is wise not to judge those Christians who become celebrities (or those celebs who become Christians!!!). Allow the God who sees their heart to challenge and guide and trust Him to deal in His own way with any area in the individual’s life that may need “adjustment”.