I came across two quotes yesterday while reading the latest edition of Christianity Today:

Nearly every pastor is a salesman or a marketer of one kind or another because...we have a philosophy to sell. The best marketers and best salesmen will have more converts, will have more people, will take in more money.

-From the vice president of pastoral ministries at Focus on the Family



They believe that they answer to a higher power, in my opinion. Which is the kind of thinking that you had with the people who flew the airplanes into the buildings in this country, and the people who did the kind of things in London.

-From the Louisiana director of the ACLU, when talking about efforts by local Christians trying to have more prayer in schools and at school board meetings.

For almost 10 years now, I've been "in the know" when it comes to keeping up with what's going on with Christianity in America. I spent 5 years at two Baptist universities, 3 years as a youth minister, and 5 years at a well-established not-for-profit Christian organization. Now that I'm at World Hunger Relief, I feel a bit relieved to be relatively removed from media-both Christian and non.

However, reading the aforementioned quotes yesterday reminded me of problems that are still very real and very much alive today. The first quote, from a presumed minister of one of the largest, most famous, and respected institutions within Amercian Christianity, is simply a sampling of what seems to be happening among church leaders. For example, last weekend I heard on the radio the results of a survey of thousands of pastors in the country who have worked at more than one church. The pastors were asked why they moved from one church to the next and, shocking to me, a higher percentage noted higher pay rather than a response to the call of God as the reason to why they left one church for another.

So, on the one hand, we have pastors (on the back roads and in the big cities) who, without any qualms about it, are searching for success primarily through financial results.

And on the other hand, we have Christian leaders who fall into the category of the second quote listed above. While pushing for Christ-alive in the schools is a noble calling, to me it's at the point where lines are being drawn on both sides. Those in favor of the movement are pushing with such fervor that to even abstain from such an issue means to be at odds with your neighbor. Meanwhile, those opposing the movement are having an easy time putting labels on evangelicals as a whole as a result of the ongoing struggle.

So what's a concerned, thinking believer to do? When a large percentage of our leaders admit without regret that financial means has a louder voice than the Holy Spirit and when a large part of the laity is inviting more unfair stereotypes by being so passionate about a topic that is trivial to most in America (including other believers), what's the remedy?

Is there even one?