Guardian of the Chess Club

I once saw a movie called Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. It was basically about a cute small town girl who wins a contest with a Johnny Depp/Brad Pitt type hollywood stud. She, however, is an exceptional person who is so grounded that she does not initially get swept up by the hype surrounding this manly man. She says thanks for the evening at the end of the night and makes her way back to her hotel room to crash. He is currently going through a somewhat commonly reoccurring flakey quarter life crisis for the umpteenth time and views her groundedness as exactly what he needs and decides to pursue her. Meanwhile, the local boy who has secretly had feelings for her all along is feeling protective of her and not a little jealous. He senses the flakiness of stud boy, and truthfully, wants her for himself anyway. I probably don't have to tell you how it proceeds from there. Let's just say it was a cute little romantic comedy. Why have I told you about this? Well, this movie always makes me think about the way it seems many Christians view hollywood types who decide to make a decision of faith in Christ. They (dare I say we) often jump up and down in excitement like a room full of nerds who just found out that two of the coolest kids just joined their chess club. Why are they so excited? Because this brings them one step closer to coolness than they ever thought they would attain. What would happen if Julia Roberts, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Russell Crow, and Jack Nicholson all simultaneously declared their conversions to Christ tomorrow. Churches would be abuzz. Headlines would be written. They would be asked to speak at half the mega churches with TV ministries, and within a year, because of the platform we would have given them, they would become the official spokespersons for Christians in America. Lord have mercy. I am suspecting their flakiness yous guys. I'm sorry but more and more that is the first place my head goes. This is not because I do not rejoice in their decision, nor do I suspect that they are charlatans, but we are far to concerned about being seen as cool (relevant). There is a Biblical warning against lifting up novices in the faith into positions of leadership cuz it opens wide the potential for a double whammy. A person who does more harm than good in their representation of Christ, and a new believer who eventually gets delusioned by the sad fact that instead of being nurtured by brothers and sisters, they are exploited.