restless reformer

14 responses so far ↓

• 1 David Wright // Jan 16, 2006 at 11:36 pm

  C’mon Travis, you’re just offended they left off Spong. ;-]

• 2 Foolish Sage // Jan 17, 2006 at 12:06 am

  What a mixed bag that is!

• 3 Glenn // Jan 17, 2006 at 1:46 am

  I’m not sure the same folks who produced this survey would yield more faithful results if they replicated this in the UK.

  But if Pigwotflies, Adrian Warnock and Adrian’s pastor Taupe (or Tope or Mauve, whatever) make the UK list, maybe we should consider moving.

• 4 Sarah O // Jan 17, 2006 at 2:46 am

  I don’t really have any context here- who on the list do you disapprove of and why? (Of the one’s I know of, only one, James Dobson, was really offensive to me, but I am clearly not paying as close attention to the up and coming influential Christians in the states)

• 5 David Wayne // Jan 17, 2006 at 7:05 am

  Amen Travis - I saw that last night and thought “you’ve got to be kidding!”

• 6 Travis Prinzi // Jan 17, 2006 at 8:07 am

  Sarah, the list is very much dominated by the TBN health and wealth crowd (if you have enough faith, you’ll never get sick and will always be really rich). There are some great figures on the list: John Piper, Billy Graham, Pope Benedict XVI. But the majority of the list is the pop figures that the media gives attention to, but who do not speak for historical Christianity very well.

• 7 Gaines // Jan 17, 2006 at 8:28 am

  What are you talking about, Travis? My spiritual life has been profoundly impacted by the teachings of Dr. Phil (#50).

  (Where’s the *BARF* smiley?)

• 8 iMonk // Jan 17, 2006 at 1:07 pm

  Since the #1 Christian in America doesn’t believe in the Trinity, and a man who can’t explain the Gosepl at all is #3, I’d say we are in trouble.

• 9 Glenn // Jan 17, 2006 at 4:45 pm

  Wow. That’s startling. What’s iMonk’s problem with Billy Graham? Graham can’t explain the Gospel? I’m hoping he meant #2.

• 10 Travis Prinzi // Jan 17, 2006 at 5:08 pm

  Glenn, yeah, I’m certain he meant #2, especially given his posts on the subject of Osteen as motivational (not gospel) speaker.

• 11 Allison // Jan 17, 2006 at 5:59 pm

  Besides the list of aberrant theology (TBN-types), I just thought the georgraphy was interesting. 11 or so from TX, and 7 from Georgia. I guess the south is just messed up, huh?

  And the ones from Atlanta…I mean, come on: Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, it’s like a hit list of health and wealth and other craziness… (Minus Charles Stanley, of course. Though he does house his church in an old AVON warehouse, at least it must mean he’s redeeming the cosmetics market, right?)

  Also, and not that I dislike Andy Stanley, but when they named his location as “multiple locations in GA” they forgot the satellite church in Dothan, AL, that pipes him in every week. I’m from that area, and I KNOW there has to be a pastor from, say, Montgomery they could pipe in to the service…really, now. He’s not THAT great.

  Who do they poll to get the results for these lists anyway?

• 12 Glenn // Jan 17, 2006 at 7:25 pm

  What do you all think about the “piping in” of pastors to satellite locations?

• 13 Allison // Jan 17, 2006 at 10:11 pm

  Funny you should ask. We were discussing this the other day. Actually, one church in our area just started separating out the services for different worship services (alternative, adult, contemporary, etc. etc.) and just televising the message to each location. That’s not so bad, since it’s in the same building, or acreage, at least.

  Honestly, I’m not a fan of it… this new “televised” worship services between churches. I mean, I used to watch preachers on TV when I was home sick as a child, but I don’t think that’s a substitute for a local pastor. And I know some places have “overflow rooms” where they televise the message

  I suppose I think that a pastor should be a shepherd, as in, knowing his flock and teaching them accordingly. I think that’s pretty difficult to do when you’re 10 or 30 or even 300 miles away and the teaching is just “piped in” over a television screen. A pastor is so much more than just expounding the Word in a vacuum. That’s my 1.5 cents.

• 14 Chuck // Jan 18, 2006 at 2:13 am

  I’m sure they could find an equally disturbing top-50 list of “influential” “Christians” in England, too.

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