I am seriously battling the sin of jealousy when it comes to Samuel James. His ability to see through and then sum up with insight is a gift. And now I would like to come though with my usual bull in a china shop antics and bounce off of three words from a book review he wrote this past June.
“That Youth Pastor.” Those are the words. Simple, ambiguous to those outside and pregnant with meaning for everyone in the know. Let me put up the larger context:
“Many of us raised in evangelical subcultures must admit that we are very different people today than we were while living with our parents, attending that Sunday school class, or sitting under that youth pastor.” – Samuel D. James, What “Exvangelical” Stories Get Wrong (emphasis added)
That sentence lands hard. Like the One Ring being dropped by Bilbo Baggins on the entry hall floor of Bag End. A thud that somehow resonates. And it should make us ask, “Why?”
My surmise is the same as Voddie Bauchaum back in 2011. This is a cottage industry and not a ministry. It is corrupt and useless. Youth need to be in the service, a part of the body, Not off in their own “church” that is still ten years behind the times trying desperately to engage the kids “where they’re at.” It is a corrupt subculture that trades on emotions. James inadvertently points this out in his book review when he quotes from the book where the author reflects on youth ministers shoving kids up to the mic to give a testimony. Parents were deceived into thinking their kids were growing spiritually, the kid was deceived because the emotions counterfeited a feeling of of spirituality. And this continues to this day. Manipulation baptized as ministry, because the kids aren’t off getting into any visible trouble.
There is a reason we all know, that youth pastor. We can all picture him. We all know him. And yet for some reason, the church that survived that guy is sending our kids to him. Does that make sense to you?
Southern Reformed Smoker 