What Christian leaders' lack of recognition says to rest of us

Church Central.com ^ | 07 Dec 2006 | Ken Walker

[Alex Murphy]

In Mark 8:36, Jesus asked, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Now demographer George Barna has demonstrated the wisdom of those words—on more than one level.

In a recent survey, Barna’s staff asked respondents for their reactions towards 16 public figures, ranging from actor Denzel Washington to singer Britney Spears to best-selling author and pastor Rick Warren.

Not surprisingly, far more people recognized movie stars Mel Gibson (95 percent) and Washington (93 percent) than anyone else. What’s illuminating for evangelicals is the lack of recognition of most of their leading lights.

Start with Warren. Not only has his "The Purpose-Driven Life" sold more than 25 million copies, on World AIDS Day Dec. 1 Saddleback Church hosted a summit featuring high-profile Sens. Sam Brownback and Barack Obama. Yet 72 percent of the public has never heard of Warren, including 63 percent of born again Christians.

Then there’s Dr. James Dobson, whose nationally-broadcast radio program and best-selling books have reached millions. Some 60 percent of the public hasn’t heard of him and nearly half of all born again believers.

Other notable Christians who rank low in public awareness:

* T.D. Jakes, dubbed once by Time magazine as "the next Billy Graham" and a prolific author, singer and movie creator, is considered the nation’s most prominent African-American pastor. But 55 percent of Christians never heard of him.

* Tim LaHaye, co-author of history’s best-selling fiction series ("Left Behind") and other top-selling books—and a veteran of more than 40 years in public ministry—isn’t recognized by 63 percent of believers.

* Joel Osteen, who pastors America’s largest church and sold several million copies of his latest book, draws a blank with 57 percent of Christians.

As Barna mentions, one point here is that authors toil in relative obscurity. What he didn’t mention was that many of the aforementioned authors also have a TV presence. But in a 500-channel world, is it any wonder it’s easy to get overlooked?

There’s a lesson in this for those of us in largely anonymous positions: striving for acclaim at the loss of other things we hold dear—such as family, friendship or simply a daily quiet time—can be a fruitless endeavor. The cost may well outweigh the rewards.

Barna brings out another lesson that is worth heeding, though. Namely, the low awareness of Christian leaders coincides with other studies showing that Christianity is losing its grip on American culture.

As Barna puts it, "One of the reasons that the Christian faith is struggling to gain a toehold in people’s lives is because even the highest-profile leaders of the faith community have limited resonance with the population.

"The survey statistics suggest that perhaps Christian individuals are more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than matters of faith…These figures may be another indicator that millions of Christians invest more of their mental energy in cultural literacy than in biblical literacy."

In the past, Barna has pointed out how few Christians are familiar with basic biblical concepts, a reason for our culture’s moral confusion. Ultimately, such illiteracy is of more concern than whether Christians recognize famous people, no matter what their sphere of influence.