Good Christian Fame

I woke up before the sun yesterday to complete some writing I hadn't done the night before. I watched the sun slice through the off-white blinds of my dorm room and as I alternated between staring at my laptop typing sentences in furious spurts and mulling over the morning headlines on CNN. It was all very routine, but I did enjoy it. After my normal thirty minute washing-up, tooth brushing, hair primping frenzy, I sprang out of my door and hopped toward the shuttle van for campus. I made small talk with the driver as I normally did before slipping into the back of the van. As I sat running through the organized chaos of my morning, day, and life, I noticed a familiar voice on the radio.

Listening hard over the whines and wheezes of the bus, I quickly identified the deliberate bass tones I had heard. It was the voice of Bishop Thomas Weeks. Bishop Weeks (for the uninformed) is a minister and the ex-husband of the "Prophetess" Juanita Bynum. (I don't mean any disrespect I just don't know how official any of these rankings are.) This particular morning, Bishop Weeks was a guest on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and he had much to talk about. In this particular episode of their on-going saga, Bishop Weeks spoke about his settlement, the plans for the release of his tell all book, and his impending reality TV show about the search for his next wife. As I listened to the Bishop speak, I thought about the very public dispute between him and his wife. Juanita Bynum had declared herself "the new face of domestic violence". The media did their job and soon enough there were specials, forums, debates and all other forms of news coverage.

As an advocate of anyone's personal right to privacy, and a staunch supporter of personal freedoms, I hate to be the voice of reason, but a question comes to mind. What's the point? Or I suppose "goal" is a better word. It's not fame, at least for Bynum, because she's been a best seller for years, and leads a multi-million dollar ministry that has taken her all over the world. Not so much for the Bishop, but he too is successful in his own right. So my question remains, what does either have to gain from their circus divorce and the resulting media tempest?

I'm not sure who gains what, but the bottom line is that in the end, we as Christians are the losers. There was a time when we lived private and dignified lives. The public once held ministers and church leaders in high respect. No one thought they were perfect, we just believed that there was something sacred about the authority and the task that these men and women were doing. But in the day of the "mega church", it seems we've moved further from the sanctified and closer to the secular. It's undeniable that there have been changes. Today, the pulpit is used for everything from merchandising to campaigning. Personal moralities aside, I wonder how far reaching the changes will be when it's all said and done.

D. L. Moody, the esteemed bible scholar and teacher once said, that "of 100 people 1 will read the Bible, and 99 will read the Christian." I'm not saying we should cover things up. As Christians, we owe it to ourselves, our faith and our God to ask ourselves: what story are we telling?