There is a tendency for some Christians to be highly critical of celebrity pastors such as Rich Wilkerson Jr., Carl Lentz, and Judah Smith, but Christian blogger Tyler Speegle wants people to give them a chance and stop "hating" them.
"While I don't agree wholeheartedly with each of these pastors' doctrine, preaching style or opinions, I do think that each of them has the capability to bring people to Christ," Speegle writes in an article for Charisma News.
Speegle adds that these pastors do not deserve to be "demonised" simply because they are popular, cool, modern, hip, or famous. In fact, he strongly believes that they should be supported because they are ministering to people that no one else can.
"People like to condemn these pastors and others like them for their celebrity status when in reality being a celebrity isn't exactly something you can control," he says. "It isn't like they all woke up one day and said, 'I think I'll become a famous celebrity pastor.' Becoming famous should never be the goal of a pastor, but if it occurs while trying to reach people that generally means you will reach even more people."
Speegle notes that Wilkerson was condemned for officiating the marriage of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, while people frowned upon Lentz's baptism of Justin Bieber. These celebrities have been described as "rough crowd," but the pastors who are guiding their spiritual journeys should not be found "guilty by association," Speegle says.
"I think this is a rash sense of judgment. And beyond that I feel that those who are condemning celebrity pastors for hanging out with a rough crowd are forgetting that Jesus spent the most time with those that the religious crowd had deemed as 'sinners' during His ministry," says Speegle.
He says that Jesus actually made it a point to reach the unreachable, so these celebrity pastors should be lauded for trying to reach those who are seemingly "unreachable" in today's culture.
"If someone like Wilkerson wasn't pastoring Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, then who would? If Lentz and Judah Smith weren't putting efforts towards mentoring Justin Bieber, then who would? With fans numbering in the millions think about the impact that these celebrities could make should they start pointing people towards Christ," says Speegle.
