'This sadly is the world of much contemporary evangelicalism. We exalt the platform speakers who perform at Christian conferences. We prize the eloquence that Paul rejected (I Corinthians 2:1-5). We value degrees whereas Jesus ignored his disciples' lack of education when choosing the twelve (Acts 4:13). We follow numerical success. We pursue career paths. Church leaders look like company directors. Conference speakers look like entertainers. We've taken the word "minister" and somehow turned it into a designation of status, even though it actually means "servant". We reject the title "Father" on the basis of Matthew 23:8-11, but adopt other status titles like "Reverend" and "Pastor". Evelyn Astley suggests that, while in the West we're not scandalized by the cross itself, we are scandalized by leadership modelled on the cross: "leadership that displays human weakness, human limitation, human suffering, and human fragility, but functions in God's power". "Somewhere along the line, we seem to have fallen into the same trap as the Corinthian church. We have come to value power, control and success."'
Tim Chester, The Ordinary Hero, p.153.
