There's Something Scary About This Celebrity Pastor...

You see these boots? Those are very cool. It wasn't your turn. These are off-white. It wasn't your turn. These are off-white. So... These are off-white. Good to see you. Shout out Virgil. Shout out Virgil.

Virgil, do you watch CBS? Do you see his top? It's the justice. I want to get better. That's why we all came. I just want to love people more. I just want to love Karl more. You're doing a good job of that.

Angel said I'm gonna make it. My angel said I'm right on time.

Chad Veach, Zoe Church, and the Problem of Celebrity Pastor Popularity

On March 17, 2018, The New York Times published an article titled This Preacher Would Be Happy to Share Your Bowl of Acai. The article is about Chad Veach, the 38-year-old founder of Zoe, which is also the church that popular actor Chris Pratt currently attends.

Veach is a 24-hour-a-day presence on Instagram, photographed at the gym or beach, singing car karaoke with the pop star Justin Bieber, watching the Lakers, even waiting for the valet. Veach says, Instagram built our church.

Immediately, we wonder, why would the New York Times, a solidly leftist organization,.

Sorry. You're here today because this morning the Supreme Court announced its ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.

Publish a positive article about a Christian pastor and his church. Before we look more into the article, let's recall that in 2019, Ellen Page tweeted regarding Chris Pratt,. But his church is infamously anti-LGBTQ, so maybe address that too?

Why Silence on Homosexuality and Abortion Raises Questions

Interestingly, if you try to find out what Chad Veach and Zoe Church teach about homosexuality, you'll find very little, if anything at all. In fact, in a Christian Post article, Veach said,. So I don't have to address all these peripheral issues when the gospel is the main issue.

For example, Rich Wilkerson Jr. and I and a lot of our friends, we try to shine bright in the dark spaces, and we don't have to go around telling them how dark they are or address these issues. We're just trying to shine bright, and God will do the rest.

I think some people get themselves in a lot of trouble by trying to make statements about subjects that I don't think are going to heal anybody. I don't think they're going to bring that much health to people's souls.

So I think as long as we keep pointing people to Jesus, he's going to deal with the heart issues. He's going to deal with lifestyle stuff. From this, it seems that the reason why we can't find anything about what Veach believes or teaches about homosexuality is because he stays away from controversial issues like these.

The Language of Jamming and Moral Pressure

The next tool they use is jamming. And the way they talk about jamming is that they want to eliminate and reverse what they call psychic rewards. So the way that they explain jamming is this. You equate being against homosexuality with being part of the KKK or skinheads or neo-Nazis.

So that when people think about homosexuality and they think about whatever, their biblical position on homosexuality, their biblical position on gay marriage, that they automatically have a check. They're jammed, right?

It's like you've got a machine and they throw sand in the works so that the machine gets jammed and it doesn't work. So now you have to stop because you feel bad about believing what the Bible says about homosexuality.

Stephen Furtick and the Avoidance of Controversial Issues

Similarly, we notice that Stephen Furtick, another extremely popular pastor with an enormous following on Instagram, essentially has nothing to say about controversial issues like homosexuality or a b**** either.

But my assumption based on my research and based off of what I've seen in Stephen Furtick's ministry is that Furtick didn't want those sermons to remain online because they are offensive and because the opinions shared in those sermons make it really hard to grow your church.

Again, that's just an assumption. Don't take it as a fact.

It's basically impossible to find any teachings from Furtick about subjects like these. Back to the article. It continues, Mr. Veatch believes he can save souls by being the hip and happy-go-lucky preacher, the one you want to share a bowl of acai with at Backyard Bowls on Beverly Boulevard, who declines to publicly discuss politics in the Trump era because it's hard to minister if no one wants to come to church.

Jesus, Joy, and the Purpose of Church

Jesus is supposed to be fun, right? I want to be loud and dumb, Mr. Veatch said with a wide, toothy grin. That's my goal. If we aren't making people laugh, what are we doing? What is the point? Wow. Three things.

First, maybe people don't want to come to church because they're sinners who love their sin and hate the Bible. God and the gospel. That's certainly a possibility we can't ignore. Second, Jesus is not supposed to be fun.

Jesus is holy. He is Lord and he is the king of kings. He is coming again to defeat his enemies and judge the nations. He calls all people everywhere to repent and trust in him alone for salvation. That's not something to laugh or joke about.

And third, the point of a church isn't to make people laugh. The point is to tell people about their sin, their need for a savior, and everything else God has clearly revealed through the Bible, including what God says about controversial issues.

If we aren't doing that, then what are we doing? What is the point? The article continues. Asked about abortion rights, Mr. Veatch declined to give a specific answer. At the end of the day, I am a Bible guy, he said.

Drawing Lines in the Sand on Sin, Truth, and Church Teaching

Mr. Veatch's father shrugged about his son's equivocation. Last thing you want to do is turn off a whole demographic, he said of today's pastors. If you draw lines in the sand, people are going to think God hates them.

And Mr. Veatch wants Zoey to be a refuge for many against the rhetoric of so many other dogmatic evangelicals. But God himself draws lines in the sand concerning what sin and the Bible teaches that God hates sin.

If we avoid calling sin, sin, we are deceiving people into thinking they're right with God when they are not because they still love and approve of sin. Finally, Veatch says, from the time I've entered, and maybe just what we grew up in, it's like you don't bring politics into church, he said.

We're here to preach good news. We're here to bring hope to humanity. We're here to talk about God. This is not the place for a political agenda. This is the last place. When I come to church, you know what I need?

I need encouragement. But teaching about topics like homosexuality and abortion isn't about teaching a political agenda. It's about teaching truth and far more than encouragement. People need to hear the truth that God has revealed.

All of it. So, that's the secret. Avoiding controversial topics that God speaks clearly about is how cool Instagram pastors like Chad Veatch and Stephen Furtick stay cool.

Because we try to be like Jesus. Very rarely did Jesus ever talk about morality or social issues.