As a frequent of Dr. Duncan’s blog, Pajama Pages (I’ve found that I check it much more frequently than my facebook during the day now) I recently saw a post alluding Perry Noble’s image and I would actually like to come to his defense… sort of.

So BigStuf made this deck and Cooper gets excited, posts it on his Twitter because he knows other members will be as well. I’m going to go ahead and say that we can’t use this particular case to pass judgment on Perry’s humility.

What can be spoken on, though is the way members perceive him.

There two groups of members at Newspring, and for that matter, most likely, any church that draws a young, predominantly college crowd. There are those who are fully into the vision of the church, the activities, the work, and the ideas behind ministry. Then there are those who are fully into the pastor, his spreaking style, his trendiness, his swagger, and his personallity.

I know many who are in the first group and who attend NS. I rarely, in fact, almost never hear them talking about Perry. Not that they don’t like him, I’m sure they do, but when they talk about NS, it’s more about the work they are involved in there, how they are being the church in accordance with the way NS outlines it. I respect these people. A couple of them are actually college workers, employed by NS.

I don’t know many in the second group personally. I’ve met plenty, but I typically get annoyed by them and try to find a way to leave their presence. All they talk about when they meantion NS is Perry; how great he is, how they hated church before they heard him speak, how excited they are about his new series, how awesome he is for coming out in a coffin/wearing a torn up suit, etc. They often know little to nothing about what goes on at the church outside of its services and to my knowledge, only one of these people is employed by the church, and not closely.

It is interesting that the people closest to Perry talk about him the least and seem to be more genuinely concerned with the purpose behind the church. This could be good or bad. In a way it reflects that those who are most involved at NS, who probably know its heart best, are less concerned with a man and more concerned with the Father. Maybe Perry communicates his image as a servant leader well to the people who work around him.

On the other hand, there is also a huge, freekishly stalker-like following among who those who merely watch Perry. Many of them idolize him. That is apparent in their talk, and the fact that tons of people attend church each week to watch a screen with him on it. Maybe Perry doesn’t do such a great job at communicating his image as a humble, lowly servant of the gospel to the vast amounts (thousands) of church-goers who see him every week.

Newspring isn’t the only place we see this. I’ve seen it in other churches I like, whose pastors I greatly respect. It is important, though, that we always remember, the gospel and every church exists to glorify the Son of Man, not a man leader.