If you read “Cyrano de Bergerac” in school you may remember the pact between the misshapen poet Cyrano and the dashing young military man, Christian, who were both in love with the same woman, Roxanne. The handsome soldier was incapable of speaking his love as he was tongue-tied and clumsy with words while the ugly poet, Cyrano, was gifted with romantic language. By Christian using the words composed by his comrade standing in the shadows, together they would win the heart of the young maiden. But the result is deceit, confusion and eventual tragedy. 

There are good reasons greeting cards are a $19 billion industry assisting those of us who are also clumsy and tongue-tied. They are helpful but no substitute for authenticity. 

I thought about Cyrano and Christian this week after a pastor friend told me another preacher had been using my friend’s sermons almost word for word for 15 years without attribution, and when confronted was forced to resign. There are whole industries designed for people facing the pressure of producing sermons, papers, research and publications. In some disciplines it is called a “paper mill” where thousands of published academic papers are sold through websites allowing researchers to pay for academic prestige without requiring legitimate research contributions. For the pastor who is pressed on Saturday night for a sermon there are products like “Preaching Today” offering a database of 13,500 sermon illustrations, 1,700 sermons and 1,100 skill building articles. Others can use “Sermon Central” with 150,000 sermons and illustrations with over 250,000 pastors using the site while 300 new sermons are added every week. As this Sunday was Pentecost a pastor could download a message with “everything you need for a powerful Pentecost service. Instantly download a fully-realized sermon manuscript to personalize and preach to your church.”  “Docent Group” is more research oriented and does not serve up ready-made sermons as their focus is “stories, statistics, connections to culture, theological insights and exegetical analysis of Scripture.” As well, they provide book summaries with “content you need to know but don’t have time to read” from any genre and any level of detail. Sites like iDisciple deliver a constant feed of personalized content “based on your preferences and needs.”

There are many services like these designed to aid busy pastors having too many responsibilities with too little time for preparation. These have been around for years and when used as resources are helpful. I know the leaders of Docent and Preaching Today, and they are outstanding people offering useful and valuable tools. However, when those assists become substitutes for genuine preparation they lapse into virtual speech writers whose clients lip sync the thoughts, preparation and inspiration of others. We not only have Artificial Intelligence and Chat GPT now but Artificial Inspiration and Preparation relentlessly mining the web for material. A trusting and unsophisticated congregation has no idea about these tools and they are content to be “fed” this way week after week. It’s a pact like Cyrano’s that works for everyone – until it doesn’t.

Unrealistic Expectations

And the ever-increasing expectations of those being fed are also feeding the appetite of the problem.

In addition to the local congregation, there are all the members of a popular pastor’s national and international “tribe” and the sometimes millions of public followers gradually acquired over the years. There are the publishers, conferences, radio shows, podcasts, sought-after television appearances and the Holy Grail for so many – a visit to the White House.

Years ago between flights I ran into a friend leading a growing parachurch organization. He had been on the road for several days visiting donors and what he said as we passed stayed with me, “You have to feed the beast. Every day we need more money and every day it’s up to me to find it.”

It’s still true but something has changed. It is not only money the beast requires today. You have to feed your following’s hunger for home run sermons, books, articles, Twitter-size daily wisdom, memorable quotes, and a constant offering of communication with tips for living. People are no longer content to be nourished on Sunday. They want it accessible and packaged in snackable form. All that means less time and interest for preparation and the slow process of acquiring wisdom.

Henry Kissinger once remarked that the intellectual capital and convictions that leaders have formed before reaching high office are consumed once they occupy that position. Because the pressures of the work do not allow for creating new intellectual capital, they only use up what they brought with them. Perhaps the same is becoming true for our own organizational leaders. 

The pressures of feeding the beast have created a relationship of unrealistic expectations between leaders and followers that require pastors and other ministry leaders to find and dispense treats that keep the machine running and people coming back for more…and more… of less and less.

Art by Norman Catherine