WHO are we following, again?

In this morning's Bible study we ended up discussing church size and following our leaders. Later in the day I heard someone on the radio say that you can tell a leader by looking behind him. Does he have any followers? By this definition, Christ was and is quite a leader. In a smaller way, so is our Senior Pastor, Bil Cornelius.

I like the group of guys at the bible study this morning. If they have a question, they ask it. It sounded a couple of times like they were questioning our leadership, but I thought about it at the time and thought, "no, they are just digging, getting some questions answered." And it made everyone think. One of the things we discussed was, does this new initiative for BCTV, Bil Cornelius TV, mean that Bil is breaking out of Bay Area Fellowship, or if he's becoming self-centered. Not to give away the ending, but the conclusion was: No.

Because Pastor Bil is quite often under attack, and most often those attacks are by other Christians (remember the song "Jesus was a Capricorn" by Kris Kristofferson?), I'm going to defend him here, though Bil is definitely one of the men in the world who needs not my feeble defense. Also, I have spoken to Bil only politely and quickly; I don't know him personally. But, I've seen him enough both while he is in front of the congregation and around smaller groups of the congregation. I think he's the real thing.

Bil has one of the toughest jobs I've ever heard of. Imagine being at the grocery store and having people examine your cart for "sins." Or, if your car breaks down near a liquor store; or if you are in line for a movie. What movie? In line at Barnes & Noble. What book? I could do without the scrutiny, personally, though I'm sure Bil doesn't worry too much about it. He's likely as squeaky clean as he seems.

Bil is calling it BCTV because research has shown that people latch onto a personality, not a company. That's why it's "Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on Lebron James and the Cavs!" and not "Lakers vs. Cavs!" That's why authors put their name on it, not "written by ABC Company, Ltd." It's not the "Tonight Show" it's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" -- and water cooler talk drops everything but the last name. "Did you hear what Leno said last night?" People, not churches, talk. Bil talks, not Bay Area's building. So, if he wants to call it BCTV, fine with me. If he's teaching from the Bible and leading people to Christ and wanted to call it Pancakes and Pickles TV I couldn't care less.

My heart knows this most because Bil does the right thing, not the easy thing. It would be easier, and he would take less criticism, if he would have just called it Bay Area Fellowship TV. But, if the research is right, people wouldn't latch on as hard, wouldn't listen as close; and people wouldn't be saved in the numbers Bil -- and we whom he is leading -- believe they will. Bil isn't taking the easy way out. I would have. You bet I would have. But that's why when you look behind me, my group of followers is much smaller than Bil's. I'm okay with this. Bil was called to take on this criticism, to stand with courage in this way. I have my calling, and it is different.

I am a follower of Bil, but only because I believe Bil is led by God. If I didn't believe that, I would be the first one outta here. Well, not the first one. Bay Area's members are convinced and convicted. There would be a lot of people out of here if we didn't believe and trust Bil. I'm not worried about that scenario. And, uh, in Kristofferson's words, if you need someone to frown on, help yourself to me. It'd be a lot easier for you.

I am a member of Bay Area Fellowship, but these are my own thoughts, written on my own computer. They don't represent any official viewpoint.