In recent years, the Church has watched a painful and repeating pattern unfold. Pastors and preachers are elevated onto ever-higher platforms—celebrated, amplified, protected, and sometimes untouchable. Then, when failures surfaces, the fall is devastating. Not only for the leader, but for families, congregations, and the credibility of the gospel itself.
This cycle should force us to ask a hard question: Have we confused platform with calling?
The Problem With Pedestals
The modern Church has become exceptionally good at building stages—literal and figurative. Charisma is rewarded. Gifted communicators are promoted quickly. Numbers, influence, and online reach often become the primary metrics of success. In the process, pastors are subtly elevated above the people they are called to serve.
Pedestals are dangerous places. They isolate leaders, discourage honest accountability, and create an environment where image matters more than integrity. When a leader is constantly affirmed for performance but rarely examined for character, blind spots grow. Sin thrives in secrecy, and secrecy thrives where leaders are protected rather than pastored.
When failure finally comes—and it almost always does—it comes with a great fall. The higher the platform, the more destructive the collapse.
Jesus’ Model Was the Exact Opposite
Jesus directly confronted this way of thinking. While the religious culture of His day elevated titles, status, and public recognition, Jesus redefined leadership altogether.
“The greatest among you will be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11–12, CSB)
Jesus did not build His ministry by distancing Himself from people. He washed feet. He touched lepers. He welcomed children. He served those beneath Him in status and power—and then told His followers to do the same.
In one of the most striking moments of His ministry, Jesus told His disciples plainly:
“If anyone wants to be first, he must be last and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35, CSB)
This was not a metaphor. It was a mandate.
Servant Leadership Is Not a Buzzword
Servant leadership is often preached but rarely practiced. True servant leadership does not seek visibility. It embraces obscurity. It does not demand special treatment. It invites correction. It does not surround itself with “yes” people but with people who are willing to speak truth.
Jesus modeled leadership that flowed downward, not upward. Authority came from submission to the Father, not from public acclaim. Influence came from faithfulness, not branding.
When the Church replaces this posture with celebrity culture, it creates leaders who are skilled on stage but unsupported in private. Over time, pressure replaces prayer, performance replaces intimacy, and image replaces obedience.
The Tragic Pattern We Keep Seeing
We do not lack examples. Headlines continue to expose pastors involved in moral failure—sexual sin, financial misconduct, abuse of power, and deception. Each story follows a familiar script: rapid rise, minimal accountability, warning signs ignored, and eventual collapse.
These are not merely individual failures. They are systemic ones.
When churches elevate leaders without equally elevating accountability, when boards protect reputations instead of people, and when congregations confuse gifting with godliness, failure becomes not just possible—but predictable.
A Call Back to Biblical Leadership
The solution is not abandoning leadership. It is recovering biblical leadership.
Pastors are not called to be celebrities. They are called to be shepherds. Shepherds smell like sheep. They walk among the flock. They guard, guide, and serve—often unseen and uncelebrated.
The Church must stop asking, “How big is the platform?” and start asking, “How deep is the character?”
We must stop rewarding performance alone and start honoring faithfulness, humility, and repentance.
Most importantly, pastors must be allowed—and required—to live as servants first, leaders second.
The Way Forward
If the Church is to be restored, leadership must be restored to its proper place. Not above the people, but among them. Not insulated from accountability, but strengthened by it. Not driven by applause, but by obedience.
Jesus already showed us the way. The question is whether we are willing to follow it—even if it means stepping off the pedestal and picking up the towel.
Because in the Kingdom of God, the way up has always been down.
Thoughts from Pastor Toney 