For austerity sake, find his work here. And know my label of a busy body is a light jab not a lofted accusation uppercut. The man is doing numbers. Which is only a problem if there is problems. The only problem that’s worth bring up with Mike is that he currently exists in a strange but peculiar online ministry position. That being one of a former pastor who is instructing the church about it’s current pastors. Now I do that, so we have to tread lightly through these eggshells. And I'm a former pastor too. But his accurate and particularly detailed exposure of fraud, abuse, and general bad theology in modern churches, is second to none. Something I've appreciated over the years. And have been blessed by. But that doesn’t exactly make it merely a good thing.
You see. As a former pastor, he swings a big enough stick to hit others in the arc of pursuing truth. And with an ambiguous online ministry as defined by what seems like himself, that stick is the least of the issues here. Because it highlights the weird and rogue role of online ministries. And another great example of why the church needs to view the internet as a thing and not a place. Because when the internet is a place, then a former pastor never stops being a leader in the “Church” because the local church is attached at the hip to every other church with a web presence. His gifts and content can last as long as the power stays on and reach as far as the connections go. Which is only a problem if there are problems.
Hear me say this clearly. Right now there are no problems. Everything Mike has done to date is good work and you should be consuming his content. It will make you better as a theologian and apologist. The tide is out and the waves are small. Everyone knows how to swim here, or at least dog paddle, and we all think this whole surfing the internet thing is cool. But tide’s don’t stay out. And Mike is about to be on the edge of a wave between influencer and online ministry that no church has adequately defined. Let alone something as independent as an online ministry would reasonably define for itself. A rolling barrel of a wave that can look like both academic inquiry and response as well as gossip and attention whoring. Because there are actual ministries operating on the internet with effectiveness and then there are people who know, Christians, are an easy market on the internet because there are actual ministries operating on the internet.
One wants to feed the sheep because they are a shepherd of the church and the other wants to fleece the sheep because they figured out what wool was good for. Both will say they’re helping with the local wolf population. Both mean different things. Mike is neither, exactly, at this moment of time. Surfing so well that he’s entirely inside the barrel of the wave. Completely surrounded by water, but not drowning. He might be still on the board, but he also might be headed for deep water. He’s skilled, talented and one would even say gifted, in what he does. By the Holy Spirit even, But you have to wonder if he would listen to a lifeguard who tells him not to surf that particular wave. Because unlike a church that can fire a pastor who does something dangerous, Online ministries have no such authority over them. There are no lifeguards in the international waters of the world wide web.
God's plan is for the church to minister to itself, through itself, and minister to the world through itself, after itself. In that order, for His purposes.
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
Ephesians 4:11-13 KJV
“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-21 KJV
That work of the ministry points the skills and talents of Christians back toward the gathered body of Christ, And it’s in that motion that online ministries take a tangent that out of line but congruent enough that we don’t call it out right away. It’s not that Mike is wrong in his videos. He’s right. But there is no way to call him wrong if he were. He points out, more so recently than not, the failings of actual church bodies with actual church governance. With no discernable church governance of his own and a distinct separation from the churches he criticizes. He’s not a member or part of the leadership of the churches he criticizes, but neither are they able to be a member of his online ministry. A right hand saying to the body that its left hand has a blemish and then cutting itself off so it won’t die as a result.
McLuhan said that any technology we use, amputates aspects of our bodies and minds from being used instead. That an artificial light does not illuminate the eyes but rather make the darkness more unbearable because of the need for artificial light. And the internet has done the same kind of thing to the church, It has amputated valid ministries and insisted on calling things ministries that never were in the first place in their stead. The same way you can’t imagine yourself without a light switch if you know you’re in a room that should have one. It’s the should's that get us into troubled waters. Like whether or not we should be surfing by ourselves.
So what is and isn’t a valid internet or social medial ministry? Can you even do ministry online? Are there things that are being called ministries online that are not, shouldn’t be, or could be but aren’t quiet yet?
Lets dig into this.
Things that aren’t ministry and are online activities:
This would be any niche type of content. flyfishing tutorials and how to videos. Reaction takes and tier lists. These use the internet to find attention to gather into a place for the sole purpose of ad revenue generation and subsequent merchandizing pitches. Mr. Beast would be the mayor of this town if it were a place. But it’s not, it’s a thing and should be viewed as the junk mail that it is not the community that it isn’t. There are a lot of people who love when junk mail comes because of their niche interests. I love getting the Princess Auto flyer. But the flyer is just a pitch to get me to go to the store and buy tools I don’t need, yet, and not a community of guys with not enough tools, yet. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this, but also nothing intrinsically good either, which is what all ministries should be. And it’s why Christian TikTok accounts and their pantomime of the Bible narratives and cliche theology lukewarm takes are so cringe. We know it’s not real church but it wears the wool like a good wolf would. Even it its vegetarian wolf not currently eating the sheep. It still distracts the sheep enough so their aren’t eating. Starving sheep are a problem for actual shepherds.
Things that are ministry and are online activities:
This is where sermons and songs fit in. Social media has let Christian artists out of the CCM and CCLI cages and now their praises can be shared with the body at large. And The same archival aspects of YouTube and other video sites let Christians learn from gifted preachers they otherwise would never hear on a Sunday. Audio hosting sites like Soundcloud and Spotify do the same. This is not church but it is what happens at church. Which can also happen outside of church when you let it. This is the easiest thing to confuse with church and where a lot of Christian ministries end up doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.
Things that are online activities but shouldn’t be ministries:
Church services, sacraments, any fake communities that are actually just forms of correspondence. I wrote a whole book about this, if you haven't read it you should. Here’s the link.
Things that are online activities and aren’t ministries but should be:
And here is exactly what Mike is doing and where it fits in, with one tweak. What Mike does needs a church behind him saying, he's doing this for the benefit of all churches through our church. That subtle change lets every other member of the universal body of Christ know that his work is under the authority of godly men called elders who could have him retract an unbiblical teaching or approach if he made one. That were he ever to slip into slander instead of just discernment someone would be able to call him to repentance. Right now, there’s no reason for that kind of action but that is a different thing than there being a need for that kind of action. There’s probably a host of complication that could arise for an online ministry to attach itself to a local church, but all that shows is the danger of scale caused by technology. When a guy like Mike can be called on to wield a spiritual gift of discernment for a singular church body. There's no need to shut down a contact form because of too many request. But flip that light switch too much and now you’re just in a dark room in need of a light but with no ability to light that dark room.
I don’t want Mike to stop, because I love his content. But I do want Christians to behave online, because of how the concept of online-ness tends to influence how they behave. The medium is the message. Follow the running edge of online engagement and exposure long enough and all you end up with is a Christian version of Gawker, not a Christlike one. At which point does our salt loose it’s saltiness? If we can’t answer that question, by metrics we would adhere to, then how would we ever know we became a worldly kind of bland?
At the end of the day, anyone posting content online as a way of garnering funds or attention, as a Christian, has to ask themselves two questions. Are you instructing the church or checking the church's instructions? One requires you to be in fellowship with the church you’re instructing. The other can be open commentary and communication with anyone who finds your content. But also then, can’t be authoritative. Pointing out the cancerous corruption of another's persons body only to make money off the pointing out, is cruel. Like a man in a white lab coat with a stethoscope telling you your dying, when you are dying, and should see a doctor. “Really? What do they look like? Just like me! Can you help me? No. All I can do is say you’re dying when you’re dying and that you need a doctor like me.”
The internet does not make the Church universal and unified, it already was. But through its unparalleled connection we miss that specifically local leaders are in charge of maintaining the discipline, that is all to easy to feign as content for outrage driven views and engagement. And through it’s connection, guy’s like Mike could be making a difference if given the chance and if willing to take that chance. By entering into that locality when warranted or requested.
Would Mike be willing to sit down with Todd White's church and help assess the specific moral, ecclesiological, and theological problems they have? Or Bethel? Or Vineyard? Because right now he has no stated and obvious way of people who he criticizes to do so. I'm willing to meet with churches and ministries, like the ones in his videos, and tell them to stop live streaming because it’s not actually church. Is he willing to help his Christian brothers with their backsliding or is the view count to good at the top of that slippery slope. And that’s where we need to move forward as online theologians and ministries. Skin in the game that would never say to hands of feet we don’t need thee. It’s one thing to make a valid accusation and thoroughly dismantle a theological problem causing that accusation.
But another thing, entirely, to help with the rectification of that problem.
Only one of these makes for good content.
Keep up the good work Mike.
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