I'm Warren Smith and today you'll be listening in on my conversation with writer and editor,

Caitlin Beatty.

Her new book is Celebrities for Jesus.

How personas, platforms, and prophets are hurting the church.

Fame is healthiest when it's more about the work than about the person.

There's a kind of celebration of helplessness or excellence or virtue rather than I'm attaching

to the person and my simulated connection to them.

Caitlin Beatty believes that some Christian leaders use their fame and influence in positive

ways.

But too often she says, fame and celebrity are cultivated for their own sake and for

the sake of prophets and the building of personal empires.

We see this phenomenon most conspicuously with the prosperity gospel preachers, but increasingly

these practices have crept into mainstream evangelical ministries and that's why Caitlin

Beatty believes that it's time to explore the evangelical church's relationship to celebrity.

She explores how fame has reshaped the American church, explains why and how celebrity is

woven into the fabric of the evangelical movement and identifies how fame has misshapen

the church.

Caitlin Beatty is an editor at Baker Books and has written for the New York Times, the New

Yorker, the Washington Post and the Atlantic.

She previously served as print managing editor at Christianity today.

Now we live in vites and equips Christians to propel faith into action.

This free world view Bible study will spark rich discussions about some of life's most

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