Needless to say, the whole Kanye West conversion story, Sunday Service performances and release of his ‘Jesus is King’ album is all the rage these days among evangelical Christians. Much of that is due to his success and fame as a celebrity in the music world. In fact, he recently appeared at Lakewood Church, home of Joel Osteen and some very questionable doctrine and theology. I first read about it and then listened to the on stage interview between the two.  Articles about the genuineness of Kanye’s faith are all over the place, with everybody who is anybody in evangelical Christianity sharing their opinion.

Now rewind back to 1978. The artist was Bob Dylan. Some of you are too young to remember his conversion from the Jewish faith to Christianity, but I am not. Certainly not as famous then as Kanye today, Dylan nevertheless made a resounding ‘splash’ with the release of three gospel albums. “Slow Train Coming” (1979) was my favorite. The song “Gotta Serve Somebody” from that album will be forever etched in my memory. Dylan was interviewed about his faith, but unlike Kanye he never made a big deal of it to the public. Through the years there has always been speculation about the genuineness of his faith, and in 2012 he said he still believes in Jesus. He still tours to this day.

There have been many more celebrities who have converted to Christianity or made professions of faith through the years, with varying degrees of public notoriety. We can all remember many of their names. The more famous the celebrity, the more excited we seem to become, and that’s my point.

I’ll cut to the chase here and ask THE question: Why is it that we seem to put celebrities who claim to be Christians on pedestals? Whether they come from Hollywood, the music industry, or the world of sports, we act like they are something really special because they are open about their faith. They become instant heroes of the faith, even when they are but ‘babes’ in Christ.

Food for thought on this Thanksgiving holiday morning. Speaking of thanksgiving, I am thankful that God saves people from all walks of life, including famous celebrities. We just need to treat them as God would, nurturing them in their faith, praying for their Christian growth and transformation into the likeness of Christ.

Perhaps Kayne West needs to take a step back from the entertainment business and find out who he is in Christ. I have a hint, It’s probably not ‘the greatest artist God ever created’.

There’s a lot more that could be said about the state of evangelical Christianity in our time, but I’ll just leave it right there and let you think about it. All comments are welcome.