T4G: Together For the Gold

The numbers are pretty staggering in every respect. To attend Together for the Gospel's 2020 conference in Louisville Kentucky will cost over $200 just to get in. The total costs of attendance, travel, lodging and meals mean that it's out of reach for a lot of people. I would struggle to even be able to come up with the ticket money. I can't afford their gospel. The conference gives away a pretty hefty stack of books but when you look at the thousands of attendees and start to do the math you realise these conferences bring in some serious money... millions of dollars.

The arena is expensive to rent to be sure. I don't doubt the costs are well over $100,000 dollars and of course the books require some overhead but even when all these expenses are added in, there's a massive quantity of money being made. I realise T4G is a non-profit. Of course it is but that doesn't mean that money isn't being made by individuals. You can work for a non-profit and still make millions of dollars. Just ask Franklin Graham. Given the track record of some of the figures associated with New Calvinism, and this being one of its flagship events, I'm sure their take home fees are impressive. None of these men own private jets but virtually all of them are in the top 1% of US income earners and some of them are multi-millionaires. These are men making hundreds of thousands a year and as I constantly point out, even this is deceiving. It's one thing to make a salary of $250,000 but then when you add in all the perks, they're really making a lot more than that. Imagine if you had your present income but with only half the bills. None of these men live what could be called an austere lifestyle.

Some will defend their incomes and argue that they've made a lot of their money on book royalties and the like. This argument always baffles me. I guess as Christian teachers it never occurred to them to charge less for their materials? Let's just say that more than once I've been embarrassed in recommending a book to someone who is left stunned at the cost. Some are worse than others, certainly the late RC Sproul was one of the worst. You want to purchase his book 'Now That's a Good Question'? Well for his pastoral wisdom be prepared to shell out $18... for a cheap paperback at that.  Is it any wonder that people are flocking to Amazon to buy used and discounted copies of Christian books? Given Sproul's income and the financial corruption within Ligonier I'm hardly surprised when I've heard more than one person exclaim that they won't buy anything from his organisation ever again. I know I wrote him off twenty years ago.

There are many valid criticisms of the New Calvinism and indeed the label itself is confusing. The movement which came to be identified in the early 2000's includes many names such as John MacArthur, John Piper and Albert Mohler who probably eschew the label. And yet they clearly are part of the movement and share in its ethos. The movement's fidelity to some form of historic Calvinism can certainly be questioned as well as its commitment to Scriptural authority. Certainly the movement (despite its lip service) demonstrates a clear rejection of Scriptural Sufficiency. This is in keeping with the Evangelical mindset it has embraced in the realms of ecclesiology and Dominionistic cultural transformation.

But what continues to amaze me is the hucksterish aspects of the movement, the cult of celebrity, the big money. It has capitalised on a spirit within American culture and it's no accident the movement arose when it did. In cultural terms this consumerist 'brand' spirit went into hyper-drive during the 1990's. The fact that a similar style Calvinism was able to emerge around the same time makes sense. This is of course an oversimplification as there were many forces at work within the Christian political movement that were also driving Evangelicals this direction.

In the end one wonders just what gospel is drawing these folks together? Their meetings are supposedly focused on calling people back to Biblical truths, even while everything the movement does and stands for points in the opposite direction. From the profoundly anti-Biblical entertainment focused worship, to the celebrity cult, to the money culture which surrounds the movement, its values and assumptions, the gospel is surely obscured if not lost. The people I've encountered who are into this movement strike me more as loyal fans of a sports club. They know the slogans, the mottoes, the sound-bytes and they've got the apps and the gear... but there doesn't seem to be a lot of substance there.

I know one thing, there's a lot of money being made. Are the people of God being made into merchandise? I think the answer is fairly obvious.