I Am Not a TV Preacher ... I Swear It

By Greg Stier, Op-ed Contributor Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Okay, I have actually been on TV preacher central, otherwise known as TBN, twice. Once with Luis Palau (yipee!) and once with Ted Haggard (insert awkward silence here.) Another time on another big haired Christian station I once high fived a dude that was raising his hands in praise. The well dressed older gentlemen was sitting next to me on live Christian TV as I told the story of how God used Dare 2 Share to transform one teenager's life. As I told the story, looking straight into the camera, I saw his praise hand raise up out of the corner of my eye. Being saved in a Baptist church I thought he was going for the high five but instead he was doing the hand praise arm raise. Without thinking I turned to him and slapped his upstetched hand as if he were a football player not a TV preacher…another awkward silence moment brought to you by Greg Stier. The camera man was laughing so hard he literally shook the camera with his "oh my gosh I can't believe that just happened on live Christian TV" giggles.

But while on Christian television I never once asked for money, wore a $3,000 suit or sported any TV preacher bling. Why all of these qualifications? To assure you that, in spite of a sermon I preached last week, I am not a TV preacher. Although a few of the things I referred to in my sermon may, at first, sound a little TV preacheresque keep listening. It is actually the anti-TV preacher view of giving. The point of my passage, 2 Corinthians 9, is not that we give to get but that we give to get to give! There's a big difference between the two.

You can listen to the sermon here.