As a church, we preached through 2 Corinthians during the 2025-2026 school year. Throughout the book, Paul defends his apostolicity and ministry in Corinth against false teachers whom he facetiously calls “super-apostles” (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11). These super-apostles undermine Paul by calling his credibility into question. Paul has to go so far as to say that the congregation of Corinth itself is his “letter of recommendation” (3:1–3). Paul is truly a servant of God with a ministry of integrity, even if he has to commend himself based on afflictions, hardships, beatings, and imprisonments (6:4–5).
In reflecting on Paul’s struggle throughout the book of 2 Corinthians, we realized this kind of “credibility questioning” happens all the time today for pastors and church leaders, but in a very different way. It happens on the internet.
A modern reality is that many Christians spend more time listening and interaction with online preachers, podcasters, YouTubers, and influencers than with the pastors who actually know them personally and are uniquely responsible and accountable for their souls (Heb. 13:17). Obviously, online Christian content is helpful (we are writing this article to be published online for other Christians who are not under our authority — we get the irony).
The question is not whether Christians should learn from teachers online, but should those online teachers function as pastors. We find a significant danger in the possibility that digital voices become a person’s primary spiritual authority.
If Your Pastor Doesn’t …
Since our church was planted in 2014, we have faced the struggle of being compared to what digital voices are propagating and what they care about most. But while the fire was mild for a handful of years, gasoline was poured on it in 2020 and has only grown since.
With COVID, BLM, elections, and more, we started falling under the condemnation of online voices saying, “If your pastor doesn’t … [fill in the blank: speak about race in this way, argue for masks, argue against masks, encourage voting for that person, encourage voting against that person], then you should leave.”
Essentially, every national event had a way of filling in that blank. “Your pastor better address Trumpism, immigration, COVID/masks, race in the agreed-upon way that I, as your online pastor, believe he should, or else you need to find a new church.”
It created an atmosphere where it felt like we were being interrogated against what some guy online says.
Online Voices as “Pastors”
Functionally, the voices people listened to online became their pastors. At times, it felt like we were local chaplains, stand-ins to help conduct an in-person service each week. But we could only have a role insofar as online pastors allowed people to remain under our leadership.
Now, let us say very clearly that this observation is not an indictment of our church or any individual. It honestly happened infrequently for us, but we’ve gotten the flavor of online voices functioning as “pastors” more and more in recent years. Before, we felt like people’s in-person counselors served as pastors. That shifted from counselors to online voices in 2020.
Why did this happen? Two likely reasons:
- Cultural trust is low.
- Trust in institutions is ultra-low.
Now, these could be good reasons. There have been plenty of times when a pastor, church or other leader or institution has proven unworthy through scandal or dubious motives.
A bad reason to embrace, functionally, these two propositions is simply having a cynical attitude or wanting to coalesce a specially selected group of voices into the authority in one’s life.
To some extent, trust is low across all fields, not just among pastors. Doctors, teachers, physical therapists, athletic trainers, nutritionists, counselors all seem to bemoan social media’s undercutting their work.
How Should We Respond?
We could get into the fray of the arms race. We could start a YouTube channel or (yet another) podcast (we are guilty of the latter — this article derived from a podcast we previously recorded; again, we get the irony!). It feels futile because we can’t compete with the firepower of most YouTube channels and podcasts (nor do we really want to).
So, we strategically lean into what we can do that those other alternatives could never offer: being present.
We, as pastors of Ridgewood Church, want to maintain a different kind of presence in our people’s lives. Do we fail at that? All the time — but we love our church, and we love our people.
We are here. We know our people and love our people. We hold their babies and catch their stomach bugs. We sit in their living rooms, laughing and crying.
The future is local. AI makes the personal and verifiable even more important. It is increasingly hard to distinguish between real and artificial.
During COVID, we started meeting as soon as we could because there’s something beautiful about being in the flesh with people. Jesus is Immanuel, God with us. He took on flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14). Being in the flesh matters.
A Few Suggestions for Church Members
- Be pastored by your pastors.
They love you. We’re not saying you must agree with everything they say or follow them blindly, but your favorite YouTuber is not going to call, text, or visit you when life hits the fan.
Pastors love shepherding. We know our congregations, understand our context, give personalized counsel, perform weddings and funerals, visit the hospital, handle complicated situations, pray when there feels like there is no way forward, and help people through suffering. A podcaster doesn’t know your marriage, temptations, family situation, job complexities, or spiritual struggles.
Listen broadly online (again, there are a ton of helpful resources — The Baptist Courier is one of those — but be willing to be shepherded locally.
- Give deference to the real and knowable.
Spiritual growth truly happens in churches, through friendships, and with accountability, more than merely through consuming content.
Receive counsel from people who know you and love you. That includes your pastors, your small group leaders, and the rest of the members of your church.
- Don’t be offended if we disagree with your virtual influencer.
Trevor likes to joke that there is no such thing as “the internet.” There is only “the internets” (plural). You have your internet, your friend has his, your mom has hers, and so on. The algorithm provides you with an internet. Your favorite online influencer, who is always popping up and always seems “right,” may not actually have the best opinion for your situation.
Your pastor may offer “orthogonal counsel” to what you believe is absolutely correct, which means he may look for blind spots, avoid groupthink, and offer independent advice that may not fit perfectly into what you think he should say. Be open to that.
Your pastors love you. Let them show you through how they shepherd you — in real life.
— Trevor Hoffman is elder of teaching and Aaron Markham is elder of discipleship at Ridgewood Church in Greer, S.C.