In a happier timeline, Driscoll, Patrick, and Chandler would still have another 15-20 years of effective ministry ahead of them as a team: Driscoll is still only 53, Patrick would be 53, and Chandler is 49. For context, Tim Keller was 58 when he published The Reason for God and John Piper was 42 when Desiring God was published and 54 when he spoke at Passion in 2000 and gave his “Don’t Waste Your Life” sermon. So if you think Piper’s Passion sermon and Keller’s Reason for God are their most consequential or influential personal works, that would mean that each of the Acts 29 triumvirate would still be several years away from the ages Piper and Keller were for their most far-reaching, influential works—and that is all to say nothing of all the things both men did after those two signature works. Keller published 29 books after he wrote The Reason for God, many of which I actually like better than Reason. Piper wrote or contributed to nearly 60 volumes after his Passion sermon many of which, likewise, surpassed the Passion sermon or, in my opinion, Desiring God.
One of the effects of technological advance is that it gives younger people a way of moving up very fast without either acquiring experience or proper vetting/due diligence. Generally they are already adjusted (being a college professor, I know the limitations of that adjustment) to the newer technology, which has increased the edge that youth has in our culture. The downside is that a)people peak earlier, especially when the technology changes (Meador notes the advent of social media changed the dynamics, which it did) and b)they don’t acquire the experience one gets moving up at a “normal” pace to endure blowback when things get tough.
Meador’s piece mostly contents itself with the Reformed world, although I’ve seen the effects of too-rapid promotion outside of it. I still believe that an unmentioned problem with all of these people–and I’ve discussed this specifically in the context of Tim Keller–is that they’re trying to minister to a demographic which is basically hostile to real Christianity and will bend the faith to their own idea when given the chance. The reason for that is simple: they have discovered that God is a competitor to their domination of the world around them, and they resent it bitterly. Better to shake the dust off our feet and move to happier mission fields as the Pentecostals have done. Those who do believe that God has call them to this mission field better be prepared to operate as if Christianity is illegal, which is soon coming if these people get their way.
Positive Infinity 