Everyone, it seems, wants to be an “influencer.”
And, while that term is probably no longer en vogue and there is likely some newfangled replacement that the kids are using, it’s still relevant for us today.
Let’s also acknowledge that some of you are thinking about how you have no interest at all in being an influencer. Poppycock.
I don’t know a single person that hasn’t recommended a restaurant or a political candidate or an orthopedic shoe or an anything else under the sun. Everyone wants a little influence.
Lest you think this is going to be a takedown of influencer culture, think again. I actually think the drive to become an influencer is understandable. If we’re honest, the drive to become a professional influencer is a little bit delusional - full-time influencers are about as plentiful as full-time athletes - but it’s still understandable.
In our online world, influencers make money for being on your screen. It’s a job like any other, in that sense. They create content, we watch it, and advertisers monetize our attention and share the wealth with the content creator.
So, naturally, when faced with the prospect of sitting in a cubicle with a boss or sitting in a home studio making content, we can see the appeal of the latter.
What I’d like to do today is encourage you, whether you follow Jesus or not (but especially if you do), to be an influencer. Maybe not an online content creator, but someone with influence that impacts the lives of others. Because the world needs more people full of love and grace to share that love and grace…and to introduce others to the inexhaustible source of that love and grace.
If we’re going to get there, however, we need to redefine of bit of what kind of influencer we aim to become.
In our modern world, most influencers are entertainers and salespeople. No shame there, just honesty.
My kids watch people on YouTube who talk about their field of interest (ballet, violin, etc…) or create content that is compelling or relaxing or creative or addictive (let’s paint Squishmallows™ or review nail polish).
These are entertainers the same way that a podcaster or ESPN anchor is - they talk about things that interest someone and sell the audience to advertisers.
The other influencer (more common on social media) is the salesperson. They get a free trip to the resort in Bali and post all about it so that a few more people will book trips to that resort in Bali. Or they wear a certain outfit hiking, take a cool photo from a cliff’s edge, and then instruct you to check the links in the post to grab this incredible, breathable, fashionable gear for yourself (taking a 20% cut of the sale).
This is fine. But it’s the 2023 equivalent of a door-to-door vacuum salesman in 1954. Whatever. See it for what it is.
So I’d like to propose a different way. And, in order to do so, I’d like to introduce you to my favorite influencers (if I can call them that) - the two people in the photo at the top of this post.
I’d like you to meet Ben and Leanne. They’re Peloton instructors.
No, we don’t have a Peloton. But we used to. For a season, it was our workout of choice. But I would only take spin classes if Leanne was leading and I’d only do strength training if Ben was in charge. They’re sweet, encouraging, and, perhaps most charmingly, British. The American instructors liked to shout at me and motivate me with challenging rubbish. They’d tell me that “pain is just weakness leaving the body” before yelling at me to “push it!” Ben and Leanne? No such aggressiveness. They were more likely to discuss the tea being sipped than the necessity for you to get ripped.
Fitness aside, here’s why I would hold them up as the model for modern Christian influencers. They provide utility. And they entered into our life as utility providers. We didn’t sign up for Peloton because they sold us with cool videos of themselves in spandex with insinuations that we could look like beautiful twenty-somethings if we also had a stationary bike. No, we just signed up because we needed a way to stay in shape and our knees (back then) allowed it. Ben and Leanne were there waiting for us. They were pleasant as they helped us elevate our heart rates and stay fit as we entered middle age. That’s useful. And they influenced us through that usefulness.
What’s my point? I suppose I’m trying to say that our main influence on the world around us should be in the utility we provide as opposed to the entertainment or commerce we drive.
Ben and Leanne are, clearly, attractive humans. But their primary attractiveness to us was what practical thing they provided for us and they manner in which they provided it.
And while practical provision doesn’t go viral, it does engender loyalty and grow influence.
Unfortunately, Christians often seek to occupy the first two categories of influence - entertainers and salespeople at the exclusion of any practical provision. It seems we’re either hoping to go viral on social media through the sheer force of our charisma or we’re selling something - be it a book or lifestyle or just Jesus himself.
And this description fits our in-person lives as much as it does online. How many of us are walking around cities and towns attempting to get people to come to church because it’s entertaining (strobe lights and lasers for Jesus!) or are trying to sell Jesus like he’s a new winter coat at TJ Maxx (so warm and snuggly!)?
Jesus had no interest in being cool or basking in fame so let’s stop trying to make him look cooler or add to him the trappings of modern fame.
What’s more, Jesus didn’t ever sell himself. In fact, he often was honest in that following him would be an unpopular decision and generally bad deal in worldly terms - give up your life and receive persecution and ridicule in the days ahead.
So instead of attempting to mold ourselves (or Jesus, for that matter) into virally attractive entertainers or salespeople, what I’d love to imagine is a world where Christians seek to make impact by providing radically beautiful utility. Jesus said something about that. Telling his friends about what he was looking for in a final judgement, he said:
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’
- Matthew 25:35-36, 45, The Message
The evidence of our love is utility not entertainment. It’s not selling the needy on Jesus but being so sold out to Jesus that we selflessly see to the needy.
I’m fond of reminding people that no person and no situation is beyond redemption. If we can create impact through love-fueled utility, perhaps even the idea of an influencer can be redeemed.
— KB