F is for Field

F is for Field.  As in 'Reality Distortion Field'.

That's what the folks who worked with Steve Jobs in the early days of Apple called the bizarre force of nature that was Jobs' persuasive ability.  There would be a handful of engineers slaving away on a project that they knew without a doubt would take them at least six weeks to complete.  These were experienced and brilliant men.  Their projections were informed and accurate.  And yet Jobs would happen by their workplace and proclaim that they would be done in eight days.  And suddenly, to a man, they would 'know' that it would be completed in eight days.

And the strangest part of all is that it would actually be completed in eight days.

Steve Jobs was a lot of things.  An inventor, an innovator, an admittedly Not Very Nice Guy.

He was also a Mog.

So just what is a Mog?  Well, in my previous post you may recall i used the longer phrase, 'Man of god'.  Steve Jobs was a Man of god?  Well, the capitalization is no accident.  In this rendering Man becomes the focus,  god becomes secondary.  In Steve Jobs' case the god he followed after was likely none other than Jobs himself.  In point of fact, the god that the Mog is following after is almost always none other than the Man himself.

Few pastors start out as Mogs.  But a surprising number of them seem to end up there.

Mark Driscoll may have begun as a moG.  But he clearly ended up as a Mog.

Now i don't know much about Mark Driscoll or his church, but i do know that everything i've read about the rise and fall of his ministry sounds very familiar to me.  In fact, i think the only real difference between Mark 'The Mog' Driscoll and the Mog i worked for is that Mark Driscoll is considerably more talented at what he does.  Otherwise, the Arrogance, the Emotional Abuse, the Ministry exalted above the Ministered To?  Yes, it is all Very Familiar to me.

And yet Mogs often seem very successful at ministry.  How can this be?

Well, the one thing that all Mogs seem to have in common is a mastery of the wonder that is the Reality Distortion Field [let's call it RDF since we're shortening things].  It surrounds the successful Mog, drawing everyone into it's alluring aura.  Staff, Church Attenders, Family Members, and eventually even the Mog himself.  I once was told by a senior staff pastor who had known our Mog for many years that his only real gifting was 'his overwhelming ability to persuade'.  Not Shepherding.  Not Discernment and Wisdom.  Nope.  Just the gift of the RDF.

So, Mog has no College or Biblical education?  No problem.  Apply RDF.  Mog is on his third wife but still preaching about 'biblical relationships'?  No worries.  RDF.  Mog's salary is well over twice the median income of his community?  More RDF.  Mog operates autocratically with little to no accountability?  RDF.

Mog fires skilled and highly productive staff members without warning or explanation?

Whatever.  Plenty of RDF left to go around...