OJT

                 The origin of this movement was earlier.....but the late 1980s is a good place to start the description. A zealous minister's church begins to grow and a newer and bigger building is going to be needed. There is nothing wrong with this. There were a couple of times when Spurgeon's deacons had to sit down and figure out how they were going to seat the growing congregation.
                  A new church growth discipline was established....no different than any company with a good product that seeks the brightest minds to cause the company stock to soar. Crosses disappear from the new sanctuary because that is not a message to bring people in....the entire venue is very attractive....everything is bright and welcoming. The sound system is now state-of-the-art....and then the lighting system that includes strobes or lasers or some such thing. At one time there was a small open room with simple refreshments....but in this church growth model that small room is now a complete latte bar.
                 Whether it is elders or deacons or just board members....the numbers of them begin to grow. Associate pastors are added...eventually in double-digit numbers. A radio ministry is started....and maybe even a television ministry which can become national or even international....and the budget is now in the tens of millions.
                 The pastor and the deacons or elders now have to be very careful....and the holy boldness they once had has dissipated....for they now have to avoid controversy or the whole ministry could suffer. With few exceptions....and few examples in those exceptions....there are no Spurgeon sermons. The churches are growing....but not because of the preached gospel....rather of a preached lifestyle.
                 It may be a pandemic or just a budding recession....whatever it is....the giving to the church or the ministry begins to drop rather severely....but the bigger problem is that when a church or ministry grows to an enormous size....they then have to be extra careful not to offend any sizable proportion of the congregation or listening ministry.
                 They have talked themselves into believing that their reach into the world with gospel must be protected. During the pandemic many of these churches chose to keep their doors open to keep the tithing and alms and giving coming in....and Fauci became the fall guy....but on the biggest of all the issues....the minister and the church could not say anything negative about Donald Trump....for that would be the killer....and people would leave en masse....and they could not reach the world as well with the gospel....and God would not be served or pleased....or so they perceived it to be so.
                  Of course all of these deductions are wrong. God does not nor did not need that or any ministry. He may use them according to His perfect will....and He did so in grand and glorious ways with Billy Graham and R. C. Sproul....and John MacArthur....and others....but there was a time and a purpose for them....Billy Graham to keep the gospel in front of the entire American public....R. C. Sproul was teaching those that the Holy Spirit was calling....particularly on the holiness of God....and MacArthur was warning of false prophets....and pointing the way through the wicket gate....which is a very narrow gate.
                   Today the Lord of Glory is at the very door in His return with His mighty angels....just as Billy Graham pleaded with us to believe for decades. The warnings were given....and ignored....followed by a falling away....and turning to a false prophet....who tells us that judgment is not coming....but rather a golden age.
                   We seem to have entered into a period of....on-the-job-training....OJT. The remnant is here....but we may have to figure it out on our own....for we still have the Word of God....and the believer still has the Holy Spirit within....and we still have the promises....and the examples of the faithful in the past who lived through times that we are approaching. God still gives His gifts....which include discernment....and the strength to go on when troublesome times come. 
                   It might be more accurate and hopeful to say that pastors are going to have to hear for themselves what the Holy Spirit is telling His church....for the national ministers and ministries that we all counted on are either disappearing....and there is just no one anymore to blow the trumpet.