No, I do not agree that professionalism is the greatest of all dangers in the ministry. There are much greater dangers like false/wrong teaching, false prophets, dishonest leadership that can degenerate the structure of a church from the inside out.

I personally prefer professionalism in a church and will attend churches where the pastor (or in my case, priest) is formal and vigilant. For me, professionalism in church leadership communicats trustworthiness and respectableness. Every week within liturgy we recite about praising God, "...it is proper and right." You just don't hear that anywhere anymore. A moral concern over the worship/leadership of a church being "proper" and "right." I am very concerned with these to the point of reflecting those values in the way I dress. I only wear dresses and skirts to church and it is preferred for men to wear suits. Having gone to more casual churches and experiencing more blasé church structures, I can tell you that dressing more formally for church (leadership and congregants included), does result in a more careful and esteemed regard for interactions with each other. And, quite frankly, I love it. I understand this professional atmosphere might not be for everyone. But it matches so well with the way I was raised and with the values I grew up being expected of me. Some people may feel more uncomfortable in this environment, but it goes both way. *I* feel uneasy and uncomfortable in casual churches. I find that the lack of structure and lack of clear undertanding for roles of congegants and leaders is confusing and frustrating. I love high church where we come together and worship a most High God, who is not my buddy, or my beach bum pal. God is to be revered, highly respected and the practice of woshipping him should be well thought out. Well-studied. I respect that approach to church much more. Not only do you not end up taking

I don't trust or respect leaders that show up in wrinkly t-shirts, shorts with holes in them and ratty flip flops that high-five you nearly as much. The whole preverbial "I'm giving the finger to the world and it's ways" is so unattractive to me for that reason. It breeds an attitude of taking each other and, what's worse, God, for granted. Because...whatever, right? We're just here to praise our Abba, buddy, dude Jesus. I can't function in these environments. I don't like casual speech in sermons. Think it through. Study well, prepare well, for what you are about to share. Be calculated. Have high regard for the power that your preaching holds because of he annointing of God upon your leadership. Care about leading well and presenting well. Tend your flock with excellence.

That quote is fine for those who would fit well with that author. You just wouldn't find me at that church.

I think it is interesting that this quote comes from a man who respected authority to such a great deal he preached his sermons with reverence, vigor and high moral character. He was also a doctor and participated in the profession and understood what is meant to be a professional. I do think that professionalism is the greatest danger for the preacher. The first and foremost point of this is due to the nature of who the preacher/prophet is.

Starting out every prophet that has been raised up for God's Glory hasn't been of professional stature. If we were to a look at who the professionals were in the day of the new testament, I'd say its the pharisees. The pharisees were very high, that esteemed excellence in their culture, they made sure that everything was in order and rank and file. Disruption to and radicalism was shunned and we see that with the way they killed Jesus and the way they continued to try and stifle the Apostles in Acts.

The preacher is a shepherd first and foremost. He is like every other Christian commanded to love and fear God with all his heart, and to love his neighbor. The next qualification is for him to be of certain character as outlined for elders in Timothy, and Titus. But the key characteristic is to be like Jesus, and to be like the Apostles and other Godly men called to be a Preacher and minister. A prophet doesn't seek to nuanced and hone his skill to the very best, he doesn't first and foremost rehearse, and compose himself of the highest societal standards. Most likely his skill is characteristic of being simple and humble. Meaning he is preaching from Gods word and to Gods people. Characteristically this has caused preachers to lose influence, be shunned by societies, be imprisoned, be kicked out of congregations, executed etc. Stability isn't the defining influence in the sense that his life is ordered and never in conflict. His life is characterized by conflict in most cases. In the midst of Godly trials and chaos the preacher fights the resistance to repentance and will face situations where he can't submit to societal norms etc. He also goes and fights for the least of these. He is constantly dying and sacrificing for the Church first, and then those who are heavy laden and burdened with sin and poor. A professional isn't going to be intentional to do these things necessarily. It takes getting dirty and being humbled through trials to be a Godly minister.

Sorry if that sounded like I was listing more than formulating a well polished argument.

Ryan - so you DO agree that being professional is a plus. :) Of course professionalISM can be an idol, but so can the color of the sanctuary carpet. Anything can become an idol. But I stand firmly in saying that I think professionalISM in ministry, and in worship, is a POSITIVE practice within a church. And yes of course, professional leaders should be Scripturally faithful. I think we are both saying the same things.

I think the first thing we need to do is define professionalism and professional. Obviously Jones has a working definition in his head that may or may not be the same definition that we are working with. Some care to define the terms and then we can go from there?

I just wanted to add that every Shepherd varies due to the kinds of Gifts the Spirit has imparted to him. And because of that variety every Shepherd can help us grow in different areas of our lives.
I hope I do not seem to judgmental re: the professional comments nor offend anyone, but I had to struggle with this when I was younger. I was really into promoting female ministers during the time of the great wave of feminism and I had to give real thought to it. I guess what bothered me then is that I knew a lady minister who was very professional and she caused herself alot of stress and she was plagued with headaches. Because of that I wondered if this was her true calling or was she trying to be someone that she really wasn"t. We can never fully know the heart as God does, neither can we judge one another because we just don't see as clearly as God does. I think when God says "Come let us reason together" we are called to think. Sometimes we don't want to slow down enough to think but I think it is important to meditate on what does it mean to have the mind of Christ.
One can be highly professional and highly spiritual, but that combination I have not seen very often.