5 ways Tim Keller was the anti-celebrity celebrity pastor

I'm not sure Keller would love the selfies people are posting with him.

When news hit that Tim Keller — the founding pastor of Redeemer Church in New York City and best-selling author of more than 20 books — died Friday at age 72 after battling pancreatic cancer, my timeline was flooded with gratitude and praise. Leaders noted that he had inspired their entire ministry approach. Others shared that his sermons and books has touched them in seasons of crisis and doubt.

Photo taken by Arianne Ramaker. Courtesy of TimothyKeller.com.

My timeline also featured a lot of people sharing selfies and Zoom screenshots of themselves with Keller. Lecrae said he was star-struck by only three people: “Michael Jordan, Jay-Z, and Tim Keller.”

It was an interesting way to memorialize Keller, who didn’t lead with his image, and seemed rather averse to the spotlight.

Of course, Keller had a platform — an impressive one. At the time of his retirement from pastoring in 2017, according t…