How Authentic?

Yesterday I had a conversation with a guy, which was similar to a conversation I was in a couple weeks ago about authenticity. And the question was: For preachers, how authentic is too authentic? Can you be too transparent?

In the talk a couple weeks ago a guy basically said, “Yeah, you want to be authentic. But you can’t totally share everything. I mean, you do need people to respect and follow you.”

My reaction? Bullcrap. Why? Because if you hold back truth about yourself, people may respect and follow, but it’s not really you that they’re respecting and following. They’re respecting and following you is this false image of yourself that you’re projecting. And seriously, who wants that?

So should there be any limit on authenticity? Personally, I would hold something back if I honestly thought it could hurt someone. Other than that, I would (and do) share everything.