The annual "50 Most Influential Christians in America" list is out for 2007 with Joel Osteen topping the list, up from number 2 in 2006.

T.D. Jakes dropped from 1 to 4 while Rick Warren dropped from 4 to 16. Meanwhile, Billy Graham moved up from 3 to 2 over 2006.

But I seriously doubt that this is God's list. Here's what I wrote in Rev. magazine back in 2005:

[Perhaps topping God's list is] a Sunday school teacher somewhere who told a disruptive second-grader, “Ricky, you really need to find a purpose for your life instead of just being driven in every direction.”

Or maybe a North Carolina farmer, who warned a teen trouble-maker, “Billy, the Buh-ble says, ‘You must be born again . . . right now. If you came on a bus, it will wait for you . . .’”

I can imagine a school psychologist telling third-grade Franky, “Perhaps you could deal with the monsters and demons in your mind by writing stories about this present darkness.”

Or suppose a next-door neighbor saying, “Joyce, could you teach a home Bible study?”

And maybe there’s a nurse who told a young quadriplegic, “Joni, I need you to sign this form. Here, put the pen in your mouth. Wow, nice penmanship. Have you every thought of a career in art?”

God’s list rarely includes the “top” “most influential” Christians in “America.”

(You can read my complete rant by clicking here.)

Only eternity will reveal the real list. And if Jesus has anything to say about it, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first."