Olympic viewing is up this year, about 22 percent above that of the Athens Olympics in 2004. A big part of fan interest is to see if swimmer Michael Phelps can achieve his highly publicized goal of winning eight gold medals, which would be a first.

He's already on track to win more gold medals than any Olympian, because of the six he won in Athens. I'm watching as I write, and Bob Costas just announced Phelps' race coming up in a half hour. If he wins it would be gold medal No. 9, matching the all-time record.

Some say Phelps is one big reason more people are watching the Olympics this year. It's my bedtime, but i'm staying up to see if he can win another gold.

We are a personality driven culture. Any survey of websites and magazine racks shows we are fascinated to follow the exploits of celebrities, defined here as people who are famous for being famous.

The celebrity cultism of America seeps into the church. That makes it difficult for a pastor to succeed a hugely popular man ahead of him. Mega-churches struggle to call a man of similar stature to the man who built the church. Witness struggles at First Baptist Dallas, Bellevue in Memphis and others.

Can Saddleback move forward without a glitch when Rick Warren retires or Willow Creek do the same when Bill Hybels retires?

Is the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association the same without Billy Graham at the helm? How about Focus on the Family without James Dobson?

The most interesting feature of fall football has been the Brett Favre saga. The iconic Green Bay Packer future Hall of Famer unretired and discovered the Packers wanted to move on without him.  But for several days, it was all Favre all the time in the sports world.

When the leader is head of an organization he or she did not build, it is not so difficult to replace him or her. Even the president of the United States is replaceable without a spasm because the system is bigger than the office holder.

Maybe we are fascinated with personalities because they reduce the issue to comprehensible  dimensions. We can't comprehend football, but we understand the human drama of an all-star not being welcomed at his home of 16 years.

We don't know what it takes to build a great church, but Adrian Rogers did it, and Rick Warren did it and Richard Jackson did it.

We are fascinated with personalities because we think that given the right circumstances, it could've been us.

Michael Phelps just won his third gold medal. I'm going to the pool in the morning.