“Consider what it takes for successful businessmen and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs and hardworking associates, shrewd retirees and idealistic students to combine forces with a creative pastor to grow a ’successful church’ today. Clearly, it doesn’t require the power of God to draw a crowd in our culture. A few key elements that we can manufacture will suffice.
First, we need a good performance. In an entertainment-driven culture, we need someone who can captivate the crowds. If we don’t have a charismatic communicator, we are doomed. So even if we have to show him on a video screen, we must have a good preacher. It’s even better if he has an accomplished worship leader with a strong band at his side.
Next, we need a place to hold the crowds that will come, so we gather all of our resources to build a multimillion-dollar facility to house the performance. We must make sure that all facets of the building are excellent and attractive. After all, that’s what our culture expects. Honestly, that’s what we expect.
Finally, once the crowds get there, we need to have something to keep them coming back. So we need to start programs–first-class, top-of-of-line programs–for kids, for youth, for families, for every age and stage. In order to have these programs, we need professionals to run them. That way, for example, parents can simply drop off their kids at the door, and the professionals can handle ministry for them. We don’t want people trying this at home.”
-David Platt, in his best-selling book Radical
Some would call it irritation, evidence that the internet is making people dumb and dumberer or a sign of the apocalypse but I consider it something special when a nonprofit webmaster receives an e-mail requesting the organization’s phone number and expressing deep concern that it is nowhere to be found on a website where it just so happens to be on every single page.
Oh human beings.
When I was in high school my older brother and I would occasionally write songs in his room with an electric guitar and Casio. One of the lines to a song we came up with that I still remember was this little nugget of wisdom: “The sign says you’re open but I know your closed.”
This store I passed on my walk home from the market earlier this week reminded me of that song, even though in this case it’s more like, “The sign says you’re open, but the other says closed.”
The blinds kind of make it obvious that the store is in fact closed, but then again the sign on the street does say “yes, we’re open” so who really knows? What I do know is that I’m not going to be shopping there any time soon.
Our church recently hired a new youth pastor and one of the things I kept noticing in e-mails I was receiving about him was the – to me at least – blatant absence of a comma before his wife’s name in sentences like “His wife (her name).”
Because I’m one of those annoying grammar nerds (or Nazis as some like to call us), my first thought was that he had more than one wife since the grammatical rule of thumb is that if she is one of several wives she doesn’t get a comma.
For example, when I refer to my brother Mike, I don’t use a comma because I have more than one brother.
I was reminded of this again the other day while writing an article about a mission trip because I had to check to see whether a guy I was referring to in the article had just the two daughters that were going on the trip with him or more. Since he has four, a comma was unnecessary.
Fellow grammar nerds will read that sentence and deduct from it that either a. I need to polish up on my grammar or b. He has more than two daughters. Everyone else won’t even notice or care.
Consider this my half of the Jesus fish in the sand.
One of the nice things about having a computer genius for a brother is that I tend to only get called to help with computer issues by family members when he is unavailable. Usually it’s my dad and he’s yelling at me about his computer and my brother so I play the “if he can’t figure out, I have no clue” card.
Still, the interesting thing that occurs and has occurred more or less since my little bro started making a name for himself for his skills when he was in middle school is that I get phone calls and e-mails from people who aren’t blood asking me for my brother’s contact information.
If my brother ever decides to start charging these people – his coping mechanism is to ignore people who only want to abuse his friendship for computer support – perhaps I could ask for a cut of the profits.
(Hat Tip: Church Create)
You know what’s annoying?
Reading some of the garbage people post on their Facebook that I have to practice restraint from replying to when I’m logged into an organizational Facebook account.
I just read one of those status update forwards that I know must be false even before I double check it on Snopes.com (remember, if your mother says she loves you check it out). It’s the one about how Obama canceled the National Day of Prayer because (wink wink, nudge nudge) he’s really a Muslim. Well, that’s what it implies at least. I think it actually says that he canceled it because he didn’t want to offend (as if Muslims don’t pray).
The reasons I can’t even post a gentle comment about checking sources before posting should be obvious. When I’m representing a nonpartisan organization I can’t under any circumstances enter into this kind of a dialogue.
Still, as annoying as it is it’s good to practice restraint when engaging in social networking of all kinds. I’m learning more and more the importance of asking ourselves the question of whether our own agendas (in my case I like to think that it’s for people to post accurate information) are really an outpouring of our own desires to portray ourselves as informed and intelligent persons with the right opinions and the proper skills to successfully navigate information in a responsible way.
In other words, I’m awesome because I can point out how un-awesome you are.
There’s nothing like self-imposed restraint to test our motives is there?
