This quote was in an article used to bait me by my good friend Andrew. It worked. The article is in the Tennessean titled “Church brands draw members: Faiths market themselves by taking on names that define their beliefs, message”
And for a new church, he added, brands like McDonald’s are the competition.
My response: Perhaps you are “selling” the wrong thing then!
So one of the many things I have the privilege of doing is helping tend the Web Store for a friend’s band. Recently the band has been challenged by an opportunity to perform in a very public and noteworthy venue. That’s prompted some interesting responses from those who claim to be fans. Today, I saw an email from a supposed fan that pushed me over the top.
In his email he was chastising the band for calling themselves a “Christian” band but playing “secular” venues and music. He pointed out verses of Scripture (out of context mind you) which he thought helped him build his case for an isolationist approach to living “the Christian life”. What he must have forgotten was the verse which was in his email signature and went out on all of his emails:
” And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ”
—Mark 16:15
How can you “Go” if you stay in the walls? And it actually carries a meaning of “as you are going”. How can you preach lest you are in venues that provide and audience for the message? He likens the band to Satan who elected for power and tried to overturn God. He called for them to drop out of the commitment to participate in the venue in order to keep commitments to “the Christian community”.
I watched the End of the Spear the other day. First time I’d seen it. One of the things that struck me about the movie was the comment of the dad about the missionaries not shooting the natives if the missionaries were in danger because the natives were not ready to meet Jesus and the missionaries were.
Too bad this guy who sent the email was a missionary who was ready to shoot the missionaries for going to the natives.
So, put this in the OMGosh! category! And multiple strikes on the OMGosh! scale…
Longmont clerk OKs anti-church petitions
LifeBridge Christian Church plans plan to build a $25 million sports arena, luxury homes, retail space and a mega-church on the property near Union Reservoir.
LifeBridge owns the property but wants to be annexed to Longmont to get help bringing water lines and other infrastructure to the area. The City Council approved the annexation on Aug. 14.
Oh and… they want help bringing water lines and other infrastructure (tax payer funded) but they are tax exempt… please folks you can’t have this both ways!
(You may want to stop before this last sentence… this one gets pretty harsh… but there is something in the writings of the New Testament about letting judgement [of the house of God] begin in the house of God by those who are part of the family.) Not to mention how far $25 million could go in helping families and individuals in crises… could Longmont eliminate homeless and poor situations with that money rather than building more places for supposed Christ followers to hide from the world in their own clean community? In another part of the country I’m familiar with two mega-churches are building combined improvements to their buildings around $40 million… and that’s in the same community! $40 million spent on luxury space to provide a safe environment for their “members” to fellowship with each other hide away from the very world we’re here to influence and help. And all this while their own members sacrifice (dividing a can of beans to feed families of four or more) to give to the building campaigns thinking they are advancing the Kingdom by so doing. Shame on us! Shame on the leaders who have been sucked down the road to believe this is for the Kingdom and pleases God! OMGosh!
Pastor Marty Baker’s ‘Giving Kiosks’ are catching on. Members say they use credit cards for everything else — why not tithing?
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