August 30, 2007

Out of Context: Dot.TV Pastor

"Next to a church's preaching pastor, the most important staff member in the shaping of the message is the media pastor...The second hire in most congregations should be the media pastor."

-Eric Reed, managing editor of Leadership, reports this statement made by the media pastor of a multi-site church whose web address ends in dot-tv. in his report, "Preaching by Faith and by Sight: How oral communicators are joining the visual revolution" in the Summer 2007 issue of Leadership journal. To see the quote IN context, you'll need to see the print version of Leadership. To subscribe, click on the cover of Leadership on this page.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 30, 2007 | Comments (4)

August 28, 2007

Missional Ice Cream

I’ve heard that the church is like a family. We’ve all been told the church is like a business. Now Leadership contributor, Chad Hall, explains that a missional church is like an ice cream truck. He may be on to something, but there will still be arguments about what kind of music to play.

My kids (6, 3, and 2 years old) LOVE the ice cream truck, and so do I. What's not to love? There we are, outside on a hot day playing in the yard or riding a bike or washing the car and out of nowhere we hear the faint melody of the ice cream truck. Like an unexpected friend dropping by, the ice cream truck rounds the corner and delivers delicious desserts in the middle of an otherwise humdrum day. It's a beautiful thing.

The ice cream truck reminds me of what it means to be a missional disciple. The ice cream truck driver has a wonderful gift he wants to bestow (okay, he's selling it – every metaphor has its flaws, so let's ignore the mismatches, okay?). The driver also seeks out the very kinds of people who are ready and in want of the gifts he has. The driver does not sit in the parking lot of the old folks' home and wait for my family to drop what we are doing and come to him and get our cool treats. No, he comes to us. And we delight in what he brings.
Missional disciples also have a wonderful gift (Jesus), best offered to those who are in want.

The more I think about it, what my kids love is not the ice cream truck – it’s the ice cream itself. If we bring Jesus to people, people will love what we bring. But too often we get perplexed and even disappointed because folks reject our opinions about Jesus, or our system for understanding Jesus, or our organization that is devoted to Jesus. In fact, we may even find it difficult to know Jesus apart from our opinions, systems, and organizations related to him. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of being a missional disciple is letting Jesus be unwrapped from all that packaging.

But do people really want Jesus? Do they want Way, Truth, and Life? At some level, the answer for every child born of woman is “Yes.” People want Jesus even more than my kids want ice cream because Jesus is the only Way we can Truly Live – and every person wants to truly live.

For a while, my 5-year-old neighbor didn’t think he liked ice cream. Go figure. At birthday parties, he’d take his cake plain. At summer cookouts, he’d settle for a cookie. When the ice cream truck came by, he just kept playing. But over time he kept noticing the other kids going bonkers over ice cream. Nobody forced him to try it. Though I considered holding him down and shoving some Neapolitan down his throat, I refrained.

Last week he finally came around. He likes bananas and he decided out of the blue to try some with ice cream. He liked it – a lot. I’ll let you draw out the deep and applicable analogies here, but the point is that everybody loves ice cream – some people just don’t know it yet. What’s a 5-year-old kid really know, anyway? And aren’t we all just kids who don’t yet know what we really want out of life? If the gospel is true, then a saving and sanctifying relationship with God through Jesus is at the core of each of us. It is our essence.

Force-feeding Jesus to people will only produce skeptics and suspicion. The missional disciple goes out in search of folks who hunger and thirst for Jesus. Such a disciple seeks them out and introduces Jesus so that people can taste and see that the Lord is good. Some will receive Jesus with enthusiasm and delight, while others will be affected by the impact Jesus makes for those who savor him.

While every person wants Jesus, whether they know it or note, the missional disciple does not concerns herself with convincing people they want Jesus. Savvy ice cream truck drivers go where ice cream is welcomed and lets the Nutty Buddies and Push Ups do their magic. They don't go to country clubs or carpet stores. They're not out on the interstate or at a Harley convention. Jesus had some things to say about the healthy not needing a doctor. Savvy disciples (wise as serpents) go after the hungry and thirsty. This is why most discipleship should be expressed outside the church. (Notice discipleship here is "living like Jesus," not "learning about Jesus.") Disciples are to be on a mission to bring the delight of Jesus to the least expecting and most ready.

I believe there are Jesus-ready people just about everywhere, if we only have eyes to see and hearts that are open. How might we seek out and bring Jesus to those who hunger and thirst? Here are some ideas...

• Paying close enough attention that you discern the unique way a co-worker hungers and thirsts

• Providing a listening ear to a friend (or foe) who thinks no one cares

• Seeking out a neighbor to encourage

• Praying for the people who wouldn't expect your prayers

• Walking through shame and disappointment with someone who has suffered loss

• Forgiving an enemy (you DO have enemies) even though there is embarrassment on both sides

• Going out of your way to allow someone to experience the Holy One who makes his temple-dwelling in you.

So what about you? Where do you need to drive your ice cream truck this week?

Chad Hall is a ministry coach living in Hickory, North Carolina, and the co-author of Coaching for Christian Leaders (Chalice Press, 2007).

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 28, 2007 | Comments (10)

August 23, 2007

Thus Saith the Radio

Sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura,…sola radio? The following conversation is based on true events.

Church member: “Pastor, I’m very disturbed by something you said in your sermon yesterday.”

Pastor: “I’m glad you came to talk with me about it. What’s bothering you?”

Church member: “In the sermon you mentioned Erwin McManus.”

Pastor: “That’s right. I quoted something he said about church membership.”

Church member: “Well, I’m very disturbed that you would reference someone like him in a sermon! McManus is part of the emerging church, and I have serious problems with their theology based on what I’ve heard on the radio.”

Pastor: “You do know Erwin McManus is a Southern Baptist, and I’m pretty sure his theology is quite orthodox. In fact, our denomination invited him to speak at our convention two years ago.”

Church member: “Yes, I know they did, and I’m very bothered by that as well. McManus is part of the emerging church, and the emerging church is involved in all kinds of heresy.”

Pastor: “The label ‘emerging church’ is used to describe a lot of different things, and I know some emerging church leaders are pushing the envelope with their theology, but I don’t think Erwin McManus is one of them. To tell you the truth, I’ve never really considered McManus part of that movement. I think his books are just packaged and marketed to that crowd. I don’t think you have to worry about his theology. Have you ever read one of his books?”

Church member: “No, but I don’t have to. I listen to Chuck Colson on the radio and he says the emerging church is dangerous. It’s not something we should be messing around with, and the fact that you’d quote an emerging church pastor in your sermon is very alarming.”

Pastor: Well, I’d encourage you to read up on what McManus teaches and believes, and if you find something problematic, let me know. I’d be happy to talk with you about it.

Church member: “I don’t think you heard me. Colson said on the radio that the emerging church is full of heresy. It’s dangerous. Why would I read one of those books?”

Pastor: “I haven’t listened to Chuck Colson’s program, but I can assure you in my study I’ve found nothing wrong with Erwin McManus, and neither have the leaders of our denomination.”

Church member: “Yes, but Chuck Colson is on the radio. I’m just letting you know it really bothered me yesterday. I hope this isn’t the start of a trend. I don’t know what I would do if this church started becoming emerging.”

I’ve recapped this conversation for you because it jives with something Brian McLaren wrote a few years ago. He said:

Sometimes I think that the most powerful and popular denomination in America is a stealth one. It’s not the Baptists or the Catholics or the Methodists or the Assemblies of God. It’s "radio-orthodoxy"—the set of beliefs promoted by religious broadcasting. Do you doubt the power of radio-orthodoxy? Just try contradicting it.

I’ve had my share of confrontations with Christians that adhere to radio-orthodoxy. I recognize they measure every sermon I preach against what is beamed through the airwaves. But I have yet to discover a pastoral way of handling their unquestioning faith in the disembodied voices they hear on the commute to work everyday.

I’m not calling for a revolt against Christian radio stations (although I don’t listen to them personally). I recognize that many people are blessed and encouraged by the programming offered through the radio. However, the voices coming through the speakers seem to be monotone. Without multiple perspectives and thoughtful dialogue around important issues facing the church (social, political, missional, or familial) listeners are left to believe the Christian position is cut and dry, black and white. And those who dare to question this perspective, as I did with my disturbed church member, are given a verbal lashing that ends with “thus saith the radio!”

What is a radio-heretic to do?

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 23, 2007 | Comments (42)

August 20, 2007

5 Guides for Today

Leadership’s longtime friend and sage Fred Smith, Sr., died on Friday, August 17, 2007 at age 91. Smith was an accomplished businessman, church leader, and mentor at the time Leadership journal was launched in 1980. He was featured in the first issue, and we have welcomed his sage advice in the journal’s pages many times since.

When his health prevented him from leaving home for lectures and group meetings, Fred began inviting young leaders to his house for a weekly breakfast. That led to a website and new interaction with a new generation of leaders through his “Ask Fred” e-mails.

Even at his advanced age, Fred was learning what’s really important in life and ministry. Here an excerpt from Fred’s last article in 2005, the distillation of Fred’s final years as a mentor.

It must be awfully safe to write to a 90-year-old, because I get lots of questions. Most of them deal with hard issues of character, spiritual growth, and suffering. I suspect many think of me as playing in my second overtime, so they assume that the answers may be coming from a little closer to heaven.

They tell me they believe I will give them an honest answer and that at my age I should have more answers than they do. I do my best to thoughtfully respond. But sometimes I just have to say, “I have been struggling with that same issue for all of my adult life, and I will be praying for you.”

Pastors write anonymously of painful experiences with staff, boards, and members: “How do I know when it’s time to move on? How do I know that God is speaking and not just some board members who want me to leave?”

Business executives ask about ethics and passion: “I am a key executive with a Fortune 500 company and hate what I do. My family depends on my income, and I feel locked into a life that I dread.” They want to know how a Christian approaches such decision-making.
What do the “Ask Fred” questions teach me? I’ve come to five conclusions.

1. People need encouragement.

Truett Cathey says, “How do you identify someone who needs encouragement? Answer: That person is breathing.”

There is breakdown in the church, in the family, and in the meaningfulness of work. All three arenas were given to us as blessings, but our culture has turned them into sources of hurt. Some pastors lead like CEOs instead of shepherds. But people long for shepherds.

Even though he headed a large institution, Pope John Paul II came across as a shepherd. He had character and love. The character appealed to young people-he was the rock. The love was the generous spirit he displayed.

When our politicians wave, it’s in a way that says, “I hope you like me.” John Paul didn’t wave, he gave a blessing. People felt that they were being blessed by seeing him, that the encounter wasn’t for him, but for them. That’s encouragement.

And when he died, the occasion attracted 5 million people to the largest voluntary gathering in history.

2. Truth telling and wisdom are in short supply.

Dr. Phil is a runaway hit because he “tells it like it is.” He listens, quickly diagnoses, and then lets them have it. They line up hours ahead of the taping to have an opportunity to be confronted by him. What they define as truth telling is actually a mixture of psychology and entertainment. Scripture commands us to “tell the truth, in love.” Television ratings aren’t mentioned.

As a parent, I noticed the striking transition in my role from power figure to wisdom figure. I was no longer “the boss” but “the consultant.” In the “Ask Fred” questions, I clearly see men and women searching for trustworthy wisdom that comes without strings and without a hidden agenda.

“My dad is dying from lung cancer. What should I be saying to him and what should I be asking him to say to me?” I replied that if I were he, I’d want my children to remind me of specific incidents where I influenced them positively. I’d want to hear from them that my life has counted and that I am a child of God who is loved and eagerly awaited by those who have gone before me. I’d want to tell them that they are my significance. I’d want them to know that I love them. And I’d want them to know that knowing God is a worthy passion.

Continue reading Smith's article at Leadership's website.

Fred Smith was a long-time consulting editor of Leadership.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 20, 2007 | Comments (4)

August 16, 2007

Lessons from St. Arbucks

Once an article is published in Leadership one never knows the ripple effect it will have. Greg Asimakoupoulos, pastor of Mercer Island Covenant Church, wrote for Leadership about the community-forming power of Starbucks in his neighborhood. He confesses, “We like to say that our church is a genuine community of faith, the kind of place people can feel at home. Still, you may have to go down the block to get to see that become a reality for lots of people. We need to be honest and admit that people are lining up to get into Starbucks, but they aren't lining up to get into many of our churches.”

For this reason Asimakoupoulos refers to the coffee shop as St. Arbucks.

This week, Terry Mattingly drew heavily from Asimakoupoulos’ Leadership article for his column which appears in over 100 local newspapers and at GetReligion.com. Mattingly recognizes the draw of Starbucks as a “third place”—“a safe zone between home and office. For generations, bars, diners, barbershops and a host of other locations have played similar roles.“ And he notes, “This kind of hospitality has become rare in this rushed world.”

Diversity is another strength Starbucks exudes more than most local congregations. Mattingly continues:

Writing in Leadership Journal, Asimakoupoulos noted: "At St. Arbucks, I've seen a rabbi mentoring a Torah student. A youth pastor disciplining a new convert. High school girls working on a group assignment. A book club sipping mochas while discussing a fiction author's plot." Could churches try to be more open to outsiders?

However, before you throw out your ministry books and don a green apron Asimakoupoulos cautions us to be leery of some elements of Starbucks’ strategy.

When [Asimakoupoulos] was a college student in Seattle, this local institution was about excellent coffee beans -- period. These days, the place that many call "four bucks" offers CDs, gifts, pastries and super-sweet drinks of all kinds, hot and cold. Hardly anyone goes there for pure coffee.

"Maybe we can let that be a warning," said Asimakoupoulos. "It's important for our churches to think about what people want, but we can't lose sight of what people need. We have to keep offering basic faith, the faith of the ages. The extras are nice, but people also need the classics."

Read Terry Mattingly's entire column here, or at www.tmatt.net.

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 16, 2007 | Comments (22)

August 14, 2007

The Tech Effect

Twenty-five years ago, the film Tron was a revolution—the first movie to use digital animation extensively. But critics almost universally panned the movie. One said, "Tron is loaded with visual delights but falls way short of the mark in story and viewer involvement."

How can preachers avoid that same trap? With our increasing ability to produce "visual delights," can we forget what matters most? How can we use technology to help, not hinder, the proclamation of God's Word? At the most recent National Pastors Convention, we brought together three pastors to discuss these questions. Below is an excerpt from the conversation. You can find the full interview on Leadership's website.

How important is it to use 21st-century technology when communicating the gospel in the 21st century?

Shane Hipps: It's important only if we understand their innate bias, because media are not neutral tools. The media are messages in themselves, and every single medium you use carries a different message embedded in it.

I occasionally use visual media and technology as a crutch to help keep what I'm saying interesting. But when an 80-year-old woman who lived through the Great Depression stood up in my congregation and told a story, she didn't use any technology, and everyone was on the edge of their seats listening to her suffering and what she lived through.

As the medium, she was infinitely more powerful than any technology I could bring.

John Palmieri: I agree, to a point. Trying to more media-savvy than the world around us—that is a battle we will lose. And if I'm just trying to be "relevant," I'll probably miss the mark every time.

But it is our responsibility to be resourceful and creative. If some technology is effective for communication, like a movie clip, great—use it. But if there's a story from a person within the community, a testimony, use that instead.

We use imagery. We use technology, but only to the extent that it enhances the message. If used too often, it can become more of a distraction.

What does it mean to be incarnational as we communicate God's Word? Can incarnation happen with technology?

Jarrett Stevens: Most weeks we do video interviews. That's incarnational. Bringing someone out for a live interview is much more raw and dynamic, but you have way less control. For example, we had a woman who'd recently been saved interviewed on video. She was telling her story and whenever she messed up, she dropped the f-bomb. Thankfully we could edit the video. If that had been live in the worship service, it might have been a great moment, but I doubt we could have fully recovered from it.

Hipps: Do I believe certain technologies preclude incarnational ministry? Absolutely. God came embodied in Jesus. He didn't just project his likeness. Embodiment means human physical touch; presence. And there are certain technologies that disembody us, like video.

I'm not opposed to using video in church, I just think we should recognize that it may inadvertently send a message that is counter to the incarnation.

We hear a lot about shorter attention spans. How long are your sermons?

Stevens: If I preach more than 35 minutes, I've gone too long.

Hipps: About 15 minutes.

Palmieri: We rarely preach for under 40 minutes. For a long time, I thought attention spans were shortening. I don't think so anymore. People still engage in movies, books, and television shows and never break concentration. Instead I think attention spans are widening. We've learned to pay attention to multiple things at once.

Is that why visuals are so popular—people now expect multiple forms of communication to happen at once?

Hipps: Whether attentions spans are wider or shorter, one thing is clear: the way we think has changed. In the 1980s the average cut in a TV program was about seven seconds. There was seven seconds of uninterrupted footage followed by a camera cut. By the mid-1990s it had dropped to two seconds. Images now change rapidly. Whether you know it or not, that actually re-forms neural pathways in your brain. For my generation in particular, the way we engage things has been fundamentally altered.

How do you get people to do linear abstract thinking, which is what Scripture demands in many ways, when those people's minds are not wired for it? I've responded by dramatically shortening my sermons.

I try to ground people in the text, and I can only do it for about 15 minutes. After that, it's easy to lose people.

Stevens: A story or image is powerful, and it's going to do its own thing. It might take on a life of its own. So it must clearly fit the point I'm trying to communicate. If I use multiple images to illustrate multiple points, it's going to overwhelm people. So I try to have one idea and one image to illustrate it. Anything more is just going to get lost.

Read the entire article at Leadership's website.

Shane Hipps is pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to pastoral ministry, Shane had a career in advertising.

John Palmieri is a pastor of multi-cultural, multi-site, New Life Community Church in Chicago. Prior to pastoral ministry, he was involved in the food business.

Jarrett Stevens is director of the college and singles ministry, and teacher for 7|22 at North Point Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Previously he served as a teaching pastor for Axis at Willow Creek Community Church.

Leadership will be hosting another conversation on preaching at the National Pastors Convention, February 26-29, 2008. See www.nationalpastorsconvention.com for more information.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 14, 2007 | Comments (5)

August 9, 2007

Evangelical Drop-Outs

A new study reported by USAToday finds that a high percentage of young adults who attended church while in high school stop attending by age 23. The poll was conducted by LifeWay Research, an affiliate of the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. 70% of young adults drop out of Protestant churches, and 34% do not attend even sporadically after age 30. That means at least one in four young people who leave the church never return.

"This is sobering news that the church needs to change the way it does ministry," says Ed Stetzer who directed the study. "It seems the teen years are like a free trial on a product. By 18, when it's their choice whether to buy in to church life, many don't feel engaged and welcome," says the associate director Scott McConnell.

Part of the problem, says Stetzer, is the way many churches organize their student ministries. "Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza. There's no life transformation taking place," he says. "People are looking for a faith that can change them and to be a part of changing the world." It seems spiritual formation, not just spiritual entertainment, may be what young people are seeking from a church.

Interestingly, the survey also found that those who stayed or returned to the church tended to grow up in a home where both parents are committed to the church. This may indicate that parents play a more crucial role in the spiritual development of their children than any church program.

Among the 7 in 10 who dropped out of the church a diversity of reasons were discovered:

• Wanted a break from church: 27%
• Found church members judgmental or hypocritical: 26%
• Moved to college: 25%
• Tied up with work: 23%
• Moved too far away from home church: 22%
• Too busy: 22%
• Felt disconnected to people at church: 20%
• Disagreed with church's stance on political/social issues: 18%
• Spent more time with friends outside church: 17%
• Only went before to please others: 17%

The full article may be read at the USAToday website.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 9, 2007 | Comments (34)

August 7, 2007

Out of Context: Will Willimon

"The modern, essentially atheistic mentality despises mystery and considers enchantment and befuddlement an affront to its democratic right to know--and then use--everything for purposes of individual fulfillment. This flattened mind loves lists, labels, solutions, sweeping propositions, and practical principles. The vast, cosmic claims of the gospel get reduced to an answer to a question that consumes contemporary North Americans, though it's hardly ever treated in Scripture: What's in it for me?"

-Will H. Willimon is bishop of the United Methodist Church, Birmingham (Alabama) Area. Taken from "Power Pointless: The way we distill the gospel for presentation can take the life out of it" in the Summer 2007 issue of Leadership journal. To see the quote IN context, you'll need to see the print version of Leadership. To subscribe, click on the cover of Leadership on this page.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 7, 2007 | Comments (4)

August 2, 2007

The Ever-Changing Message

Our friends at FaithVisuals.com recently spoke with Shane Hipps, author of The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture. We posted part one of the discussion last month where Hipps uncovered the ways electronic media affect our messages, and how it can be misused. In part two, he talks about what kinds of messages are well-served by electronic media. You can read more from Shane Hipps about the challenges of ministry in a visual culture in the summer issue of Leadership available now.

Speaking from a specifically church-based context, what kinds of messages are well-served by video or other visual media?
Any messages that demand sustained concentration and intellectual participation or engagement are not well-suited to a video medium. For example, the kind of abstract theological reasoning found in the letters of Paul is extraordinarily difficult to express and depict in visual imagery, since video and images offer impressions and evoke emotions. So, if the content that you want to communicate demands any kind of complex reasoning, images and video will actually work against your best efforts. This is one of the reasons that in the Middle Ages, when literacy rates plummeted and the dominant means of communication was stained glass windows, Paul's letters disappeared in the church. And it wasn't until after the print revolution that Luther "re-discovered" the epistles and basically elevated them above the stories of Jesus.

The question that we have to ask as leaders in the church as we consider using video and visual media is this: Are we inadvertently facilitating the disappearance of Paul again?

On an average Sunday, what are some practical ways that you think the church can use visual media without threatening the integrity of our message?
This question is an interesting one, because embedded in the question is the assumption that there is an "integrity of a message"—I don't think there is such a thing as a pure, unadulterated message.

All messages are delivered through a medium and are, therefore, invariably shaped by our choice of media. It's often said in the evangelical world that the methods can change as long as the message stays the same, and the reality is that when you change the methods you necessarily change the message.

This may sound like I'm saying "make sure you don't change the methods, so that we can keep our same message." But I don't believe there ever was an unchanging message. And I don't think this comes as a surprise to God; he has used so many different media for his messages—a burning bush, a donkey, stone tablets, and ultimately the person of Jesus Christ, which is probably the only place that the medium and the message are perfectly united. But God understood that each of these media conveyed a different message, regardless of the content:

A burning bush, no matter what the message, may convey mystery and otherness.
A donkey is something comical, and it's probably humiliating.
Stone tablets convey permanence.
And, of course, the incarnation.

This last one is probably the most powerful aspect of this whole "medium is the message" question. Now we're not just talking about bits and bytes and screens or no screens; we're talking about humans. We're saying "I am personally a medium, and I am my message." So, I can give a sermon on Sunday morning and say you should be giving your money away, but if I'm not giving my money away, that message will come through. Or if you look at someone like Ted Haggard, the kind of sexual immorality that he experienced as a medium radically compromised his message. So that's probably the first thing we should get away from: we shouldn't assume there is some kind of pure, unadulterated message. And the more we understand that, the better prepared we are for choosing our media to think, What am I really going to be conveying when I get up there to talk? And then how will that be shaped once I channel it through a particular medium?

What do you think are some of the benefits and detriments of using visual media in the context of the church or a church service?
Again, it always depends on how it's being used. The benefit of using visual media and multimedia is that, in some ways, it is an incarnational approach. And by that, I simply mean if you look at the model of Jesus, God coming to be with us, he spoke the language and understood the forms that the ancient world used to communicate and operated within those. So there's a sense of that incarnational aspect; if part of the language of the culture we live in is simply visual multimedia, then it's wise for us to find meaningful and reflective ways of using these forms.

Now, of course, there's a flipside, which can be detrimental. The detriment comes in when we fail to understand that our media choices are not simply reflecting culture; they are generating culture. Media are often generative in ways that are unintended. A big part of the reason I wrote my book was to try and help people perceive better the way that media shape us. The detriment of using video and multimedia is that it can begin to draw upon the manipulative power of visual multimedia—the emotional, the visceral. And the bottom line is anyone who's using that media is placed in a very precarious position when they're dealing with the people of God in the world. We are at an incredibly high risk of inadvertently hijacking the imagination of our people and manipulating them against their will. And it is the ultimate sign of disrespect to do that. So there's a sense in which in order to honor God at work among our people we have to be very, very careful about how we use these media because they're extraordinarily powerful.

Again, I'm not suggesting that we don't use them. I'm simply saying "Beware of the fact that you hold a nuclear weapon in your hand!" And you need to understand what the impact can be over the long term.

Shane Hipps is pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church—a missional, urban, Anabaptist congregation in Phoenix, Ariz. Before accepting a call as a pastor, he was a strategic planner in advertising, where he worked on the multimillion dollar communications plan for Porsche. It was here that he gained expertise in understanding media and culture. Shane speaks nationally, is a contributor to Leadership Journal, host of the "Third-Way Faith" podcast on wiredparish.com, and author of The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church.

Posted by UrL Scaramanga at August 2, 2007 | Comments (2)