12/10/2023 0 Comments Life church tvIt was the power of the Gospel as it was proclaimed to so many people who had never heard it. Something that my spirit had been deprived of but I failed to realize it until now. However, there was something different going on there. ![]() (There, got my one cheap shot flowing with snarkiness out. I normally respond better to those messages that are grounded in Scripture and illustrated by a movie rather than grounded in a movie and illustrated by Scripture. In order for it to really have any chance of lasting beyond a fly in the ointment of my conscience for the day, the conviction level must be above a 6. Sure, I felt a bit of conviction “to go,” as the message said, “and find someone in need and be an influence upon them.” But it is one of those things. Was the lesson impactful? For me, it was a 3 on a scale of 10. The atmosphere was one of grace and excitement. In this place, for better or worse, the curtain between the church and the culture was wrent in twain. However, I could tell that he was glad to be there and he seemed to really love Jesus. I did not know what sins he struggled with, how his marriage was, or what he did the night before. Did I mention flip-flops? Lots of flip-flops (including mine). Concerning my biker neighbor, I did not know anything about him. The majority were under forty and dressed in the same thing they were going to wear for the rest of the day (or the same thing they wore last night). None of these people looked like “churchy” people at all. Then I looked across the church and saw that he was not so uncommon. For a moment, I thought he might be a prop for the set. Long hair, bandanna, and long ungroomed beard. What a terribly sinful entanglement that I have. I told you so” are words that are often on the tip of my tongue ready to be interjected at the slightest hint that the “seeker” churches have compromised or failed. In fact, I am thinking about taking that line out. There is a sense in which those like me actually want these type of churches to fail. Now, I have to come clean and admit something here. Like a friend of mine often says, “Tastes great, less filling.” Michael Spencer used to call this movement the “Evangelical circus.” The biggest and, for many, most definitive criticism of the “seeker” mentality is that while there is evangelism that happens, discipleship can hardly be found. Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church was the book to read and your spirituality was based on how much you hated it. Its called by many names: “seeker-sensitive,” “seeker-friendly,” or the more pejorative “seeker driven.” I went to seminary when all this seeker stuff was hotly debated. I am from a tradition that is in a love/hate relationship with this kind of stuff, with hate tipping the scales more often than not. Certainly not any expositional preaching. The typical motivational seminar type stuff with some Christian justification behind it. Today the movie was “The Blind Side.” Last week it was “Walk the Line.” The messages were great. ![]() The idea during this movie series is to show twenty or thirty minutes of an inspirational movie and then draw lessons from it. ![]() I could go into more detail, but you get the idea. those guys who say “you have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful”). They even had an eight foot tall game machine like the one that the aliens were taken from in Toy Story 1 (you know. I think it actually worked! Andy’s room was set up perfectly in a separate roped off area. On the other side of the lobby, there were artifacts from the Toy Story set. “Decorated” is a bad word as it was much more than just decoration. In the lobby, everything is decorated according to a movie theater/Toy Story theme. These are the kind of posters that we would have to create a separate line item at the Credo House to cover. When you walk in there are huge posters that are done in the theme of Toy Story. This summer the theme has been “Life Church at The Movies” (or something like that). They are more technologically savvy than Paramount pictures. Let me just briefly describe the service today to help you out. It has become quite legendary due to the way church is done. I have scratched a big portion of my hair out today. ![]() Life Church is one of those things that makes someone of my tradition scratch their heads. The main campus is just a couple of miles down the street. This is not so unusual as I have been there before. Therefore, I am comfortable revealing names and places. Due to my confusion, I don’t have a pulpit with me right now. Just when I think I start to figure things out, God says, “Calm down Michael.”Īs many of you know, I often like to take a break from my church and explore what is going on in other places.
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