Sad thing to see...

I'm pretty much with you on this, Reid. this is a good example of how the medium (in this case, ripping off pop culture) affects the message by framing it in the context of light entertainment. particularly sad since money is such a huge and devastating idol for American Christians.

that aside, their keyboardist was crushin' it.

Yeah, he was killin it on the keys :) I just felt he was alien to the culture he was mimicking or mocking or whatever...which made it feel very awkward and sad. Plus, I am not against creativity - but some of this stuff take so much time and money that is better invested with the poor and lost.

is imitation creative?

nein

my thoughts exactly: "Plus, this little show looked like it probably cost a little bling to teach people about bling." of course i appreciate creativity, but i don't think this was a wise use of dollars. what if all those dollars went to feeding or clothing people in the community instead?

Oh man Reid, I know this church. It's like 5 minutes from my parents' house. I have a bunch of friends who go there. I had no idea. That is just crazy.

Dude, that church is about 6 miles from my house. Awesome.

Overreaction.

I guess I'm not enough of a pitbull for Jesus - I'm not sure I'm seeing the problem here...

The pastor is James Merritt,Southern Baptist Theological Seminary grad and a former President of the Southern Baptist Convention. He's solid, preaches the Word.

I'd be willing to bet that the Hummer golf cart was loaned to the church to use that day. The "bling" the singer and Merritt were wearing cost about a dollar at any Wal-Mart or Dollar General, so the "expense" (and the implied neglect of the needy) was negligible.

And part of the problem of pulling the slider to the 20 min mark and letting it go for a minute is that you miss most of the context. It was all used to set up a contrast between the world's view and the biblical perspective of wealth and riches. If anyone bothered to push past the "offensive" parts, they would have heard a thoroughly scriptural message. Start around the 15 min mark and you will see a great video about the church's outreach and service ministry efforts.

I understand if some might find it hokey or cheesy... But the issue is aesthetics, not faithfulness.

Scott,
I never questioned the motive or the faithfulness of the message preached. I did question the flow of it all. It was very cheesy.

Yet this is one question that I consistently ask as I finish my time on the staff of an evangelical church in a very wealthy area. Though the "props" may be inexpensive, the production is not. Some churches spend millions (in terms of equipment, fleets of worship/creative staff, etc) to pull this stuff off. It is surrounded in "bling" - though I have no idea of Mr. Merritt's lifestyle or convictions, many pastors in the south at large churches easily pull in over six figures - so what does it mean when we preach against the "wealth of the world" and its obession with "stuff/bling" when we are blingin big time.

This is a hard and honest question for me. There is no universal answer to how we should live as a church or how much a pastor should make. I struggle personally with this as we are working to plant a church in the NYC metro area.

Two pieces of information I did find - Duluth has a high per family income and is in the south (ie it is not LA expensive) - so it seems the church is swimming in the bling of America, with a huge production budget talking down to "the world" about its bling.

Additionally, the cultural feel to it all was just bad. The people who need Jesus - who wear the bling, guys like PDiddy, would have considered this a big joke.

I am all for relevant communication, creativity but not stuff that feels so fake and worked up.

Anyway, thank you for the great feedback - I suspect I did overreact a bit.

I wish CrossePointe well and hope many meet Jesus through their efforts. But I will pray that stuff like that Bling entrance becomes part of the past.

Scott, also if my comments appeared pit bullish in a negative way and gave offense, I ask your forgiveness.

Reid,

Thanks for your gracious response. No offense is taken and no apology is necessary.

Maybe we're misfiring over what "bling" means. According to my 17 and 15 year old sons, it is a crass and extreme "in your face" display of material wealth.

It's true that Merritt's church is in an affluent community, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're "blingin' it."

I think the so-called upper middle class would NEED to hear messages that present a Biblical perspective on wealthy and money. The Rich Young Ruler needed to hear Jesus say that trusting in wealth was incompatible with following Him.

Having seen Merritt in other contexts, it was "wince-inducing" to watch him acting like P.Diddy. But, I also have a little knowledge of Merritt and his message. He is, as I said, scripturally sound. I suppose that does make me inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to methodology. I think he knows what his people need to hear and how to present it in a way that will open their hearts and minds.

Typically the slang "bling" has both a narrow and general meaning :)

Narrow - shining off of diamonds
General - a display of wealth as you boys pointed out :)

Obviously I do not think that Christians should all take a Franciscan vow of poverty, but there is a reality at evangelical churches that masses amounts of dollars are spent internally making things nice. This is always an issue of conscience without a formula of what is too much, etc. But I have seen where churches will invest millions on production (staff, equipment, etc etc) and very little on other things commanded in Scripture. I have no issue with a church doing things with excellence, but I long for the day when a community development pastor who works with the poor is as common as a worship pastor at our churches. It is not an issue of money in many churches, but of priority.

My wife pointed out to me about Dr. Merritt knowing his congregation and speaking to them so I receive that. I am just trying to understand what it means to preach about the world's view of "stuff" when large amounts of the congregation live in massive houses and drive Lexus (Lexi?) - our church is like this - so I am not pointing fingers, it is a hard question which is an issue of conscience with no hard and fast rules. Sometimes I am not sure that tithing solves the problem if most of the tithe goes to make church nice for ourselves...this is an issue for leaders of local churches to consider I suppose.

Whether or not that skit trivializes things or was culturally appropriate or effective or goofy is the business of the church there in Duluth - I did perhaps overreact, but it rubbed me wrong.