BOOKS ARE GOOD

It's taking me forever to get through N.T. Wright's Simply Christian. It isn't a hard read, I just haven't made the time to finish. So far, the book is fantastic and I would heartily recommend it. Read this quote the other night and really liked it:

"Nothing in all the history of paganism comes anywhere near this combination of event, intention and meaning. Nothing in Judaism has prepared for it, except in puzzling, shadowy prophecy.

"The death of Jesus of Nazareth as the king of the Jews, the bearer of Israel's destiny, the fulfillment of God's promises to his people of old, is either the most stupid, senseless waste and misunderstanding the world has ever seen, or it is the fulcrum around which world history turns."

I found this little quote to be powerfully poetic...kept reading it over and over and over. It's great when a book does that - when it captures your imagination and heart and mind all in one little paragraph.

What about you? Share a quote that's grabbed you recently...

PS...just posted a new Christmas Poll over at the blog. Click HERE to check it out!

LarkNews Is Awesome...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — When Rivercreek Church introduced their newly hired executive pastor last Sunday, the congregation surprised him with a chorus of boos.

"I was startled, but given the economic climate I understand," says executive pastor Bill Evans, a longtime businessman who recently took the job.

Many executive pastors around the country are facing resistance, rumor and outright hostility from laypeople who see the hand of Wall Street reaching into their once-tranquil churches.

"I heard our new executive pastor worked for a Forbes 500 company in his previous career," says one man at a church in Ft. Worth, Texas. "We don’t need a golden parachuter around here."

At Rivercreek, rumors have circulated that Evans ran several companies into the ground, collected huge bonuses and went into church work because no one else would hire him. In fact, Evans left a successful company because he felt called to the ministry.

But many aren’t buying it.

"My first thought was, ‘If they’re hiring more pastors, we must be tithing too much,’" says Tom Rayburn, a member who had never heard the term "executive pastor" and doesn’t like "the Wall Street ring of it."

"If what I’m hearing about his sweet private sector retirement package is correct then he should be paying the church rather than the church paying him," Rayburn says. "I’d like to see our contract with him."

Others suggest that the church only hired an executive pastor because the senior pastor had been overspending and the board was reining him in.

"Why else would they bring in a controller?" says one woman. "We’re all asking ourselves, what did the pastor do wrong?"

One woman at a California church tried to find executive pastors in the Bible. The best she could come up with: Judas Iscariot.

"He handled Jesus’ finances," she says conspiratorially. "What are we to make of that?"

Back at Rivercreek some believe the senior pastor just wants to make himself feel important by "gathering a posse" around himself.

"He was never above balancing the church checkbook and hiring the janitors in the past," says Doris Rogers. "Why pay someone else to do it now except for pride?"

One thing unites them all: a fierce opposition to Wall Street shenanigans.

"I’ve had people come up to me in the foyer and say, ‘Don’t try any of that bailout stuff here, Mr. Executive Pastor,’" says Evans, who plans to lay low for a while. "It’s just not a great time to be an executive pastor."
Source: LarkNews

It should be noted that LarkNews is a fictional news site. The last time I linked an article from there, I assumed that my readers knew that. Oops.

It's made up. And it's hilarious.

On Christian Radio...(this post is fourteen pages long)

THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT CHRISTIAN RADIO.

I say that because it would be really easy to read these observations and get the wrong idea.

No, this post is about marketing.

My saving grace here is that I like Christian Radio. I listen to it regularly and have a deep appreciation for those who make it happen.

So before we get to the observations, let me give you a little back-story.

Tyler has a lot of Christian radio stations. At least it seems like a lot to a guy from Lufkin. But without a doubt, the most popular station is KVNE, 89.5.

It's a great station...the DJs know their jobs, they play great music, there's a lot of scripture (which I dig,) and the production level is excellent. Not to mention the fact that their Sunday morning worship show is really great!

A few weeks ago, KVNE and their sister station did one of their two yearly fundraisers. And I have to say I was amazed at what I heard.

The KVNE fundraiser sounded exactly like fundraisers back home in Lufkin. I knew the the Lufkin station had patterned it's fundraising after a station in Houston, but I thought that was just a fluke thing. Then I get to Tyler and the fundraiser sounds the same.

If you'll allow me, let me share with you some observations I had listening to the radio fundraiser. Be warned that I'm going to put down the observations in the most honest way I can, to let you know how it went in my head. I'll try to make sense of all these later in the post.

OBSERVATION #1 - They don't sound like themselves.
Why do Christian radio stations suddenly break every rule they've ever had when it's time to raise money? Seriously, it's like the manager is out of town and they're doing everything they can to destroy the station.

Your station would normally never dream of filling the lobby with 15 people, opening all the doors and running a microphone back there so we can hear the volunteers laughing, talking, answering phones non-stop.

DJs hate dead-air. They normally move smoothly from one thing to the other. But not in a fundraiser! Forgot a paper back in the back...no fear! Just leave the microphone. We'll wait for you!

This first observation really struck me as odd - if you're trying to get people to support what you do, why in the world would you spend 4 days doing everything opposite of what you "normally do"?

OBSERVATION #2 - They want me to come by the station.
Why is "stopping by" such a big deal in these money raising campaigns? The DJs are constantly saying stuff like "Come, see us; WE ARE HAVING A BLAST OVER HERE!"

I got stuff to do, man. Why in the world would I drive to your radio station just to stand around and eat donuts? Is it really fun over there? 'Cause I've got errands to do.

Again...how often does your Christian station normally want you to drive over and have coffee with them?

Probably not very often.

OBSERVATION #3 - SOUND EFFECTS
I believe there is a giant sound effects "machine" in the radio booth. In my mind, it's kept under a lock-and-key all year long until a fundraising campaign comes around. Then, a station manager comes by wearing a long, silver key around his neck. He slowly opens the door to the sound effect machine and steps back quickly as the DJ hungrily descends.

That's how I imagine it, because DJs go crazy with the sound effects in these deals. How come I never hear bleeps and bloops and Homer Simpson zingers and fake applause and the Flintstones all year long? If they're funny now, aren't they funny always?

Lock and key. That's all I'm saying.

OBSERVATION #4 - The Magic Phone
This has to be my favorite consistent thing among stations. The Magic Phone.

The Magic Phone is, essentially, the "last" phone. The station has a set number of lines and the Magic Phone will only ring if all the other lines are busy. It's a way of motivating folks to get on the line and make a donation.

Hearing the magic phone becomes a big deal, as it is such a rare occurence. But when that baby rings, the volunteers in the lobby and the visitors in the studio and the sound effects machine all go nuts.
______________
This entire concept - the complete reversal of normal operating procedure baffles me. To my mind, I would think if you want people to support what you do, then you show them how you do it.

I recently took all these thoughts to work and happened upon a guy named Dan Bolin. Dan is a member at Bethel Bible church. He's also the former station manager of KVNE, 89.5.

So, I took my suspicions to him. I asked him why everybody sounds the same during fundraising; I asked him if it was really a proven marketing move. I ask him if stations are told, taught and given stats to prove that this opposite-mode of promotion works to raise money.

And Dan said, "absolutely."

And that's the part I can't figure out. It is foreign to me. I guess I can partially understand that turning your station upside down gives listeners a peek into the personalities of the DJs - that it would seem more relational.

But beyond that, I still don't see how this wild-and-crazy mode of money-raising works better than just being yourself. Maybe "different' is always good, huh?

How many of you listen to Christian radio? Have you heard any of these things I'm talking about?

Let's Play Oprah...

Okay....I know a lot you out there are currently reading this.


If you've read it, I'd love to know your thoughts on it. I've got a lot of my own, but I really would like to know what you think.

However, if you're out there and you're not finished with it, we will wait for you.

Just type a comment w/ something like:

"Todd...I'm almost done with the book. Please hold the discussion until I am done."

And I will.

Because here at Todd's Blog, readers are king. Or...kings.

Readers are THE kings.

That doesn't sound right.


Here at Todd's Blog, readers are the kings and queens...of the blog...kinda. But not really.

Wow...this has just turned horrible, hasn't it?

Oh, Wow...This Might Be Cool....

...somebody calling himself "Crowder" just commented HERE.

And I think it's actually him.

And he says some really great stuff.

More Thoughts On Christian Radio...

As I've said before, I'm always leary of the "I'm-done-with-Christian-radio" rant. I understand a lot of people are passionate about it, but I've never really been an either/or type of radio listener. Thanks to my new blog friend, Dale Best, I stumbled across an interesting an article from "Out Of Ur," a blog featured by Christianity Today magazine that's hosted by the editors of the Leadership journal.

I'm not real familiar with either of these publications (although, I have been following CT's war of words with James Dobson of late,) but I think this particular article has some pretty good things to say. True, it definitely comes from a "No-more-Christian-radio-for-me" theme, I think this author is saying things that Christian radio should hear. Hopefully, next week, I'll be able to share these thoughts with our station here in town. I'd love to know what you guys think.

______________________

It’s official: I’m tuning out of Christian radio.

When some of the Christian radio stations in my area shifted their play lists from Southern gospel, country Christian and syndicated preaching, I took notice. I was thrilled to have airwave access to what I considered great Christian music. And I found myself tuning in more often.

But even my favorite stations have started losing me in recent months. What led me to reprogram my car radio and cancel my monthly $10 pledges? Three things.

First, I’ve noticed a growing level of—how shall I say this?—sappiness. Yeah, that’s the word. It’s not so much the music that’s sappy (some of it is); it’s the commentary, news stories, and contests that combine to present Christianity as synonymous with sentimentality. I live in a real world that’s not always positive and encouraging, so Christian radio’s steady diet of sugary spirituality doesn’t promote sustaining faith.

What’s more, I’ve noticed Christian radio becoming, for me, a sort of faith vending machine. Need some encouragement? Just push a button! I suspect that too frequent exposure to otherwise fine music hackneys that music and causes spiritual satisfaction to become one more commodity in my life. This makes real corporate worship feel like an imitation of the canned radio versions of the songs. Plus, it keeps me from developing truly nourishing habits.

After all, who needs real corporate worship and challenging formative disciplines when I can just tune my radio dial and get a quick God fix?Most importantly, I detect Christian radio has succumbed to consumerism. An on-air promo for one station’s Friends and Family Music Cruise pushed me over the edge. Here’s an excerpt from their website:

This year, besides reserving the entire cruise for [our] listener family, everything’s bigger and better—the ship, the exclusive music concerts, the comedy shows, the speakers, and the endless opportunities for having fun! Did someone say swim and spa? That’s right, you’ll have it all!

Is it just me, or are “bigger,” “better,” and “having it all” actually not congruent with the One who made Himself nothing and was obedient unto death? Plus, the station boasts that you can finance the cruise on your credit card. I’m a fun loving guy, but encouraging indebtedness for an experience that appeals to and promotes selfishness—under the guise of being a godly experience—is nothing to laugh at.

Buried beneath my growing dissatisfaction for Christian radio, I find four nuggets of caution for those of us responsible for ministry leadership.

First, Christianity is interesting, but it’s not amusing. After all, “to amuse” basically means to divert and cause someone to not think. Church does not exist to take our minds off the real world, but to focus our attention on God, His plan for the world, and our place in His plan. It’s an interesting plan requiring focus and attention. As a pastor, I often tried too hard to avoid being boring and (gasp!) irrelevant. But in avoiding those dangers, I sometimes fell into the ditch of mere amusement. Christian leaders need to take caution against spinning the gospel as a spectacle that holds our attention but does not hold us accountable.

Second, we must resist presenting immediate fixes for felt needs. After all, salvation and spiritual growth are not commodities that can be produced, marketed, promoted, and perfected for mass satisfaction. Jesus is not a hamburger, a snappy set of sandals, or an iPhone. Discipleship is a committed relationship with Jesus that gradually forms us into the likeness of our Creator. We must take care in how we present the gospel, lest Christ come off as a product we consume instead of the Lord we obey. While more people may buy into a Jesus who makes us happy, we are called to preach a Jesus who makes us holy.

Third, lowest common denominators tend to push us off course. Just because lots of church members (and would-be church members) believe God is for this or that political party, we cannot taint the gospel message with partisan political appeal in order to gain the masses. Likewise, just because obsessive parents demand a children’s program that’s on par with Disney doesn’t mean allocation of tithes and offerings toward such a ministry is wise or warranted. “Give people what they want” makes a poor church motto.

Finally, it’s all too easy to generate and get caught up in hype. We Christian leaders can get stoked about the “big” things we’re doing and lose focus on our core purpose. Hype is not hope, and it is not a route to Christian hope. So when we build a bigger building, plan a super outreach event, orchestrate an awesome Easter service, or pull together a marvelous missionary experience, let’s not get high on the hype that can take on a life of its own.

I’m humbled to realize that for all my critique of Christian radio, I’ve made many of the same mistakes in my own ministry. So while I may be tuning out of Christian radio for a while, I’m thankful that my departure reminds me how we can inadvertently do bad while aiming for good.

Chad Hall is an author and church planter, is an executive coach and trainer with SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, North Carolina.

This may not be funny to all of you...but for a 31-year old blogger with humble beginnings in the Baptist church, this video is pure gold!

Come on, all of you...who loved Psalty?

Hey, Here's Something Odd...

_______
HT: Jon Acuff

Christian Radio...no, I'm not bitter.

Some of you know that as a teenager, I worked for a Christian radio station. I loved it...I worked long hours for no pay and I adored every aspect of it. And to an extent, I still have a soft spot in my heart for radio.

I say that because I want you to know that I don't hate Christian radio. I know musicians and ministers and lots of folks who DO hate Christian radio, but I'm not one of them.

I listen to it occasionally, though certainly not enough to be considered an expert of any kind. However, I have a proposal for Christian radio - an idea that I think would help them to be better at what they do. Here's what's up...

THE PROBLEM
First off, what's got me thinking this? Almost every Christian radio is "listener-supported." Most often, this means that the stations don't play commercials. They take donations from listeners. Most of us also know that a lot of Christian stations skirt around non-profit regulations by attaching certain donation levels to their public service announcements. For example, if you want your event announced 22 times in a month, you have to donate a certain amount to the station. If you're thinking that sounds like a paid commercial, you're probably right.

But that's not even really the problem I've been noticing.

The problem of late has come from the way in which stations encourage listeners to donate. In the past two months, I've heard three different stations in different markets making pleas for support in the same manner. It sounds something like this:

"Your love-gift/donation/support is changing lives all across East Texas/Houston/the country!"

That station is asking me to support them because what they do is making a spiritual difference in the lives of my neighbors.

I just don't ever hear about it.

How come stations keep telling me that my money is making eternal differences but I never hear testimonials along those lines? I hear lots of taped phone message testimonials, but they usually are telling me that said station has A) Helped them to stop listening to secular music B) Provided safe music for their kids to listen to or C)Has "just the right song" at "just the right time."

Are people giving their lives to God through Christian radio? Maybe...but I never actually hear it. The station keeps telling me it's happening, but I never actually hear anyone testifying to that fact.

THE SOLUTION
I'm not a cynic, but I'm willing to be that the majority of Christian radio listeners are, in fact, Christians. (And women who drive minivans.) Kidding about the women thing...sheesh, who do I think I am, Thad Norvell?

What I don't get is why aren't Christian stations just owning this fact. Why do they keep telling me about winning souls for Jesus? Why aren't they doing interviews with Christ followers who are out there feeding the poor or caring for the elderly? Why aren't these stations showing me all the ways that THEY empower the church to do ministry? How can they be SO focused on the "lost" and say so little about what the church is actually, physically, really doing?

I think Christian radio should change it's sell...instead of telling me that my money is winning souls and never revealing those souls, why not use money to provide resources to the church for actual ministry and then show me that.

You may not believe Christian radio is for Christians. I think it is. And I think they should start getting honest about what they actually do - I don't they should be afraid of saying that their role is to bless the body of Christ and empower that body to do ministry?

Agree? Disagree? Am I making any sense here?