Happy, Happy: Joy, Joy

Just recently I read a very challenging blog. In it the writer was taking the pastors of many mega churches to task for preaching the prosperity gospel. That is not what the blogger called it because the author is not deeply enough immersed in the church culture to know insider code words such as “prosperity gospel”. I certainly don’t agree with everything he writes in this article, but it certainly has me thinking. What he was complaining about was the pop-psychology, theology-lite sermons that are preached on Sunday mornings in many churches in North America.

He put it like this: “Feel good! Be happy! Be nice” There you go. I just summed up the message that millions of Christians will be hearing at the mega churches of Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, and many others this weekend. If you were planning to go, now there’s no need.  You’re welcome. In fact, if you’re driving there and you see a “Don’t worry, be happy” bumper sticker on the back of someone’s minivan, you might as well turn around and head home. That’s about all you were going to hear when you got there anyway. Sure, they might come up with more compelling ways to communicate it, but in the end, when you dig past the charisma and the personality of the pastors who utter this gibberish, this is all you’re really left with. An episode of Barney. Syrup and sugar. A smile and a pat on the head. A self-help speech.”¹

I certainly understand Mr. Walsh taking a shot, in my opinion a quite accurate shot, at pastors of many, but not all, mega churches. Such pastors are large and easy targets. And many of them do consistently serve up non-nourishing, mushy textured nothingness to their congregations. It is appealing and easy to swallow but isn't spiritually helpful. But they are certainly not the only preachers doing this and they did not invent the process. We mainline denominational pastors, who love to hate those mega church pastors, have been doing it for years.

We are not as blatant. We do not say that God’s basic will for your life is that you will be fat, happy, rich and trouble free. Instead we talk about stuff that doesn’t really matter. In our congregations it doesn’t matter what we say as long as it is not challenging. Most of our people don’t come to church to be challenged, they come to be congratulated, calmed, soothed, and taught theology. Not practical theology; instead, theology that reminds us how much God loves us and thinks we are the bees knees. Compelling and challenging sermons are seen as an affront to our intelligence. How dare we, the pastors, assume to speak to them about the realities and practicalities of life?

On Sunday morning in the “normal” church one hears what sounds like a lecture by a history professor or a feel-good pop psychology talk or a deep and convoluted study of the scriptures in the original language that is impossible to follow or a cute little homily with little to feed the soul. Some churches I have attended remind me of an episode of The Ren and Stimpy Show with everyone leaving singing a rousing rendition of “Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.”

The most frightening aspect of modern day sermons is the lack of confrontation of our sinful lives. God is presented as some type of pleasant fellow who loves us like a grandfather and thinks whatever we do is just wonderful. And anyone who says different is a fundamentalist, legalist, narrow-minded, hate monger who is anti-Christ. Since the ultimate good in our culture is not righteousness, but is niceness, we need to get our feet off of the sin pedal. I think it was Rob Bell who articulated this idea best in his book, Love Wins. Basically his book boils down to the idea, there is no hell because God is much too nice to send anyone there. I have trouble with Rev. Bell’s conclusion since it is my belief that God doesn’t send people to hell, they choose to go there and wouldn’t be happy in heaven. The stuff that goes on in heaven is not the least bit appealing to them. Because, for the unrepentant, it is all about me. And the glimpses we get of heaven in Scripture tell us  it is all about God.

My concern with the church’s present approach to sharing truth was summed up several years ago by A. W. Tozer when he wrote: “The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.” Are we present day preachers going to someday stand before God and answer for the hazy, shallow, culturally acceptable, happy, happy, joy, joy crap sermons we have preached? I believe we will. And it is a scene I don’t even want to think about. Because I am pretty sure at that point Mr. Nice Guy God is not going to be all that nice.

¹themattwalshblog.com – The Bible Isn’t a Self-Help Book (Despite What Your Mega church Pastor Tells You)

Copyright © 2015, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Bill McConnell is Senior Minister at Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press. He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon

Theology-lite Church

I make it a policy to avoid negativity. One of the factors that dictate the content of my sermons is that they should not speak of other faith traditions in disparaging way. I have had other preachers in my pulpit who only lasted one out of three services. That was because they didn’t believe me when I said, “We don’t talk badly about any other church.” They either failed to believe me or they just could not help themselves.

But over the past years as I have served a church in Memphis, something has been happening on Sunday mornings that is driving me nuts. As I prepare for worship I leave the radio on to the same station that was the alarm that woke me. On this particular station, which I chose because it is a strong signal and doesn’t fade, there is a fundamentalist preacher on (Same one every week) who is preaching against something. He is preaching against people who disagree with his theology, his view of science and his world view. I find it interesting because I have yet to hear what he is in favor of. And he rarely mentions Jesus. If one is going to be a fundamentalist at least preach about Jesus. He is my role model (Bad example) to keep me positive.

This poor guy is so tied up in his theology and rules and defending them against all comers that he doesn’t have the time to talk about Jesus and love and grace and forgiveness. This guy is the poster child for not being a fundamentalist.

My particular brand of protestant Christianity (Read denomination) proudly proclaims that we are not encumbered by doctrine or a doctrinal statement. That should work well in our current culture where being a “none” is very popular. A “none” is a person who describes him or herself as spiritual but not religious. A “none” is a spiritual person who is unencumbered by church theology and is making it up as they go. A great way to go since that way I can design my own God who approves of everything I do or fail to do. Instead of, as the Bible says, being created in God’s image, one is able to create a God in one’s own image.

Early in my life as a clergyperson I would occasionally field phone calls from people who, for varied reasons, wanted to know what my church believed about the second coming of Christ, or baptism or abortion or salvation and on and on. They would generally become hostile when I said we have no doctrine and no stated beliefs on any of those subjects. Before angrily hanging up on me, nost intimated that they thought me a gutless liar unwilling to stand up for what I believed. More than once I was told, “If you stand for nothing you will fall for anything.”

We say that we have no doctrine but when asked, the average clergy of my denomination will rattle off a pretty substantial list of the things one needs to believe or least accept. Unfortunately, like most groups who envision themselves as open and accepting, we tend to only be accepting of people who think like we do. Those other stupid people are, at best, to be tolerated. Like most groups the rule is: if you are smart you believe what we believe and if you don’t, you are stupid. We have an unwritten doctrinal statement and we are very protective of it.

I did attend a seminary (Not one of “ours”.) that taught systematic theology. They knew exactly what they believed and taught it well. Of course, me being me, I didn’t agree with their theology and spent much of my seminary class time arguing with my professors and classmates. It was very stimulating. And my professors were awesome Christian gentlemen who made such discussions a joy to engage in. (Yes I know about ending a sentence in a preposition. I just don’t care.) There is some things good to say about systematic theology. It helps one be consistent in one’s belief system. It causes one to have some foundational theology upon which to build a belief system. (That sentence could have been simpler but I didn’t want to end it in a preposition.)

Being a part of a doctrine-less church has its pitfalls and shortcomings. One is that we are inconsistent in our theology. We tend to believe things that, if true, are diametrically opposed to each other. Another is that we sometimes lack a foundation for our belief system and that causes us to wander and be open to believe the next best thing that comes down the pike. We lack a systematic method to measure and filter a new thought or theological concept. We lack a measuring stick, a foundation, when we see the Bible as a book that can be discounted when it fails to agree with what we choose to believe on this particular day.

It seems to me that if we have any basic and foundational theological concept it is that we have to be nice, agreeable and accommodating. Several decades ago we dropped any reference to sin and canceled hell around that same time. Our theology is constantly in flux; God is ever changing and right and wrong is a matter of opinion. As one very popular author said, love wins. That conclusion is based on a rather shallow and syrupy concept of love. Love, when seen through the lens of the God of the Bible, is a love that challenges and disciplines. It is not always nice but it is always loving.

I like being a part of a theology-lite church. But it is a dangerous place to hang out. One must really pay attention if one is to survive as a part of this church.

Copyright © 2015, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Bill McConnell is Senior Minister at Lindenwood Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee and is a Church Transformation consultant and a Christian Leadership Coach. He is a frequent speaker at Church Transformation events. His latest book on church transformation is DEVELOPING A SIGNIFICANT CHURCH and is available at Westbow Press.

He can be contacted @ bill45053@gmail.com. Connect with him on Facebook @ William T. McConnell or on Twitter @billmc45053 or visit his Amazon Author Page @ Amazon.

All Part of Being Cool

It has been interesting to watch the church over the past several decades as it has attempted to address an ever changing culture. We have been working at finding ways to connect with a growing population of people who seem not particularly interested in attending church. This disinterest has morphed to the point that many in the culture are hostile toward the church. During those decades a vast majority of mainline denominational churches have experienced significant declines in membership and attendance. We are hemorrhaging membership.

 

In attempting to deal with a dilemma that could be seen as possibly mortal to the life of the church, we have been trying many different things. Let’s just take a peek at a few of those things the church has tried the past several years to attract the disinterested:

1.     Liberal Theology. Let’s cut down on the God talk; cull that embarrassing supernatural stuff out of the Bible; assure everyone that there is no sin and God is cool with whatever they choose to do; judgment is out and acceptance is in; what you believe doesn’t matter as long as you act nice (Go Green, Baby!!) and give an agreeable nod toward God (Whomever or whatever he or she may be); be proud to project the image that I am a Christian but I look and act just like people who don’t claim to know God; agree with the vocal progressive majority on whatever is the hot social topic of the day.

2.     Seeker Friendly Church. Do whatever it takes to not seem like church. Get rid of the stained glass windows, crosses, vestments, and steeples. Watch your language and don’t say things like “sin”, “lost”, “hell”, “salvation”, “fellowship”, and anything that sounds the least little bit like Latin. Do not wear a tie. Jeans are the best. Serve coffee.

3.     Contemporary Worship. Take the seeker friendly model and add the following: Avoid singing anything that sounds even a little bit like a hymn; have a band made up of two guitars, a bass, a keyboardist and a drummer; meet in a warehouse or empty mall; ditch the pulpit and replace it with a stool and a modern table; equip the venue with great electronics – multi channel, high quality sound system and an HD video projector with a huge screen; project the scripture and songs on the screen; use cool videos.

4.     Post Modern/Emergent. Bring the stained glass and crosses back in; lose the stool and table but don’t bring the pulpit back; light some candles and burn some incense; do NOT preach but instead tell stories; go low tech; it is okay to meet in an old fashioned church building; continue wearing jeans and add cool shoes, a sport shirt or a T shirt with the tail out, facial hair, funky hairdo, and cool glasses; have people text you during the message (It is a message because we no longer preach.); go out for a beer with the boys after worship.

If you haven’t noticed, what we of the church have been trying to do for the past few decades is be cool. If we can be cool then people will like us (Especially the cool people.) and come to church with us. We believe that people don’t come to church because they think the church and the people who go to church are not with it, relevant, the message isn’t applicable to our times and church is a waste of time. We believe they don’t think we are cool but if we could make them believe we are cool they would come. Their lack of interest couldn’t possibly be caused by the fact that we seem to spend a whole lot of time at church and it hasn’t seemed to make much of an impact on our lives so why would they want to waste their time in such an unproductive pursuit?

Perhaps our pursuit of being cool is a waste of time and energy. As I read the New Testament, it seems that Jesus never encouraged his followers to be cool. I think he encouraged us to be real, to follow him, to make disciples, to love God, to love one another, to love our enemies, to be servants, to be last instead of first. The whole deal sounds profoundly un-cool to me. As a friend wrote in response to an earlier blog, we want for the cool kids to like us and “we can’t nuance our way into being accepted by the cool kids as Christians.” As long as God and faith and morality come with the deal, it is not going to be popular or cool.  

Please understand that I understand cool. I used to be cool.  I was a teenager. Cool came easy.  Everything I did was all part of being cool.

All of the elements were there.  I dated one of the prettiest and most popular girls in school.  I hung out with cool people, played football and baseball, partied with the best of them, did well in school (but not “too good” and get labeled a brain), wore the right clothes, strutted, and drove a convertible.

The convertible was only somewhat cool. It was my mother's car.  It would have been cooler if it had been my car, but owning a car as a teenager had not yet become the constitutionally protected right it is today.  By the way, my mother drove a convertible until we pried the car keys out of her wrinkled old hand.  In our family, convertibles were just a part of our lives. Dad made enough money to keep my mother in a supply of very nice late model convertibles. My favorite mom verses convertible story was the day mother carefully rolled up all the windows and locked the doors. It was after she was in the store that we told her that she had left the top down.

Anyway, all of these elements that I carefully pieced together were a part of being cool. But they were not the deciding factors.  The most important thing I had going for me that helped make me cool was the fact I was between the ages of 13 and 23.Sometime in my twenties, my cool switch flipped.  I can't tell you exactly when it happened.  But it definitely happened. After reaching the "magic" age of un-coolness, all attempts to be cool just serve to make one look stupid.  And that is okay.  Because, if being cool is important to you after the age of 25, if you are spending much time, money and effort on being cool, you probably are stupid.

It was worse in my case.  Not only did I get to be too old to be cool, I went to un-cool school.  It was known as Seminary.  Even before entering Seminary, I suspected it was not a haven for studs.  And I resisted going.  Boy, did I resist!  My response to a call to the ministry is not a pretty story.  I didn't particularly like ministers and the thought of actually being one made me nauseous.  So, yours truly, "Stanley Stud," found himself as a 21 year old college graduate and a very unhappy camper in un-cool school.  Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Years have passed and I have adjusted to being a minister, not being cool and not driving a convertible.  I was doing pretty well until just a few years ago.  A friend of mine and I attended a meeting of the Ministerial Association in another community in another state.  It was a traumatic experience.  What a group!  Since I didn't know whether it was funny or tragic, I opted for funny and decided (as my little sister used to say) "'tis better to laugh than to cry." I later came to know and appreciate every person who attended the meeting that day. But, as an outsider looking in, they were embarrassing. They could be described many ways.  A Laurel and Hardy Recovery group working on not falling down all the time.  A group researching ways to make life seem much more serious and complicated than it really is.  A political action group dedicated to lots of politics with very little action.  But I think my friend described the group best when he said, "I felt like I was at a Nerd Convention."

I was reminded of why I resisted going into the ministry and am still vaguely embarrassed admitting to a new acquaintance that I am a minister.  We preachers had to have attended un-cool school to be as un-cool as we are.  It couldn't just come naturally.  Preachers need classes to learn how to dress goofy; believe being professional is more important than being real; answer questions nobody is asking; be more concerned with theology and doctrine than touching kids' lives for Christ; and be so out of touch with reality as to actually believe anyone else really cares as much about doctrine as we do. And then, in the midst of our un-coolness, we think we are going to attract the “cool kids” by being cool ourselves.

Pray for the preachers and our churches.  I think we may be in trouble.  And pray for me.  I don't mind no longer being cool, but I don't want to get to the point that when Disney World^® needs a replacement for Goofy^®, they think of me.

Copyright © 2010, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

Let's Fight

Let me begin by stating the obvious: Christians are just people. I am amazed at how often people who do not claim to be Christian hold Christians to some standard of behavior that is unattainable and then are extremely judgmental toward Christians. As bad as some of them are at it, Christians do not hold the monopoly on being judgmental. It just seems that when applied to Christians, the judgmental tag sticks better than it does to others.

That being said, as a person who has been on this spiritual journey called Christianity for several decades, I feel qualified to say that we Christians do and say things that call for judgment, comment and even ridicule. It is with a great deal of regularity that I see and read of things Christian leaders have said and done and wonder what in the hell are they thinking? What often astounds me is that they choose to make statements and take high profile stands on issues that are really not all that important and sometimes none of their business. Really.

Over the centuries Christians have consistently chosen up sides and fought verbal, theological and sometimes physical battles over minutia. Take a look at this example. http://trilliansthoughts.tumblr.com/post/56379573415/two-churches-located-across-the-street-from-each-other. This battle of the bulletin boards is funny but it is also typical and sad.

Too often groups of Christians have seen other groups of Christians who disagreed with them over a point of theology as the enemy and attacked them with a great deal of energy. Fellow believers are not the enemy. And, by the way, non-believers are not the enemy either. Unfortunately Pogo the Possum was correct when he said, “We have met the enemy and they are us.” Over the centuries bickering among the ranks has done more damage to the cause of Christ than any group, movement, religion or philosophy. I must admit, I would shy away from joining any group that treats other members with such hate and disrespect. Charles Swindoll said, “Christians are the only people who shoot their wounded.” Years ago a good friend observed, “I don’t need to join a church to experience hostility and disrespect. I can just stay home and get that.”  

We Christians love to fight over theology. It seems very important to many religious groups to be right… about everything… all the time. My take on the whole deal is that as complex and mysterious as the things of God are, your chances and my chances of getting it all exactly right are minuscule. Instead of insisting that we have everything right, let’s just hope against the odds that we got something right. Instead of looking for things to disagree on and argue about, let’s expend our energies looking for things we can agree on and support each other in doing things that empower the cause of Christ.

Then there are politics. We love to argue “social issues” as if we knew what we were talking about – which we don’t. I find it interesting that, generally speaking, my theologically liberal friends are politically liberal and my conservative friends generally come down on the Republican side of issues. I find this almost laughable. How, I wonder, can anyone who is paying any attention believe that the BS and drivel that flows out of Washington has any connection with truth and is in any way designed to help and profit anyone but the politicians who are hawking their talking points in their never ending quest to be re-elected. I have a dear pastor friend who consistently shares Democratic talking points on Twitter as if they were the Gospel. I find it both irritating and sad. He is a very intelligent person that somehow believes all that hokum. I find it no more believable than the Republican malarkey. But we religious types, all across the political and theological spectrum, wrap our political agendas in spiritual terms and square off with each other as if we had the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What we really have is lots of partial truths that have been carefully formulated and crafted and presented to us by people who really don’t have our best interests at heart.

But who cares if it is the truth or if it is helpful. Let’s fight.

Frankly, I have neither the time nor the inclination to fight over this stuff. I believe that we, people of faith, must spend our time and expend our energies keeping the main thing the main thing. And friends; Jesus is the main thing. If you will take a look at this scene from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Sixth Sense, you will understand where I am coming from. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsNjQhyvRnU.

Much like the little boy in this movie, I see dead people. People who do not know God. They are everywhere and they don’t know they are dead. They drive nice cars; have nice homes and good jobs. But they are dead to God and that breaks my heart and moves me to action. The main thing we need to focus on is helping people who don’t know God and have not experienced His amazing love, healing and forgiveness, to know God. Sounds like a full time job to me. And you will have to fight me to stop me.

Copyright © 2013, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved

All Part of Being Cool

It has been interesting to watch the church over the past three decades as it has attempted to address an ever changing culture. We have been working at finding ways to connect with a growing population of people who seem not particularly interested in attending church. This disinterest has morphed to the point that many in the culture are hostile toward the church. During those decades a vast majority of mainline denominational churches have experienced significant declines in membership and attendance. We are hemorrhaging membership.

In attempting to deal with a dilemma that could be seen as possibly mortal to the life of the church, we have been trying many different things. Let's just take a peek at a few of those things the church has tried the past several years to attract the disinterested:

1. Liberal Theology. Let's cut down on the God talk; cull that embarrassing supernatural stuff out of the Bible; assure everyone that there is no sin and God is cool with whatever they choose to do; judgment is out and acceptance is in; what you believe doesn't matter as long as you act nice (Go Green, Baby!!) and give an agreeable nod toward God (Whomever or whatever he or she may be); be proud to project the image that I am a Christian but I look and act just like people who don't claim to know God; agree with the vocal progressive majority on whatever is the hot social topic of the day.
   
2. Seeker Friendly Church. Do whatever it takes to not seem like church. Get rid of the stained glass windows, crosses, vestments, and steeples. Watch your language and don't say things like "sin", "lost", "hell", "salvation", "fellowship", and anything that sounds the least little bit like Latin. Do not wear a tie. Jeans are the best. Serve coffee.
   
3. Contemporary Worship. Take the seeker friendly model and add the following: Avoid singing anything that sounds even a little bit like a hymn; have a band made up of two guitars, a bass, a keyboardist and a drummer; meet in a warehouse or empty mall; ditch the pulpit and replace it with a stool and a modern table; equip the venue with great electronics – multi channel, high quality sound system and video projector with a huge screen; project the scripture and songs on the screen; use cool videos.
   
4. Post Modern/Emergent. Bring the stained glass and crosses back in; lose the stool and table but don't bring the pulpit back; light some candles and burn some incense; do NOT preach but instead tell stories; go low tech; it is okay to meet in an old fashioned church building; continue wearing jeans and add cool shoes, a sport shirt or a T shirt with the tail out, facial hair, funky hairdo, and cool glasses; have people text you during the message (It is a message because we no long preach.); go out for a beer with the boys after worship.
   

If you haven't noticed, what we of the church have been trying to do for the past few decades is be cool. If we can be cool then people will like us (Especially the cool people.) and come to church with us. We believe that people don't come to church because they think the church and the people who go to church are not with it, relevant, the message isn't applicable to our times and church is a waste of time. We believe they don't think we are cool but if we could make them believe we are cool they would come. Their lack of interest couldn't possibly be caused by the fact that we seem to spend a whole lot of time at church and it hasn't seemed to make much of an impact on our lives so why would they want to waste their time in such an unproductive pursuit?

Perhaps our pursuit of being cool is a waste of time and energy. As I read the New Testament, it seems that Jesus never encouraged his followers to be cool. I think he encouraged us to be real, to follow him, to make disciples, to love God, to love one another, to love our enemies, to be servants, to be last instead of first. The whole deal sounds profoundly un-cool to me. As a friend wrote in response to an earlier blog, we want for the cool kids to like us and "we can't nuance our way into being accepted by the cool kids as Christians." As long as God and faith and morality come with the deal, it is not going to be popular or cool.

Please understand that I understand cool. I used to be cool. I was a teenager. Cool came easy. Everything I did was all part of being cool.

All of the elements were there. I dated one of the prettiest and most popular girls in school. I hung out with cool people, played football and baseball, partied with the best of them, did well in school but not "too good", wore the right clothes, strutted, and drove a convertible.

The convertible was only somewhat cool. It was my mother's car. It would have been cooler if it had been my car, but owning a car as a teenager had not yet become the constitutionally protected right it is today. By the way, my mother drove a convertible until we pried the car keys out of her wrinkled old hand. In our family, convertibles were just a part of our lives. Dad made enough money to keep my mother in a supply of very nice late model convertibles. My favorite mom verses convertible story was the day mother carefully rolled up all the windows and locked the doors. It was after she was in the store that we told her that she had left the top down.

Anyway, all of these elements that I carefully pieced together were a part of being cool. But they were not the deciding factors. The most important thing I had going for me that helped make me cool was the fact I was between the ages of 13 and 23.

Sometime in my twenties, my cool switch flipped. I can't tell you exactly when it happened. But it definitely happened. After reaching the "magic" age of un-coolness, all attempts to be cool just serve to make one look stupid. And that is okay. Because, if being cool is important to you after the age of 25, if you are spending much time, money and effort on being cool, you probably are stupid.

It was worse in my case. Not only did I get to be too old to be cool, I went to un-cool school. It was known as Seminary. Even before entering Seminary, I suspected it was not a haven for studs. And I resisted going. Boy, did I resist! My response to a call to the ministry is not a pretty story. I didn't particularly like ministers and the thought of actually being one made me nauseous. So, yours truly, "Stanley Stud," found himself as a 21 year old college graduate and a very unhappy camper in un-cool school. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

Years have passed and I have adjusted to being a minister, not being cool and not driving a convertible. I was doing pretty well until just a few years ago. A friend of mine and I attended a meeting of the Ministerial Association in another community in another state. It was a traumatic experience. What a group! Since I didn't know whether it was funny or tragic, I opted for funny and decided (as my little sister used to say) "'tis better to laugh than to cry." I later came to know and appreciate every person who attended the meeting that day. But, as an outsider looking in, they were embarrassing. They could be described many ways. A Laurel and Hardy Recovery group working on not falling down all the time. A group researching ways to make life seem much more serious and complicated than it really is. A political action group dedicated to lots of politics with very little action. But I think my friend described the group best when he said, "I felt like I was at a Nerd Convention."

I was reminded of why I resisted going into the ministry and am still vaguely embarrassed admitting to a new acquaintance that I am a minister. We preachers had to have attended un-cool school to be as un-cool as we are. It couldn't just come naturally. Preachers need classes to learn how to dress goofy; believe being professional is more important than being real; answer questions nobody is asking; be more concerned with theology and doctrine than touching kids' lives for Christ; and be so out of touch with reality as to actually believe anyone else really cares as much about doctrine as we do. And then, in the midst of our un-coolness, we think we are going to attract the "cool kids" by being cool ourselves.

Pray for the preachers and our churches. I think we may be in trouble. And pray for me. I don't mind no longer being cool, but I don't want to get to the point that when Disney World^® needs a replacement for Goofy^®, they think of me.

Copyright © 2010, William T. McConnell, All Rights Reserved