Charlie Wear’s Notes

I have been enjoying reading Seth Godin lately. The Purple Cow, Red Fez, Meatball Sundae-making marketing guru and author is frequently profound. In a recent lengthy article he wrote about the death of the "music business."

If you are part of a denominational leadership, or church planting movement, there is something profound lurking in the Godin observations about the music business. He makes ten big points that are clearly applicable to any sort of "business."

Here is the basic premise I have extrapolated: It is quite possible that in a digital age, the way we have done church (even in the "contemporary" expression) is "over." If this is true then we can expect more of the same of what we have seen over the last twenty years, declining participation, declining attendance, declining contributions (per capita), and declining involvement of younger people. If you see the common thread, it is the word "declining."

Nobody is giving seminars on "How to open a Drive-in Theater." Seminars on "How to start a Church," should take into consideration that there may not be a need for another "contemporary" church service for ‘authentic, real people’ to come and get free coffee and donuts, free wireless, listen and maybe sing along with some "contemporary" praise and worship songs, fill out a connect card and listen to a fill-in the blank topical sermon. If this is true, then what is the new thing look like?

I like to read all kinds of books on business, management and leadership. One of the authors who does a great job on his blog and in his books is Seth Godin, the marketing master. In a recent post he makes this point: Make promises and keep them.

This seems to be the problem with Christians and the Church in North America. We have failed to deliver on our "promise." You see, most everyone knows what we are supposed to be about: Doing unto others, turning the other cheek, being merciful, giving, blessing, all that Sermon on the Mount stuff. Someone else made our promises 2000 years ago, and we really haven’t lived up to them, have we? However, like the bunch of Pharisees we are, we keep saying to God, "Thank you that I am not like them." Well guess what, we are exactly like "them."

Godin makes the point that great organizations "overdeliver." My suggestion for all of us for 2008? Under-promise and Over-deliver. Tell others: We don’t have everything figured out, but here is what we do have figured out: we want to love God with all we’ve got and love our neighbors at least as well as we love ourselves. Let’s be nice to each other, especially our family members and then spread that circle out to include our co-workers and everyone we come in contact with daily.

I don’t usually discuss politics in any way, either in Next-Wave or on my journal. I find that like religion, political discussions can be very divisive. However, I want to go on record with a political prediction, just so I can look back and say I told you so 11 months or so from now! Here we go:

1. I predict that Barack Obama will not be the next president of the United States.

2. I predict that the next president of the United States will not be a Republican.

3. I predict that the Republican nominee will not be a Mormon.

Here are my reasons:

Cultural change comes slow and in an incremental way. For Barack Obama to be the next president we will have to overcome a number of historical firsts. First freshman Senator to be elected President. in the post-television era (read 1950 to present). First black man to be elected President. It is more likely that we will elect the first woman president, than the first black president.

In times of slow economic growth or recession, the party in power nearly always loses the presidency. It is pretty clear that 2008 is going to be a very difficult year economically. The Republicans have had eight years to address these issues and they are not finishing well, at least that will be the perception.

Check back with me on Thanksgiving Day and we will see how I did.

I don’t have much faith in the conventional wisdom. When the entire crowd is proclaiming some sort of "truth" my hackles begin to rise and I tend to question their view. I guess it is the same for me with science. I don’t have much faith in science.

I was watching a documentary the other night talking about the progenitor of the Big Bang Theory. He was a catholic priest, mathematician who extrapolated the tenets of Einstein’s theories and posited that if the universe is expanding that at some point it must have been smaller. From this came the "cosmic egg" and the big bang idea. Uh, that seems like an interesting theory and certainly is the result of some deep thinking. But I’ll tell you what, I am going to wait and see about the whole thing.

At one point in history a fellow named Galileo pointed out that the earth was not the center of the universe. That got him excommunicated, but we have pretty much been able to ascertain that he was right.

Okay, I said all of this just to say, Global Warming, huh? It snowed in Daytona Beach, Florida this week. I hate it when it gets that warm!

This culture delights in the misfortune of celebrities. For the last couple of years Britney Spears has been an object of judgment and derision. The sins of others are "delightful" in our eyes. Now Britney’s little sister is pregnant. The Disney star’s latest season of Zoey 101 is "in the can" but should it be shown? The Spears’ girls mom had a book on parenting all set for publication. Oops! We’d better stop the presses, that might be too much for the American public to handle.

Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t  stand up to the kind of scrutiny that celebrities of all stripes undergo in today’s world of non-stop "new" media. Most of us couldn’t. If we did look good enough, then we would be attacked for being "too" good. Mitt Romney is a good example of this phenomenon.

People undergoing great psychological strain are asked a series of questions to determine their mental status. They are asked to decipher the meaning of proverbs such as "People who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Depending on their response a practitioner sets a course of treatment. Here is my question for today: What does our fascination with the "sins" of others say about our culture? What does it say about us as individuals? What treatment do we need?

I am quite sure that I will never run for public office. I have just enough self-awareness to know that I don’t have the temperament for the job. Waste and inefficiency irritate me greatly, almost to the "breakdown" level. That’s a good reason to abstain, don’t you think? A better reason in my case is that my life could not stand the scrutiny that candidates undergo in today’s political process.

One need only turn to John 8 to see Jesus’ way of handling the "glass house" v. "stone" question. In this case the sin was adultery and the sinner had been caught in the act. The "stoners" were without question applying the letter of the law in a "perfect" way. But Jesus stopped them cold by writing in the dirt. The common interpretation is that he was writing the sins of the accusers in a way that they could see. He challenges those without sin to start throwing! None of them could meet that standard.

Soon it was only the woman and Jesus remaining. Without any accusers to condemn her, Jesus himself offers these words…"Neither do I condemn you." He covered her sin and offered her the hope of a new and changed life.

Instead of reveling in the failures of others, let us demonstrate the kindness and compassion of Jesus toward them. Let’s drop our rocks and pray that the grace of God would continue to cleanse us and wash us.

I suppose everyone in the known universe has heard of Hugh MacLeod. He is the guy who draws cartoons on the back of business cards. This is one creative guy. At his website, gapingvoid.com, he has an article posted called "The Hughtrain." I think it is a takeoff on The Cluetrain Manifesto. But is challenging in a lot of ways. It is challenging with its profane language and brutal honesty. And it is challenging because of its off the wall ideas. But there are a couple of universal truths proposed therein that should cause all of us to stop and think for a minute.

" the market for something to believe in is infinite…"

"We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary. We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature." — Hugh MacLeod Can this possibly be true? And if it is true, then why don’t churches automatically grow? Is it because we aren’t good examples of people who believe in something? Is it because we are not good communicators? Okay, here is another one:

"at the center of every human soul is the intense longing to be closer to God. a brand that can empathise with that is powerful…"

Here is my question, then: Why does so much of what we do in "the church" seem to be ineffective and impotent? There is a lot to ponder in the assertions contained in MacLeod’s Hughtrain. For now, I am just going to think about these two things…

I confess. I am one of the few television viewers who has enjoyed the NBC show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, this season. Part of it is because I love the smart-alecky way Aaron Sorkin writes. Part of it is because I love the multi-layered inside showbiz-political-corporate intrigue kind of story. I also like the way that a Christian voice is portrayed in a pretty authentic way.

Most of us Christ-followers would wish that we could be like the Harriet Hayes character. She stands up for her faith, by golly, even while making fun of herself and the rest of us as we hypocritically wend our ways through life. She also is in love with the non-believing Jewish head writer-executive producer of the show.

Okay, enough exposition, let me get to the point. The show is finishing out its run with the shows that were in the can before it was canceled earlier this year. Harriet and Matt have been breaking up and getting back together all through this season and apparently for the "eight" years that they have known each other and argued about Harriet’s faith.

However, when one of their co-workers’ brother’s life is threatened by captivity in Afghanistan, Harriet’s response is to drop to her knees and start praying. Wow! there was something awfully courageous, dignified and brave about that moment. It was moving. Maybe it’s because it has been a while since I have been in enough trouble that I dropped to my knees and cried out to God. But seeing her praying on prime-time TV just sort of undid me.

The characters dialog of faith, concluding with the non-believing Matt throwing up his prayer, with eyes pointed up, "Okay, show me something here," was just too good to miss. I was inspired.

Alright, I’ve decided. I’m going to take a page from Aaron Sorkin’s book. I’m going to tie another knot at the end of my rope and hang on a little while longer.

From the LA Times:

Newspaper circulation continued to decline nationwide, according to a report released Monday, but many individual publications and a trade group countered with figures showing that the papers’ audiences were growing online.

From the Baptist Press:

While the number of Southern Baptist churches in 2006 increased by 524 and reported more than $11.3 billion in total receipts, LifeWay Christian Resources President Thom S. Rainer reported April 17 that total baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention fell for the second consecutive year.

Are these items somehow connected?

From the USA Today:
"This fall, episodes of many series, including the biggest hits and newest shows, are available online for free as networks try to hold on to audiences while finding new business in new technologies.
"We need to think of ourselves not just as a broadcast network, but a network or platform where ABC connects its viewers to its shows across any technology. It could be through online, cellphone, portable media player or television," says Albert Cheng, who oversees digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group."
There is something here we need to listen to, I think?