I took the idea of one of my previous posts this week and turned it into an article which is published on ChurchMarketingSucks.com.
Read it here (and leave your thoughts if you want!)
I took the idea of one of my previous posts this week and turned it into an article which is published on ChurchMarketingSucks.com.
Read it here (and leave your thoughts if you want!)
Comments
8 responses to “Guest Blogger on Church Marketing Sucks”
Hey Anne,
It has been forrrrevvver. (sorry I can never say that word straight out after seeing “Sandlot”)
How are you guys doing? Dallas is not far off. If I don’t end up in Texas in two weeks. I’ll most definately be their the third week of June. (for probably 3 or 4 weeks) so we’ll definately hook up.
Leslie and Grace are going to be traveling with me for the entire summer. So you’ll have to maybe show them Dallas one of the days we’re out (or two days, or three…or however long you want…you know, she’s off for the summer…haha)
Write me…let me know how things are going. (jsnrws@yahoo.com) See ya.
i like the new like, of the site, by the way
Posted on the blog but just wanted to add that I appreciated the way you presented and responded. Provided excellent thoughts and platform for discussion. Thanks
good for you, anne! :)
Nice. I think the “wastefulness” of Jesus irritates a lot of western followers. Jesus is terribly inefficient in all that he seems to do (with the minor exception of paying for every sin in the history of humanity in one death and resurrection…that seems to be a big deal).
I don’t remember where I read it, but I am remembering the phrase “the glorious ineffeciency of Christ.” What I love most about Jesus is that he’s so hard to figure out. It’ like in any line of debate, people are arguing for side a or side b and Jesus’ response is typically, “It’s neither a or b. It’s both a and b. And it’s also c.”
Brad…challenging thought. I’ll have to mull that. I’m struggling with the content of that article.
I guess because I think if Mary had tried doing the same thing twice, Jesus would have begun to teach her stewardship.
It was a moment. I’m not sure that we can make life principles out of moments. Life is about our moments…yes, but to make a scriptural principle based on one loving situation seems like a stretch to me. Jesus taught good stewardship. Jesus taught wisdom. Sometimes, good stewardship and wisdom declare that when we want to give everything, we hold back out of obedience. It’s not always about extravagence. It’s about creativity. It’s about resourcefulness. It’s about doing the best with what we’ve been given.
“State of the art” phrase bothers me. Most technology either meets your needs, it doesn’t, or it overshoots your needs. I think Jesus would like for us to buy what fits in with our vision and what we will grow into. To just buy state of the art to meet a ramdom target of “excellence” doesn’t really get us anywhere.
For what it’s worth, and certainly not taking away from the beautiful challenge in the article. I have been challenged to think, and that’s what blogging is about. Thanks, Anne.
I am really glad that you clarified that Anne. I have been thinking about what you wrote…and understanding what you meant by the article, I didn’t respond…but now since I have been mulling it over…I thought I would throw in my thoughts…I read somewhere a while ago that like only 6% of believers tithe and so when you put that into perspective of big TV monitors and missions and peoples heart motives…what do we really need to do with our money? I think Brad was right when he said both A and B were possible correct answers…I know that we need to reach people, and that technology (state of the art, or otherwise) is needed…but there has to be a balance somewhere. When you quoted Matthew…I think that Mary was anointing Christ…not creating an environment….like the article indicated. Judas’ heart wasn’t about giving the money to the poor…he was all about keeping the money and Christ called him on it. The conversation was about heart motive. So many times I think that all those screens and TV’s and “stuff” just get in the way. They amuse and entertain people rather then draw them into worship. Yes, I think that when you/we (the church) does something, they need to do it well, and it is distracting when it is done poorly…Get a monitor that works, make sure the equipment sounds great…but do we really need to upgrade every 5 minutes just to draw people in? I think they will be drawn to the Worship and Discipleship. One more thing…Why are you “quoting” from the message…and not stating that it is only a paraphrase and not a literal translation? Just wondering….
It’d be good for anyone sitll reading over here to read the comments over at CMS. I’ll repost my response there to help clarify:
Travis,
Thanks for your comment. Two quick things – one, I am no theologian. This is not my literal intreptation of the scripture, rather something that God impressed on my heart as I meditated on the area of scripture I quoted. I was the cynical onewho thought churches were horrible when they did all those things before, and I was shown that a) I don’t know it all and b) God is worthy of our best (whether it costs a lot, or a little, the cost is not important but the motive is.)
It is all about the heart – and this is just an application, not an interpretation of the scripture. I was looking at her heart and seeing how to apply that to how churches spend money. You can give to missions or the poor with a bad motive.