Amazon Expedition. Expired.

Vacation Bible School for my church was last week. It has been several years since I’ve been at VBS, but some things don’t change- I still love it. I could write several posts on my love of VBS or what God taught me last week, but that’s not what this post is about. I had trouble sleeping all last week. I would come home from VBS all energized from chasing kids around (you would think that I would wear myself out, but it doesn’t really work that way for me). Any way, every time I closed my eyes I would start singing a Bible School song. As soon as I got that one out of my head, I’d begin singing another and round and round this would go for at least an hour each night. So one night, in my singing turmoil I started thinking about something and that is where this post comes from. Please know that these are just thoughts I’m having right now as I wrestle with something. This post may anger some people and there will definitely be people that don’t agree with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if I reread this post in a few days and I disagree with me. Again, VBS was awesome and this post in no way reflects on that- these are just thoughts and ideas I’ve been having for awhile now. Without further ado:

I don’t believe entertainment in ministry is a bad thing. We need to speak through the culture- not pretend it doesn’t exist. Entertainment isn’t going to save anybody, but neither will flannel graphs and hymns the only “thing” that can save people is Jesus. But Romans 10:14 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” The church today is preaching, but are we preaching “to them.” I don’t think just the act of preaching is good enough. It has to be done in a style that is going to reach and engage the listeners. Imagine if education didn’t make any advancements. If the only educational tools used in classrooms today where chalkboards and text books, I hope that there would be a lot of unhappy parents out there. Imagine an education with no computers or modern day technology. Parents would be outraged. Yet when it comes to the most important education of all, we are too worried about making it entertainment. Guess what? People like entertainment. People don’t like lectures. I have never had 1 person tell me they like a lecture.

Some of my greatest worship experiences have been at events that could bear the label “entertainment.” I actually find it easier to worship in a crowded auditorium with loud music playing and intelligent lights bouncing around the room than I do in a well lit sanctuary with piano music. The crowded auditorium option allows me to let my guard down. No one can hear me, few can see me, and I can really connect with God. Even if we shouldn’t, I think most people are worried about how they are perceived in church- What will people think if I raise my hands, or dance for that matter? What if I’m singing off key? Maybe I just shouldn’t sing at all. A high production value allows me to feel like I’m lost in the crowd and focus on God instead of those around me.

I’m just coming to realize that in a text message, iPod, Facebook, YouTube world, perhaps the church has missed something. The church is there to proclaim the love of God. Our God loves the text messengers, every Facebook user, tech geeks that create all that stuff, jocks, shy teenage girls, every concert and movie goer, the elderly, the rich, the poor, the educated, the uneducated, and everyone else. The question is, does the church?