THE STATE OF THE CHURCH

One of the things I really struggle with in my own Christian walk, is the way that some churches have embraced a culturally formulaic approach to spreading the Gospel. They try SO very hard, and want to be everything to everyone. You know the ones...they offer coffee bars, video screens, play rock music, and their pastors are 'so hip it hurts,' wearing jeans, cowboy boots, hawaiian shirts, etc. But by giving members and seekers a post-modernistic approach to church, they end up offering more 'marshmallow fluff' than anything, and miss out on giving God's starving people what they really need: the meat of the Gospel, and the bread and wine of Christ.

Case in point, my own church. A couple years ago, I joined my church for precisely ALL of those fluffy reasons: the music, the Abercrombie pastor, the videos, the coffee, the Saturday night services! Granted, I love my church and my pastor, and I will be the first to point out that I have YET to hear him preach a bad sermon! But now, a couple years on, I find myself struggling against feeling that my own church, like many others, is…'overabundantly inadequate' as far as really zeroing in on the true teachings of Christ. They may be hearing…but are they really listening?

Today I stumbled upon a pastor named Steve Gray, who calls out churches--mega and otherwise--who are overly (and overtly) culturally driven. I was very intriqued, so after poking around a bit, I found some hilarious and thought-provoking skits on YouTube by Steve, his wife Kathy, and their acting crew. Being a HUGE U2 fan, I wasn't quite sure what to make of this very odd version of U2's song 'Vertigo." It's kind of like the SNL's Church Lady meets Bono. :) As well here is a spoof of the TV show 'Cheaters'...and a great spoof of 'Survivor'...

But the funniest one by far, has got to be this one! Back in the day, I was also a big Monty Python fanatic, and could easily rattle off many a line from the Monty Python movies or TV shows verbatim! Strangely, that very same characteristic has now passed on to the next geneeration of my family: my own nieces and nephews now find Monty Python side-splittingly hilarious themselves!