A young man.....and today even a young woman.....and often a young couple.....raised most likely in a megachurch....probably in the South or West of the Mississippi....they feel that their calling is to pastor a church.....but not just a church.....a new and vibrant church of today. They probably have a lot of help with their plans from their home church.....and maybe even financing to get it all rolling.....all the demographics are done....they already have their degrees in Bible this or that....and that new church is started. The Website is professionally done before the first sermon is ever preached.....and then comes the advertising.....in place of evangelizing.
If you Google just about any major city....the name of the city plus 'churches'.....you should find them. I'm reminded of an old WKRP In Cincinnati episode where a consultant was brought in to jump start the ratings. I think that his first name might have been....'Wynn'....or something like that....a person must have a name that means something.....Wynn.....win not lose. He asked actor Richard Sanders what his name was....and the response from the meek character of course was.....Les. It seems that these new and vibrant churches pick their names for the same reason. Is there a....Vibrant Church....out there somewhere? Probably.
Check the church websites out....photographs of an attractive building.....and probably attractive pastors.....a stage with all the necessary musical instruments....and plenty of activity photos.....for the children and the adults. The statement of belief will be standard fare...maybe in outline form....God.....Salvation....Scripture....possibly The Second Coming of Jesus. Directions to the church will be precise from either direction....maybe a phone number for prayer.....and a form to fill out to show interest in the church.
These new churches are everywhere....and it is very problematic. You won't find anything in the statement of beliefs that is troublesome....maybe not anything else that in itself is seriously in error.....it's what is not there that is the problem....not only words or descriptions.....but essence. The unction is there in spades....but that unction is for growth. Oh yes it involves Christian belief....maybe even commitment....but still....everything revolves around demographics....leg work....a message that surveys have pointed to that will work....and sermons that will first and foremost....meet needs....encourage....and motivate.
Afterthought: I'm not really including here any of the more serious and nefarious movements of the day.....the Emergent Church Movement for one. I'm typing this from a hotel on the Erie, Pennsylvania bayfront. An hour ago....walking along the pier....trying to catch a photo of a sailboat just as it passes through the sun glitter on the water from the setting sun....Presque Isle in the background....I passed a plaque informing that Alexis de Tocgueville had visited the area during his famous 1831-1832 tour of America. These are some words attributed to the French gentleman....historian....and political philosopher...."I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers-and it was not there....in her fertile fields and boundless forests-and it was not there....in her rich mines and her vast world commerce-and it was not there....in her Congress and her matchless Constitution-and it was not there. Not until I went went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power." It is not the primary reason for the decay of America.....we are the primary reason for that.....but then again.....it is no small matter either. I could not produce a graph with 'decades' on the horizontal axis....and the 'power of the gospel in the pulpits' on the vertical axis....but I can tell you this....however the curve might look....our pulpits today are on the low ebb. America today is indeed representaive of the lack of power from its pulpits. The only way to really check my equation would be to listen to the preaching of men from the past....and men today who preach like men of the past.
Friday morning: Today is one of those few days in a year.....while on vacation.....where I get to watch Fox News.....for we do not....not ever have had....these cable news networks in our home. Last evening we arrived back at our room and I turned on Hannity.....and he was interviewing.....Matt....Gaetz. Enough of that horror. This morning I tuned in just in time to see those people in the morning.....really....the woman's name....the men's name.....I just can't recall right now......and they were interviewing.....Kevin McCarthy. Folks....I've been following politics now for over a half century......the good and the bad and the ugly.....leave these people. Evangelicals....flee them. We in conservative news and talk radio have gone over to the dark side in the past six years. We do not need to be warned of CNN…..we do need warned on what has transpired and what we have been taken in by.
