The Christian Brand

A week or so ago, I was writing about marketing and the church. It had me consider, what is the "brand" of Christianity, or the church. There are all too many stories of hypocrisy, judgementalism, and a relative holier than thou perspective, which have helped shape a broader brand. Some of which is quite true. Some of which is an unfortunate misperspective.

Clearly this "brand" could use some attention. Not in a macro level to change peoples perception at a broad level—as if to say, Look, the church is cool, Look, we are an inclusive organization, Look we do really care. No, the attention must come at a micro level. A self-examination of each individual's relationship with Jesus— what He actually means, has done, and has set a life example for. And our subsequent response.

This requires work (in an effort and focused-persistence sense) and attention to detail. Yet almost conversely, freedom, spontaneity, and reckless abandon. We must assume a "choose today who you will serve" and a "love your neighbor" dynamic. The church and church goers (clearly myself included) must visit the mirror. Often.

Rights or Wrong

So this Gainesville, Florida pastor is organizing an "International Burn a Koran Day".

Is this:

• A temple-table-turning incident?
• A publicity stunt?
• An act based on heartfelt beliefs?
• A skewed interpretation of defending your religion? Your God?
• The right thing to do?
• Asking for trouble?

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I heard Robin Roberts state on Good Morning America that "...just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you should.". Which I thought was a pretty agreeable statement. All to often, folks take there individual rights and presume them on others (think NRA, GLAD, and other acronymed or faith-based organizations). And we in turn put such a face on the folks involved—such a distaste. And all too often we lose sight of the individual—the human being—the God created.

We need to be tolorant of the dignity and value of every human being. We shouldn't lump their beliefs into their humanity (a nod to my pastor here). Certainly the degrees of tolorance of beliefs is open to interpretation, but when the grace and love for the individual is lost in the mix—shame on us.

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Is this Gainesville pastor taking some Jesus defending into his own hands? Could be. Does Jesus need this sort of defending? I think not.

When asked in Mark 12, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" answered Jesus, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.". Do we burn books and incite? Or love and pray for our enemies. To everything, there is a season. Is this one of them?

Graphic Teesus

I am in marketing. I participate in the sale every day. I understand targeting messages toward a customer. I've seen marketing done in honest and dishonest ways. And many times I have seen over thought, over consideration, and over messaging which doesn't even allow a product to speak on its own. It is lost in the delivery.

Nike has done an outstanding job of marketing its brand moreso than its product. I wonder who truly researches and understands the benefits of a Nike shoe vs. another manufacturers. I'd venture to say it has mostly to do with the swoosh on the side and the credence it holds*. You could say this is exemplary. And perhaps it is within the industry and the marketplace.

I am curious if we are doing the same thing with "church". There seems to be an overemphasis on style and performance in many churches or faith experiences these days.

Now this is nothing new. The pharisees had their performance of overobedience to the law, and the pomposity associated with it. We've been exposed to our fair share of over-the-top faith healing southern baptist preachers, not to mention Arsenio Hall's hysterical black Pentecostal portrayal from Coming to America. And I am sure there were many others along the way. I am curious that if today's representation of a pastor et al. would be some skinny jeans, cool hair, and a graphic tee.

Is there too much of a blending into current cultural experiences from our churches? Do we feel a need to provide entertainment from our churches**? Does God need us to do this? Or does this get between us and God? I wonder what God would think of the time and energy spent on strategic thinking and messaging discussion on how to reach "today's" audience in a relevant way. Does God need help reaching? Is the ancient-of-days-way not relevant anymore?

Now to be transparent and clear. I have a pair of designer jeans (they were a gift). I have a couple of graphic tees. I go to a church which has some tremendous worship time, gifted singers and musicians, and a dynamic spirit-filled preacher. I'm not saying this stuff is wrong, but we just need to ensure it holds its proper position. Subservient to God.

A buddy was sharing something that is going on in Idaho called Cowboy Church. I guess this is just some folks in some fields with some pickups—reading their Bibles, talking about God, praying and singing a bit. Sort of sounds like an upper room from a long time ago.

Maybe I am old fashioned...




*Clearly Nike makes a good product or they wouldn't have been able to leverage their brand and product line as successfully as they have.
**Certainly it makes sense to reach an audience where and how they need to be reached, but I believe sometimes this dilutes the reality of God and sort of makes him more like us instead of the other way around.

Safe Cracking

For those of us who live in an environment and a economic state which is of astronomical proportion compared to the majority of our country and world, I wonder if it is too easy to remain in our own shell of an existence. Does this cause me/us to be too sedentary. Too comfortable. Too safe. Perhaps God is asking us to be actively still, remain where we are, and retain some of the status quo. Or do we need to crack the safe from our world and venture out a bit. Or a lot.

This safe cracking can take on many forms. Mission. Investment. Discomfort. Etc. Certainly we shouldn't create some sort of radical change for change sake. But are we open to it if so led? Would I/we actually breakthrough the shell?

Consider Consider

I have a dear friend who has made the statement that he "no longer considers white people". Upon first hearing this statement, as a white guy, I was taken aback a bit. BUT, upon true consideration (and conversation), I got the understanding that what he means is that he doesn't want to live daily with the consideration as to what another race would think of him or his actions. It must have taken quite a bit of consideration to no longer consider this.

We don't consider much these days. We know a good bit. We have opinions, etc. thrust in our face from many sources. And we are busy. I believe that I/we can be too predispositioned or too made up in our minds to consider much these days.

Consider the political arena. Consider religion. Consider God. Consider faith. Consider our neighbor. Consider our inner cities. Consider the fatherless. Consider the childless. Consider the homosexual. Consider the servant. Consider the leaders. Consider the addict. Consider the donors. Consider the beaten. Consider the convict. Consider the lonely. Consider the busy. Consider the proud.

We are too quick to combat, agree or conclude.* Consideration takes our time.

What if some long haired guy was talking about flowers...Hey man, think about this flower. Think about the petals, and how they grow. Think about how they don't even have to try. They just sit around and let the rain fall on them. Let the roots drive deeper into the ground. Their petals are more beautiful than anything you could buy with money, man. Bill Gates has nothing compared to this flower...we'd probably think this guy was smoking a bit too much.

Take the time to consider.



*Certainly we can have stalwart beliefs and convictions which are paramount in our lives. However, sometimes these can become blinders to some things we might need to "consider".

Not Again

So Hailey Trainer is the longest living survivor of her form of brain cancer at two years old. A few months ago there was a wonderful birthday celebration of her life. Hailey rolled on the floor and wrestled with her older brother. Now, another tumor...

Amid the horrible news comes the "why" and the wrenching decision-making of the parents, particularly when they've just been through this. I was told one of the really hard parts of the recurrence of cancer is the fact that you know what you are going to be going through. I guess this is time for the Body to come surround the Trainers with love, support, and to bathe them in prayer.

I have started reading a book called Radical with the subtitle "taking your faith back from the American Dream". The first couple of chapters have shared the cost of faith in the third world. Life-risking faith. Pain-submitting faith. I suppose the Trainers can relate a bit right now.

Pray that the Trainers faith remains strong—that they can somehow hold fast to God as they deal with horror here on earth. And that the faith of those (myself included) who hear of this story, or are close with the Trainers perhaps can understand that some of God's allowance is out of the scope of our understanding. And that all He wants us to do is trust Him. And that we are to recognize our alien status in this world. And that He has another world intended for us. Like His first....

Losing My Relation

I've found that as I age (turned 43 last week) that I am having more and more of the "kids these days-type" conversations. I had another two nights ago. At dinner with a few friends we talked about how "relationship" is going, or has gone out of business relationships. It seems these are more and more data-driven relations. ROI, efficiencies, cost saving mechanisms, outsourcing, are all not only common practice, but thwarting the actual relationship. Surely delivering success and savings, etc. is an integral part of good business, but the add on of the who we work with, and why we work with them, and the trusted pieces are of lesser importance.

We are even losing our relations on the personal level. Our lives are busier than ever and we often don't have any "room" to build relationships. We rush from one thing to another, are bombarded with technology, and time is sucked away. More and more we've got to be intentional about relationships. They have got to take a priority. We've got to recognize, nurture, and place emphasis on them in order to enjoy the fulfillment they offer.

Of all places, last night, The Office brought into existence the art of relationship, albeit over a few margaritas. Steve Carell's Michael Scott negotiated a big deal for Dunder Mifflin over an Awesome Blossom onion and some Baby-back ribs at Chili's, much to the shock of his hard-nosed boss. Now I am not saying the idiotic Scott is a saavy business guy, and much of the Dunder Mifflin experience is not exemplary, but there was an often overlooked, sweet spirit of relationship that showed up bar side at Chili's where a couple of guys talked, cared and wanted to do better and provide more to their respective stakeholders. And, having "related", trusted the other to do their part.