The heat felt particularly heavy that July afternoon. The air conditioning inside the bank made it easier to breath. I shifted my weight, waiting my turn to talk to the young man with horn-rimmed glasses. We were new in town and I needed some cash. “I would like to cash a check” I said. He cocked his head and mumbled something I didn’t get. I repeated, more slowly, “I-would-like-to-cash-a-check," pointing to my check to make myself clear. His eyes creased and he rattled off something I still didn’t understand. After a third attempt, being very aware of the line of restless people behind me, I closed my checkbook, bowed my head and left the building frustrated and embarrassed.
The rupture in communication was not the fault of the annoyed clerk. It was mine. In the summer of 1993 we had been in France for only three weeks and I only knew a few dozen French words. I couldn't communicate with the locals and it hurt. I came to offer these people the transforming power of Jesus, but I couldn’t even manage an over-the-counter bank transaction. I still had a lot to learn.
The body of Christ today in a media saturated world reminds me of my early experiences in France. Christians do not fluently speak the “visual media” language of the people around us. In the last ten years, the Western world (and increasingly the developing world) has become inundated with thousands of messages a day through movie, television, laptop, cell phone and iPod screens.
Yet we still primarily communicate the beauty and truth of the Gospel through 40 minute Sunday sermons…to an audience that won’t come to the theatre where the sermon is playing (a church building, that is). The sermon is necessary, but no longer sufficient. People are starved for hope, meaning and purpose. Its time for God’s people to connect with them like never before through the power of visual story...to offer them not only what they need - but what they have yet to dream of…life and life abundant.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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5 comments:
Clyde & Company,
I want to communicate my belief in your work. It is very timely. The church needs to make changes to place the gospel in media to reach the current culture.
The opportunity reminds me of a book I read by Erwin Mc Manus - Seizing the Divine Moment. Your work will have ripple effects that will have a wide impact.
I am praying for you.
Thanks Glenn! I haven't read that one. It's going on the list.
Regarding sermons and preaching...like Driscoll, I believe pastors struggle with the traditional sermon model. It takes a lot of work to be relevant and Driscoll is doing it well. He stands in the same spot on the stage for an hour and preaching at a fast pace with spiritual meat. Youth come by the 1000's.
Visual communication is the gravy on top of the sermon. Driscoll calls visual communication along with preaching the "Air War" of the Kingdom. The analogy is like going to war, the air war goes first and then the ground troops. Preaching and Visual/Audio communication goes first, and the community groups, grace groups, one-to-one, discipleship, etc. come next.
I don't want to name drop Driscoll too much, but he is a large influence in my life right now and I want to support preaching to the fullest. We just need this VSN movement to inspire the next generation of preachers to be creative and relevant!!!
So what I'm saying is I'm on board.
-Corban
Corban,
Agreed! Preaching will always be necessary, but is no longer sufficient in this media age. I buy into the air campaign/ground campaign construct (though the military analogy is subject to criticism).
For 15 years my primary focus was on face to face/life on life ministry...in community (the ground campaign). This is where life change takes place in its most essential way.
I began to be more and more aware of a drift away from kingdom values in culture that made it harder to connect in traditional ways with people in need of Christ.
Thus God's calling in the last 7 years to engage in more visual media forms (the air campaign) to connect with those apart from Christ.
We need both...those able to connect the Living Word (Jesus) through the written Word (Scripture) with those in spiritual poverty (all of us to an extent, some more than others).
We also need those who can connect the Living Word (Jesus) through the portrayed Word(visually mediated biblical truth) with those in spiritial poverty.
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