The Man Show does Revolution December 21, 2007
Posted by Zack in Nevada | 2 comments
Here’s a perfect example of how much Christian radicals have to teach their counterparts on the non-Christian left—and how cultural differences make cross-pollination difficult.
I saw signs for Deadly Viper Character Assassins project in the Central Christian Church book store in Las Vegas last week, and just remembered to look it up today. It’s a set of resources to help leaders stay grounded and humble, created by CCC senior paster Jud Wilhite and XXXChurch founder Mike Foster.
The spectacular implosion of countless televangelists have made Christians synonymous with bad leaders for a lot of people outside (and inside) the church. In reality, Christian churches are producing an incredible number of incredible leaders. In many churches, leadership training begins at a young age in youth groups and continues through an endless string of volunteer or staff positions of increasing responsibility. All along the way, leaders are nurtured with direct mentorship from more experienced leadership as well as copious books and materials, seminars and big conferences. One constant thread throughout is the struggle to stay humble and self-critical, even in the face of exceptional success.
Tell me you don’t know some leaders who could use some of this wisdom from the Deadly Vipers project:
Often a lifetime of work can be greatly impacted by a few quick, careless decisions. Leaders often engage in “character creep” as they subtly and slowly cross lines….
Subtly we can begin to shade the truth, refuse to face reality and deceive ourselves. A leader begins to live with lies and travels down a slippery slope… Effective leaders embrace transparency, honesty, and a willingness to admit mistakes….
Most people in leadership will get the opportunity to hop into the sack with someone inappropriately. You will have the opportunity to cross a line sexually. You will be faced with a situation that looks like you just can’t pass up. It’s not if, it’s when. …we need to be prepared to make good decisions in the area of sexuality and relationships.
Our culture teaches that we are what we have. Materialism can drive us for more and more money all the while our contentment and fulfillment level is dropping. …leaders have healthy views on generosity, giving, and how to make a living and not make a dying.
Often leaders do what they do in an unhealthy pursuit of proving one’s worth. Ego reveals itself in a devaluing of others to inflate oneself or in believing one’s own press reports. The long-term effect of this behavior is a life that comes up short and meaningless. Leaders must train and fight for a centered perspective while maintaining respect for others….
But chances are, if you came up in the same traditions I did, you’re going to be totally thrown off by the wrapper that wisdom has been placed in on the Deadly Viper site. One of the keys to the success of Christian radicals in reaching so many millions of Americans is that they operate in mainstream cultural vernacular. They’re radicals when it comes to material and emotional lifestyle and their relationships to those around them, but they’re regular people when it comes to surface cultural signifiers.
That’s why the idea for Deadly Viper was hatched in a place called “Da Man Cave,” probably during a Cowboys game (they came up three times in Jud’s sermon that I attended), and packaged in an unfortunate, Asian-stuff-is-so-funny Kung Fu theme.
It is The Man Show does revolution…but with a very strong line against the objectification of women.
Micro-powered revolution December 11, 2007
Posted by Zack in Nevada | 3 comments
You’ve probably heard that there’s a big Christian music scene out there. But you might not be aware of just how complete of an alternate reality it is.
Listen to RadioU online for an hour or so, and you’ll get a sampling of Christian indy rock, hard core, rap, reggae, reggaeton and more.
In almost every city, there’s at least one station that plays contemporary Christian rock. RadioU is on in Columbus, for example, and a few other cities. But “Positive & Encouraging K-LOVE” is more mainstream (no reggaeton or speed metal!) and it’s got stations in an unbelievable number of cities—including two in Vegas, where we are now.
And there’s even a version of Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown: “20 The Countdown Magazine,” with a guy who sound’s just like Kasem who tells little stories about the artists in between the songs. (Elizabeth informs me that she grew up listening to “20 The Countdown Magazine.” I grew up listening to Casey Kasem. Back then, Dr. Ruth came on right after Kasem. But Elizabeth also informs me that there was no equivalent to Dr. Ruth in the Christian world.)
One thing that’s fascinating is that most of these Christian musicians began their careers as worship leaders at churches (the people who lead the music before the sermon). What that means is that these artists are not just entertainers, they’re co-leaders of the movement alongside preachers and theologians.
For example, David Crowder, who has a song on the 20 right now, began his career in college with fellow student Chris Seay (who’s now a major leader who calls consumerism “the greatest problem facing the American church today”) when they started University Baptist Church together in Waco, Texas.
Here’s a Crowder song we’ve been hearing a lot on K-LOVE:
David Crowder :: Revolutionary Love Desperation leads us here Leads us here Illumination meets us here Meets us here Revelation brings us here Brings us here Restoration frees us here Frees us here And I don't want to leave I don't want to leave this place No, I don't want to leave I never want to leave this place CHORUS It's so amazing Your unchanging love Simply amazing Never changing love Love, love revolutionary love Reparation leads us here Leads us here Liberation meets us here Meets us here Jubilation brings us here Brings us here Higher elevation frees us here Frees us here Your revolutionary love Your revolutionary love, love, love You're a revolution I want to be Revolutionary You're a revolution I want to be Revolutionary You're a revolution I want to be Love, love, love Revolutionary love
Vegas Mega Church December 10, 2007
Posted by Zack in Nevada | 4 comments
I saw Jud Wilhite speak at the Catalyst conference in August, and today I got to see him preach at his Las Vegas mega-church. He’s the author of Stripped: Uncensored grace on the streets of Vegas.
Central Christian Church is huge and hosts five full services per weekend. It was diverse class-wise and ethnically. But it was also diverse in an unusual way that I couldn’t really put my finger on: there were all these people who were…just…so Vegas.
Before his sermon talked about the church’s effort to feed hundreds of homeless children in the Las Vegas Valley. The children have free meals at schools during the week, and CCCLV, along with other churches, provides free meals on weekends. It’s a new program, and the church had a lot of literature available about its plans to “eliminate hunger” in Vegas.
On the flight out here, I watched the new film about performance artist “Reverend Billy,” called What Would Jesus Buy. (I’ll write about that in a post soon—they sent me the DVD to review.) The movie is about a group of NY performers and culture jammers barging into Starbucks and Wal-marts preaching (or singing) at people to “stop shopping.” Billy wants them to spend more time living and loving than consuming. The film contrasted images of wild-eyed children tearing presents open with people communing around the Christmas table.
In Jud’s sermon this morning, called “An X-Mess Story,” he had a similar message—but he wasn’t shouting at strangers in a Big Box store. Instead he was delivering it to ten thousand people (or so, over the whole weekend) who were members of a community, all seeking something together.
I’m in Las Vegas to research how the new presidential Caucus is being organized here. I tried to ask around at church about opinions of the candidates, and whether anyone was going to participate. But people really get weirded out by questions about politics at church. Either I’m a bad a journalist, or there’s just some trick I haven’t figured out yet about political reporting in church! I emailed some of the church’s leaders to see if maybe I can visit some small groups during the week for discussions on this. We’ll see…
