The Hill Newspaper just ran a story on NCC. Not thrilled about the tone or angle. Which is funny because I thoroughly enjoyed the interview with the reporter. Alas. We get so much positive press so we were probably due for a story that didn't capture who we are.
I knew it wasn't going to go well when I saw the title and first line :)
Mass Appeal: A superstar pastor
Have you ever been sitting in a movie theater, had a jumbo popcorn tub passed to you, and been expected to drop money in it?
For what it's worth, we give a disclaimer every week: if you're a guest please don't feel obligated to give.
Then the article starts contradicting itself.
In his polo-shirt-and-jeans video sermon, Batterson mentioned some things you won't find in any of the church's promotional materials: the scripture, the wrath of God, eternal suffering, and Jesus Christ.
The National Community Church enterprise is reminiscent of the non-denominational mega-ministries run by superstar pastors like Joel Osteen or Rick Warren. There is a clear emphasis on positive thinking and self-esteem, and hardly a hint of hellfire. Batterson says he's not interested in television, but I wouldn't rule out superstar-pastor status for him yet.
A few thoughts.
You can't expect a reporter to really capture who you are or what you're about with one brief visit to one service on one Sunday.
You can't control people's perceptions.
Stories like this help you not take yourself so seriously :)
Don't get defensive.
Be who you are and let the chips fall where they may :)
Now here is the funny thing. God will use this article :) I've seen it before and it'll happen again. It doesn't seem like positive press, but God has a way of redeeming it.
I knew it wasn't going to go well when I saw the title and first line :)
Mass Appeal: A superstar pastor
Have you ever been sitting in a movie theater, had a jumbo popcorn tub passed to you, and been expected to drop money in it?
For what it's worth, we give a disclaimer every week: if you're a guest please don't feel obligated to give.
Then the article starts contradicting itself.
In his polo-shirt-and-jeans video sermon, Batterson mentioned some things you won't find in any of the church's promotional materials: the scripture, the wrath of God, eternal suffering, and Jesus Christ.
The National Community Church enterprise is reminiscent of the non-denominational mega-ministries run by superstar pastors like Joel Osteen or Rick Warren. There is a clear emphasis on positive thinking and self-esteem, and hardly a hint of hellfire. Batterson says he's not interested in television, but I wouldn't rule out superstar-pastor status for him yet.
A few thoughts.
You can't expect a reporter to really capture who you are or what you're about with one brief visit to one service on one Sunday.
You can't control people's perceptions.
Stories like this help you not take yourself so seriously :)
Don't get defensive.
Be who you are and let the chips fall where they may :)
Now here is the funny thing. God will use this article :) I've seen it before and it'll happen again. It doesn't seem like positive press, but God has a way of redeeming it.
12 Comments:
When I read the article, my first thought was "Why do they always make churches seem so LAME?"
And amazing that they so easily leave out the HEART of what we do. Like, oh yeah, and we love Jesus!
I just sat down to read "The Hill" and was surprised to run across this story...I had a similar reaction as Nina. The story dwells on how we market ourselves as a church but not who we are, and that is the Church with a capital "c."
Mark, I think God will use this, too...if anything, it will "compel" people to come in and once there, I think the Spirit will move in ways that cannot be explained by sound bites or platitudes.
I realize I'm a "new" guy in the "leave your comment" section :) But I would like to leave a note of encouragement...I pastor a church in Texas and I've been reading your blog and evotionals for quite some time now. Your material and method of delivery is quite captivating. I've heard the same complaints about "mega" pastors before...soft language, absence of conviction, positive thinking, self-esteem, etc....I would rather hear a message of hope than damnation. Tell me how God made a way of avoidance from such eternal damnation but please tell me of His love that promises hope now and in eternity as well!
Mark, keep up the good work! God is honored through your ministry.
Shannon
PM,
It has become a bad thing to preach the Scriptures and things like sin, hell and Jesus? The contradiction of the message the reporter heard (or at least that is what the article seems to say) and the "NCC enterprise" and its emphasis on positive thinking and self-esteem is quite laughable. I am not sure if the reporter is trying to bash Joel and Rick or you, my guess is the former. No offense to one of the two pastors mentioned (other than you), but I haven't heard much about Jesus from him.
Anyway, sorry for the rant...I like what the other commentors. God does have a sense of humor and this one negative piece will probably do more good than harm. There goes that positive thinking again! :)
Hey Mark! No worries here. There's no such thing as bad press.
Interesting his comment about a crucifix, use of the word dogma, and framing the whole thing with the "mass appeal" headline... maybe a Catholic background?
You apparently use scripture, talk about Jesus, the wrath of God and suffering, but also focus mostly on positive thinking and self-esteem???? Hmmmmm. My guess is you're getting a little backwash from the TIME magazine article last week... and are dealing with a guy who's not had a great church experience in the past.
Want to make a bet on how long it will be before he sneaks back in? : > )
Hey Mark,
The Pharisees didn't like Jesus' way of communicating either. You're awesome!
Chalan
Cynical media. I sometimes wonder if in their lame attempts to remain objectionable (or so they say) that they actually have a purpose of creating negative spin and controversy merely for the sake of hyped discussion and selling papers. "It's all good," and who knows... perhaps the spin this reporter took will actually cause more people to read the article due to their interest is seeing what this guy wrote. I know it did for me and I'm smart enough, as are others, to read between the lines and draw my own conclusions. Truth shines through.
Hey Mark... haven't commented in a while but am always reading the postings. This one caught my attention.
I have to admit that I was surprised by both your reactions to the article and the comments of your readers. As you are someone who is constantly looking to do church differently and to find new and imaginative ways to reach the lost, I would think that you would welcome this article as a good and refreshing alternate opinion for your staff to review as opposed to all the ones that agree with you. A sort of way to see your church through the eyes of an outsider.
Instead, you labeled it "bad press" based on the comparative "good press" comment and your readers all labeled this writer as "cynical, self-contradictory," and even compared him to a "Pharisee." Two of the comments even went ahead and made guesses about the guy's previous church experiences and made the assumption that he actually is secretly dying to come back, just in a "sneak-type" fashion. Is this the way we should label those who don't tell us what we want to hear? I guess, based on your philosophy of church, I expected more from you guys.
For example, since you are always referring to preachers needing to do better "cultural exegesis,"... what can you pull from the fact that a visitor saw you guys using a popcorn bucket to take tithes and offerings in. To me, it doesn't matter whether they heard your disclaimer, it matters what they saw. And apparently this guy saw something the culture identifies with refreshment and fun being used to collect money from the audience. His article clearly shows that he saw the apparent reversal of meaning for the "popcorn bucket." So... maybe you guys could talk about whether that is the best thing to do?
And why did the journalist hear you talking about what content you do NOT include in your promotional material? What did he hear? What were you saying? And for what reason? Because all he heard was that you guys choose not to let the culture around you know about their sin. I'm not saying that this is what you do... I'm saying that this is what he heard.
I agree with the one comment that said that this was obvious a backlash from the recent TIME issue (9/18/06) featuring the cover srticle by David Van Biema. This author decided to go to a popular local church and see if what Van Biema wrote was true. In his opinion, it was.
If there is any comparison to be made to "Pharisees" in the Scriptures, it should always be to those of us "doing church" and never to outsiders who are blind. In the Scriptures, it was the Pharisees who were holding a church service and it was Jesus who came in and critiqued it. Not the reverse. And we should note that Jesus' critique was that the Pharisees spent more time worrying about their image and how they could profit from it than about clearly conveying truth to the world around them. We should always be asking ourselves if we have fallen back into this trap worrying more about how to get people to come into our buildings rather than carrying the message to them. Again, not insinuating that this is you... just noting from the author's words that this is what he felt he saw.
Maybe I am wrong on this one. But is it possible that we can, at times, learn more form those who don't agree with us than all the ones that tell us how great we are.
Lane,
I hear you :) And I always put these kinds of article through the filter. What's true? What do we need to learn from them? And it helps that I've had a ton of interaction over the year with reporters. I know that they are going to "take an angle" and there isn't much you can do about it.
My big disappointment was how hollow the article was. It just missed the heart of who we are :) So it was more of a disappointment that he didn't do a good job of representing NCC or my interview with him. But you can't control that.
Alas.
Mark
Did they spell your name right? That's what really matters.
Yup. Got the name right :)
Mark
You can't control people's perceptions, but you can manage them...
If one reporter paints a cape and tights on you and calls you a superstar, you might have to track down that one reporter that can put your holey jeans back on to reveal Christ within you...
Getting press isn't always a good thing?
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