Black in America
I’ve long been intrigued by black history and issues. I was excited when CNN recently aired Black in America, examining the trials and triumphs of black men, women, and families (for the record, I’m about as black as Google’s home page).
I haven’t finished the entire show, but so far it’s been enlightening. The special includes a few vignettes inside churches and a brief interview with TD Jakes about the dangers children face when growing up without a father.
Here are some of the more grim realities facing black America:
- Nearly 70% of black children are born to single parents
- About half of pregnancies among black women are terminated
- Black Americans account for 50% of new HIV/AIDS cases in the U.S.
- AIDS is now the number one killer of black women aged 25-34
- 49% of homicide victims are black
I don’t quote these statistics for any reason other than to show a need. The government can’t address all these issues effectively and Jesse Jackson does more harm than good these days. So where does the church fit in? How can metropolitan and inner city churches demonstrate Christ’s compassion to those with AIDS or without fathers?
I don’t really know the answers. But I do know I serve a God of compassion and providence. A God who provides salvation and healing to all.
Too Much Church?
Trey Graham, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Melissa, Texas has a nice post in the opinion section of the Dallas Morning News. In it, he poses the question how much church is enough?–arguing that when Christians spend too much time in the bubble of Christianity, they neglect the great commission.
One of the greatest obstacles to living out “go and tell” is the tendency for Christians to spend all their time inside the physical walls of the church or inside the social walls of the Christian community. In my sermons, I call this temptation “living inside the bubble.” If Christ-followers only live inside the bubble, how will people outside the faith ever hear about Jesus?
I think Trey’s article is a fair and well-balanced admonishment, especially for those trapped in what Jonathan Leeman describes as the counterfeit gospel of formalism.
After some thought, what really strikes my curiosity is whether or not this is a uniquely American phenomenon. For those of you overseas, does Trey’s article apply to believers in your continent?
For those of you in the US, how often (per week) do you attend church services or functions? How do you find a balance between corporate worship, fellowship, evangelism, and service?
Maybe I should cut down to 2 potlucks a week.
Introducing Ebispo Pulse (Join and Win Some Stuff)
Update: the link to the pulse was broken. It has been fixed. Apologies.
In an effort to make this site more valuable–but without me having to do any extra work–I’m launching a little experiment I’m calling The Pulse (trendy name, eh?).
The Pulse is a social news site with a focus on christianity and faith. Since christians are often a few years behind the curve, I’ll explain what that means. A social news site is a news website where the readers both submit stories and vote on the their favorites. As a result, the most popular stories rise to the top. Good examples of general social news sites are Digg.com and Reddit.com.
The overall goal of a social news site (including this one) is to find new sources of information and encouragement, and foster discussion among users.
So, head over to pulse.ebispo.com, create an account and get started. You can visit the Recent tab to see the most recent articles/blog posts. Visit some links, vote them up or down, and leave some comments. If you write an informative or encouraging post on your blog, please submit it. We’re looking for christian news articles, topical or scriptural studies, interesting videos or images, and words of encouragement. Blog posts about what you had for lunch or pictures of your cat are strongly discouraged.
Participate and win some stuff
In order to encourage some participation, I’m going to give away some prizes. First, we’ll start with a couple $25 gift cards to the iTunes music store. Over the next 30 days, every time you submit a link or leave a comment on the pulse, you’ll be entered to win 1 of 2 iTunes cards. The more you participate, the better your chances of winning.
Visit pulse.ebispo.com today
Weekend Links: iPods and Pastor Auctions
Every Friday I’ll try and post some links to articles or stories of interest (.
- Got an extra iPod at home? Donate it to an African pastor (I’d remove that Miley Cyrus album first, though)
- LA Times explores several scientific theories behind why Americans are so fat? Couldn’t there be any spiritual factors?
- Man suing church due to injuries suffered while consumed by the spirit. Why not just sue the Holy Spirit?
- Is your church searching for a new pastor? Here’s one on eBay. What, no Buy It Now button?
- Apparently the Beatles were a christian band. Maybe Why Don’t we Do it in the Road was about praying in the street.
Phil Vischer’s Video
Phil Vischer–original creator of Big Idea and Veggie Tales–has a new venture in production. Based on the introductory video (embedded below), Jelly Telly aims to be a web-based video network for christian kids. It appears Jelly Telly will have a subscription model where each user chooses how much they will pay.
I don’t think this is a bad idea per say
I have to admit, I have a few reservations (questions, at the very least) about the video. First let me say, I think Phil is an extremely talented individual. My oldest daughter grew up on Veggie Tales in the late 90s and, while BIG Idea took somewhat of a sad turn, I think the the entire endeavor benefited a lot of families.
I also have no problems with choose your own price model for arts/media. It has already proved viable by Radiohead and other businesses are experimenting with it.
Entrepreneurship versus ministry
My primary question is this: is Jelly Telly a business venture, or is it a ministry? Yes, a christian entrepreneur will have many opportunities to glorify God and minister to others. Someone else called to full-time ministry may support themselves by working (recall that Paul made tents). But those are scenarios where one complements the other. I’ll explore this more in a later post, but I personally don’t feel a new, focused endeavor by a believer can be both.
If Jelly Telly is a ministry, I would stop worrying about Nickelodean and the Disney Channel (he mentions them frequently in the video). There would be no reason to even consider competing with them.
If Jelly Tell is a business, I hope Phil has plans to reach the tween and teen demographic. Most of the samples in the video appear to target the 2-11 crowd. Big companies know how to market to kids. Girls especially gravitate to themes above their age group. Tweens watch shows about teens. Teens read Vogue and watch The Hills (shudder). Hannah Montana may be set in high school, but 16 year-old girls aren’t watching it.
Finally on the business front, I hope video isn’t the only move in the Jelly Telly playbook. Internet use among kids is meeting or exceeding television use in the US and UK. I doubt that time is spent merely watching online videos. Social networks, games, and communication is my guess.
Whatever Jelly Telly wants to be, I hope they make wise decisions and grow organically. My prayers go out to Phil and the team.