The Topic

Increasingly, African-American pastors are “supersizing” their churches as they create 20,000-member mega-churches, some equipped with ATMs, supermarkets and even their very own McDonald’s. What do you think about this trend?

 What They Said

 The guests on the show included, Rev. Jamaal Harrison-Bryant, Rev. Joel Osteen, Bishop Bernard Jordan, comedian Ricky Smiley and author Kimberla Lawson Roby. Each one presented a different viewpoint on churches partnering with businesses. Some, including Smiley and Lawson were skeptical, while the reverends defended the trend, saying it is sometihng new happening with religion. They argue that the church is becoming more influential when it goes into non-traditional arenas. They also insist that the message and mission of the church is not being compromised.

The Cartoon

 Plus, check out the cartoon below created by talented artist Rajan Sedalia. You’ll see a different cartoon each week by the artist right here on this blog.

 About the Cartoonist:

Rajan Sedalia lives the creative experience. A one-of-a-kind designer, cartoonist, inventor and artist capturing the essence of the country’s evolving cultural and political landscape like no other. Bringing a youthful, bold sensibility to his social commentary, his is a voice with a progressive stance about the need to not only tolerate, but understand our multicultural world of creativity. His art, inventions, designs and cartoons have been recognized by CBS, PBS, FOX, MSNBC, Columbia, Harvard, The Whitney Museum, Newsweek, Parade, Forbes, Popular Science, Black Enterprise and Business Week magazines.

Your Opinion

 Hit ”Comments” above to write what you think about the show and megachurhes.

While I may be an associate pastor now, I wasn’t always in leadership at a church. I grew up the son of a baptist pastor and have seen a lot of interesting and bewildering “church” things along the way. Many of which, cause me to question not only my own relationship with the church, but also the true intent of ministry. Much of what I do today is a result of having tested the scriptures, to know for myself what I beleive and why I do what I do in ministry. I’ve never been satisfied with the twice-a-week routine. Church, simply put, needed fundamental meaning for me. And, today, that’s the ministry that I practice – simple, fundamental, investigative, relational and relevant religion. But, it order to get there, I had to let go of some things and trust that God would fill in the blanks. I believe there are too many holding strong to some strongholds that are keeping them in mental and spiritual bondage.

The church in America is challenged to “retool or retire.” After examining the state of affairs there is no doubt that “we’ve come this far by faith.” There is no question that the existence of the Christian church establishment in America is threatened by the indifference of the baby boom and baby bust generation. The scriptures report that we have nothing to worry about. However, the organism known as the church can not rest on the promises of Matthew 16:18 alone. God has called us to arms against the evils of this world. God has called us to a higher level of accountability in today’s society and the church must respond to God’s call.

In order to respond to God’s call we must step back and take a critical look at who we have become. In other words, the church needs to look in the mirror and be honest with what it sees. Today, most churches have leveled off in their growth or are experiencing a downward growth pattern. Since the World War II surge of church planting, America’s churches are seeing the graying of it’s congregations as well as a thinning of it’s impact on community.

According to Win Arn in his book The Pastor’s Manual for Effective Ministry, of the 350,000 churches in North America 80-85% are on the down side of growth. Further, of the 15% that are growing, 14% are swapping members rather than converting new Christians. According to Arn, America is loosing 3,500 to 4,000 churches per year.

With this reality staring the church of America in the face, the obvious question is how will the church respond. The ones who know how to have church are not young enough to live long enough to fix the problem. Therefore, many churches are faced with the choice of retooling or retiring.

Before I start my section of the blog posts, it’s important to share a little of my background. I’m a native of Indianapolis, Indiana and currently reside in Nashville, Tennessee. I serve as the Minister of Mass Media for the historic Temple Baptist Church and operate a non-profit empowerment ministry called Girton Ministries, Inc. After nearly 25 years in the media business, I spend much of my time consulting with churches, businesses and non-profit organizations on new media implementation strategies. I’m an adjunct professor and TV Operations Manager at Tennessee State University. Additionally, I’m the president and co-founder of Girton and Associates, a multimedia consulting firm.

After listening to Rick Hancock’s podcast interview of Bishop Jordan, watching the program and then reading the posts on the BET.com website, there’s a lot that comes to mind on the subject of Retail Religion. I will be sharing many of them with you over the next few days.

Let me start out by reminding everyone that none should take the position of neither judge nor jury on this topic. Additionally, no one should feel threatened for voicing his or her opinion while utilizing this dynamic and powerful web based tool. I want to invite anyone with a question or thought to feel free to share with the worldwide community.

As it relates to the topic of this past Sunday’s program, “Retail Religion” I want to focus some attention on “intention.” It’s difficult to say why people in general, church parishioners, and/or pastors do what they do. However, no matter what the outcome of a person’s or an organization’s actions, you can be sure that somewhere, someone set an expectation. Certainly, our hope is that the leader of any organization, church, temple, mosque, or synagogue isn’t in the business of benefiting (Lyons Saga Leads to Prison) personally from the exploitation of his or her members. There should be a code of ethics that drives the decisions of anyone in leadership. For the church, we don’t have to look far for that code, it’s found in the pages of our bibles.

So, when I hear of churches involving themselves in commercial ventures, I always wonder to whose benefit is this agreement embedded? Not that I’m against any particular arrangement. Certainly the church must engage in business endeavors to simply get the work of ministry done. But, there are some activities that beg the questions, “Are we participating in this venture for social mileage or spiritual mileage?”

What difference does it make? Well, to those who don’t see the obvious in the question, there was a passage in a book I read which helped me crystallize this concept a few years ago. While reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey discusses the difference between Character Ethic and Personal Ethic. On page eighteen of the book he points out many foundational elements for personal success to include; integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty and The Golden Rule. This resonated with me because of it’s alignment with 1 Corinthians 13:4-5. No one who leads you should do so outside the boundaries of love. If you have concerns about the decisions your leader is making, then test them by running them through the scripture above. If you’re uneasy about an ATM in your church or a McDonald’s on the property, ask yourself, “is this arrangement gaining social mileage or spiritual mileage?”

P-E-A-C-E

JG

The Topic

Increasingly, African-American pastors are “supersizing” their churches as they create 20,000-member mega-churches, some equipped with ATMs, supermarkets and even their very own McDonald’s. What do you think about this trend?

 What They Said

 The guests on the show included, Rev. Jamaal Harrison-Bryant, Rev. Joel Osteen, Bishop Bernard Jordan, comedian Ricky Smiley and author Kimberla Lawson Roby. Each one presented a different viewpoint on churches partnering with businesses. Some, including Smiley and Lawson were skeptical, while the reverends defended the trend, saying it is sometihng new happening with religion. They argue that the church is becoming more influential when it goes into non-traditional arenas. They also insist that the message and mission of the church is not being compromised.

 The Cartoon

 Plus, check out the cartoon below created by talented artist Rajan Sedalia. You’ll see a different cartoon each week by the artist right here on this blog.

 About the Cartoonist:

Rajan Sedalia lives the creative experience. A one-of-a-kind designer, cartoonist, inventor and artist capturing the essence of the country’s evolving cultural and political landscape like no other. Bringing a youthful, bold sensibility to his social commentary, his is a voice with a progressive stance about the need to not only tolerate, but understand our multicultural world of creativity. His art, inventions, designs and cartoons have been recognized by CBS, PBS, FOX, MSNBC, Columbia, Harvard, The Whitney Museum, Newsweek, Parade, Forbes, Popular Science, Black Enterprise and Business Week magazines.

Your Opinion

 Hit ”Comments” above to write what you think about the show and megachurhes.