Speak Up!

A clever marketing campaign is going on near my house via a billboard (I'm a student of urban marketing). It is a Greater Than Aids drive. There are race and ideological factors that drive this campaign, but that isn't the purpose of my posting.
The campaign aptly uses the greater than symbol to send a plethora of messages related to AIDS/HIV. This particular board tersely says: Speaking up is greater than silence (in a golden font; I assume after the Chinese proverb that eloquence is silver and silence is gold). The point is two-fold, I believe: speak up if you have HIV/AIDS and speak up against the epidemic.
My American society calls for people to be bold and unashamed about their illness. I totally expect that.
Why, then, do I shut up about Christ, the Savior of the world; the Savior from sin; the Judge of all the earth?

It's time, my friends, that we speak up with the message that truly transforms. Open up your mouth. Speak up!

1 John 4:4- Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

America's Favorite Unopened Text

I came across this stimulating article on Christian illiteracy among youths. Author, David Nienhuis, argues cogently for the need to get past mere "sword drill" or trivial type of Bible knowledge and encounter the Scriptures in a more holistic, multi-perspectival fashion.
He particularly draws upon his context-- the Christian college.
"It is not enough for a Christian university to function as an outpost of the academy; it must also take up the task of serving the church by becoming an abbey for spiritual growth and an apostolate for cultural change."

While my experience in university lectureship was short, I think I would have a class which had a semester project that would be pass/fail. The students would have to write about one ideology, philosophy or theology that they would die for.

Hey nightclubs, got an idea...

Just about every Sunday driving home on Ontario St. from church, I cast a glance at one of downtown Chicago's "premier" night club's marquis. I purposefully won't link to it, but only regular visitors of downtown Chicago or Chicago residents will know which one I'm referring to (not that it's a unique idea to them). Now that I've got you curious...

(by the way, [to my Christian friends and interlocutors] a place like this cannot be redeemed. Plainly, the clearest path to redemption would be if the owners and managers repented and bowed the knee to the King, sold the place and turned it into a place of virtuous profit or sold it to a church or agency for a great price)

Aside from some of the vulgarity implied on some of their ads is an ad promoting the fact that among all the kinds of parties they host, they invite you to have your "divorce party" with them. How about that? Let's celebrate infidelity, irresponsibility and freedom of choice.

As a guy who's in business and particularly marketing, I know how we are constantly on the prowl for a great idea or campaign.

Well, here's one:
At the end of the world, when all "hell" seems to be breaking loose on earth in an unprecedented way and your establishment is still left standing, I can think of no better idea than the following. However, I must preface the idea with some background from that antiquated piece of sage literature, the Bible.
From the book of Revelation, chapter 11, there are going to be 2 powerful dudes called witnesses running around for over 3 years preaching and supposedly incinerating any opponents. Well, their mighty preaching circuit will end with their assasination. Let John the Apostle fill in some details here:

"and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For 3.5 days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because the these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth."

So, the idea, nightclub managers, is to have a "YAY, the 2 prophets are dead!" party (buy the URLs now!). That kind of party may reach a niche no one else is thinking of (even though it is predicted here in the Biblical text). Retailers could even run a last minute Black Friday gig to aid in the festivities. However, it would be fair for planning purposes to clue you in to read verse 11.

Dear Black Friday Fans

Dear Black Friday Fans:
I would like to remind you that last year some really eager counterparts of yours (read: greedy) took the life of someone's son. What a shame that a reduced-priced gadget is worth more to you than a living, breathing person. What a travesty that the flat screen you want so badly on which you will witness thousands of unreal deaths will be the cause for you to participate in a real mob killing (actually, it's not the TV's fault. You're just greedy). In trying to save a buck this Friday, please stop. Save a life. Use your mouth to build up your fellow Black Friday fans. Keep your middle finger to yourself. Let someone else have that parking spot. Dudes, let the ladies ahead of you (yeah, even if they seem obnoxiously pushy). Finally, what will it matter if you gain the Friday discount but lose your own soul?

Dear Corporate America in a Depressed Economic America:
Shame on you for feeding our appetites for more. While you have your logos emblazoned all over charities and sponsorships, you sit in your boardrooms lusting for more and groping to keep your investors happy. While you throw money distantly to society's disenfranchised, your commercials are positioned to exploit the passions of the same ones. You'll get back your charity money eventually. Sad.
(By the way, Sears, I appreciate your approach this year. It saves on the madness.)
Shame on you for opening your doors even earlier? When will 3am be too late? How about this for a change: open your doors at 7 and keep the same deals all day long or save the best deals till later? How counterintuitive would that be to your marketing strategy? Try it.
Finally, what will it matter if Friday's spending results in increased 4th quarter revenue and you die?

Dear Jesus:
Forgive me for my own greed and for any hypocrisy in the above charges. I long for your redemption. Thank you for pouring out your riches, becoming poor and dying for my greedy self so that I might be rich toward God. Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Culture, Contextualization and the Church

Last week, Rachel, the kids and I headed to Michigan to visit many dear friends. Rachel and I also attended the 2008 Mid-America Conference on Preaching sponsored by Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and hosted by Inter-City Baptist Church. The subject of the conference was "Culture, Contextualization and the Church." It was intriguing enough to me to return while also reconnecting w/ friends. It was a wonderful little conference. The sessions are for the most part intellectually stimulating and rigorously biblical. Subjects covered were methods of apostolic "contextualization," worldliness, contemporary challenges for biblical separatism amongst some others that really had nothing to do with the subject of the conference. For those who would like a "heady"interaction on a definition of culture, I would highly recommend Mark Snoeberger's session on "More Notes on a Definition of Culture." Mark is a careful (maybe fastidious) scholar. You will be challenged. Let me know what you think.