A New Rant

QUIET Well, my blog has been real quiet lately. Been very, very busy for a mildly employed person. I have spent every last waking minute of any remotely nice day painting my house. I'm about 99% done and it looks awesome. If you go to Home Depot, the color is Awning Red. All I have left is some trim work and a couple of spots to touch up. And I need to put up new gutters. Beyond that, I was traveling in the burgeoning city of Harrisonburg, VA. And my dad had a serious myocardial infarction. He's recovering fine but it will require some lifestyle adjustments. ____________________ A New Rant ... I really despise writers and people in general that rip megachurches. Especially people who have never attended one for any length of time. Morons. I have heard just a little bit too much of this 'cacca de vacca' lately. I get even more annoyed when the lump all megachurches into the same category. Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, Rick Warren, TD Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Bob Russell and Bill Hybels are not clones. Neither are their ministries. They are not all dumbing down the gospel. They are not all producing immature disciples. They are not all just entertainment driven with no substance. Some of those guys are working their asses off to make a huge difference for the kingdom of God. They dream dreams of erradicating poverty. They long for a zealous church full of missionaries. They hope to literally change the culture of a city for God. Some are on TV not just for the ego but they are honestly hoping that someone is watching and becoming a Christian that day. Some recognize that there are boatloads of people sitting home and not setting a foot in church, and these mega-pastors spend thousands, if not millions of dollars hoping to reach just one. I repeatedly hear about megachurches "dumbing down" the gospel. I attended Willowcreek for over a year. Let's get something clear: Bill Hybels and Lee Strobel (when he was there), were not watering down the gospel. Trust me. I know firsthand. Do you know ANYONE who has dumbed down the Gospel? Have you dumbed down the Gospel? And if anyone is dumbing down the Gospel, honestly, do megachurches really hold the market on it? I'm sure that some have gone soft on sin and preach psychobabble sermons instead of using the Scriptures. Some do have huge egos. But to make broad sweeping generalizations about them all having the same faults is unfair and just wrong. In the words of Golic & Greenie, you who must criticize megachurches without any first hand knowledge, "Just shut-up!"