Anyway, I felt so strongly about it that I made it my “One Prayer Video Message” even though I knew it would get passed over by some for this very reason.

Honestly, I was a whole lot less offended by the early messages of Mark Drisscol letting one fly every now and then because the dude was so fresh off the streets then I am of pastors trying to look relevant and cool by working 5th grade humor into their messages just to win the high-school vote.

CRINGE

This post was refreshing to read.

Edgy…YES

Irreverent…NO

Innovative…YES

Dorky…NO

Thanks for the challenge!

Craig, atta isch!

In churches, we will get people who are looking for a reason to be offended, for sure, but we need to move from a position of love for the body of Christ, rather than being hip and edgy for the ske of it. I don’t doubt that people need to be challenged to live for Christ, but surely it’s He who will draw the crowd if we raise Him up.

Unless, of course, you consider ‘white-washed tombs’ to be an offensive profanity.:-)

For me in children’s ministry, the question is less about edgy or shocking and more about how many bodily noise jokes can I use to keep kids engaged without compromising the kids’ ability to learn a personal application of God’s Word. Although I’ve certainly ruffled some adult feathers (and will this weekend probably), I don’t think I’ve ever offended a kid’s sensibilities. I’m trying to apply all of the wisdom in these comments to discern how this can apply for me.

This is so true. Lets get an evangelism team going and get people to evangelize.
Come onguys, Craig used Ray Comforts test, why wont you train members to evangelize!
Look oh look at all the people, cant you see them drowning!
No More Marketing Jesus.
Its Gospel Time!

Thanks for the messages this week… if you haven’t already, you really should start a sermon series at your church about this…

I know the goal isn’t about #’s, but the reaction from this series on your blog shows this is not only relevant, but interesting… and IMHO what people are crying out for deep, and inwardly…

This message is so needed, because Church culture in America has changed so much and is ready for a “swerve” in the right direction…upwards…

Thanks for preaching Christ, and teaching others not to forget to preach Christ also… because in the end it is all that matters…

Many of the critical reactions seemed to be pointing to reaching people at their “needs”… and meeting them “where they are”…

What has been lost in translation seems to be the reality of eternity in some cases…

The truth is that “where people are” who don’t know Christ , is on the pathway to hell, and “what they need” most is the message of the cross, and the salvation found in Christ…

There will always be hungry, hurt, wounded, and broken people, as well as full, happy, and successful people… but all are headed to eternal destruction without Christ, and the salvation found in Him…

It is the difference between a band-aid on a papercut, and a sliced jugular…and I think we forget that sometimes….

Thanks for bringing an eternal perspective back to church culture in America… hope that God uses this to continue to lead… as He has in the past with you and LifeChurch.tv to impact churches globally… and eternally…

In 32 years of “Christianity” there has been waves of fades. In our quest to help others do battle with sin, we could tend to neglect our own. Our choices are derived from experience, and the bigger question will this bring me pain or love. You spoke at Catalyst about you becoming healed of your “addiction” of caring what people think about how you preach, I thought wow finally a real person doing God’s work who is willing to expose some areas of his life. On the other hand that may have offended somebody there as well who denially struggles with the same issue.

I for one wrestle with my own sin, should I speak of it in the church it may offend somebody.

The following scripture establishes the issues we face within the walls of the “Christian Church.”

Matthew 11:18-19 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” ‘ But wisdom is proved right by her actions.”

I struggle with the entire government of the Church because we could tend to fight the good fight more within the body. I mean church leadership tends to be the worse of Christians, we have motives that please our selves, we use up peoples talents rather then pay them, we fire personnel for lack of perfection in life & work, what about speaking behind one of the members. So Christians could control what they but what controlling what they do and how they do it.

just my thoughts.
Thanks,

Every Christian radio station promotes itself as “safe, positive, and encouraging,” but huge chunks of scripture are far from any of those terms. Paul even states in 2 Timothy 3:12 “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” I wouldn’t call that positive, encouraging, or family-friendly, and it certainly isn’t safe.

It seems like we’re more ok with people erring on the side of moralism and safe-Christianity than we are with people going too far to communicate the gospel. We’re more ok with a Christianity which polishes things up to the point it contradicts Paul’s take on Christianity than we are with a pastor who goes too far calling people to repentance.

Another note is keeping things clean. We can talk about life but we don’t have include blood, guts and gore to get our point across. Of course the Blood Of Jesus is always and will always be the exception but as for my previous sins those reside in the sea of forgetfulness!

i grew up in seeing pastors in a tie and cuffs closed… today, we’ve dressed down a bit… edgy… some people are still adjusting to that here in the Philippines… one time i got a comment for preaching without socks on!!! hahah!!! (among many other things)… that my shirts were a bit too slim… even when i had a tie on!!!

Honestly, it just cracks me up thinking about all these things… but i’ve learnt to adjust to make sure that i’m not offensive with my clothing…

Pastor Craig, i’ve noticed you’ve regularly worn a jacket and less of your short sleeved shirts… was wondering… was anyone offended with with the gun shows? (LOL)