Got some questions and comments about my last blog that I want to comment on, so here’s another follow-up. . .
Q: With so many venues and so many services, why does your church only use live preachers rather than video?
A: While I have no problem with multi-site churches that do vid feeds or DVD sermons, I just can’t do multi-site church that way.
Q: Why not?
A: Three reasons:
One – there aren’t many people who would show up to hear me preach on vid.
Two – I’m just not the TV ministry type.
Three – because of my calling to equip and empower next-generation leaders, and for every vid site I could set up, one leader is benched.
I know everyone is not called to do church the way I do, so please don’t copy us. Figure out how God wants you to do church and do it, even if no one else does it that way.
When commenting on the current multi-site rage that finally hit America, my friend Jim Laffoon said: “we will all either reproduce ourselves digitally or in real people. And it’s a lot harder to reproduce ourselves in real people than on video.”
I think Jim’s right—making disciples and training leaders is harder than buying and setting up high-tech vid equipment.
Here’s why: People have opinions and feelings; video equipment is not easily offended. Plus, I’ve never been betrayed or disrespected by a video or a DVD.
But I know I’m called to equip and empower next-generation leaders, even if they sometimes have rotten attitudes, and even if some of them do and say things that make my job harder.
What about you—reproduce through a video or a disciple? Why?
*** Latest accidental missionary post: “38 Days in Jail and Counting”
