Preaching Past TiVo
Do you tell the whole truth to people who want only certain parts?
A Leadership Forum
July 1, 2006
Heard the latest disorder? Something called TiVo Tyranny. It's the burden of having recorded too many TV shows and now finding there's no way you're going to be able to watch them all. Though TiVo® is supposed to be a convenience that frees us up, it has produced its own overstuffed feeling. When people gorge on entertainment, can they attune themselves to sermons containing words of life?
That's our challenge. We preach in the world, but not of the world. How do we preach the Kingdom of God, a countercultural message, to people steeped in consumerism?
We gathered a panel to discuss this at the recent National Pastors Convention in San Diego. The panelists:
John Ortberg, teaching pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Northern California, and author of many books, including The Life You've Always Wanted (Zondervan, 2002).
Doug Pagitt, pastor of Solomon's Porch in Minneapolis, and author of Preaching Reimagined (Zondervan, 2005).
Efrem Smith, pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, and author of The Hip-Hop Church (IVP, 2006).
Will Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, and the author of several books, including Pastor: A Reader for Ordained Ministry (Abingdon, 2002).
How has consumerism touched your ministry?
Pagitt: In the last few days, I've been both a supplier and a consumer.
First, I was preparing my seminars for the National Pastors Convention and thinking, I'd better come up with material that people are going to want to hear. I found myself a supplier of information, part of an economic system exchanging ideas for registration fees. I'm not bemoaning that. I don't see a total separation between materialism and spirituality.
Second, my wife and I own some rental ...
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