Archives

My son visited a satellite church in Plano. He said he didn't know what a satellite church was but presumed that it was a smaller church planted by the larger church in Grapevine. He said he fully expected the rock music and light show, but not how the sermon was presented. He found out what a satellite church was when the giant movie screen was lowered over the staging area. He said they don't have a real pastor but rather big video screen version of a motivational speaker giving a message that almost sounded like a Christian message.

My son asks, "Can a church like this, without a pastor, be effective? Does this satellite church serve any purpose other than to bring in money for the larger church or is it just an ego thing?"

I logged onto the Grapevine church's website. They seem to have a lot of works. Definately a lot of members. A lot of motivational resources for sale. But I saw nothing for the satellite church. Why not just stay home and watch on TV? Do they go there to be seen? Do they feel less pressured by not having a live pastor who just might make them feel convicted? Do they go to hook up with somebody for luch after church? I don't get it. 

Maybe I just need that under shepherd there just in case I might have a question or need him to agree with me in prayer or just some guidance. Maybe I'm the nut. Maybe I am judging...

Well, lunch is over, gotta go.

You're born. You suffer. You die

Fortunately, there's a loophole.

~Billy Graham~

Lambs. Innocent. Vulnerable. And said to be babies of the dumbest of all God's creatures: sheep.  Perhaps we really mean next to men (and women). The lamb might do well without the wolf, and the storm, the thorns and the  thistles, the cliffs and the swamps, and all the other hazards of the falen creation. Man might do better, too. But man can do better, and can do better that he does. But he must see himself for what he /she is: vulnerable and dumb. And NOT innocent. Often willful, stubborn, rebellious, lawless and perishing.

Research psychologists have found there are at least three situations when we are not ourselves. First, the average person puts on airs when he visits the lobby of a fancy hotel. Next, the typical Jane Doe will try to hide her emotions and bamboozle the salesman when she enters the new-car showroom. And finally, as we take our seat in church or synagogue, we try to fake out the Almighty that we've really been good all week.1

Have you ever done that?
I remember as a young man taking my date to a fancy restaurant and the waiter brought out some wine I had ordered. He offered it to me to taste first. Like I would have known a good wine from a bad one. But I played along and tasted it...waited a moment and nodded my approval. The waiter smiled and poured two glasses. I imagined him going back into the kitchen and pouring the last few drops back into the "wine left-overs" bucket where it had come from.

Do you ever do that in church ... pretend to God that you've really been better than you actually have been?
I would hope not.
I heard a saying once that I like: You don't have to put your . . .