I laughed. I cried. I hurled.

Written by evan on January 23, 2008 at 3:04 PM


What an incredible read!

I just finished Pop Goes the Church: Should the Church Engage in Pop Culture authored by Tim Stevens. Tim is an executive pastor at one of the most innovative churches in the states, Granger.

When I first saw this title, I immediately thought it would be all about putting on a rock show, and firing up the HD projector for a blockbuster movie and popcorn in a state-of-the-art auditorium. But the truth is Tim Stevens so wonderfully challenged me to take a look at the needs of the people in my community, and for me to meet them.

I took an emotional rollercoaster while reading this, from being inspired, to being frustrated. I laughed. I cried. I hurled.

Talk about research. Tim has studied pop culture and how to minister to a pop culture saturated people. He also takes a look at how some of the most incredible speakers of time used pop culture. Speakers you might be familiar with. Jesus. Paul. Tim just didn’t go to the local used record store and pull from a cd from the hottest hits, or the grab a movie from the Blockbuster Video's Employees favorites. He has researched his thoughts both with society and biblically.

Tim is so in your face, in a good way. He inspires the Christian community & churches from pulling out of the culture, and challenges them to instead engage in it.

Pop Goes the Church…
Challenges the boring church.
Addresses the problem with evangelism.
Connects the gospel to the community.
Gives practical help of how to avoid the art of being boring.

I can’t wait to get this book into the hands of our staff and leadership team.

7 Responses to "I laughed. I cried. I hurled."

Anonymous
January 23, 2008 at 3:49 PM #  

Church as entertainment just doesn't seem right to me.

Church is where you develop your relationship with God and where you work on your interior life. I guess I view church in a more Sacramental way. I'm not their to be entertained. I'm there to worship Jesus.

As far as engaging pop culture, Christians do a poor job of it. They generally copy what someone else has done and throw in some Jesus references and there ya go (see most Christian rock/rap). JRR Tolkein is an example of a artist who by living his faith created an enduring piece of Christian art that is loved by Christians and non-Christians alike. That is how you engage culture.

Comment by evan
January 23, 2008 at 3:59 PM #  

great thoughts.
church is where people work on their interior life.
if we can use pop culture to help people to understand spiritual truths, then im all for it.

engaging culture definitely isnt copying the secular and making it sacred. ie 90% of christian bands.

thanks for the comments.

Comment by Unknown
January 23, 2008 at 5:19 PM #  

I've been following your comments on Twitter, and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book!

www.thattalldude.com

Anonymous
January 25, 2008 at 9:18 PM #  

I will have to give this book a read too!! Sounds interesting!

Anonymous
April 2, 2008 at 1:26 PM #  

alright, you inspired me to pick it up. thanks!

Anonymous
June 4, 2008 at 3:00 PM #  

Great book. I'm already in my second time through it...

Comment by Unknown
June 4, 2008 at 3:16 PM #  

Jesus exhorts us to be salt but many of us are too comfortable in our bottles and need to be "shaken." Looking at the parables of Jesus, he made his talks relevant to the times and I think *that's* what we're searching for (not entertainment, but relevance). Paul said he'd be "all things to all people," and I, for one, am glad to see a bigger emphasis on reaching out. Maybe some people are too worried about tarnishing their halos to get in the trenches with people, but they're not following Jesus' example.
I'll look the book up next time I'm at Berean.

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