T.V. Evangelist

I watched a Christian T.V. preacher this morning and I really got an earful and an eyeful. The message was actually a very good one but the messenger looked so angry. He is a beautiful man and has dedicated his life to the Lord but in some ways I felt sorry for him.

I can see why generations x and y would tune him out immediately. He looked so intense and his veins were popping up in his neck because he was so impassioned by his message. The sad part for me is that this man's messaging seems to be for another time and for a passing generation. I actually empathized with him because I know that the way I used to do things doesn't necessarily resonate with the new generations. It's hard to recognize this at first but it happens with every generation as it matures.

We really need to take a step back and look at what we are doing and how we are representing the Lord in the media. I remember years ago when I had an opportunity to sing on local Christian TV. I couldn't do it because the camera's and production change you into something else. I was an entertainer but I didn't think that my songs were about entertaining and I just couldn't do the T.V. thing. It was unsettling because it seemed like a cool idea that I was rejecting.

This has been part of my dilemma all along. I have not been able to embrace all the hoopla displayed in ministry. I did some of those things and tried to enter in but there was something missing. It seemed to be all about the presentation and very little about the Lord. We use His name. We create media programs and huge stage productions in His name but I have this strange and eery feeling that we are doing it without His blessing. I know that He blesses some of it because He loves us all and He has more grace for us than I can fathom but I'm sure that He is grieved and even angered by all of our self-promotion.

Jesus didn't deliver the Gospel message this way. He spent time with people. He had conversations with them. He taught them with stories called parables . That was His way. It kind of makes you wonder about what we are doing.