Payola and Paid Sermons Hit the Evangelical Church
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, December 08, 2005
- Viewed 7
- (35) comments so far
The big Narnia movie hits later this week; and my family and I are really excited about it. My wife has been reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe aloud to our children this week before we go see the move. And I have to admit; the previews look great.
But here's something that I've heard next to nothing about. It comes from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Attention, pastors: You have just four weeks remaining to work a lion, a witch or a wardrobe into your next sermon.
Walt Disney Pictures is so eager for churches to turn out audiences for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which opens Friday, that it's offering a free trip to London - and $1,000 cash - to the winner of its big promotional sermon contest.
The only catch is that the sermons must mention Narnia, based on the hugely popular children's books about four British children who walk through an uncle's magic armoire into an enchanted kingdom.
Sermo-mercials are just one of the ways promoters hired by Disney and its production partner, Walden Media, are peddling Lion as a kind of Christian-themed Harry Potter.
So... mention 'The Chronicles of Narnia' in your sermon and you could win a trip (according to SermonCentral.com:
Take the person of your choice to London and Oxford, England. Take a tour of the home of C.S. Lewis in Headington Quarry. Walk the streets of Oxford and visit the campus of Oxford University where the author taught. Visit Holy Trinity Church where he worshipped...All contributors who submit a qualifying Narnia-related sermon transcript or sermon outline will be automatically entered to win a free trip to London, England – The Land of C.S. Lewis, along with $1,000 spending money.
Huh?! As a pastor, you could win $1000 and a trip to England just for mentioning a Disney film from your pulpit?
I can't believe that I've not heard anything more on this anywhere but in the Philly paper and one short blog post over at CTI.
From my broadcasting background, this whole idea reminds me of the old payola scandle. Payola is the illegal practice of record companies paying money for the broadcast of certain songs on the radio without on-air disclosure that the station is being paid for playing the song. Now, I realize it isn't exactly the same thing; but I think it's a bad idea.
There are really three questions that this brings up for me:
1. Who really is sponsoring this 'contest'? It's unclear whether this is really being sponsored by Disney itself; or whether it's just the brainchild of SermonCentral.com and Outreach. I know Scott Evans, the owner of Outreach and SermonCentral; and he's a great guy. I don't really know that it makes any difference in this case which company is behind the promotion... giving any pastor a payoff (or a potential payoff) for mentioning a commercial product during a sermon, to me, at the very least, seems like we may be crossing a line we shouldn't cross.
2. What's the next logical step? Who will be the next company to bribe pastors into mentioning their product on-line? With 300,000+ churches in the United States, this could actually become big business. I'm just afraid this sets a precident I'm uncomfortable with.
3. What will the winning pastor say when he takes his trip to London? Will he fess up that he won a contest because he mentioned Narnia in him sermons? And will anyone have a problem from his/her congregation have a problem with this?
The only other place this is mentioned that I can find is over at Christianity Today; and the comments there, are probably 80% in favor of the contest. [I'm thinking... where do you get your visitors? I'm always standing up for things here against people who are against things!:)] Some mention the tremendous amount of marketing done by The Passion of the Christ; or even more overtly Christian marketing as done by 40 days of purpose. I, for one, get two or three Willow Creek Association things in my mailbox every week.
But no one has, to my knowledge, ever offered a paid incentive to mention their product in my church; to sing their song; etc. Am I wrong?
Am I out in left field here? Anyone have any insight?
(Heck... maybe I should adapt that strategy for the MMI Blog. My budget's not nearly as big as Disney's... but I could probably offer you five bucks (along with a non-expense paid trip to the building where I attended elementary school in Kunkle, Ohio) if you mention the MMI blog from your pulpit. Any takers?!)
Todd
Comments
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Ben E. on Fri, December 09, 2005
I went to the local Christian bookstore today but didn’t see any posters for the Narnia/Sermon contest. I was, however, almost immediately greated by a small but growing wall of Narnia related merchandize.
Anyone in need of a “Peter’s Sword” letter opener?
Ben E
Art on Sat, December 10, 2005
Is the contest still going on? I don’t care what anyone says - $1000 is a $1000! And a free trip to boot!
Gonna have to change my message for Sunday!
Jeffery Goodwin on Mon, December 12, 2005
Todd wrote:
“And, quite frankly, I applaud Disney for getting back to their roots with a good family-friendly movie. I wish there were more movies coming out like Narnia that I could take my family to.”
Let’s be clear. Disney is strictly the distributor of this movie. They did not make it nor did they have creative control (much like Pixar movies). The movie was made by Walden (for more than $150 million). They are the ones that Lewis’ family awarded the rights.
So why is Disney involved. According to interviews - Walden needed to get into a “taxi” with a BIG distributor. All the big distributors create a lot of garbage…but Disney does have a track record of many quality family films.
If you are looking for some good family entertainment – check out other films by Walden:
> Because of Winn-Dixie
> I am David
> Holes
Next year look for HOOT, Charlotte’s Web, and How to Eat Fried Worms.
Check out: http://www.walden.com
Jeff
LA on Mon, December 12, 2005
You people need to get your facts straight before you go off on a rant about something. Or maybe like so many pastors and other leaders you just like to find a way to cast suspicion & put others down to make yourselves feel and/or look righteous. I have received information about this contest & have never seen it said anywhere that Disney is sponsoring it. I also have never seen stated anywhere that you have to specifically mention the film to qualify. There are plenty of lessons and gospel parallels that can be gleaned from this classic Lewis children’s series without any movie tie-in necessary. There are a lot of potential metaphors to be had for powerful sermon themes in these stories. Since when is it wrong for us to use relevant current popular culture to reach people in our community? Your cosy little group of bloggers here sound like they just like to sit around and try to sound clever rather than make any real point. If they’re comparing the Narnia series with Harry Potter, and have a difficult time understanding a classic like the Screwtape letters, then I’m afraid I have a difficult time respecting their smug statements. I’ve enjoyed many of your previous musings, but this one sounds like you’re really reaching to look for a way to find fault with a lot of people who are sincerely looking for creative ways to present the message of Christ in today’s world. I’m not a pastor, but I work for pastors in a growing church and I guess they would fall under the category of the leaders who get criticized for their efforts (according to your most recent post) by others sitting around Starbucks with their laptops casting stones. We are using the Narnia story to talk about things like sin and temptation, betrayal and forgiveness, and what Christ did for us that makes his birthday something worth celebrating in the first place. And although no one is entering any contests, I’m sure some of your small minded friends would love to point the finger and say we’re just Disney’s pawns in their marketing schemes. Well, I guess Jesus drew a lot of suspicion and criticism from people who didn’t understand his parables either. The pastors I work for are not unaware of the potential for misguided or pompous criticism, but are more concerned about reaching people with the gospel than pleasing our current day Pharisees in evangelical clothing. I can also tell you that I’ve enjoyed working with the Narnia theme a lot more than that boring PDL series whose promotion makes Disney look like amateurs. While Rick Warren’s motivations may be pure, I have to say I’m a lot more turned off by the rabid marketing of ministries than secular businesses who don’t pretend to be anything other than what they are, businesses in the business of making money. I also think it doesn’t hurt to support positive secular efforts, such as wholesome entertainment, and perhaps make a difference in our culture rather than just sit around and do a lot of holier than thou criticizing that accomplishes nothing but making ourselves look good to all the other holier than thou types, and widening the chasm between US and THEM. As I said, I work in a church and I can vouch for the fact that nobody’s perfect, from the pastors on down. The difference is, some are humble enough to admit it.
Todd Rhoades on Mon, December 12, 2005
LA,
A simple read of the post will tell you that I said it wasn’t clear exactly who was sponsoring this. And the rules are clear if you follow the link above.
Todd
LA on Mon, December 12, 2005
My apologies for missing your statement about the sponsor being unclear. I went to the contest page, however, and still didn’t see where it said that you have to mention the film (as opposed to the original Narnia stories), unless it is further into the contest submission process where you cannot go unless you’re a member. If that is the case, I apologize again, but there may be others who will not see that either.
John VanZwieten on Mon, December 12, 2005
I think there’s an important distinction that needs to be made about rules of this contest (as opposed to the reaction it received in the Phil. Inquirer). The contest rules state nothing about actually preaching the sermon in your church.
This is no different than an essay contest on a particular theme. The fact is that many pastors would like to use the Narnia movie as an outreach opportunity, and since many in their congregation will see the movie, it makes sense to reference or explore the themes of TLTWATW during the next few months.
Some pastors can no doubt write their own sermons to accomplish this. Others need help and some will no doubt go to SermonCentral.com, which is now trying to generate a body of sermon material to meet this need.
Nobody here is being offered anything for preaching a particular sermon in a church, so there’s no “payola” going on.
Franklin Reeves on Mon, December 12, 2005
Ben E - I think it was St. Francis that said “preach the Gospel everywhere, and sometimes even use words.” commented by Wendi
I had a friend give me this qoute Wed. night.
It almost osunds like he is against preaching the gospel, though he did that very thing. Many times I here it in the context of living your life in a way that draws men to Jesus.
I have heard evangelism split into two forst
proclamation and incarnation. To be honest I can find plent of scirpture that exhorts us to proclaim( use words)plainly. The incarnation is more inferred. However both is importnat, and living either one out is grave error.
Using an eartlhy example suppose you are walking past a house and notice a firse in the woods behind it heading toward the house. You also notice a family eating diner.
One who favors incarnation only will go home and get dressed up. They will parade around in front of thehouse hoping the family will notice them and come out and aks why they are looking so nice. In this example the error of this using only incarnation is evident.
The proclamtion only Christian, will run up to the house and verbally warn. This warning can take a few different ways.
1) You are going to die if you do not leave now! The the homeowner pulls out a gun and says, no I think you are the one about to die if you do not leave!
2) I wanted to tell you a fire is in the woods behind your house moving fast toward you, if you look out back you can clearly see it. Leave now or you will die!
Now obviously the second proclamation guy is doing it correctly. However we need to look at part b of that guys way of doing it.
After the second proclamation guys warns of the fire, if he runs away from the house it helps the family believe enough to at least look behind the house. However what if he saw that the family was having cheescake and he really loves cheescake.
So he goes to the table and ask if he can have some cheesecake. Then he remembers that ball game is on tonite, so he takes the cheesecake into the living room and begin to watch the game.
Does his actions (incarnation) agree with words (proclamation)?
No it does not. So we moust proclaim the gospel and live the gospel. He is your Lord and Savior right?
If on Friday evening you decide you want to go home 15 miutes before quitting time. No one is at work, so you contemplate running the clock up so you can punch out and go home. You feel a tap on the shoulder, look around and see Jesus. He says no, that would be stealing and I do not want you to do that. So you gently remind Him you will come by and visit Him on Sunday, but He is not actually welcome in your worklife. Church life yea, work life no.
Friday night, sititng on the couch kissing your girl friend, things getting out of control. You decide to push forward with the advance. You feel a tap on the shoulder, turn around. Who is there, Jesus again. You sigh then tell Jesus, I will see you Sunday, occasionally. I appreciate the work you did on the cross, but you need to stay up out of my love life.
Jesus says, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” You say, Jesus I said I will see you Sunday, I took you as my saviour and thanks. I mean really thank you for taking a beating, for being mocked and spit on, for being crucified and dying an agonizing death. A death I know that I deserved, for crimes I had committed against God. However this is my life and I will live it my way.
Brian O on Wed, December 14, 2005
Funny…we as the ‘church’ have spent the past 40 years complaining about the godless/sinful media pouring into our culture…because we the ‘church’ seperated from the media arts leaving the Christian worldview only in our churches but absent from our culture’s most visible formats…and now the “media” world has caught a glimpse of how the ‘Christian worldview’ can actually be viable in their business world…and we bag on em for it??? Isn’t this what we have complianed about & fought to change??? Are we shocked that Disney wants to make $$$??? of course not! Are we excited they see one of Christiandom’s literary works as worthy of the marketplace??? Isn’t it great that a thought provoking, intelligent literary piece like CS Lewis’ The Lion, Witch & Wardrope is out in the public discourse??? How awesome is that??? And isn’t it great that some pastors are choosing to use the arts (with a Christian worldview) like Narnia as a way to engage the culture they are trying to reach??? So who cares if it sells some extra tickets…isn’t that the point…??? Whats the problem with our congregations going to see Narnia and entering the public discourse…isn’t that a good thing??? As the apostle Paul shared, “whether its from false pretenses or true, I rejoice that the name of Jesus is being shared”...isn’t that the point, after all? Caution: if we’re not careful we’ll nit-pik a good thing into a negative, and then the Christian worldview will retreat back into our safe church buildings & out of the public marketplace (again), as history will repeat itself…let’s not make that mistake!
I for one, hope Narnia is a huge commercial success so Disney & other companies will explore some of the other great Christian worldview works for future projects…in a sight & sound generation, the more media lifting up the Christian worldview the better!
Franklin Reeves on Wed, December 14, 2005
Brian,
I agree that we have retreated far from the world, and no longer have an impact.
We are to be seperate (from there sin) but to still be in the world.
We hide in our homes, churches, small groups, christian schools and colleges. But we do pipe in the world and its views through the television. So while we have no impact on them, they still impact us quite well.
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