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Al Gore Invented the Internet… Me? Well, I Invented The “Emergent” Church

Orginally published on Monday, March 05, 2007 at 6:30 AM
by Todd Rhoades

I've been accused of many things before; but never for being the reason behind the "Emergent" Church movement. In today's "most ridiculous item", a blog identifies me as one of the main culprits (or at least a friend of the culprits). OK... I'll admit it; I've been in cohoots with Al Gore since the late 80s to bring this evil plan to fruition; and now (insert my evil laugh here... ha ha ha ha ha), it's a reality!

A ‘to remain un-named’ blog (as to not spike their traffic) says this:

“A spin off from the folks who birthed the Emergent Church movement, comes Monday Morning Insight. It is a coaching website for pastors run by Todd Rhoades. Rhoades is also on staff The Leadership Network. Rhoades shares variety of strategies with pastors to maximize their market potential, all in the name of the kingdom.”

Here is some more of this very objective article about… well, me:

“Here’s more examples of the 5th Avenue consumerism / marketing mentality at MMI:

Using Tryvertising to Get Visitors
Tryvertising is described as “a new breed of product placement in the real world, integrating your goods and services into daily life in a relevant way, so that consumers can make up their minds based on their experience, not your messages.”

Here’s a real work of the spirit...the spirit of greed.

How to Get Boomers to Pay for Your Ideas
“No matter what anyone thinks of Boomers (and there are things not to like) a lot of future ministry is going to depend on convincing us to pay for it.”

How about this one…
The New Tither Money Back Guarantee.

The mantra of the emergents is “the traditional methods to reach people must change, but not the message.” The message is obviously making merchandise of people and developing user-communities.”

This blogger’s conclusion: Which kingdom do they really serve, God’s or mammon’s?

Sorry… I’ll have to defer that answer to Al Gore.

Todd

This post has been viewed 835 times so far.

There are 9 Comments:

Posted by

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 11:34 AM

Way to go Todd! You are such a prophet and visionary. By inventing the Emergent Church single-handedly you have saved Christianity! Maybe you should do a movie...you might get nominated for an Oscar. Maybe call it, An Inconvenient Church…
Posted by Kirk Longhofer

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 12:01 PM

Dude, I knew it was your fault!

It’s so interesting to see the attacks shifting to methods. For the longest time, it seemed arguements with any church (emergent or otherwese) trying to connect with a post-modern generation, focused on theology. Those churches were “compromising the gospel.” The arguements became pretty ridiculous, and those attacking the emergent church looked more and more foolish.

So, now, rather than attacking the theology… the attacks shift to specific methodology.

You know what, Todd? They still look pretty silly. Examine the fruit. Yours is positive and overflowing. The critics is negative, shriveled, critical and withered.
Posted by Leonard

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 12:21 PM

Todd, I thought I saw 666 in the shadows of your picture here at MMI. You sneaky dragon you. (if I knew how to put one of those I am being funny smiley faces here I would) Sometimes when people shoot at you it is because they just don’t get it. Here is my rules of engagement for this kind of stuff.
Ignore the attack, people will alway attack what they fear.
Listen to critique - Being teachable is one of the most important character traits of a great leader.
Focus on what you have been called to do. Your not doing MMI for those guys, your doing it for God to encourage pastors like me. Guess what, I am grateful!
Posted by Rick White

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 12:26 PM

actually...the most comical side of all this...is that almost nothing he points to would be classified as “emergent” by most people that follow such things. this one’s a head scratcher…
Posted by Michael Kowalson

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 1:08 PM

Todd, I’m scared now - do I continue to write youth articles for MMI, should I run them past Al Gore? And BTW - where’s my share of the “tryvertising” money?
Posted by

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 1:59 PM

It’s interesting that the titles of the articles cited are taken out of context. “The New Tither Money Back Guarantee” was not an expression of Todd’s personal opinion that all tithers would/should receive a return on their money, but an article about a church that was temporarily offering such a guarantee (and, as stated before, not exactly an “emergent” concept). By the way, this article resulted in some serious MMI debate over the idea. Obviously, on many levels, whoever blogged this did not do their homework. I’m not even sure that I agree that the terms “emergent” and “innovative” are synonymous, from what I’ve read, but let me take this opportunity to applaud Todd for a great innovative/emergent? web site. Whatever it is, it works for me!
Posted by carole

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 3:44 PM

I love how you handle this with humor and grace. You are a very funny guy. The world needs more like you.
Posted by

Monday, March 05, 2007 at 7:32 PM

“...pastors (who are) run by Todd Rhoades” Finally that voice in my head makes sense. Huh? Todd is that you? Just a minuet I can concentrate better if I turn out the lights and close the blinds… there thats better.
Posted by

Tuesday, March 06, 2007 at 8:39 AM

Nice try, Todd, but it’s not hard to find where that was posted.

What a maroon! Another guardian of Christianity.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.