Wow, this is the first new thing I have seen out of THO in a very long time!  I hope they are back at it!

Isn’t it sad that Todd feels he has to add the Friday disclaimer?  ...

Nah, Daniel… I don’t think it’s sad that I needed to put the disclaimer in; I think it’s more sad that I put it in because some people would think it was true and start a flury of blog posts against Willow Creek.

This is actually an old article from the Observer from a couple years ago when many megachurches cancelled Sunday services (because Christmas fell on a Sunday).  They failed to report that some of these churches actually did up to 20 services the week before; or that it most churches don’t meet on Christmas Day no matter what day it falls on.

But it’s Friday… so let’s not rehash that whole thing. 

Todd

Got to admit it’s an interesting concept...I’m thinking about if this was for real and was my church, would people come back hungry & with new energy or not come back at all?

hmmm.

A great bit of humour....and very thought provoking as it should be.

I admit....it had me “questioning” right down to the disclaimer....a sort of “can this be true?” kind of thinking. 

But I’d like to add a couple of thoughts on the disclaimer.  There are two ways of going about it.  One is to make a simple statement, as Todd did.  The other is to continue with information that eventually gets so absurd that everyone would catch on.  And there was a little bit of both toward the end in particular. 

For those who might think it a shame that a disclaimer is needed at all, I beg to differ.  As people, we are all wired differently.  Some are naturally skeptical.  They tend not to believe at first and have to be almost convinced of a truth.  Others approach from the opposite direction.....choosing to believe until it is proven that their trust has been abused. 

I tend to be among the latter.  Some consider that naive.  But as I read the article, my thought was actually....."what am I missing here.....what principle about the Lord’s work have I not given enough thought......what is Bill Hybels’ greater plan....there must be some explanation for something which, to me, doesn’t make sense”.  My natural inclination is to keep reading, keep thinking, dig deeper, and most importantly.....NOT REACT NEGATIVELY too quickly, even though this made no sense to me at all.  It was my respect for Hybels and Willow Creek that made me approach it in this way. 

So I appreciate the humour.....I appreciate being “had”.  And I also appreciate the disclaimer.  So that I can continue not to have to adopt a more “skeptic first” mode of thinking every time I read a report from a brother in Christ.. 

One final point.  It is those who are inclined to be skeptical first, who are also inclined to doubt the merits of all proposals for change, and to resist those changes.  Yet, we do need the skeptics as well, so that careful consideration is always given.  We need the Peters who will walk first in faith without heed to the wildness of the storm, confident that the Lord will lead and protect, as well as the Thomases who first assume that the report cannot be true and will not be swayed unless they get incontrovertible proof. 

So to all the Thomases who knew this wasn’t true right from the start....my hat’s off to you.  God has given you a gift of great perceptiveness.  And to all the Peters who are “blessed because they believe even though they have not seen”....we all need your faith.  There is no shame in our differences.  God made us complementary. 

And so thank you for the disclaimer, Todd.  It means that we can all enjoy the humour.....some from the start....some after a while....and some at the end....regardless of how God has wired us individually. 

Steve Riches

Very funny and very well written.  The odd thing is...truth be told prior to becoming born again I actually did attend a Unitarian church that did shut down in the summer time...no joke...Gee do you think that it might be because that Unitarian Church had no life changing message of eternal significance to proclaim...hmm...just a thought.

This is the kind of thing that makes Christianity lose its credibility.  It may sound hilarious but playing with people’s minds when you should be supportive is part of why the world laughs at us...we are just like them in our presentations...anything to get a laugh, an audience, etc.  BLEH!!