Church Billboard Responds to Thief: “Stealing from God… Ballsy”
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, April 03, 2008
- Viewed 1884
- (77) comments so far
You can also check out their website here.
Thanks for the heads, up Steve!
What do you think about Kinetic Church’s plans to reach out to the thief who stole nearly everything they had?
Ok... here's the scenario: You're a theatre church, and one of the trailers that houses all of your church's stuff is stolen. What is your response? Well, when this happened to Kinetic Church, they decided to go on the offensive, purchasing billboards and creating a Youtube Video aimed directly at the thief. Take a look...
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Peter Hamm on Thu, April 03, 2008
I don’t like the word “ballsy” in a billboard, but I love the effort to reach out. And if I were a member of that church and they decided to use that word and I said I disagreed… but everybody else wanted to… it would be no deal-breaker for me.
Sounds like loving your enemies. I wonder how it will turn out.
Derek on Thu, April 03, 2008
Creating a video, billboard, and web message in order to show the love of Jesus to the guy(s) who stole your stuff…....Ballsy!
Derek
Kevin Bussey on Thu, April 03, 2008
That is powerful!
deaubry on Thu, April 03, 2008
peter what does ballsy mean.
Derek on Thu, April 03, 2008
From http://www.m-w.com
Ballsy
Function:
adjective
Inflected Form(s):
ball·si·er; ball·si·est
Etymology:
1ball
Date:
1935
sometimes vulgar : aggressively bold : gutsy, nervy
CS on Thu, April 03, 2008
“Ballsy?” That’s a rather crass word. At least, “That takes guts,” would be more proper.
Better yet, why not instead put something up there like 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and capitalize the key word like, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor THIEVES, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
Oh, wait. I know why churches wouldn’t do that. It could convict people of their sins. (Tongue-in-cheek.)
—
CS
Kevin Bussey on Thu, April 03, 2008
People are getting more concerned about the word “ballsy” then the love, grace and forgiveness this church is displaying.
Didn’t Paul use vulgar words like rubbish or dung in Philippians. Give me a break! Good for Kinetic Church.
Andy Wood on Thu, April 03, 2008
Remarkable. Makes me wonder what kind of other remarkable things this church does. And a heck of a lot more (can I say “heck” here?) penetrating of the “joints and marrow” than a 30-day sex challenge.
Derek on Thu, April 03, 2008
Heck
Function:
noun
Etymology:
euphemism
Date:
1887
1 : hell 2 <all heck breaks loose>
2 : hell 4 <a heck of a lot of money>
“Heck” is fine for a MMI post. “Hell” would have been a ballsy word to post.
Derek
CS on Thu, April 03, 2008
Kevin:
“People are getting more concerned about the word “ballsy” then the love, grace and forgiveness this church is displaying.”
I admit, I didn’t watch the video until after making my first post here, because my eyes skipped over that spot thinking it was an ad, so I based my point of view solely on the billboard pic and the header Todd posted.
The pastor showed immense grace in his invitation to the thieves, and responded as we should for any similar situation. That is wonderful compassion. I didn’t care for his statement about how his church caters to people who don’t like Christians, because that usually shows other flaws in theology or fellowship, but I am willing to discount that for the kindness the pastor demonstrated.
However, I would have liked to see this sort of message on the billboard, instead. How about on it, instead of “ballsy,” the billboard could have said, “Church trailer thief: You won’t believe this, but we forgive you. Really. Call us or hit our website so we can take you out and feed you.”
But the angle they took went halfway between showing God’s authority and judgment and being rude. That’s why I responded in my first post as I did, with the absence of knowledge of the video. If we’re going to convict people of their sins, let’s go at it. If we’re going to show grace, do it full-bore. But don’t use modern coarse words in either case.
—
CS
Peter Hamm on Thu, April 03, 2008
CS,
Another of those interesting instances here where you and I basically totally agree.
Again, if I were a dissenting part of the team that decided to use that word on that billboard, it wouldn’t have been a deal-breaker for me, but I would have said something.
Kevin Bussey on Thu, April 03, 2008
I probably wouldn’t have used the word myself. But I’m at a new church start on the other side of Charlotte from Kinetic. I know how devastated we would be to lose 75% of our resources. I think they were trying to get the attention of the thief. The message is powerful about grace, love and forgiveness. That is what Jesus taught us to do.
Also, what is wrong with going after those who are turned off by church? That is the lesson of Luke 15. There are 1000’s of people dying and going to hell right here in Charlotte. We need more Kinetic Churches, Elevation Churches and ours because they aren’t going to the existing churches.
CS on Thu, April 03, 2008
Kevin:
“Also, what is wrong with going after those who are turned off by church?”
Absolutely nothing. We should be reaching the lost who normally hate going to church or even the idea of church. These people are lost and in need of being saved.
The difference here is when a pastor says something to the effect of, “This church is for people who do not like church.” For example, there was a church that recently sent out a mailer that said, “Do you think church is the lamest place on earth? So did we.” This kind of language tears down other churches and denigrates the body of Christ by mocking fellow believers in their worship of God.
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CS
Kevin Bussey on Thu, April 03, 2008
CS,
That mailer isn’t building up the body and I agree with you. But from what I know about Kinetic they aren’t talking bad about other churches. They just are going after the unchurched. We say the same thing. We tell people from existing churches to stay there and serve because you probably wouldn’t like our style.
CS on Thu, April 03, 2008
Kevin:
Fair enough. I’m glad to hear that they and your church are doing their part to help reach the lost and preach the word.
—
CS
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