Monday, August 01, 2011
WHY?
MMI turned me on to this now past conference, one that got a lot of buzz, but I had to ask "Why?":
Trying to do away with the superstar mentality of things is not a bad goal, but it is only part of the problem. Even without the superstar mentality, the fact that pastors think it all depends on them is a big part of the problem. Somewhere the church has lost its feel of community where the pastor is a role player in that community and taken on the aspect of entertainment where the pastor is the focus, whether that pastor be a workman, star or superstar.
Maybe if pastors spent less time at conferences, "Epic Fail" or otherwise, and more time amongst their flock, encouraging and developing and building community....
The idea for this conference came from two sources: A blog post from J.R. Briggs, a pastor at Renew Community in Lansdale, Pa and the wildly popular site www.epicfail.com.Why, for example, would a conference free from "thrills and frills" resort to such a marketing gimmick as calling itself the "Epic Fail" conference? Why would we seek to repackage failure in a fashion that makes it appear to be success. Isn't that sort of a way of putting pride where humility should be?A few dangerous questions were asked:
-What if we offered a space that is gutsy, hopeful, courageously vulnerable for pastors to let go of the burden to be a Super Pastor?
-What if we could hold an event that was free from the thrills and frills of other pastors conferences?
Trying to do away with the superstar mentality of things is not a bad goal, but it is only part of the problem. Even without the superstar mentality, the fact that pastors think it all depends on them is a big part of the problem. Somewhere the church has lost its feel of community where the pastor is a role player in that community and taken on the aspect of entertainment where the pastor is the focus, whether that pastor be a workman, star or superstar.
Maybe if pastors spent less time at conferences, "Epic Fail" or otherwise, and more time amongst their flock, encouraging and developing and building community....
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