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MOTO CHURCH: Gunpoint Salivation~ JESUS LOVES ME OR ELSE If you like what you see SUBSCRIBE NOW . www.Youtube.com/StoryMotoADV
Cultures create and endure problems. Christian culture problems are among them. This video is a perspective on one such issue: member recruitment. Recruitment tenets must serve the current church business model. No peeps, no factory. No factory, no product. No product, no cash. No cash, no means to deliver a message. I did church in Florida. It’s hot. Western civilized people aren’t going to show up to a 110 degree building--not to mention the Air Conditioning and Power companies are ran by workers worthy of their wage. I do fully understand the challenge that poses for an organization. I understand recruitment also on a personal level. If someone believes that Jesus is the way... it only makes sense to want share it. That IS what I believe too. Marry this belief though with the fundamental ‘make or break’ fuel requirements of an ambitious, modern, western church and the result is detrimental to even it's own original intent.
DISCLAIMER: I am no filmmaker and am at best a decent storyteller but you be the judge. Do I get the point across? Does this spotlight add more heat than light? I vow to the viewer that the heart of it is to shed light. I would caution any man, myself included, to be willing to have the discussions-- to remain willing to HEAR others... no matter how different their belief or understanding might be. Friction can make light if we let it.
I say this standing on toes. I get it. The recruitment tactic discussed in this video.. I find... to be an abuse of the servant heart and mind. I call it out because the dynamic, while sometimes producing a positive outcome, is MOST commonly effective at driving the masses FROM the name it claims. It hollers JESUS but the word that come out is most often ME. i.e. me, my church, my quota, my understanding, my earthy buzz word prayer, my success at pastor happy making, my fruit, my next rung. It's a doctrinal objective that isn't truly relational. It stinks of 'next campus funding'.
I've choked on this perspective for many years. I've tried to swallow it, tuck it in my cheek & gum, savor it... at length I can't identify it as something that is CENTERED in Jesus... The primary objective doesn't square in the account. If it were a duck it would waddle and honk like one. It would legitimately love and serve first like Jesus did. Instead I see that community service and relational efforts otherwise ARE earnestly executed… but within the framework of making more 'disciples' to do the same in order to achieve the numbers needed to sustain a business model. However the casualties happen to be those that Jesus came and died for also. And that... thats kind of a big deal.
More dramatically stated... The ‘ blind church career ' prayer warrior casualties lay in confusion along the pathway to this preached kingdom-- A western path that all too often leads instead to merely a castle. I would say to any such practitioner of this town planning committee… “ In the relational void of these disingenuous objectives, many are crushed by your prayer and church love bombs. Your sensationalism exposes no rock. When the mist passes your converts have no real water. They are left in the desert, fingers in their ears hollering "lalalalala" at the mention of Jesus. I liken your methods to developing trauma bonds instead of disciples ( a topic discussed next week ). You will perhaps get your castles when the heart of the labor IS solely for the building of HIS Kingdom. Or perhaps you won't. And if PERHAPS is a word larger than the actual quantification of your personal faith... then you do what you gotta do I guess. But please acknowledge that the Jesus of your tribe looks almost nothing like the man on a donkey who loved and laughed with children and alongside the wild people desperately seeking a way... A Jesus who rendered no friendly fire casualties beyond those who valued the gold of the Temple above the Temple itself. American christian beliefs today... It's no wonder the word Christianity itself lugs such a dreadful weight.
If you are one such casualty. Repeat after me…
JESUS LOVES ME
Now go love on hurt people. Forget all that other mess.
Amen.
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OWN what should be THE Manifesto- MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST
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In the FALL of 2018 ( September 15th 2018 ) our family embarks on an actual journey of a lifetime. And we are airing the whole thing on Youtube. Our entire belongings ( except for keepsakes and heirlooms ) will be on our backs and in our ADV luggage. We have 7 children. But hold up! Only 3 are going for the first leg out. Zane -17yrs. Josie- 16 yrs. and Oliver - 4 yrs. ( You read correctly ) We will be riding a KTM 690 Enduro R a Yama XT250 and a Honda CRF250L Rally. Our youngest, Oliver, will be in a custom car seat on the back of my 690.
Sincerely, Billy and Bonnie Johnson
Founders of Story Moto ADV
https://www.YOUTUBE.COM/STORYMOTOADV
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