Culture

An Open Letter to Graduates (Part 2)

Sean McDowell — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:50:01 -0700

In my last post I offered the biblical prophet Daniel as an example to graduates of how to stay strong in their faith during college. Even though Daniel was in a foreign culture, not unlike where college freshmen will soon find themselves, he stood strong because Daniel determined in his heart beforehand not to defile himself (Daniel 1:8). Daniel had his heart set on doing right before the pressure came and that made all the difference.

In this post I want to offer three practical ways you can purpose beforehand to do the right thing so you can thrive in college rather than crash. Following are three specific issues you will soon face as you move into university life.

First, have you determined in your heart how you will respond to peer pressure to drink alcohol? Most of you have already faced this to some degree, but the stakes change when no parents are there to check on you at night or wake you up in the morning.

In his book University of Destruction, former tennis star David Wheaton shares about how his world came crashing down his first few weeks at Stanford. The rampant sexuality, widespread drunkenness, and attacks by his professors on his faith were too much for him to handle. He said, “I would soon find out that an excellent upbringing coupled with academic and athletic success was no match for the maelstrom called college. The waters were baited, the sharks were circling…spiritual shipwreck loomed” (p. 10).

David’s experience is typical of many young people who go off to college—they simply have not realistically thought through how they will respond to peer pressure. And so when “all” their friends are doing it, they give in. David described how the moment his duffle bags hit the floor of his new dorm room his tennis teammates barged through the door with pitchers of beer in hand. How would you respond in that situation? The only way to stand strong in college is to commit to a higher standard, like Daniel. Have you purposed in your heart that you will not defile yourself with alcohol? Don’t fool yourself, because the pressure will be strong. But you can do it!

Second, have you determined to stand strong intellectually? More than half of college professors say they regard the Bible as fable and legend. Far more professors are liberal than conservative (72% vs. 15%). Your professors have a worldview and they will try to impress it upon you. I am amazed at how many students have their belief system rocked when a professor questions the Bible, Jesus, or the evidence for creation. One of the best things you can do is to go into the university with your eyes wide open for intellectual challenges. Expect them!

One of the great things about Christianity is that there are answers to tough questions. Let me say it again so it sinks in—there are answers to tough questions. There are brilliant Christian scholars providing thoughtful answers to the toughest questions your professors will raise. If you really want to find an answer you can find it. Many young people don’t want to do the work so they simply adopt the views of their professors and end up walking away from their faith.

Here are three quick words of advice: (1) Befriend Christian professors on campus. Get to know them and talk to them about tough questions that arise in class. (2) Find a solid Christian ministry, such as Campus Crusade for Christ, Navigators, or a good local church. There will be people there who can help you intellectually find answers to tough questions. (3) Do your research! Two great ministries that can help are Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig (double PhD!) and Stand to Reason by Greg Koukl. And of course you can find articles, videos, debates, books and more at my site too. Have you determined, like Daniel, to stay strong in your beliefs?

Third, will you take care of your health in college? You will no longer have your parents cooking for you and making sure you eat your green beans! Very soon you will be sitting in a cafeteria with options to eat whatever you want. I remember some of my classmates drinking soda and eating Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms night after night for dinner.

Eating poorly, lack of exercise, and lack of sleep will catch up to you. Every spring many of my students graduate and get ready for college. But every year some of them are back home by December having already dropped out. Why? One consistent reason is they simply don’t take care of their health. Depression is rampant in the university. Forty-six percent of college students said they felt hopeless at least once in the past year. While there can be many reasons for this, one prime reason is that students simply do not know how to take care of their health. The only way to do this is to determine ahead of time, like Daniel, that you are going to exercise, get good sleep, and make wise choices with what you eat. Have you purposed this in your heart?

There are many more issues that can arise. If you really want to be like Daniel, then I would recommend two outstanding books to you: (1) University of Destruction by David Wheaton. (2) Thriving in College by Alex Chediak. Both will help you think through a host of issues you will soon face so you can succeed in college.

College can be an amazing period of life. But it can also be a period of loneliness, regret, and foolishness. What makes the difference? The answer is simpler than you might think—determining in your heart that you will not defile yourself, like Daniel. Have you?

Some Thoughts on Taste

bo.white — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:33:36 -0700

Chicago pizza, where you truly have the option of either an uncut sausage patty or more commonly seen, sausage pieces, covering your pie, is something I can eat most days of the week. I have fond memories of sitting in Uno’s downtown or at Gino’s East a couple streets over or at Giordano’s. In our world of health conscious, obesity fighting, fitness crazed professionals, why then do I like it?

The answer is simple: it tastes really good. Think then how incredibly powerful our sense of taste is and how incredibly influential our appetites are. If you’ve traveled at all, you’ve tasted different things and some agreed with you, while others did not. Mind you, taste is something very important to us and I dare say, it feeds our subconscious (pun intended) in ways we haven’t thought. Do you have a taste for gossip? Maybe you have a taste for Chinese culture or maybe you have an appetite for all things Apple (no, not the fruit).Appetites are important.

To underscore this, let me share an excerpt from Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle , written in 1906, about the meat packing industry in Chicago.

“This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one – there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit. There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. There were the butt-ends of smoked meat, and the scraps of corned beef, and all the odds and ends of the waste of the plants, that would be dumped into old barrels in the cellar and left there. Under the system of rigid economy which the packers enforced, there were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale water – and cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the public's breakfast. Some of it they would make into "smoked" sausage – but as the smoking took time, and was therefore expensive, they would call upon their chemistry department, and preserve it with borax and color it with gelatin to make it brown. All of their sausage came out of the same bowl, but when they came to wrap it they would stamp some of it "special," and for this they would charge two cents more a pound.”

Now, if it isn’t the taste that allures me, then what on earth is my problem?

-bo

The Dismantling of Culture

Rick Bundschuh — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 08:20:34 -0700

I may be the perfect candidate to muse on the dismantling of culture primarily because I am so culturally compromised.

Ethnically I am 100% German with roots so close to the old country that my mother spoke German as her first language.

But as she came to age during the dawning of World War 2 she abandoned all vestiges of Teutonic culture she was raised with, including ever speaking her native tongue again, enlisted in the military and ended up in San Diego for the rest of her life.

On my father’s side I had a great uncle who fought with the American doughboys in the trenches of the First World War and was gassed. (I met him only once but still remember his odd warbled voice that came from ruined vocal chords due to mustard gas.) In addition I had another great uncle who fought on the German side and, from what I have been told, was shot off the deck of a primitive tank.

This, I have found, is a fairly typical commentary for Americans as most of us had family members that came from somewhere else on the globe.

My childhood was further eroded of ethnic culture by the fact that my adopted three sisters were of different race and culture; American Indian, Hawaiian/Filipino and Mexican. Which in the 50’s created amazement or curiosity when we all went somewhere.

I grew up in Southern California's surf saturated world where we talked in surfing Ebonics and where most of us favored Mexican food. In some regards, if I were to claim a culture, this would be it: So Cal beach culture circa 1950’s- 60’s.

But I complicated a complicated ethnicity even more by marrying a Japanese girl and producing mutant children who have no idea what culture they should identify with.

But the thing that really messed up any of my claims to culture the most was becoming a Christian.

You see, claiming a culture is a big thing for most people. It gives us roots, an identity and a way of seeing the world and others in it.

This is a bit tough for Americans as many of us are numerous generations away from the immigrants who came to this country and over the years a lot of us have become mutts in the term of Pedigree. In addition, American culture is a vampire that feeds off of the best of all the various cultures that have taken root on our shores. Still, we grasp for something we can call our own. Something that tells us who we are and what values we should hold in esteem. And if our heritage doesn’t give us that, well we can find it in some subgroup that has carved out it’s own cadence within a larger civilization.

But regardless of what shreds of culture I wanted to wrap myself in, I found that sooner or later Christianity became an enemy to my culture.

Where I wanted exclusivity, Christ wanted inclusion. Where I wanted a sense of pride, Christ wanted a sense of humility. Where I wanted personal identity, Christ wanted emptiness of self and identity with God.

Cultures, by nature divide people into “us and them”. And cultures can be quite ugly. The private joke of those who rest their laurels on their wonderful culture is the fact that most of the time they are very selective about what is celebrated in any culture adopted.

For example, the Hawaiians are proud of their Aloha spirit, their music, their land and dance but they have leeched out of their culture the horrific barbarism, wretched caste system and bloody violence that coexisted with it for centuries. They allow for the romanticism of the little grass shacks they once lived in but are loath to mention that those shacks had to be burned to the ground from time to time because of the fleas that constantly plagued their inhabitants.

Ditto for just about any other culture still clinging to survival on earth.

Because of this constant positive revision of the history and tenets practiced by all societies and the fact that cultures are not static but constantly changing, especially the moment they touch another culture, the act of saturating one’s self in a culture is almost comedic.

And it is precisely here where Christianity becomes dangerous to a culture. Christianity allows us to celebrate the good and joyful of any culture but does so not because the culture itself good but itself because the thing being celebrated is in harmony with the culture of Christ.

This is the reason I can, with reckless abandon, enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving, Birthday parties and the good things imbedded in all kinds of other trappings of modern American culture.

But much of the time Christianity is, screw by screw, dismantling any culture it infects.

The Kingdom of Heaven has it’s own unique culture. It is a culture that does not change values over time, a culture that is always right, always just, always good and almost always at odds with earthly cultures.

The culture of Rome was largely dismantled by Christian culture, so have countless smaller societies all around the world and of course it is this fact that makes anthropologists livid.

Nevermind that before Christianity had infected it an Amazon tribe would steal women from other tribes and if caught in the act, would engage in the tortuous “girl pull” between the thieves and the other tribe. (I saw footage of this horror as a young man).

Never mind that some cultures very much need to largely dismantled by Christ.

God will leave no culture alone. He will gut it of evil and recast it in his image.

Perhaps those who come from deep, rich cultural heritage have a much harder time navigating within the Kingdom of Heaven than those of us with only shards of cultural history or one that we have cobbled together out of remnants of other cultures.

I do know this, in the end all cultures, the decent ones, the ridiculous ones and the evil ones will only be found in the dustbin of history…all but one.

Do you have Cultural Intelligence?

bo.white — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:00:00 -0700

Let me play my cards up front with you, there are a host of 'intelligence' quotients today. I have read books in the past year that deal with our relational intelligence, our right brain, left brain, and our central intelligence (agency that is), but I do believe that one of the more pressing concerns in our globalizing world is whether or not we are culturally intelligent. For some people, being culturally intelligent will be based more on information than experience. Others of you will have traveled widely and therefore, you will have your own perspective. All of us need to understand that neither our culture nor our view of culture is necessarily at the center of anything (other than our own minds).

Author and Scholar David Livermore introduces his book on the subject in this short clip. It's worth a preview just to whet your appetite for the discussion.

For what it's worth, after watching the video, you may want to jot a few notes down in the coming weeks concerning your church, your choice of news source, and your own reading of theology. In short, do these three arenas reflect a cultural broadening or narrowing on your part?

-bo

Elf and Cross-Cultural Issues

Christopher Faris — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:08:38 -0800

This Christmas season, you will watch the film “Elf” at least 37 times. Or, perhaps the opportunity to watch it will present itself as many times a day. As I write this, it’s playing in the background of my home. And why not? It’s charming, humorous, and a perfect showcase for Will Farrell’s comedy. Great stuff indeed. However, did you know that “Elf” is among the most brilliant depictions of cross-cultural issues available?

No really…and stop laughing at me.

The tension of cross-cultural interaction is this. Two people, from different cultural customs (be they familial, ethnic, or religious customs) live, work, and interact alongside one another. Their cultural norms appear bizarre, or uncomfortable to the other person. Inevitably, people clash. When things appear “abnormal,” a common reaction is fear, stereotyping, joking, or otherwise harmful behavior. As much as Christianity is about inclusion thanks to the gospel message, we often struggle deeply in this area (our vast number of denominations serving as one of many proofs).

So back to “Elf” and its implications as a cross-cultural movie. Ferrell comes from a far away land with his own customs, cultural practices, and way of life. He fervently values Christmas and all that it represents (at least without the Jesus part). However, he decides to leave his homeland and integrate himself into American/New York culture. He is an immigrant.

Still laughing at the whole idea of this? Consider the whole first sequence when he arrives in Manhattan. We laugh because Will Ferrell is funny, but also consider his circumstances. He is waving back at men and women hailing taxi cabs, thinks the gum on the subway is free candy, assumes flyers being passed out are gifts, and uses revolving doors as amusement park rides. Consider also the way he dresses – he wears clothing from his native homeland. To him, New Yorkers are the ones dressed bizarrely. Or the doctors visit – where he eats cotton balls because he thinks they are candy. He is an alien.

Consider also his integration into the culture. Throughout the course of the film, he transforms from his elf clothing to a trench coat and long pants. He begins holding down a job in the mailroom, and he reduces the amount of ways he expresses his specific language. He even changes his food habits – remember that the 4 food groups of elves are candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup.

Buddy then becomes integrated and accepted into the culture, especially when his differences are realized as gifts and talents. We first see this when lends his impressive skills at the department store he inadvertently becomes an employee of, or when he uses his incredible strengths as a snowball throwing artist. His stepbrother at the end of the encounter says, “Where did you say you were from again?”

All I’m saying is, you don’t always need “Crash” to develop some empathy when it comes to cross-cultural conflict through the medium of film. “Elf” is a great example of a humorous way to deliver something more potent underneath its entertainment exterior. So, this season when you inevitably watch the film, consider how it illuminates cross-cultural issues and diversity. You may be surprised at how the film delivers.

…And stop laughing at me for making this observation.

Merry Christmas!

Talking about Girls with my Son

bo.white — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:33:44 -0800

Recently, my son and I were driving home from my office (actually I was driving and he doesn't work with me; I forgot my phone charger) and we began a conversation about girls. No, not that kind of conversation, hopefully we're several years from THAT conversation, but on this day, my son actually started asking me about the girl he was listening to.

"Daddy, I really like this song, who is it?"

The song was by Regina Spektor and so he asked if I knew her, to which I replied, no--she's a Russian born singer, who came to the U.S. when she was a little bit older than you. This fascinated him, so I continued. She took piano lessons for a long time and God gave her this amazing voice and now lots of people listen to her. Do you want to take piano lessons?

"No, but can I listen to another song like this one?"

Immediately, I am both excited that my son digs my cd collection, but a bit frazzled as I am playing a compilation and it's the only Regina Spektor song I have on this cd. I don't even pause to be dismayed at his absolute disinterest in music lessons, which upon further reflection stings a bit. So, I click the track over to Ingrid Michaelson. What do you think of this?

"Daddy, this lady can really sing too. I didn't know you liked all these girls.Does mommy know you like these girls?"

Yes, mommy knows, but mommy doesn't care. Mommy only listens to modern worship music and is a walking version of the Hallmark Channel. I have played mommy all these girls and they never seem to register. Finally, someone in our family gets it. Ingrid Michaelson and Regina Spektor have these haunting voices and outside of trying to make a construction site in Manhattan sound more peaceful, they can do little wrong in terms of getting a lyric stuck in your head. Does mommy know about these girls? Ha! You are talking about these girls, right buddy? You are referring to the women in the cd player, right? I am now insecure, so I ask what he means.

"Yes. They sound pretty and mommy might like them," he says in a way that comforts me and excites me again. But, mommy doesn't like them. And I tell my son, that mommy doesn't like them. He is silent. So, I click over to the Smiths on the cd. He says nothing during the whole song. This happens a lot when our whole family is in the car and I play the Smiths. I am still not sure why this happens.

But when Sarah McLachlan comes on, he once again reiterates his support.

"Mommy should listen to this woman too; I like this song."

But, mommy doesn't like this one either. She likes Darlene what's her face and Hillsong and K-Love radio and a host of others I don't really listen to. And in my mind, I am wondering why there is such a thing as listener supported K-Love when I can hardly find the Smiths or R.E.M. or the Editors or Franz Ferdinand on the radio anywhere on planet earth. Satellite radio can't even pick up what I listen to. So, I think Sarah McLachlan and Ingrid Michaelson is pretty mainstream and again, those haunting voices. Even my son hears the beauty in those haunting voices, how can my own wife miss it! And it's at this point in my mind that I will refrain from going any further, because to explain fully why mommy listens to K-Love and why daddy is belting out "all these buildings and mountains...." by the Republic Tigers, will be approaching the fringe of THAT conversation and he's too young for that now. Besides, this is our bonding moment and for this one ride home, we're both smiling while Beth Orton finishes her chorus. Maybe there is such a thing as world peace.

-bo

Why "Biblical" tends to be UnBiblical

Kyle Strobel — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:34:43 -0800

Not too long ago a blogger was criticizing contemporary evangelicalism's obsession with the term "biblical." This blogger suggested, if I remember correctly, that seminaries should come up with a degree in Biblical Biblicalness." There is, of course, something to be lauded in this emphasis. But I would suggest the opposite is actually taking place. Terms like "biblical" often lose their meaning rather quickly. Instead, they become storehouses for other kinds of things. When I hear people use the word "biblical" today, more often than not it is a placeholder for: "what I find comfortable in light of my background."

It is usually easy to point this out, in light of the fact that these people's claim to "be biblical in all things" is, itself, extra-biblical. The call to be biblical itself is based on theologizing. That is not to say that the inclination is somehow unbiblical, but that the content of what it means to be biblical is based on a theological development (the Bible never states, for instance, sola scriptura - Scripture alone). I say this because I find that the term biblical is usually used in an unbiblical manner. It is an elitist tendency to write off other people who stand under God's word and to, instead, apply God's sovereignty to themselves. Rather than standing under the judgment of Christ, they stand at his side, pointing out people they think deserve his wrath. They often mimic, in other terms, the Pharisees.

Too often the term "biblical" is wielded as a way not to deal with other human beings, but to dehumanize them through one's own "obvious" reading of the word. Too often, this "obvious" reading is really just an American reading - taking one's own worldview and applying it wholesale to the biblical text. The implications of this is that it is far to easy to learn an interpretation of the word as a way to sheath the sword of the Spirit - or, in other words, to learn the word in an attempt to hide from Jesus's penetrating glare.

To truly be biblical, therefore, we must be undone by Jesus. The word is, to use Dietrich Bonhoeffer's great little phrase, the "dagger at the heart of the church." Or, with Hebrews 4, the word is the two-edged sword which cuts us to where soul and spirit meet, and where joint and marrow reside - and it leaves us naked and exposed before the one to whom we must give an account. Being biblical is being laid bare before Christ - and living there - undone by his word and grasping onto him alone for the grace to survive is penetraing glare.

Ironically then, the term biblical is often used to avoid being biblical.

Losing One's Life in the Era of Lebron

Kyle Strobel — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:09:45 -0800

I am a huge basketball fan, and like many people, I was wildly disappointed about how Lebron James left Cleveland over the Summer. For a while after "the event," there seemed to be an unanimous concensus that his behavior was nothing short of deplorable, and then Lebron played the race card. His argument was that if you look at demographics, the majority of people (we can assume people outside of Cleveland) who thought his actions were wrong were white. Rather than race, I think, it is better to understand this as a clash of cultures.

There is a culture whose motto is: You have to do what is best for yourself. This motto is frequently repeated by sports commentators: Well, he did what was best for him and his family, and you can't ask for more than that. Now, in a broad sense, this seems reasonable. But it is only reasonable when we are talking about putting food on the table, and not, as in the case of Lebron, when it comes to self-fulfillment. But there is a culture gaining steam in America and beyond where "the best for yourself" is simply the ability to self-fulfill (or, to follow Nietzsche, the will to power). "Can" has suddenly come to imply "ought."

I want to say that this same culture is alive and well in Christian circles in evangelicalism. We have, to put it in other terms, yet to come to grips with Jesus' claim that only those who lose their lives will save them. Instead, we often seek out the way of the cross by avoiding that way entirely, leaving it behind for the path of self-fulfillment. I see this in gospel presentations where the focus is what God can do for you; I see this in sermons where the application points concern better living in the world; I see this in how we tend to talk about spiritual gifts, which become little more than means of self-realization. If we take Jesus' words seriously, we must come to grips with the fact that losing our lives is the only way to find our lives.

How do you see this culture of self-fulfillment playing itself out in the church today?

For the World to See

bo.white — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 11:22:07 -0700

We're told in Scripture that we see dimly, but one day we will see clearly. This is true. Think of the clarity we lack as we look at the world in which we live.

Every so often, I pause and reflect on what films stay in my mind and linger in my imagination. As the cost of attending the cinema increases, I want to experience something and not simply view something. I want to participate, engage, be impacted, and have my imagination and memory impacted. These two things: my imagination and my memory are two of my most (and if you're honest, your memory and imagination are just as valuable) prized possessions. I remember people when songs come on the radio and I remember places when I smell and when I see. Faith should impact these two things and it's my belief that love, whatever it is, captures both the imagination and the memory or it isn't going to last. These two precious jewels, these rare elements that have no rival on the periodic table are like prime numbers that cannot be divided in any way.

In recent months and years, films that have made me see the world a bit differently are few, but let me mention a couple of them both as recommendations and as recreation. The Soloist with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx is worth experiencing as Downey walks in and out of various comfort zones that remind us of our own fear of the homeless, fear of the unknown, and fear of our own shallowness and shame. It's worth your time because the characters are not unlike the people you will meet on your drive home or in your local grocer. People you must deal with in a tangible and loving way. A second film of note is Milk with Sean Penn as a human rights activist is San Francisco. Penn disappears and deserves whatever awards he received, but for me, I felt many other things that would normally be seen also disappeared and there was presented to me again, many human beings who had names, God given purpose, and God given dignity. Quite unexpectedly, I cried during the vigil scene where some actual footage interacted with the cinematic portrayal and my heart ached for what the Fall has done in this world.

Yet, the film that most haunts me as of today is a French film entitled The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.While I hope you watch the other two films I have mentioned, I implore you to please give this film a shot. The dual themes of imagination and memory are obvious and play a central role in the film and if you walk away unmoved by the story, I am sad for you. I won't digress into being a film critic here that's not my point, rather I want to remind you that the world is a dangerous and delightful place. The thing this film will do will remind you of both the danger and the delight, but it will also encourage you (I hope) as it continues to do to me that part of growing in faith is growing fuller into a renewed humanity that is being restored daily by grace. You can't love me well if you don't know what hurts me, but I have not loved you well if you are not in my memory or imagination. For the world to see a vibrant Christ or for the world to see an authentic love or for the world to see more clearly grace rather than a dim version dripping with legalism and pride, the world will need to see something that captures the imagination and lingers in our memory. Without this dual engagement, we may be doomed to a lesser humanity.

-bo

Consuming News, Consuming God

Nick Bogardus — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:26:54 -0700

This article originally appeared on the Mars Hill Church Creative blog.

USA Today announced recently they're significantly restructuring of their newsroom, starting with a big layoff. Underlying the physical effects are real changes in their business of journalism. As newspapers and magazines continue their sprint away from physical towards digitally distributed content, we gain some helpful visibility into how Americans consume news and, far more importantly, how and what news is reported on. Fundamental shifts in how Americans produce and consume news are happening quickly, and, rather subtly. We'll take a look at why this matters to you, but first, some brief background.

"That's the way it was."

It's no surprise that news outlets are tied to advertising. A recent article in the Atlantic explained that, in a typical newspaper's business model, 80% of their revenue came from ads and 20% from subscriptions. As people started getting their news online, the number of subscriptions, viewers, and therefore advertising dollars tanked. Outlets had to become more targeted to sell more advertising and they essentially became advertising-delivery vehicles. T. David Gordon has helpfully shown that as that happened, important shifts happened in how the news is being reported:

Popularity became more important than consequence, and readers' tastes (invariably sensational) began to dictate media coverage, rather than editors' perspicacity.
Speed became more important than accuracy, which is how debacles like the Shirley Sherrod case happen.
People began to look to news organizations, not for objective information, but for argument and opinion as to how to interpret the news, hence Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, or even Jon Stewart. This recent PEW report helpfully illustrates this.

The most convicting and revealing finding though, is that people have started going to news outlets to reinforce their view of reality and their preconceived opinions, not for information or education.

Why do you watch or read the news you do?

Let's look at USA Today's recent announcement in light of those trends:

What are they doing?

De-emphasizing their print edition and ramping up efforts to reach more readers and advertisers on mobile devices
Laying off 130 people, or 9% of their workforce
They will no longer have separate managing editors overseeing its News, Sports, Money and Life sections
Instead, the newsroom will be broken up into "content rings"
The "content rings" will be "Your Life," "Travel," "Breaking News," "Investigative," "National," "Washington/Economy," "World," Environment/Science," "Aviation," "Personal Finance," "Autos," "Entertainment" and "Tech."
The executive editor of content will have a "collaborative relationship" with the vice president of business development
USA Today is looking at how to "usher in a new way of doing business that aligns sales efforts with the content we produce."

It appears that the "content rings" will act to narrow the editorial focus in those areas to aid in attracting advertisers to more targeted segments.

Why are they doing it?

Less advertisers are buying ads (580 advertising pages sold in its most recent quarter ending in June, a 50% drop from the 1,098 pages sold at the same time in 2006)
Shrinking print circulation (1.83 million, down from 2.3 million)
Parent company's stock price down 78% in four years.
"We have to go where the audience is," Hillkirk said. "If people are hitting the iPad like crazy, or the iPhone or other mobile devices, we've got to be there with the content they want, when they want it." [Emphasis mine.]

News & God Consumption

Why is this important on a church blog? Because it is partially illustrative of how Christians approach reading their Bibles or listening to sermons, not to mention really formulating right thinking about God, Christianity, or the Christian life. When 23% of Christians believe that there is spiritual energy in trees and in reincarnation, when 15% of Evangelicals and 30% of mainline Christians ages 18-29 don't believe in hell, and when 52% of Evangelicals believe that there is more than one way to heaven - each related to tenets of the Christian faith - American Christians are consuming God, the Bible, and orthodox Christianity the same way they consume the news: to take only the bits they want to reinforce what they already believe, but not to challenge or inform those views.

See the Trends, Preach the Gospel

Enough ink and pixels have cataloged the ways the American Church has fed itself on convenience, comfort, and distraction to produce numbers like that so I'd rather give examples of how we've tried to not to fall into the same diet at Mars Hill Church. I don't advocate following USA Today's example but I do suggest we watch and listen to the results as they unfurl their new organization. I am challenging churches to see the cultural trends, but not to bow to them, and to communicate the glorious, transcendent, eternal message of the Gospel in its fullness, and with clarity and power, no matter the medium.

Consequence over popularity. It is all about Jesus. We believe Jesus is the most consequential person who exists. We believe that the good news of His story, as revealed in the Bible, is the most significant truth anyone can know and be a part of. This is why our pastors preach through books of the Bible and for over an hour on Sundays. This is why we try to make even small differentiations, such as between testimonies and biographies. This is why we just did two series on the Mars Hill blog about Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood. Jesus, the good news of the reconciliation offered through His death on the cross for our sins, and God's revelation in the Bible may not always be the most popular but they are always consequential.
Accuracy over speed. Most practically, we try to make sure every blog, video, printed resource, or piece of media points to Jesus and is theologically accurate. The majority of our content is written by our pastors, and the pieces that aren't are checked for the same theological accuracy and applicability as a sermon. It is easy to fall into the trap of having to feed the Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Blog/YouTube/Vimeo machine and to compromise the content because it needs to get out instead of checking it with a shepherd-like intentionality.
Information over argument and opinion. Most practically, this comes back to our view of the primacy of Jesus, the gospel, and the Bible. If we put out a piece of content, we don't want it to be our words or our opinions. It should seem obvious but we believe that ultimately people long for, and are truly changed by, Jesus and His word. Practically, on the Mars Hill blog, we try to take a journalistic tone; we try to source theological statements and let people tell their stories rather than running with journal-like, first person tomes.

The good news of reconciliation, salvation, adoption, and redemption offered to sinners through Jesus' death on the cross is the most consequential truth that anyone can hear. It is something that everyone needs and never grows beyond. As a church it is our only message and mission, and it should be conveyed in its totality, centrality, and accurately and not traded for popularity, recognition, or personal opinion.

Nick Bogardus is the Director of PR/Media Relations at Mars Hill Church. You can follow him on Twitter and read more of his work at his website.