Resolution Six

With General Conference looming on the horizon, the debate about advertising and ministering on television is becoming a roar. A rather boring and monotonous roar, but, still, a roar. Since I won't be attending the conference, and since none of our leaders have sought my counsel, I figured I'd just share my opinions with myself. It won't resolve the issue, I know, and I hope I don't lose any friends, but maybe I will feel better having vented.

There are essentially two positions on this issue. The proponents say that we should use television to reach the masses, to preach the gospel and advertise our churches. The opponents say that doing so will open the door to a host of troubles: devaluing personal standards, becoming motivated by money, one church creating a negative image for all others - and on the list goes.

Other than providing an opportunity for some to rehash decades-old arguments and for others to repeat their well-rehearsed threats to leave, this resolution is all but worthless.

We've rallied the troops and we've dug our foxholes...one hundred miles behind the frontlines. The two sides are lobbing hand grenades at each other while the real battle is being fought far beyond the little bean patch they have grown comfortable defending.

Television changed our culture. However, it was not the preaching of Billy Graham or Jerry Falwell or Pat Roberson or Jimmy Swaggart or Tommy Tenney or Mark Hanby or T.D. Jakes that our culture embraced. It was, rather, the principles taught by wily crafted characters who entertained America for eight hours every day. While you and I sat in the living room and listened to Bible story records, the rest of America was homogenized into a self-centered hedonistic culture by television programing. Now we deal with the results. What my mother wouldn't let me watch on television my son now sees every time we go to the grocery store. What your parents sheltered you from, your kids now deal with every day at school. The cultural battle between the church and television is over. TV won. It affected our culture more than our churches did.

But that was only one battle. The war is not over. But the war is no longer centered around television.

Network televison viewers have been dwindling for the past several years. The success of many cable channels is owed to 'niche' marketing. It is no secret that while television continues to be the dominant medium, it is fast losing ground to new technology. Television, as the world knows it, is being swallowed by the much more powerful internet technology which is being embraced by this young and savvy generation. They aren't going back. Eventually, all media will be seamlessly delivered on order. The days of a captive network audience is over.

The real movers and shakers who are going to shape our culture in this century are no longer fighting for television air time. They are building websites and creating age and issue relevent programing that can be viewed online any time, downloaded into an Ipod, or streamed right to a cell phone. In other words, the battle has moved into areas that apostolics have already embraced. Computers. Telephones. Sound and video.

But where are the apostolics? They're still at Denny's arguing about television.

A few of our churches now stream their services on the internet. That's a start, but probably in the wrong direction. Remember, it was not the church services on television that changed our culture. It was what Americans watched those eight hours every day. As millions of Americans seek entertainment, knowledge, and friendship via the internet, what are we doing to capture their attention?

www.ninetyandnine.com is probably at the head of the line when it comes to apostolics who are trying to get a foothold in the new media. Their writers and designers all donate their time. No big church or organization supports them. Yet, in just one week in August over 22,000 readers came to their website. I wonder how we could influence our culture if apostolics like these had the financial resources to create podcasts, produce video, and develop other media that an old guy like me would never even think of?

Nothing can ever take the place of preaching and one-on-one witnessing. However, if we can anticipate where people are going to gather and get there early with a well-designed and targeted plan, we will have a golden opportunity to influence our culture and, in the process, create new venues to preach this apostolic message.

We must couple our preaching with an intelligent plan to shape our culture. We can't conclude our preaching on Sunday and think we have fulfilled the will of God just because Acts 2:38 was our text. We've got to find out where our neighbors gather and be there to influence them. Didn't someone once say something about salt and light?

Or we could stay home and argue about a medium that is dying a slow death.


©2006 Doug Ellingsworth