LifeChurchTV

[mwmcl]

You noticed that too?

I noticed a lot of that and very little of actual addressing of questions

I don't hate LifeChurch... I just hate there recent markerting... and I hate marketing for Churches.

[jbrown84]

However, I have NEVER, in my life, seen a church stoop so low as to basically call its detractors tools of Satan ( SatanHatesLife.com ). It's just....actually I think it speaks for itself.

I wholeheartedly agree. Seems like their reputation for "edgyness" has gone to their heads.

[metro]

LifeReach | LifeChurch.tv

Just wanted to remind everyone of life reach 07. It's similar to Sharefest only it's more than one day and the projects are ongoing.

[Martin]

pretty slick... though looking through the various opportunities, it appears that hardly anyone is volunteering for anything. -M

[metro]

mmm thanks. and FYI, the church just announced it yesterday so give it some time for volunteers to step up.

I also was just watching a preview for the 10 o'clock news on KOCO Channel 5 and they are going to do a story on all the controversy behind the SatanHatesLife.com billboards so all you fans or should I say anti-fans might want to check it out.

[Martin]

hope alot more people volunteer... i'd rather be proven wrong.

as for the billboard, i wouldn't say it's a controversy... i just think it's in poor taste. -M

[Easy180]

Guess I'm one of the people the billboards are designed to recruit...Annoys me more than anything...No interest in checking out the satan website

Put some Sooners on it and then maybe

Kind of cynical on the volunteer thing as well if that's at all possible....Part of me thinks it's to recruit more members since that seems to be the main goal of nearly everything they do...50% public service 50% membership drive...Evident since they just don't post these signup sheets in the campuses instead of promoting non church members to sign up

[mwmcl]

mmm thanks. and FYI, the church just announced it yesterday so give it some time for volunteers to step up.

I also was just watching a preview for the 10 o'clock news on KOCO Channel 5 and they are going to do a story on all the controversy behind the SatanHatesLife.com billboards so all you fans or should I say anti-fans might want to check it out.

I did watch and they basically said nothing of substance. Just a puff-piece of journalism that I've come to know and love from the local media.

[jbrown84]

Well I'm happy to say that my church gets a lot of media coverage without having to do anything controversial.

[mwmcl]

My church gets no media atention (good or bad)

[jbrown84]

My point being that LifeChurch's strategy is to be controversial to attract attention and potential new members. I would rather get new members because people hear about the good things my church does and the community that people have there.

[Keith]

My point being that LifeChurch's strategy is to be controversial to attract attention and potential new members. I would rather get new members because people hear about the good things my church does and the community that people have there.

Exactly. I could not have said it better myself.

[CMSturgeon]

I can't believe 16 pages later we're still discussing the same negative things about LifeChurch. This thread is on my annoying list right after the 3 Jim Inhofe ones that just recently surfaced. I can't believe you nay-sayers feel so passionately about what you think LifeChurch is doing wrong. My extent of knowledge on LifeChurch was that there's one next to Academy, now I know a bunch about it just because of you guys that are against it. I think I'm going to go join RIGHT NOW just to spite you.

[jbrown84]

Feel free to join. I have said several times that I think it's a good church, but it's not for me for various reasons.

[Patrick]

I think I'm going to go join RIGHT NOW just to spite you.

Now that's a good reason to go join a church isn't it?

[PUGalicious]

I can't believe 16 pages later we're still discussing the same negative things about LifeChurch. This thread is on my annoying list right after the 3 Jim Inhofe ones that just recently surfaced. I can't believe you nay-sayers feel so passionately about what you think LifeChurch is doing wrong. My extent of knowledge on LifeChurch was that there's one next to Academy, now I know a bunch about it just because of you guys that are against it. I think I'm going to go join RIGHT NOW just to spite you.

I think I'm going to say something bad about LifeChurch just to see who else will join "just to spite" me.

Ummm... met me think... LifeChurch's shuttle carts aren't air-conditioned during the summer or heated during the winter and that's just plain unreasonable.

Any takers?

[CMSturgeon]

Yup, that was funny. But hey, whatever gets you into the church right? I guess I dont see problem with advertising as long as that is what its for, inviting more people into salvation. But not strictly to make more money, thats wrong if you're a church. FBC of Moore used to do all kinds of things to get people in. And I remember a church I went to would have pancake breakfasts open for anyone once a month and they got lots of members that way who were just looking for a free meal.

[Patrick]

Yup, that was funny. But hey, whatever gets you into the church right? I guess I dont see problem with advertising as long as that is what its for, inviting more people into salvation. But not strictly to make more money, thats wrong if you're a church. FBC of Moore used to do all kinds of things to get people in. And I remember a church I went to would have pancake breakfasts open for anyone once a month and they got lots of members that way who were just looking for a free meal.

I think the whole idea is to get more people in the building so they can hear the message of Christ. That's the whole mission of a church, right?

[writerranger]

I think the whole idea is to get more people in the building so they can hear the message of Christ. That's the whole mission of a church, right?

Yeah, it is today - at the expense of what the New Testament definition of a "church" is. From the Sermon on the Mount to the Letters to Timothy and the Corinthians, the Bible talks of service to those Christ called, "the least of these." I don't recall anything about the whole mission of a church being to get bodies inside a building.

---------------

[PUGalicious]

Well said, writerranger.

[Martin]

i'll second that... well said.

i don't have a problem with the fact that lc is trying to reach people... that's a great and noble thing. however, in order to attract more people, churches like lc compromise on the message in order to make it more popular with society. they focus on entertainment and pleasing people, rather than on pleasing god. by doing that, i don't think they're really doing anybody any good... in a spiritual sense.

-M

[CMSturgeon]

[metro]

Since many on this forum like to speak on behalf of Craig, I thought I'd post directly from Craig's blog and let him speak for himself on the topic of church as being entertainment. This is Part 3 (from yesterday) of a 4 part installment. If you care to read more, you can check it out at LifeChurch.tv : swerve

It Shouldn’t Matter, But… (Part 3)
Published by Craig Groeschel March 28th, 2007 in marketing, customer service and church.
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In the church world, entertainment shouldn’t even be a consideration. God’s Word and His presence should be enough. I want to believe that with all my heart. (And my wife would stand by the statement forever.)

Entertainment shouldn’t matter. But sometimes it does.

The Church must recognize that we are competing for people’s attention. If you’re a church leader, your competition isn’t First Baptist Church, Shadow Valley Community Church or Holy Zion Apostolic Temple of Praise.

Your competition is:

The golf course
Snow skiing
The lake house
Sunday soccer games
Second Life
Mountain climbing
Sleeping in
American idol, Desperate Housewives, and 24
And a million other entertaining things
In the 1950’s, people were paying attention to the church and our message about Christ. We didn’t have to work to gain attention. The year is 2007 and things have changed.

I’ll be honest, I don’t like to think about how to gain and keep people’s attention with humor, suspense, stories, video etc. But a wise communicator and leader understands that in today’s world, even though entertainment shouldn’t matter, when it comes to getting and keeping someone’s attention to hear about Jesus, it often does.

(For the record, I’m not saying entertainment changes lives. It doesn’t and never will.)


I know many of you disagree. Let it rip!

[CMSturgeon]

Nope, Metro, I agree. I've heard countless say they don't go because it's boring. Why not try to do something to get those people in as well?

[Martin]

i've been following along since you first sent the link, actually... i'll agree it's better to hear this folks speak for themselves... and it seems to be proving my initial thoughts, metro.

so pastor craig says entertainment doesn't change lives, yet lifechurch focuses on it to get people in the door anyway. i agree with the idea that speakers should be engaging, but lifechurch focuses way too much on the entertainment aspect at the peril of other, more important scriptural issues... that is... in its struggle to become popular, lifechurch conveniently sacrifices scriptural doctrine.

and back to lifereach... still less than 300 people have signed up to volunteer for anything. what is that? 2% of the 15,000 that attend each week? hope to see those numbers climb...

-M