The room was packed with excited youth workers numbering in the thousands. The lights dimmed and the spotlight moved to the left side of the stage to flood a man in his late thirties in jeans and button-down shirt. On the multiple screens behind him, in a cool font, his name was displayed, and below his name his title stated, “CEO Idea Guy.” He owned a consultation business that helped people find their “big idea” and turn it into a reality. For six minutes he pumped up the youth workers by prodding them that they possessed the next big idea that would change the church, that would bring hordes of young people back to the church — that would become a big deal. “You have this big idea in you,” he said. “You just need to do it! Design it and do it! It will be big, and lead to big things for your ministry, and for the church. Do not sell your idea short; move into creation and watch your wildest dreams come true, watch the impossible dawn!” With his last punctuated phrase, the spotlight faded to black and the room cheered with the kind of roar that signaled that these youth workers had been moved.
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If Jesus happened to re-appear tomorrow afternoon do you really think that he would be involved in what was really a Barnum & Bailey circus event.
Or in a media and TV campaign which is just the electronic extension of the Barnum & Bailey meme, or the situation described by Neil Postman in his book Amusing Ourselves To Death.
A campaign which is just an extension of th whats-in-it-for-me TV mind that now rules the world, and which is THE content of most/all of popular consumerist religiosity – BUY the product now!