Reality

I am sitting here at MAC looking out at my beautiful surroundings and focusing on the parts of God's creation that are healthy for me to look at. I head to Farmington prison to speak tonight and I am contemplating what I can tell those men that might make a real difference in their hearts and minds as they go through their days inside the fence and then what will happen when they come back out. I will probably do what I always do -- give them the real truth about the condition of their hearts as Jesus looks at them. I will give them reality. I will tell them that they have same spiritual heart that I have (had) -- wicked, deceitful, and evil. And the only thing that can make that wicked heart righteous is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is difficult to make that believable and be very sweet. It also will only work if I make a connection with those men -- if they think I am real and I care. I will attempt to do so by showing that I have the same heart that they have. The only difference in us is that I have been law-abiding as I sin against God.

Just a few minutes ago, I finished reading an article in USA Today about why television had to shift shows away from "Leave it to Beaver" toward "Sex and the City" and "Grey's Anatomy." Everyone thinks it is because our society has gone to 'hell in a handbasket' in morals which may be a PART of it. But, the basic reason is that all post-boomer generations have no interest in their fiction showing a phony perfection. They require authentic; they require real. If "the Beav" was going to be redone today, it would never make it out of pilot unless we sense that Ward is struggling with the things that men really struggle with -- affirmation, fulfillment, proficiency in career, sex, and relationships. June would need to show her weaknesses as she fights the demons of aging and raging hormornes, not vacuuming in high heels and pearls. And Wally and the Beav would be considering dark thoughts as they were accepted or not by their peers.

These generations want the same things from their church. They do not have any interest in being a part of place that does not express authentic leadership and community. It is no accident that these generations respond well (I think) to my teaching, preaching, and leadership. I have always been one to lay out the whole package in everything I do. Should we not teach (including humor) about all subjects and not just the 'comfortable' ones? Should we not preach the perversion of the community at Corinth (Christians Gone Wild next summer maybe) as it relates to the current American culture or not preach the sexual intensity inside marriage from the Song of Solomon. I think we should and I am not afraid to. But,that feels weird to folks who really think that there are just some things that should not be opened up in public. So, on occasion, there are folks who think I go overboard in humor or subject material. They are probably right, but the "Leave it to Beaver" church almost destroyed the American church because it drove sin underground. Let's get it to the surface, so that we can truly 'repent and believe the Gospel.' Let's create authentic church, so that these generations may be saved.