Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Forget All the Emerging Church Nonsense - This Is ...":
I just woke up from what i think was an extended flashback. Wow. Most folks think that this is funny -- and it is, kind of... But the reality is that entertainment in these "churches" serves more than to just entertain the audience. The Sunday morning entertainment is a long planned production in many cases, maybe a month in preparation or more in the bigger churches. The pastor-dude has mapped out far in advance what he is going to speak about, and has long decided what emotional state is most conducive to receiving his message. The job of the entertainers is to work over the audience emotionally, carrying them through waves of highs and lows, until, by the time the pastor-dude is ready to speak, the audience is nothing but emotional putty, and very susceptible to suggestion.
An old friend of mine -- a professional guitarist who favored the Jazz scene -- found himself contributing his talents to pop-church congregations in the Twin Cities area (for pay, of course). He eventually quit the whole pop-church circuit in disgust, sick of what he called "mass manipulation." Unfortunately, he also quit music, and quit church, as well -- disgusted with himself and other Christians over the lies and chicanery associated with the name of Christ in CGM driven congregations. What goes on in these congregations, behind the scenes, is pure pragmatic business: the pastor-dudes are thespians, the entertainment is calculated, and together they are putting on a show for money.
Freddy Finkelstein
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GJ - Manipulation is the key word. I know from my earlier (LCA) association with a pan-Christian school that salesmen for hire are the rule, not the exception, in Pentecostal-Evangelical circles.
For example, after taking up all the pledges, and counting the total, the outside hireling will say, "I am not satisfied with my pledge. It is too small. I am tearing it up." He tears it up and gets everyone at the head table to do the same. Then they say, "Let's just throw these pledges away and start all over again." They gather all the cards and add them up again. The total is higher. Miracle! Naturally, many people get disgusted with this and hate Christianity as worse than a used-car lot.
I attended my first and only Assembly of God show worship service, at a small, humble church near Wheaton College. Mrs. I went along. The minister made a big show of bawling and praying in front of everyone. I watched as he turned off the waterworks and cued the next musical piece to be played by the pianist. He saw me watching him, so he gave me frostbite on the way out of church.
It was ironic that he quoted Isaiah 55:8-11 during his sermon, and that passage struck me as central to the entire Bible. Either that passage is completely true, and God's Word is always effective, or it is completely false.
Some of the older pastors in WELS remember when Law motivation was frowned upon rather than advocated. Roger Kovaciny quoted a professor from Mequon saying, "If you want more milk, give the cow more hay instead of pulling harder on the teats." Kovo said that to encourage Gospel motivation. To support his case, I said, "Kovo. I have the sorest teats in town.
Shrinkers like Stolzenburg led Paul Kuske around by the nose. I saw a poster in the Grove City church that said, "Five thousand people go to Hell every day. What are you doing about it?"
I said, "I am letting God work through the Means of Grace." When ministers trust man's work and human schemes above the Word and Sacraments, they necessarily turn Reformed and eventually become atheists.
We should put up posters that say, "Your star Growthers have left the Lutheran Church and a number of them have become nasty atheists. What are you going to do about it, Mequon?"
