Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that thinks if you remove the announcements, opening prayer, and sermon in many churches today, you’ll have time for three more songs, each with 7 words in them (sung 11 or more times).
Update: On September 2nd, we’ll be resuming the “Christ is All” podcast. The first episode will be the 4th message I delivered last month at a conference in Mississippi.
It’s entitled “Encountering the Risen Christ: Then and Now.”
Based on feedback from those who were present, you don’t want to miss it.
It’s a message I’ve been building for months, and this is the first time I’ve ever delivered it. (That’s typically the case with the messages I bring. It’s not my custom to repeat any of them.)
Make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so you have it immediately when it drops. “Christ is All” is on all podcast apps.
As promised last week, today’s piece is going to be controversial. But hey, life is often boring. And truth isn’t always popular.
A Christian leader in his 30s, looking for advice, recently asked me this question:
“Frank, in light of your four decades of ministry, traveling the world, being in touch with God’s people in different countries, and interacting with them on a regular basis from different tribes, movements, and denominations, how do you understand the Christian landscape today?”
What follows is my response.
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We can divide Christians up into many different camps and categories. And people often do. But to my mind, three categories stand out from where I’m standing.
Consider this graph.
CAMP 1: Contented Pew Warmers – this group is represented by the gray area in the graph -1 to 1.
They are the masses.
What appeals to the masses is mundane to many. Because mass = average. It’s in the middle of the curve. Christian leaders who appeal to the masses seek to offend no one and satisfy everyone.
This leads to compromise and content that’s shallow, overly simplified, vanilla, and basic. Oh, and content that’s also been repeated 6.2 million times by other leaders.
With respect to this camp, Jesus is merely a supplement to their busy lives. While they may attend church regularly and even read their Bible, Christ is not their main priority. Career, hobbies, family, and friends come first.
(As I’ve explained elsewhere, reading the Bible is important. But it’s far more important HOW you read it. A subject I’ve been discussing since March on the “Christ is All” podcast.)
Many in camp 1 don’t read Christian books, but among those that do, they only read what the current Christian celebrity authors write because those are the books they hear about or see on social media (due to the torrential amount of $$$ spent on ads the authors and publishers spend to get their books in front of a Christian audience).
That leaves the two minority camps represented by the dips on the left and right of the graph.
CAMP 2: The dip on the left on the graph, stretching from -3 to -1, represents what I call Cereal Christians (Flakes, Fruits, and Nuts).
They range from the deranged and the loony to the noxious.
With the emergence of social media, this group has increased and become more visible. (Not too long ago, Jordan Peterson made this same observation. He just broadened it to the entire world, not just the Christian space.)
Every Christian leader will attract some Cereal Christians. (I discuss how to deal with the noxious types in the book, 48 Laws of Spiritual Power.)
CAMP 3: The dip on the right, stretching from 1 to 3, represents what I call Insurgents (a.k.a., those on the Deeper Journey).
These Christians are marked by a hunger and thirst for more of the Lord. They are positively discontented. They know in their bones that “there has to be more than this” when it comes to Christ, the Scriptures, ministry, and church.
The Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom are their chief priorities. They live for God’s Eternal Purpose. They are passionate about the Lord and His interests. And they are drawn to that which is deep, high, and reveals Him in power and glory.
Who I Serve (and Don’t Serve)
This third group – the Insurgents – is who I serve with my work. The books, podcasts, articles, conference messages, YouTube channel, etc. are ALL designed to equip and spread the Insurgence among this group, that is, those on the deeper journey.
Occasionally, people who are part of the other two groups – the Contented Pew Warmers and the Cereal Christians – will join my Thursday unfiltered email list, but they don’t stay on it long. (I have no idea how or why they join the list in the first place.)
Someone once asked me, “Doesn’t it bother you when someone unsubscribes from your email list?”
My answer. “No. If a person unsubscribes, it simply means one thing: My work isn’t for them.
Therefore, my attitude is, “Take control, bro. Unsubscribe. Set those boundaries.” <smile>
I’d much rather have 15,000 regular readers who are in camp 3 (the Insurgents) than 15 million who are part of camps 1 and 2.
There are thousands of ministries – authors/speakers/pastors/podcasters – whose ministries appeal to camp 1. And they make their living from that audience because it’s so large.
I’m not one of them.
And there are numerous ministries that draw large numbers of people in camp 2.
I’m not one of them.
The takeaway for you: If you have a ministry or you create content to serve others, it’s important to identify your audience and focus on serving them, practically ignoring everything and everyone else.
You’ll never please everyone, so it’s a mistake to try. (Obviously, as I’ve argued elsewhere, we should always be open to receive feedback from those who we personally know and trust. That’s VERY different from unsolicited complaints and criticisms from strangers.)
If you want God’s blessing, it’s vital that you Stay in Your Lane – the subject of a previous article.
For those of you who are Insurgents on the deeper journey, I’ll talk to you next Thursday with a fresh article.
Yours in His grace,
fv
Psalm 115:1
To My Readers (From the Heart)