Enterprise Square, U.S.A.

When I was in my early teenage years one of my favorite activities was going to Enterprise Square, U.S.A.  It was located on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University and was a monument to anti-government extreme capitalism.  It was kind of a museum, kind of video games place.  For $3 it wasn't at all a bad day for a 13-year old to spend a fall afternoon.  Mom would drop me off, I'd quickly make my way through the museum portions to play the video games, and several hours later I'd finally get sick of going bust on the Oklahoma oil fields and have my mom come and get me.  I'm guessing the combination of growing up in Oklahoma to conservative parents and visiting ESUSA probably 20 times in two years (remember, this is the time of my life of video game obsession before girls were on the radar) made me the supply-side Republican that I became throughout my early 20s.

Enterprise Square opened in 1982, and even then I thought the museum portion a bit cheesy.  Singing presidents made to be Reagan-era capitalists, Bob Hope reading off of cue cards, aliens crash-landing on earth to examine our way of life...yeah.  That's why I would usually go straight to the video games.  There was always something wonderful about mowing yards and fighting off government regulations and being a truck driver that was something appealing.  It was, after all, the very, very best way to live. the American way.  Even now I still have within me the suspicions of government...though I'm probably more suspicious of large multi-national corporations whose only interest is profit and owe no allegiance to anybody but their biggest shareholders.

Sadly, the thousand visitors a day never really materialized.  Even in the mid-1980s the place already had a kind of run-down feel to it.  Nothing was ever updated, and the building has set mostly empty since it closed down over a decade ago.  Mocked and now mostly unloved, it's a living reminder that capitalism is a dangerous proposition.  When it fails, it fails miserably.

One final side note...only in recent years have I found great irony in the fact that a Christian institution, which Biblically speaks to the nature of fellowship and helping out the poor, allowed such a monument to be built on its campus.  As I remember it now, Enterprise Square loved the individual and spoke to the glories of unfettered capitalism...but where was God in all this?  What about the poor?  Do we just let them get crushed by the overwhelming world economy?  What about those who have been in jail and have no real future?  Do we say sorry, you don't fit into the model of supply and demand?  Nowhere in my memory do I remember anything about God at Enterprise Square.  Reading the prophets of the Old Testament as much as I have for the last few years I have been struck by its call for economic justice and its warnings about the rich growing richer while the poor get left behind.  This, more than anything, has pushed me away from the extreme conservatism of my youth.

The parable of the house fixer-upper

There was a man who was hired to fix up a house.  It was a house that was too small for all who needed to live there.  It was too expensive for those already living there.  It had chipped paint all around, holes in the floor, cracks in the wall, dangerous plumbing and electrical work.  All in all, the house was a mess, though it was located in what all its residents claimed was the Greatest Neighborhood.

Was this man the right man for the job?  Many others had applied, all spending millions of dollars to get the job that paid a relative pittance.  But this man was hired because of his promise.  He worked hard, said all the right things, and finally got the job.  Some never liked this new hire.  Too young, too cultured, too dark, too different, some continually complained about this man.

And so this man began his new job.  Even though he had other jobs to do, his one particular special project in fixing up this house got off to a rocky start.  It seems that while many people wanted this project finished, others did not.  Continually they complained, stalled, worked against the project.  They told all sorts of lies about what kind of project this was and how incompetent the builder was and went on Hound News to speak about how everything had been fine before.

But the man continued to work at his new job.  He crafted designs and plans, yet his opponents kept ripping them apart.  He suggested improvements to the structure of the house, and his opponents kept denigrating them.  He pointed out how floorboards were broken and cracks were in the foundation, and his opponents kept on looking the other way.  Too much money, they said.  Too much work, they said.  Too much change, they said.  Too many people will be able to live in this house, they said.

But the man continued to work at his now not-so-new job.  He met with experts about how to fix the house. He suggested numerous improvements.  And the complainers continued to complain.

And finally the builder presented his plans.  It wasn't like he really wanted; in fact, it wasn't like anybody really wanted.  But the complaints had taken their toll.  Compromise with those who complained about the cost, about the design, about anything in this house had made the project almost unworkable, but plans were made anyway to start building.

And so real work began.  Old structures were torn out, new structures replaced them.  There were improvements, but more and more it began to look like the same old structure.  More cracks appeared.  More age showed on the house.  And all the while, complaints continued, deadlines were pushed back.  Hound News daily reported breathlessly about what a failure it all was.

All the while lawsuits were filed to stop this construction.  Challenges were made as to the qualifications of the man.  Nothing was ever presented as an alternative to his plans, and most people began to forget how bad the home had been that a house-fixer was needed in the first place.

After years of work, and much money spent, things were about the same as they always were.  The once-promising young man, now much more grey and tired, finally left his job in order to write books about his mediocre project.  And all the while, some complained just as much as they ever did, satisfied in their role as obstructionists.  Why did we ever need to change things, they asked?  Their own rooms were just fine.

Now, I ask you, who is to blame for the failure of this project?  The man who tried to fix the house, or those who continually complained about everything from the very first day he worked?

Outreach Magazine

Several years ago, encouraged by a fellow minister, I subscribed to Outreach Magazine.  Basically it seeks to be what the title says: it wants to help churches figure out ways to reach their communities for Christ.  For that it should be commended.

Eventually, though, I let me subscription drop, but they continue to send it to me. I just don't get a lot out of it.  Over time I've figure out that they have two target audiences:  1)the large church which can afford the time, money, and staff to try many different things and 2)the hipster church plant targeted towards 30-somethings that has nothing to lose (sidenote...every person they picture looks like he just stepped out of a Aeropostale ad, even though some run into their 50s).  For churches like the one I work with, older churches that have been in decline for a number of years (that is, most churches in the United States), it has very little to say.  Yes, once in awhile it will have an interesting idea or an example of what another church did, but even most of their ideas run gimmicky.  This month gave snippets about a guy who came back to church because the church next door had a fireworks display, back-to-school giveaways for teachers and kids in poor communities, and a church that formed a running club.  Oh, and of course there were the numerous advertisements for seminary educations for the real world, books that would Change Your Ministry Forever, software programs to get your administration running smoothly, God's word coming alive through the Action Bible, and Inspiring and Powerful Guest Speakers who will entertain your audience. Not exactly the same stuff as members sharing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ or about the powerful Holy Spirit of God.

This month is also their Small Church annual (?) issue, in which they give words of advice from their expert writers (most of whom work at megachurches) that comfort us poor benighted souls stuck with small churches.  "Do we measure ourselves as healthy?"  "Are our metrics beyond a numbers obsessions?"  "Do we celebrate our creativity and involvement and innovation?"  Blah blah blah.  Heard it before, probably in last years' issue.  Basically they don't have anything to say beyond just "hang in there, God loves you too!"  I guess they need something to contrast with their annual Megachurch issue where they (no, really) list the largest and fastest growing congregations in the country and profile many of the hipster pastors who lead them.  But in this month's issue what was most telling was their section giving small church profiles.  Quickly I noticed a trend: in the nine churches profiled, EIGHT were planted within the last five years.  The ninth has been around since 1943, has grown to five different sites in San Diego, and runs 225 people...far more than the national church average, and probably placing it in the top 20% of churches...not exactly small by most church standards.

If there is a real benefit to this magazine, it's that it makes me realize how much I love little churches like the one I am blessed to work with.  We may not be hip, and we certainly do have our problems, but we do have an existence that is a little bit longer than last week.  I desperately want it to grow, but I'd better look elsewhere for ideas on how to do this.  I'm sure there are a lot of people who get a lot out of Outreach.  But for me, I'd wish they'd change their name to Megachurch Gimmicks and Church Planting Catalogue.  Might not get quite the publication numbers, but at least the title would be a bit more honest.

Political grace

          Today I finished re-reading Philip Yancey’s wonderful 1997 book ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’  It had been a number of years since I had read it, but as I was reading it struck me how much his thinking has affected my own over the years, and how we both have lamented much of the ‘un-grace’ that has characterized Christians and the Church in my lifetime. 

          Near the end of the book Yancey takes aim at political Christians, primarily conservatives, who have sought to equate the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of the United States.  Because we have sought to legislate so much about what people can and cannot do with their lives, even as we have been increasingly screaming about how much we want to get Big Government out of our lives, much of the world looks at our witness as being about small-minded moralistic fervor.  Years before the book came out called UnChristian that spoke of how young people look at Christians as judgmental, hateful, and homophobic, Yancey related story after story of the un-grace of Christians against Bill Clinton and others in government and society; I’m sure if he was to update this book today he could really dig into the Obama haters of the world. 

          One section he wrote really is as relevant today as it was 16 years ago (just replace the names of the ‘important’ issues then with what some are screaming about today):

Stephen Carter offers good counsel about political activism: to be effective, ‘gracious’ Christians must be wise in the issues to support or oppose….

          What about today?  Are we choosing our battles wisely?  Obviously, abortion, sexual issues, and the definitions of life and death are issues worthy of our attention.  Yet when I read the literature produced by evangelicals in politics I also read about gun rights, abolishing the Department of Education, the NAFTA trade agreements, the Panama Canal treaty, and term limits for Congress.  A few years back I heard the president of the National Association of Evangelicals include in his list of top ten concerns, ‘Repeal of the capital gains tax.’  Too often the agenda of conservative religious groups matches line for line the agenda of conservative politics and does not base its priorities on a transcendent source.  Like everyone else, evangelicals have a right to present arguments on all the issues, by the moment we present them as part of some ‘Christian’ platform we abandon our high moral ground….

          All too often in their forays into politics Christians have proved ‘wise as doves’ and ‘harmless as serpents’—exactly the opposite of Jesus’ precept.  If we expect society to take seriously our contribution, then we must show more wisdom in our choices.