INNOVATE - Day One - Part Two

SESSION THREE - Tim Stevens

I'm liking Tim Stevens more and more. Not that I didn't before, but he's quickly becoming the GURU of how/why the Church should engage pop culture. His session was titled the same as his book (which, if you haven't read, run quickly to the bookstore), and - again - Tim delivered a very informative and inspiring message:

* Peppering his talk with video examples (pop culture), Tim showed us by example of how pop culture could be used during our gathering.

* He talked about how most churches are not impacting their communities... and how, although spiritual interest in our country continues to be on a rise, church attendance continues to plummet. We're making very little impact!

* Tim asked the question, "Can we 'mix with the world', and still give an unpolluted message?" And he showed from the apostle Paul's ministry to the people in Athens (Acts 17) how we can use the world's culture in order to reach them (in Acts 17:28, Paul even quotes from a famous secular poet).

* He gave 4 ways that pop culture could be used:

- to package a secular topic in a creative way in order to reach unchurched people...

- to get people thinking or laughing...

- to provide a new interpretation for a pop culture element...

- to encourage the people who are making the ministry happen.

Long and short, the more I hear Tim speak on this topic, the more intrigued I become with it, and the more I want to know it inside and out. I wanna be a guru like Tim. :)