Tonight I had the chance to hear ROB BELL www.marshill.org in person at the Allen Theater with a friend. I was impressed that it was a sell out crowd when I saw no advertising done for this event anywhere in Cleveland. There was nothing in the PLAIN DEALER, no mailer to area churches, nothing on the radio. It was all word of mouth. I stumbled across it on Rob Bell’s web site while downloading a service and checking out the NOOMA videos.
The event was so clean. There was no “opening act”, no announcements, no “preliminaries”. He just came out and started talking and captivated the audience for an hour and 48 minutes. What an excellent communicator. He started in Genesis and progressed through to Hebrews. His presentation was very authentic and inspiring, not religious or churchie or offensive, unless maybe to the churchie at times like when he jokingly said "flannelgraph that!". He wasted no time or words.
My take-away from the night? Hmmmm… I walked away challenged to look at any gods that might have crept into my life; challenged to embrace what God has done to redeem me rather than striving to get in His good favor. Rob shared that his friend kept saying throughout their visit at a restaurant (after he was pastoring a growing church), “you don’t have to live this way anymore”. That was a freeing statement and sometimes, even as Christians, we need to hear that.
One of the best treats was that out of the hundreds of people in the audience I turned to see that the people with tickets to the seats next to me were Bryan and Carolyn Karas (the newlyweds!). Bryan http://www.bryankaras.com/ was our worship leader and ministry intern at Rockside Church in our earlier days. He's now he’s the worship/arts pastor at 707 http://www.sevenoseven.com/ and is presenting the message next Sunday, December 9 at 7:00 PM. Check him out if you’re free. It was so great to see them and sit next them tonight. Love you guys!
The conclusion was so compelling and the presentation of the gospel had been so clearly presented. I only wondered what it would have hurt to turn the direction to the audience for a “what about you?” type of reflection. I know people are on a continuum toward Christ and many decisions are made after people leave. I’m sure Rob Bell has given careful thought to the entire presentation including his decision to NOT guide people toward a decision. No doubt there were people ready to say yes to Christ in one form or another if even privately. I just wonder if the searching listener could be better served one degree further on their journey toward Christ if given some sort of direction toward that end. If you have an opinion about that, I’d love to hear it.
One of the best treats was that out of the hundreds of people in the audience I turned to see that the people with tickets to the seats next to me were Bryan and Carolyn Karas (the newlyweds!). Bryan http://www.bryankaras.com/ was our worship leader and ministry intern at Rockside Church in our earlier days. He's now he’s the worship/arts pastor at 707 http://www.sevenoseven.com/ and is presenting the message next Sunday, December 9 at 7:00 PM. Check him out if you’re free. It was so great to see them and sit next them tonight. Love you guys!
The conclusion was so compelling and the presentation of the gospel had been so clearly presented. I only wondered what it would have hurt to turn the direction to the audience for a “what about you?” type of reflection. I know people are on a continuum toward Christ and many decisions are made after people leave. I’m sure Rob Bell has given careful thought to the entire presentation including his decision to NOT guide people toward a decision. No doubt there were people ready to say yes to Christ in one form or another if even privately. I just wonder if the searching listener could be better served one degree further on their journey toward Christ if given some sort of direction toward that end. If you have an opinion about that, I’d love to hear it.
1 comment:
I think, perhaps, his lack of "What about you" question might have something to do with the fact that being on a Christianity "high" often causes people to make promises to God that they can't/won't follow through with once the high has worn off. For example, at a youth convention when the altar call is given, more than half of the audience leaps up to go forward simply because it's a church event and, I'm sure in no small part, because all of their friends are going up there. After they are done up there telling God how much more they are going to pray and read the Bible than they used to, often when they go home and are out of the intense spiritual environment they don't follow through. If he takes the view that breaking a promise is sort of like lying, he might have felt that it would do more harm than good for him to "coach" people into making a decision they were not yet ready to make and that those who were truly sincere about that decision would be willing and able to make it on their own. Just a thought.
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