awkwardness of video venues

I have been going to a video feed venue for over 2 years now. It really doesn’t matter what you do, it is always going to be awkward…at least more awkward than a live speaker being awkward..which I can be at times. So many speakers feed off of the audience…I mean I do….and the audience feeds off of the speaker. One observation that I have made is that when a speaker tells a joke, people in the video venue seldom laugh unless they can hear the people in the main venue laughing. People in the venue rarely raise their hands if asked a question via video…because they know the speaker can’t see them anyway. People in a venue also rarely applaud because they know that no one can hear them…. it is just awkward..you know? Not bad or evil…just awkward…in my opinion….

off the beaten path

It is a pass time of mine to find little “hole-in-the-walls” that are off of the beaten path. This fits my personality as an “anti-clone.” I don’t want to go where everyone else goes but would rather find the places where no-one else goes. There is a breakfast place that we love to go to…we even went there for Mother’s day…and the family loved it. It is little cafe named Jolanda’s and it is tucked back in a little strip mall off of El Torro in Lake Forest, CA. This particular cafe is known for its fresh baked croissants. Everything that they prepare is home-made and served hot. It’s like eating at home (if you are a good cook) but you don’t have to clean anything up….and its priced very fair. Each time we enter the glass doors we immediately lower the median age by 30 years….easy. The coffee is hot and the food is fresh! If you know where the Smart & Final is then you are very very close to your new favorite breakfast place!

observations

It seems like all of the “popular” guys right now are guys that have planted churches. Once the church has been in existence for a generation, they too will be experiencing exactly what “established” churches are experience or have experienced. Right now everyone is running around talking about how incredible it is to plant a church and how much easier it is…..that will change. There is an element to what is going on that to me resembles “re-marriage.” There is an element where you don’t like or can’t get along with what you have so instead of working through whatever the situation is, you leave and begin another relationship. I know that this is not an absolute…but something to consider. There is an art to going in to an established church and bringing it to a place of becoming relevant to that local context. It seems like that are many who want to be the next perry noble, mark batterson, Rick Warren, etc., etc…. I think the next “guy” will be the one who goes into a declining situation and turns it around…and can make it “reproducible.” I will be the first to tell you that it take churches of all kinds and it all has to do with what God is calling you to do…but one situation is not better than the other by any stretch of the imagination…we need more guys who are willing to go to an established church and move it to become relevant……just something to noodle on