Friday, October 16, 2009

Misrepresentations Make My Blood Boil

Thank God for this periodic clearing of the cloudy mist when I feel the urge to speak up, speak out, into the clamorous sea of voices. Another detox friend and I were just discussing that there's alot of noise out there and the last thing we want is to add to the cluttered din. On the other hand, we must exercise our voices in order to be heard even if it is just for eventually. In between these times of freedom to speak out, there's alot of simmering going on, but I'm never compelled to say anything until enough angst accumulates into a serious perculation. What usually happens is I erupt and boil over if I don't give way to some form of communication. But then again, the erupting IS the communication so I guess this is catharthis.
It's usually brought on by some injustice recently within the church at large or by catching wind of another audacious happening at the infamous 'church' across town. It blows our minds that it somehow manages to keep going especially since their greatest 'fruit' seems to be using the ministry money to live an elitest lifestyle amongst their middle class tithers that gladly enable the mismanagement of money with their weekly tithe installments.

Ok, something that made my simmer perculate a bit yesterday was this. I got an email from a worship magazine that is hosting a one-day songwriting seminar called 'song discovery in the round' which would be fine if that is what it was going to be. What they are doing is hosting a group of well-known established Christian worship leaders who will teach on songwriting. They are borrowing from the concept of 'songwriters in the round' which is when a bunch of songwriters take turns singing their songs in public so they can be heard. As far as I can tell, it's just another teaching on how you should write your songs and make them just like ours so we will choose your songs. So why borrow this lovely music world concept and proceed to misrepresent what it is? It makes my blood boil when the church at large continues to elevate the hopes of the Unrecognized Gifted with false advertising. Oh, by the way, the one-day conference costs the aspiring song-writer $99 not to mention plane fare, meals and lodging it would cost to go. An afterthought: I wonder if they don't get enough attendance at the 3-day conferences they host so decided on the shortened version?

Another blood boiler I can't resist talking about since we are talking about false advertising:
A church that hosts what they call a "Town Hall Meeting" where the senior pastor bellows on for 78 minutes about all his plans to build an empire with no forum for questions or comments from anyone. That's a lecture not a town hall meeting. Isn't a town meeting supposed to be a platform for people in towns or organizations to voice their concerns with the opportunity to ask legitimate questions? I shouldn't be surprised by the bogusness of the town meeting title because this particular misrepresention is the brain child of KGW (k.g.dubbaya) pastor of the infamous church across town - yes, my former wac world. He was never too keen on questions asked in any forum. But to use this wonderful concept of a Town Hall Meeting and then twist it into his version of it makes my blood boil!