I was visiting with one of my coaching clients the other day when
each of us observed that we have a bit of P.T. Barnum in us. A bit of
shameless promoter. I get this from my father. He was a pastor. He
liked to have what he would call 'big days' at the churches he pastored,
Sundays when something happened that got the buzz going, got people
talking. Sometimes he would invite a celebrity to church to sing. He
observed that often after a 'big day,' church attendance was permanently
higher, maybe 25 or 50 more per week. In his own way, he was working
to create good legend.
In one way it sounds really crass, but Jesus pioneered it long before any of us were around.
If
there is something in us that resists creating a bit of good legend,
what is it that is causing that resistance? Can we get past it? Do we
think we are somehow too sophisticated or too pure to do something good
to get people talking about our movement? I think a lot of us mainline
Protestants tend toward snobbery at times. We could learn something
from our Pentecostal sisters and brothers!
I was reading Christianity After Religion by Diana Butler Bass and she talks about the good influence of the Pentecostal movement for shaking us loose from our snobbery!
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