Go out and offend someone!

Steve Brown May 6th, 2009

I spent all day yesterday with Joe Battaglia and John Frost.

Who are they?

I’m glad you asked. Joe is our Italian agency guy, the president of Renaissance Agency in New Jersey, and the least slick person you ever met.

(Tony Campolo asked me a couple of weeks ago if I knew the difference between an Italian wedding and an Italian funeral. I allowed that I didn’t and he said, “One less person.” Sorry. Tony said it. I, of course, would never say anything like that.)

At any rate, Joe is an Italian with connections. (No, no…not those connections.) He’s one of the best known and well-liked Christians in Christian broadcasting in general and in contemporary Christian music broadcasting in particular. He was the manager of a New York radio station—one of the first (maybe the first) contemporary Christian music stations in the country.

Joe doesn’t hustle, manipulate or push the way agents are supposed to. He just hangs out and good things happen. That’s because Jesus likes Joe a lot!

Jesus likes John Frost too. He is “the man” in contemporary Christian broadcasting and programs a number of highly rated stations throughout the country. Years ago, John worked for secular rock stations and became offended by some of the “stuff” that one will often hear on those stations. So he made a suggestion that they change formatting to be more “family friendly” and hit a goldmine of ratings and sales. He is now working the “other side of the aisle” with Christians who want to make a difference in this culture.

Joe, John and our staff spent much of the day together, figuring out how Key Life can come alongside and partner with contemporary stations with our message of radical freedom, infectious joy and surprising faithfulness. Some really good things came out of that meeting and I’ll be telling you about that in the not-too-distant future.

Joe and John are both guys who understand culture and how to communicate to it without using religious words people don’t understand. Their time with us was sort of a catalyst for some things I’ve been thinking of late about “them”—the culture, the world and the people who don’t “get” the Christian faith, don’t care about it or are angry because of it.

My friend, John Armstrong, says that in our efforts to reach out to them, we have made two mistakes. We have either accommodated our message and our mission so much that we offer only more of what they already have. Or, on the other hand, we spend our time “reserving barriers that are not essential to the gospel or for Christian community…we make our cultural expressions of Christianity the norm.” (You might want to check out John’s website: www.act3online.com.)

That means we either accommodate/acquiesce or we’re irrelevant.

I do both sometimes, so I’m not preaching here.

Right after our time with Joe and John, I got a letter from a financial supporter of Key Life. He had heard my interview with Paul Young who wrote The Shack. As you perhaps know, I believe that Young has enabled a whole lot of people to see God in a different and accurate way. Not only that, I know him to be the real deal. He believes every word of the Bible, is not a Universalist, and has touched a mother lode of pain in a whole lot of people.

This Key Life contributor was quite upset with my affirmation of Young. I had said on another nationally syndicated program where I was interviewed that I felt the harsh, over-the-top critics of The Shack had “their underwear on too tight.” I don’t know why that bothered him, but he said that he was no longer going to support Key Life and no longer wanted to be on the mailing list.

Given the bad economy and the way we are struggling, just like everyone else in ministry, I decided that I would find some bad things to say about Young or, at minimum, try to explain and defend my position.

(We know what I am…we’re just talking about price.)

That’s when Jesus messed up my plan. He does that a lot and, frankly, I don’t like it one bit.

Paul wrote the Corinthian church that what Christians have to offer is not “the wisdom of this age” but a “demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4,6). Then he writes, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (vs. 12).

As you know, I’m not into rules, but I’ve decided to make four rules for myself. You might want to adopt these rules or write your own. These are necessary because I’ve decided that, no matter what I do, I’m probably going to offend somebody. So here are my rules:

Rule #1: Offend people…but offend them for the right reasons.

I’m probably the most opinionated friend you have. I have an opinion on everything from Obama (didn’t vote for him) to global warming (I’m cold) to Christian music (I like Bach). I know what I like, I know what I don’t like and, frankly, I’m right about almost all of my opinions. It’s hard to be right all the time and it’s, also, quite irritating to those of us who are right to have people who aren’t right contradict us.

But there is something harder than that. It is trying to discern what my opinion is and what is God’s opinion, what is true and what is surmise, what is important in terms of my Christian witness and what is not important. I’m still working on it but, at minimum, I’ve decided that Obama, global warming and Christian music aren’t hills I will fight and die on for Jesus.

Rule #2: Offend people…but make sure they understand why they are offended.

You’ve heard the statement that someone can tell people “to go to hell with such skill that they will look forward to the trip.” I can do that if I work at it and that’s scary.

I know you won’t believe it, but I really don’t like offending people. I have this desire to be liked, affirmed and admired. It’s hard to maintain that when one is talking about hell.

I still remember this. I allowed my late friend, Rusty Anderson, to attend Skeptics Forum—a ministry I did for a number of years in which, aside from myself, only unbelievers could attend—on the condition that he keep his mouth shut. I was being so very sensitive and kind, and Rusty did well keeping quiet…until that third meeting. He just couldn’t do it anymore. I still remember the sound of his hand hitting my desk and his words, “I’m tired of this nonsense. You guys are lost for eternity and are going to hell, and that bothers me. I’ve grown to sort of like you and I don’t want to go to heaven without you.”

I thought that the whole ministry had just come to an end. Just the opposite happened. That night several of the skeptics signed their names on the Lamb’s book of life.

Rule #3: Offend people…but make sure they “see” what offends them.

As much as I hate it, there is something about me that ticks people off. I’m not exactly sure what that is, but I’m working on finding out. I want to say to people (the way I did with what Tony Campolo said above), “Look, I didn’t say that. Jesus did. I don’t care so much what you think of me, but don’t let me get in the way of Jesus. He can be your best friend or your worst nightmare, but get beyond me and look at him. He’s worth more than a passing glance.”

Rule #4: Offend people…but make sure they understand that you’re offended too.

Given that I’m so opinionated, I have a tendency to pretend that I don’t struggle with the truth in general and uncomfortable truth in particular. It is here that I (and maybe you, too, sometimes) get into trouble. When we speak truth to power, to peons, kings or paupers, or to the famous or not-so-famous, there needs to be an addendum, to wit, “Don’t you hate it? Me too!”

We are not outsiders of the human race. We are needy almost all the time, afraid and still struggling with our own sin. People get offended when we act like their mother or, worse, like an expert who is trying to “fix” them. Maybe a bit more identification with the human race is in order.

Well, those are my rules. As I work to put something together that really speaks to them, I’m going to try and remember my rules. Who knows? I might offend less and bless more.

Now, go out and offend someone…but do it right. Okay?

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 at 9:05 am and is filed under Christianity, Communication, Contemporary Christian Music, Culture, Evangelism, Gospel, Jesus, Joe Battaglia, John Armstrong, John Frost, Key Life, Offense, Religion and Spirituality, Steve Brown, The Shack, Tony Campolo, William Paul Young. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.