I am a marketing cynic... Whenever I am watching TV, driving, answering the phone for tele-marketers, getting my carpet vacuumed for free by a actual door to door salesman, walking through the mall, watching movies, or even the 15 minute run up to actually being able to watch a DVD that I purchased I am struck by how sick of marketing that I am. I am not alone either... do you think anyone really wishes there were more billboards or more adds before the menu comes up on a DVD?I have an allergic reaction to the sales pitch.
In a strange coincidence my allergies also go crazy in churches, Christian bookstores, evangelistic meetings, christian concerts, or even just listening to christians talk. Sometimes in the middle of a sentence I realize I am even allergic to my own christian slogans...
I do not think I am alone here either.
Could it be that the further we position the story of God from the marketing schemes of the world, which over promise and under deliver, the better? Maybe instead of buying into the communication philosophy of commercialism and get rich or happy quick products, we should do our best to offer a real solution that stands on its own merits and does not need to be propped up like the wooden idols of Isaiah's day.
I think Jesus can stand on his own... and that the best marketing we can do is truly living and loving like he did... that would be viral...
I am all for sharing Jesus and his love with other people...I just don't want to do it like a high pressure salesman anymore...
Do I really want people to feel like I have sold them a used car that they didn't want with monthly payments they can't afford after I leave...
My suggestion is that we stop patting each other on the back about how many times we have "presented" the "simple gospel" or the "x # of spiritual laws" and start doing the hard work of learning to live and love like Jesus in this post-christian culture...
if our live does not make them ask, then we have nothing to say anyway...
In the mean time... can someone pass the allegra?
