"Pay-Per-View" Event with Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt, and Mark Scandrette

Hmmm…I like Mark and Doug and Tony…but PAY to see them? They should pay me to see them. ;)

Seriously though, this strikes me as a bit of a step into a wrong direction. Does anyone else feel uncomfortable about the glut of hyped book tours? And then to add a pay-per-view event? It seems that the more I discern that we need to go simpler and smaller and more hands-on, it seems as though EV is going fancier, larger, and more indirect.

I’m not trying to pick a fight here…but this is important enough to engage…any thoughts all?

Hey Mark,

John O’Hara is the best guy to respond to this, I think, as it pertains to this particular event. I’m sure he has his reasons for structuring this as it is. I’m all for making things cheaper (if not completely free) and more accessible, but at the end of the day somebody’s got to pay the bills, right? That’s just reality.

We all know (or should know) that Tony, Doug, and Mark are not getting rich off of this stuff. If they are getting paid something for this event, and part of that money is coming from people who are outside of the Oakland area willing to pay $15 to watch a webcast of it, I don’t personally have a problem with that. You, and others, might disagree. That’s totally fine. I agree that, as you say, it’s important enough to have the conversation, definitely. I’ll be interested to see what others think.

This is an interesting response, Mark, because I went through the exact dilemma. I agree with both perspectives, actually: that “we need to go simpler and smaller and more hands-on (MVS),” AND that on a practical level, “at the end of the day somebody’s got to pay the bills (SK).”

The balancing act is finding ways to honor these guys for their time and effort, time spent away from their families, etc. while keeping the conversation accessible. Pay-per-view streaming seems like a way to do this, as folks outside our area have been asking if they can participate in this way, and it only seems fair that if people pay to get in the physical doors they should do the same to access the same content online.

If I had the means, I would pay them. I should also say here that Tony, Mark and Doug have been very gracious and are certainly not trying to get rich off of this event. My opinion is that their graciousness should be met with our generosity.

I can completely relate to needing to pay the bills. But so often saying “well, I need to pay bills” is a way of legitimizing poor choices. It is, after all, a way of subordinating ideals to pragmatism. And that often ends up with a reinforcement of the status quo.

It seems odd to me that the movement that gained traction based upon the recognition that the medium IS the message (after all, Emergent is an ecclesial movement) seems to have lots of blind spots about what these sorts of things communicate.

If you were an alien (either from space or from Latin America, or that matter) were to drop in on EV and based solely upon your observation, what would you conclude is the theology of EV?

Mark,

I, for one, appreciate your challenge to live into the radical calling of Christ and not “settle” for pragmatism and the status quo. This was a huge topic of our conversation at our cohort gathering this past month (where we discussed your “10 reasons not to vote” article, BTW). I find myself—working full-time for a Christian organization, with a wife and three kids, living in the suburbs, etc.—really struggling to overcome this pragmatic mindset. I have to keep telling myself that the baby steps I’m taking are worthwhile. And maybe at some point there will be a “leap” that I sense God is really calling me to make. I’ve already made one such “leap” (becoming post-congregational), but there are many others (economic, social, etc.) I know that God is calling me into.

Anyway, your points about the medium and the message and what these things communicate about Emergent Village and “the theology of EV” ... I love Shane Hipps book where he unpacks Marshall McCluhan. Great stuff. I’m totally in tune with you on that. I think where it breaks down is in thinking there is some collective “theology of EV,” when there’s really more diversity of thought and expression than that. It may look like a homogenous unit, because the predominate faces are white affluent (comparatively speaking) males, but if look around there’s a lot of different voices in this here conversation. Yours being one of them, and I like your voice a lot. So please keep talking.

Steve, could you tell me what post-congregational looks like, practically speaking? My hubby and I are in prep for starting a church, which is a story in itself, but anyway, I wonder what an emergent church would actually look like. Post-congregational reminds me perhaps of Claiborne’s “Irresistible Revolution.”

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