As I said on New Years Day, this year I will be adding video blogging to my weekly discipline. Some weeks, I may simply use the video blog here, other times I may not. I’m not ready to cement anything in just yet.

But today, being the inaugural week for the video blog, I will share it here. It’s aptly titled, “totally uninteresting”.

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube.)

A friend sent me this video via Facebook today. It’s a bible disclaimer intended to be funny. And, I suppose in it’s accuracy, it is. Although, from inside the church, it’s also a bit embarrassing and sad.

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube)

The disclaimer warns that taking the bible as anything beyond metaphorical lessons could lead to all kinds of bad things—such as bigotry, sexual guilt, homophobia and suppressed ‘gayness’. The list goes on and eventually includes a whole slew of the worst of Christian stereotypes.

It’s asserted that these things come from taking the bible too literally. But, the reality is that we see these issues in the church for precisely the opposite reason. The bible isn’t taken literally enough.

Sections of the church love to take literally the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and they should, but somehow do not take literally Jesus’ words that he came for the sick, not the healthy. And so they end up as bigoted homophobes. Many take literally the creation story, including the fall (again, perhaps we should), but somehow fail to take literally the redemption and propitiation brought about by Christ on his cross which frees us from all guilt and liberates us to actually do something.

The ironic thing is, statistically, Christian groups are still responsible for most private humanitarian work. Significantly more than atheist or agnostic groups. Unfortunately, Christians are also responsible for some the the most reprehensible behavior—at least in the West, I don’t know about elsewhere. But that problem isn’t rooted in believing the bible, it’s rooted in failing to believe the bible.

Romans 1:16 says:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Most of the time, I feel confident saying that I am not ashamed of the Gospel. I don’t usually have the inclination to shrink back from talking about it or its power.

However, I am ashamed—very ashamed—to be associated with this:

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube)

Just for the record, a ‘rough rider’ (which this group of youth pastors from ‘The Father’s House’ in California repeatedly calls themselves in this song) is a type of condom designed to enhance sexual pleasure. It’s also a (gross) sexual technique. Painfully lame and uninformed.

What the hell? Wake up people! Seriously, there is absolutely no part of this that’s okay.

As I said last week, I’m currently reading Dane Sanders’ Fast Track Photographer to help inspire some new thoughts on my photography business. He has quite a lot of interesting things to say. And today, I read something particularly pertinent, no just to a business in the technology industry, but to the endeavors of the church as well.

Sanders writes:

“If you embrace our times with an open mind, you will have a dramatic competitive advantage. Just remember that the day will come when things will change again. An attitude of staying creatively adaptable may be the single most important asset in extending your lifespan as a photographer…”

The landscape of the photographic industry is in a unique place historically. It won’t operate the way it used to and no one really knows what exactly it’s going to change into.

The church is in almost the exact same place. Although, we shouldn’t be competing with each other.

Thanks to massive changes in technology, our culture interacts in a way that is almost completely different from how it used to interact 10 years ago. And, no one really knows how it’s going to interact in six weeks, let alone in another 10 years.

The church is severely dwindling in its ability to reach a culture (not to imply that it is our approach that solely sustains our effectiveness). However, it’s hard to deny that it’s in part thanks to most Christian’s unwillingness to engage the culture in the way that the culture engages itself.

What does that mean exactly? I don’t fully know. But I’m betting it includes (but is not limited to) things like engaging in social networking technologies, not on a corporate level, but on a personal one. Many, many churches are attempting to build a corporate presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. But almost no churches are encouraging their members to sink themselves into these technologies personally.

But that’s where the culture is engaging. It’s not about having bible study in a Starbucks. It’s about going there yourself and doing what you do there. It’s not about having a Facebook page for your young adults ministry, it’s about having the whole young adults ministry on Facebook—from the members (who probably already have Facebook) to the pastors and lay people (who probably don’t).

This is just one (big) way our culture is operating, but the church is failing to. It’s nothing like how we used to do things, but it’s not going back to how it used to be (at least not any time soon). And, like Sanders explains, it’s not going to be like this forever. It will change into something else, and we must change with it.

As the church, we need to abandon our ‘culture’ and be a part of the larger one. It may look completely different, but at it’s core, failing to do so isn’t much different from failing to introduce yourself and build a relationship with the new neighbors next door. In fact, often, they might be one in the same.

A few days ago I wrote about the changing landscape of business and education thanks to the availability of information and the unprecedented level of connectedness we have to that information. Well, I just watched an incredibly interesting video on YouTube which details some of the numbers and figures that make those speculations all the more compelling.

Check it out.

Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube.

To continue briefly in yesterday’s line of discussion (last time, I promise!), here is a short video from the grand opening of the first Microsoft retail store. Look familiar? Lets just say, ‘case and point’.

(Can’t see it? Watch the video at YouTube)

Maybe 15 years ago. But ironically today, this is a lot of times why people don’t go to church. The church may try its best to give grace, but the world does not. Especially not for cultural irrelevance.