Marketing with Jesus

Almost every day we start with a walk with the dog. Along our walk we pick up plastic bottles, cans, and other discards that wind up in the creek and along the bike trail that given enough time this trash would wind up on the beach or in the ocean. This morning there was a sign thrown in the creek. These signs start somewhere as a marketing idea and then wind up as just more unneeded landfill. Someone probably took the sign out of a front yard where it had been placed to market Saddleback Church and then decided to unload it where it did not belong. This church as been using front yard signs for years, promoting various sales efforts to become a mega-mega church and uses a good marketing program with a public relations company to keep up the need to add numbers. And when you go mega-mega would you need a minimum of "23 convenient services at 5 locations over 4 days!" with plenty of parking lots and a broadcast systems integrator TV Magic engineered installation for the best of viewing. And to keep above water (except during baptism) in March of this year 2,400 new church members (the largest membership class in the mega church’s 30-year history) plus another high mark about 800 were baptised in a three and hour period. Years ago in Anaheim, California there was a drive-in church where you could sit outside in your car and watch the services through the large church windows listening to the sermon and music with a drive-in speaker placed in your car. My suggestion would take from that earlier idea and the next time nearly a thousand souls need to be watered down they could use several of the local car washes located in Lake Forest, fill up loads of sinners into large SUVs and drive them through. As most car washes recycle their water this might result in saving water during our present drought here plus give the minister a well deserved break.