stuff i think

I want my forty minutes back.

I just spent forty minutes looking at a few Christian media sites. Wait. Allow me to rephrase that. I just wasted forty minutes looking at some Christian media sites. To say I spent it would infer that I somehow received something of value in return. I wasted it - smoked it - threw it out the window. And what did I get? I got jack.

In the old days (in the media, the old days means 18 months ago, but in this case it goes back even further...), Christian media was admittedly bad. It was hokey. It was all comb-overs and double-knit suits - great faces for radio, talking to one another. It was a kinder, gentler Larry King...who, if he were kind and gentle, would not be worth watching at all. Get the picture? The saving grace of the old Christian media was that it acknowledged it's own hokiness. The unspoken thought was "hey, we're doing the best we can with inferior equipment, no budget and arguabley no talent."

The New Christian Media is different. It's hip. It's got punch. Panache. Mouse and digital video. It's part MTV, part NIV, mostly DOA. It speaks our generation's language while saying nothing in the process. Here's the biggest problem I see - our current Christian culture is so dramatically awash with cynicism that is not capable of serving any purpose. It's cynical about the old days of Christian media, it's cynical about the faith of our fathers, and it's even cynical about itself. Nowhere in those pages of cynicism is there room for the power or glory of God, the beauty or mystery of the church, or even a sort of suggestion on how to fix what's wrong. It has become the digital extension of what I referred to on Chad Canipe's blog as a culture of dissatisfaction. Unable to create from a clear place of the heart, it is hell-bent on expending as much energy as possible towards detaching itself from religion, ironically becoming pharasitically religious in it's own right. Feel free to selah on that one for a while.

Of course, in this very rant, I am coming dangerously close to becoming that which angers me. So, in the interest of progress out of this hole, here's what I'm looking for: Young voices - under 30 years of age - who will rise up and write, draw, paint, design, direct or produce quality material that reflects what is right with God loving people, that speaks with a prophetic edge about things to come, and points people to real answers rather than strikes a classic postmodern clueless pose.

It has become hip for our generation to say 'we don't know - who are we to judge?" It is also the spiritual and intellecual low road. It is imperative that others rise up to say "We do know. We have heard. And this we believe to be true...." It is easily the most relevant message of our day. For God's sake, someone say something.