Winter has begun (although not on calendar). We've got our first batch of serious snow. It appears that snow is taken much more seriously in the US. And it also appears that declaring different colors and levels of emergency is part of American life. They have declared level 2 emergency in Lucas County for a few inches of snow. That means schools, colleges, universities and everything would be closed. And trivially, all commencement ceremonies are cancelled. I'm really sorry for those graduates (one of my friends included).
As school kids in Iran, we had to cross our fingers real hard to get a shutdown even for high-schools for this level of snow. Closing universities? No way.
While I was watching breaking news on snow and emergency, I noticed the marching list of closed schools and cancelled events at the bottom of the screen. Level 2 emergency means "only people with a real and important need to be out on the roads and streets should do so". And as almost all people go to church driving their car, that meant a big percentage of those marching names were that of churches.
Although I was too busy to attend any church services today (snow or shine), I felt unhappy about churches being closed. And again, I was thinking that back in Iran, snow could hardly have a serious impact on daily prayers at mosques or weekly worships at churches. Rain and snow might affect the attendance but rarely lead to cancellations.
Even Friday prayers which are usually held at big places city-wide (sometimes open air) rarely get cancelled by snow or rain. I remember having attended Friday prayers in snow and rain. Once, I had to wipe snowflakes off my mohr (a piece of hardened clay we Shia Muslims put our forehead on as a sign of humility before God) in between one rak'ah and the next. Regular daily prayers which are held at mosques aren't even affected that much as mosques are generally isolated from outside weather.
Anyway, looking at those marching names, I was trying to find the names of the churches that I knew. I was aware that level 2 emergency meant closure of all roads and hence all churches (announced or not announced), but I was curious to see which of those churches would announce their closure through TV, a modern medium. As a former engineer, I'm always interested in the interaction between religion and technology (media included).
And as anticipated, I could locate CedarCreek Church. Over recent months, they advertise their web address as www.cedarcreek.tv not www.aroundthecreek.com although that old address still works. But isn't it interesting that a church has adopted .tv as their web domain? The founders of this church come from a strong business background and their church is run (and looks) more like a corporation than a church as I've described in a previous post. So, there should be no surprise about using a .com domain. But .tv? That sounds too much to me. The name you choose for your web address and the domain you register show the nature of what you do. Is it more about worship or entertainment? Even if neutral domains like .org or .net are already taken, isn't there any way to register a church website under a less material name? Couldn't something like .us serve?
Anyway, I came to school to check my Emails. Fortunately, computer networks are not supposed to shut down in abidance by snow emergency levels. And voila, I got this interesting Email from CedarCreek Church senior pastor:
As school kids in Iran, we had to cross our fingers real hard to get a shutdown even for high-schools for this level of snow. Closing universities? No way.
While I was watching breaking news on snow and emergency, I noticed the marching list of closed schools and cancelled events at the bottom of the screen. Level 2 emergency means "only people with a real and important need to be out on the roads and streets should do so". And as almost all people go to church driving their car, that meant a big percentage of those marching names were that of churches.
Although I was too busy to attend any church services today (snow or shine), I felt unhappy about churches being closed. And again, I was thinking that back in Iran, snow could hardly have a serious impact on daily prayers at mosques or weekly worships at churches. Rain and snow might affect the attendance but rarely lead to cancellations.
Even Friday prayers which are usually held at big places city-wide (sometimes open air) rarely get cancelled by snow or rain. I remember having attended Friday prayers in snow and rain. Once, I had to wipe snowflakes off my mohr (a piece of hardened clay we Shia Muslims put our forehead on as a sign of humility before God) in between one rak'ah and the next. Regular daily prayers which are held at mosques aren't even affected that much as mosques are generally isolated from outside weather.
Anyway, looking at those marching names, I was trying to find the names of the churches that I knew. I was aware that level 2 emergency meant closure of all roads and hence all churches (announced or not announced), but I was curious to see which of those churches would announce their closure through TV, a modern medium. As a former engineer, I'm always interested in the interaction between religion and technology (media included).
And as anticipated, I could locate CedarCreek Church. Over recent months, they advertise their web address as www.cedarcreek.tv not www.aroundthecreek.com although that old address still works. But isn't it interesting that a church has adopted .tv as their web domain? The founders of this church come from a strong business background and their church is run (and looks) more like a corporation than a church as I've described in a previous post. So, there should be no surprise about using a .com domain. But .tv? That sounds too much to me. The name you choose for your web address and the domain you register show the nature of what you do. Is it more about worship or entertainment? Even if neutral domains like .org or .net are already taken, isn't there any way to register a church website under a less material name? Couldn't something like .us serve?
Anyway, I came to school to check my Emails. Fortunately, computer networks are not supposed to shut down in abidance by snow emergency levels. And voila, I got this interesting Email from CedarCreek Church senior pastor:
What a weekend! The snow prevented 5,000 Creekers from making it to church. You can catch the weekend's message as a video, or as a podcast, on the web at www.cedarcreek.tv.
As you can imagine, when we have to cancel weekend services the giving drops well below budget since only about 20% of you give online. This would be the week to start giving online, it's actually very easy to do and you can do it as a one-time gift or you can set it up rhythmically, i.e., weekly, monthly, etc. To start giving online go to www.cedarcreek.tv and select “Online Giving” at the top of the homepage. If you have ever done online giving or online registration before you can use that log in, otherwise select create account to create your own user ID and password. You will then be able to schedule your contribution using your checking account, Visa, MasterCard or Discover.
Lastly, we've added a twelfth Christmas service at the Perrysburg Campus on Saturday, December 29, at 3:30 p.m. This service is not shown on the invitation cards, but it will be shown in our newspaper ads and on the web. Please be praying that many people cross the line of faith this weekend.
Your fellow laborer in Christ,
Lee Powell
Senior Pastor
lee@cedarcreek.tv
http://www.cedarcreek.tv
P.S. Now for the infomercial....we have Bibles available at near cost, $25.00 including tax. We have the Life Application Study Bible, which would be a great gift idea, and you can pick one up at either campus, or you can stop by the Source at the Perrysburg Campus during their regular business hours before, during or after the services.
Well, this Email sounds like a very interesting example of how technology could serve religion even when the nature turns the table around. But as a former(?) engineer, I have a couple of thoughts.
First, communicating through Email while people are glued to TVs to watch what's going on. Do not forget that under level 2 emergency, news media reporters are categorized the same as health care and other emergency personnel when it comes to road closure. So, TV is still considered a major information dissemination medium. Supposedly, a big percentage of church members are assumed to prefer Internet over TV (an older technological medium).
Second, even under inclement weather conditions, people are entitled to catch the message (albeit on cyberworld). And I'm thinking about how technophobic philosophers like Borgman lament about the adverse impact of technology on communal celebrations in Christianity. As an engineer, it was a real torment to read his views on technology in his Power Failure book. But I have my own business-driven cynicism about seeker churches: customer retention in any possible way.
Third, snow is not so bad after all. Under normal conditions, online collection constitutes only %20 of their income. But now, snow could be leveraged to adapt the customers to an online culture which is more reliable. You can set up automatic/periodic donations.
Fourth, isn't it impressing to have TWELVE services for Christmas? And then I received 2 followup Emails, correcting the date typo (Dec 22 instead of Dec 29) and more advertising for their numerous services. They appear to be very excited about their business. Although he emphasized that he didn't mean spamming, it felt exactly like that to me. And worse, receiving 3 Emails in succession, encouraging people to invite/bring more guests made me think of network marketers. And all that boosted by a TV ad on Friday targeting for a 15,000-20,000 audience. As an engineer, I was always concerned about quantity vs. quality.
And finally, the infomercial part: buying Bibles and other books on-site. I have to say compared to all the high-tech elements in this Email, using online technology to promote off-line sale sounds very disappointing. And I have to say over my first visit to CedarCreek bookstore, I found books rather magnificent and hence expensive. I had the same problem in Iran with businesses rendering religious objects (books, icons, etc) into profitable commodities.
But seriously, is it only me who thinks that business (especially, online donation acculturation) comprises the major content of this Email? And I wonder what is serving what. Well, I have to admit that although I didn't feel completely comfortable with Consuming Religion, I tend to agree with the author partly on his grievance against commodification of religion.
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P.S. I received this Email on Christmas Eve:
Your friend,
Lee Powell
Senior Pastor
Lee@CedarCreek.tv
http://cedarcreek.tv
Well, the last words in the second paragraph are worth contemplating. Sorry, I have difficulty looking spiritually at such an all-out marketing campaign that is so obsessed with numbers and does not necessarily limit its reach just to lost kids.
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