Cultural Christianity

My favorite quote from this sermon I heard earlier this month at Waypoint Church in O’Fallon, Missouri:

“Cultural Christianity says that God is useful.”

It reminds me of a couple of years ago when I used to meet with mormon missionaries. They’d come over to my apartment, teach me their lessons about mormonism, and then we’d have conversations about religion and the Bible.

One of the first odd things that struck me about how they talked about their religion was that they made it sound like just a nice thing you should add to your life. There are a lot of benefits. It’ll improve your life. It sounded like they were selling me a diet or fitness plan. They made God sound useful.

I’m not trying to say mormons are the only ones guilty of this. We can ALL do this if we’re not careful.

The gospel doesn’t exist to improve your life. If you accept the gospel, it’s going to ruin your life. The Bible says that the old you is dead and Christ will give you a new life and new identity.

It changes EVERYTHING!

In that sermon the pastor makes the point that God is not useful, He's beautiful. That should be our perspective. That should influence our expectations and how we approach Him. He is to be known and enjoyed and revered. He’s not your life’s most effective plunger who sits in the closet until you clog things up.

If you spend time with Him your eyes will be opened to the WONDER and BEAUTY. It will inspire AWE and AMAZEMENT. He will blow your freaking mind.

Some people leave the church because they came to God during a tough time thinking God was merely useful. Then when they felt like things got better they didn’t need Him anymore. They added Him to their lives so they could subtract Him just as easily.

Like your life is a dining room table and God was a nice flowery display added to in the middle to make it look nicer. Then when the dinner is over, you can get rid of the decorations until you need them again. In reality Christianity is not just about decorating the table. It’s not even about replacing the table with a nicer one. You’re moving into a whole new house.

Recorded a podcast

Well well well, it looks like I just recorded a podcast. 

Over the last two days Wade Bearden and I recorded a 7 episode podcast miniseries about ____________ (you’ll have to wait and see). Hopefully it’ll be out in March.

I hope it’s good and you don’t hate it and no one yells at me for what I said.

Where's Mister Rogers' Oscar?!

Folks, the Mister Rogers documentary, Won’t You be My Neighbor, didn’t get nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar. That’s outrageous. I’m ready to riot.

I know I’m a little biased. Mister Rogers has become so important to me over the last several years. He is the greatest example of what the fruit of the Spirit look like in action in the modern world. It’s easy to read about Jesus and think that we don’t have to as extreme in our love and generosity because that’s just not how the world works now. But the life of Mister Rogers shows just how far love is willing to go.

My friend Matt and I have talked a lot about what pastors can learn from Mister Rogers. This documentary isn’t just a biography, looking at his life from beginning to end. It focuses on what he saw his mission in life to be. Why did he do what he did?

Did I cry when I saw this documentary in theatres? Yes. Obviously. Nonstop for the whole film. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to bring my girlfriend with me when I saw it because I didn’t know if I was ready for her to see me weep for 2 hours.

I can’t believe it didn’t get nominated. It’s wild. The world needs people like Mister Rogers, now more than ever.

You should watch the film. I’d love to talk to you about it. Email me what you think.

Rent it on Amazon

I’ve talked about Mister Rogers a lot in my blog. You can all my posts about him here.

Joke Writing Tips

Comedian Gary Gulman has been sharing a new joke writing tip every day on Twitter. It’s cool to watch a ton of comedians commenting on how great they are.

When I first started doing comedy I was OBSESSED with any and every interview with a comedian I liked because I really wanted to hear about their process. How do they write jokes? How does it change over time?

If you’re interested in that stuff to then you should check out Jerry Seinfeld’s documentary COMEDIAN and the podcast GOOD ONE.

Here are some of my favorite joke writing tips so far this year:

15)You know that joke you’re sick of telling? Write/type it w/ space in between each sentence. Add some details, change a word or unpack an idea. To me, unless it’s on a Special a joke isn’t done. When the audience is mouthing the words with you it’s done. #GulManTip #WriteNow

— (((Gary Gulman))) (@GaryGulman) January 15, 2019

I don’t know why I never thought of this. I have several jokes I’m really tired of saying so I need to do this SOON.

20)Today, try to eliminate those verbal tics. The “and aaaahs” (I Call it Miller-ing) after the flat punchline, the “What else...” when you forget your next bit. The ahms, y’knows and stammers that muddy your rhythm. Again, record and LISTEN to your set! #GulManTip #WriteNow

— (((Gary Gulman))) (@GaryGulman) January 20, 2019

My stand-up pet peeve is when people say “right?” at the end of the set up. It’s like they’re not confident that they explained it well enough.

There’s a comedian I love who has an album I can’t listen to anymore because it feels like he says “right?” every other sentence.

21)I could never prove it but I believe that young Jews started walking a bit taller in 1995. I did. That was the year Adam Sandler released The Chanukah Song. Comedy is influential. Comedians are powerful. Just jokes??? #Preachy #GulManTip #WriteNow #GoldieHawn!

— (((Gary Gulman))) (@GaryGulman) January 21, 2019

Comedy is influential. I love that.

Assemblies in Cleburne, TX

Today I was a part of 3 school assemblies in Cleburne, TX.

The first one was really rough for me. I think I got off on the wrong foot in my segment and couldn’t pull myself together. But after that I feel like they got better and better.

We spoke to over 3,000 students. That’s crazy.

Everyone was invited back for a service at night and around 350 came to check it out. That moment when students respond to the gospel NEVER gets old.

Get the Job Done

Here’s a headline I can’t stop thinking about:

What a nice reminder that you don’t always need the most expensive and high tech options in order to be successful.

It’s easy to get discouraged when you want to make videos, podcasts, or any other creative work because you just KNOW you’re not using the best equipment possible. Why bother if it’s not going to look as good as the best out there?

But if a cheaper option get the job done, who cares?

Start with what you have right now! Use your iphone! You’ve got more technology in your pocket than The Beatles had for every album.

Read the article

Reading Makes Silence Interesting

My 7th grade student said, "Reading is what makes silence interesting."
I made it into a bookmark and passed them out to all my classes.

— StormofCuteness (@StormofCuteness) January 22, 2019

My Jr High library had all those old posters of famous people with slogans about how cool reading is. I don’t know how effective those were, but I feel like “Reading is what makes silence interesting” would make for the greatest library poster.

Also, I never said anything that insightful in 7th grade. Or 8th grade. Or all of high school. Probably not college either. I’m sure I’ve said a few nice things in the last couple of years.

Stay Connected

You ever have a friend that you THOUGHT you were doing a good job keeping up with on social media but suddenly you realize you haven’t seen a post from them in a while and when you go check you see, like, they have 3 babies and they moved to another country?

Social media is the worst. There’s no way to control who we see in our feed and it’s so easy to lose people you want to follow.

I’ve got a lot coming out this year and I really want to make sure the people who are interested in are able to see when big things are happening.

I’m writing a book that’ll HOPEFULLY come out this year.

I’ve got a big cool announcement for Texas churches that’ll I’ll HOPEFULLY get to make here soon.

If you want to stay connected and see what’s happening the best way to do that is through my newsletter. Every monday morning I send an email to around 800 people about what I’m up to, links to things I’ve written, and recommendations to other things I think you’ll enjoy.

It’s free. It’s fun. Everyone’s doing it.

Sign up

Do Nothing for 2 Minutes

I feel like it’s getting harder and harder to find escapism on the internet. Your real life is stressful and chaotic so you turn to your phone for a brief moment away from the problems of the world but I don’t know if I’m really finding it anymore.

I’m running into a few problems:

1. I don’t have a set time limit for my escapism so I end up sitting on the toilet for 10 minutes completely distracted by the one and only game on my phone.

2. Everywhere I turn on the internet is covered in anger and bad news.

It’s not like I’m wanting to escape reality forever but it nice to take a step out of it to take a deep breath and collect your thoughts.

That’s what videos like DO NOTHING FOR 2 MINUTES are for. There’s a time limit. It’s just a still image with forest sounds. You can stare at it and let your brain drift off until the video is over. It’s perfect.

Things are getting crazy out there. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed it’s ok to do nothing for 2 minutes.

Booking Spring 2019

Want to host a comedy show for your community?

Looking for someone to preach on the importance of confession and vulnerability?

I’M YOUR GUY!

Now booking February to May 2019.

Contact me and let’s make this happen.