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  • kiellehorton
    • Apr 2, 2022
    • 7 min read

Comm #30: Serve and Swerve



Comm #30: Serve and Swerve; The Two Surprising Ways to Address the Media



What I’m about to write you has been on my mind to bring to you for years. It’s time.


So…I’m a media person, having worked in that arena for nearly fifty years, and in my opinion Big Media hurts way more than helps our nation. You think so, too?


Good afternoon, treasured Church leaders, Joan here today. Would you like to see the media help instead of hurt? Me too, and in fact, I have spent the last few decades of my life trying for that.


Here’s why. Any country’s media is a powerful shaper of public opinion. When reporting strives to be without bias, sticking to facts, their audiences develop their own opinions. I wish.


Believe me, I have my own ideas about it, starting with seeing traditional journalistic ethics once again strictly adhered to. In my view, that’s less and less the case now, however.


Similarly, Hollywood - and the entertainment industry - is also a powerful shaper of opinion, and they make a lot of money doing it.


Want to hear something surprising? Media choices made by people of faith compared to media choices made by people for whom faith is not a strong factor, are roughly the same! We’re all consuming about the same kind of media stuff.


OK, so let’s just say that we want to do something about it - to improve the state of a healthy media life - even though it seems daunting.


Here’s how - I think the Church absolutely, positively, utterly does have the power to do precisely that.


In TWO surprising ways.


First; let’s start by believing that folks who work in the media industry are just that. Folks. People. Moms, dads, sisters, brothers, somebody’s kid, and so forth. Human. And being human, they all have the same joys, and woes anybody else does. I have worked amongst these men and women in the media a long long time and know that despite how they might be seen by others, there really is very little glamor there to their work life.


And where do they go when they have trouble? And trouble they do surely have, same as anybody and sometimes worse because of the nature of their industry.


So would they come to church for answers? To a pastor? Would they open up a Bible?


I sorely want to be able to say yes, that these opinion shapers would know that’s where to go. That they would have heard that the pulpit thunders with truth, that the Bible holds the stellar secrets to life and forever, that pastors are the ultimate in exemplary successful living through whatever circumstances.


Please get this picture. Imagine media professionals flocking to church because they trust they’ll hear strong teaching that will unpuzzle life’s puzzles, and heal their wounds.


We so desperately want this for them.


They’d probably chafe at this, but think of those who work in news and entertainment as your neighbors. They hurt the same as us, but worse because many of them don’t know what to do about it.


But you do, so teach. “Thunder” (as John Adams called it) your pulpit and teach with fearlessness. Lead with confidence. Speak truth, fully.


Serve.





All across our nation, we’ve had people ask us if we think revival is coming. I have said before that I think the answer is yes. Because so many of us want it so badly.


This would be a good place to say how many, many men and women of faith do work in the media industry. They’re cool about it, and they’re likely a minority, but I do want you to know that there are so many men and women of faith working in that industry.


But there are others, and I think that those very people that decry our country, whether they mean to harm it or not, can be the same people who will most gladly embrace the answers they seek if our church was known to offer them. If they heard that sure strong teaching was to be found there.


Ok so that’s one thing - to serve. And to serve is related to the next which is to swerve.


You know how in Proverbs 18:1 we‘re warned about being isolated?


(NKJV) “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all sound judgment.”


It’s simply easier to be alone. It can be hard effort to get along well with others. The Covid lockdowns have kept us from getting together - physically in the same space together. Not good, because of what the second part of the verse tells us happens… we rage against all sound judgment. Oops. That’s happening! It says we’ll rage against wisdom and, yeah. We kind of lose perspective when we’re not in community and wow. Just look at what’s happened. Our culture is struggling.


Political rhetoric has caused so many divisions based on factors that the Bible never said would cause them. The fix is spelled out in the verse; do not isolate.


This second surprising fix to address the media is to swerve around them. The Church needs to go around the media rhetoric and to raise your own voice WAY louder by super-communicating with others. This is the opposite of isolation. Communication.


Church leaders, please keep reaching out and gathering together. Physically gathering in church, home groups, social occasions, breaking bread.


This is the surprising key. The media is the loudest voice out there right now. Let’s have the Church be the LOUDEST VOICE! Take over the reins of communication with both believers and outreach to nonbelievers. The media has no chance to warp public opinion when the vibrant American Church is overshadowing it with its big presence.


It’s the swerve.


In my wish list, it’d be good to see church leaders in the media more. Giving interviews. Developing media products. My future wish.


Serve and swerve. Then see what God will do.


Blessings to you!


-Joan


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Here’s Faith Wins Founder and President, Chad Connelly, with an update…


There is no question that the corporate media has had a massive impact on what people believe --we've caught a real dose these past few years about misinformation, disinformation and downright lies from the mainstream press. Christians, and pastors in particular, have a responsibility to be better informed and to raise those truth-inspired and better-informed voices in teaching their people and the world how to discern the issues of the day.


Our team is here to help! We'll see you on one of our tour stops this year!


God Bless,


-Chad



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And now some encouraging words from Pacific Justice Institute President, Brad Dacus…


Once during an election time, an individual asked me the question, “Brad, what kinds of restrictions should there be on churches from being too political?”

I said, what you’re really asking is “what kind of restrictions should we place on the conscience of the nation?”

The hard-core reality is that the church has been our nation’s conscience even before its inception. Whether it’s the fight against slavery or civil rights, the churches have spoken up and have been a critical rudder to the direction of our nation. Well today, that conscience is needed now more than ever. Radical, immoral indoctrination is flooding our government schools, children are being persuaded online that Christianity is a thing of the past at best, and a vehicle for hate, at worst.


As polls show the continued degeneration away from a Christian worldview, our nation needs pastors like never before to boldly apply the Word of God to our lives and decision-making both on election day and on the other 364 days of the year.


We at PJI have the resources to empower churches to do just that.


Whether it's voter registration Sundays, empowerment for youth ministries, instruction on how to form church-homeschool co-ops, or how to empower business owners in your church to live their faith in partnership with the church, we are here to serve. We have the full-time staff committed to doing so at our new PJI Church Outreach Office headed up by Pastor Peter Mordh in Palmdale, CA.


Let the conscience be heard loud and clear. Let the Church voice go forth!


-Brad




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The Church Finds Its Voice coalition and our many Standing With partners across the country are praying over you all and are here to support you as you both serve members of the media and swerve around them in delivering the truth! So many today are only getting information from the media, particularly social media, which is offering a heavily tainted and often viewpoint…it’s sadly taken as gospel when there isn’t a counterbalance of truthful, good and Godly wisdom reaching them. The real gospel of biblical wisdom is needed now, and it’s needed in a louder and bolder way. Pastors, we thank you for answering the call to serve and swerve!


-Kielle



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“Sermon Showcase: A Recommendation of America’s Best Historical Sermons for Your Consideration This Month.” This new resource is the addition of remarkable, historical sermons that Wallbuilders hosts on their website. Each month, we’ll be showcasing 4 sermons from the Wallbuilders archives that are historically significant and also relevant to current political and cultural events. Here is March’s Sermon Showcase:




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Now where was that again?





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We stand with you and are praying for you!



-Joan, Brad, Chad and Kielle

Your Church Finds Its Voice Leadership



*Please share and forward on to your networks!



Contact Us:



Chad Connelly

President, Faith Wins

Chad@ChadConnelly.com

To read more about Church Do’s and Don’ts and for an expanded list of resources and contacts to call for help, please visit: http://faithwins.us/resources/


Brad Dacus

President, Pacific Justice Institute

Prez@PJI.org


Joan Holt Lindsey

Founder and President, Lindsey Communications

Info@LindseyCommunications.com


Kielle C. Horton

President, the Lindsey Foundation

Kielle@theLindseyFoundation.com

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