This past Sunday morning we had a lip-sync battle in church at The Journey. It went over BIG. Of course, there are pastors and churches all over who, on the surface, would be absolutley appalled. They would feel like we are at best, dumbing-down the message and at worst giving up the Gospel entirely.
So, I thought I'd give a quick run-down on why we did the Sunday morning lip-sync battle.
We are in a brand new series: Heaven and Nature Sing. We're looking at some classic Christmas songs and what they have to say about Heaven and nature colliding in the birth of Jesus. We're looking at songs like Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel and Silent Night, among others and the Scriptural passages surrounding the birth of Jesus.
So, we wanted people to begin thinking about the music of the season in a creative way. We also showed this video before the morning message.
Yesterday was the first day that our new intern, Brent Swensen, was at our Pontaluna exit site. We knew we needed to introduce him. We had seen a lip-sync battle on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a while back. Originially we thought about doing a short video spoof on the lip-sync battle, but then we decided to do it live.
So, as part of our announcements we introduced Brent & the new series and then said that we do a little initiation for new staff team members. And a lip-sync battle was on! We did 20 second clips going back and forth doing 2 songs each between Brent and myself. P.S. He clearly won with Barbara Striesand's "Jingle Bells"! It was an instant classic.
The Lip-sync battle didn't have anything spiritual about it - nor was it a worshipful moment. So, why did we do it?
1. We believe that many of the people who come to The Journey and are seeking or skeptical need some opportunities to "unfold their arms". For some, they aren't expecting anything good to happen. They are checking the time on their phones. If something goofy like that can help unfold their arms and cause them to hear about the love and grace of God, then we want to create those moments. P.S. You should see some of the facebook posts from yesterday - it totally proves this point!
2. God is a God of serious commitment and focus. But also a God of joy and peace and celebration. We live in a world that is heavy with heartbreak, financial insecurity, terrorism, relational chaos. People need to laugh. Laughter was God's design in the first place. We need both the somber, reflective moments and the moments that make you hold your stomach in laughter. Both are good for your soul, and both show us part of God's character.
I don't think it means we become a stand-up comedy act or a late-night show. We can't do those like Hollywood can anyway. But, I do think many of our churches would do well to use humor in a way that fits their personality.