For People Like Me

A couple of weeks ago I started to post this, but unfortunately hit my upload cap on Vimeo. It's all here now, though, so I present it in all its glory.

If you're like me, though, you've got more media waiting to be watched today than you could get through in a week. So you'll click the following video, watch for a minute, decide Andy's boring, and skip the rest. That would be a mistake.

If you're only going to watch one part, I'd recommend Part 2 of 3, followed by 3 of 3, followed by 1 of 3 (starting at minute 7). Of course, you'll get more out of it if you watch it straight through. I bet I've watched this a dozen times in the past 5 years.

So here's part one. The main point Andy makes is that while we may say the "postmodern generation" as a distinct group of people based on their age, this couldn't be more different than the way the word and concept "generation" is used in the Bible.

Here's part two. Andy uses this time to deconstruct the modern marketing machine, especially as it pertains to the church. His main point is that advertising/marketing/branding is driven by the concept "FPLM" (for people like me) which ultimately encourages people to see themselves as part of an ever-more-finely-defined group of people that's distinct from all other groups.

And here, at long last, is part three. Andy takes what's been covered in parts 1 and 2 to show that while the church has bought fully into this FPLM concept, it's absolutely foreign to the radical breaking down of walls that was at the heart of Jesus' mission. It's actually not just foreign, but antithetical... the division of people from each other is actually Satan's gameplan, not God's.

Enjoy. My thoughts on the matter will be published soon.