…or at least it feels like it. I just read this week in the NY Times about his new deal with Reader’s Digest (more on that next week), and then today, I got the following email about his latest book signing. These things go in threes, so I wonder what’s next….

Just a quick note to let you know that my friend Rick Warren is coming to New York on Wednesday, December 3 for a signing of his new book “The Purpose of Christmas.” All the information is below.

For those of you who are pastors, feel free to share this information with your church because the public is welcome.

I hope your Thanksgiving is a great one,

Nelson Searcy

This email was sent to you from a friend of Purpose Driven Ministries. If you’d prefer not to receive further emails, you may change your preferences by going to your Communication Preference page.

God help me that I won’t get spammed with porn, but here goes.

We all know that sex sells and well, leave it to a megachurch to use sex to get folks to church. Or more specifically, should I say get men to church since we know women are more likely to attend church whether it’s about sex or not?

According to an article in the New York Times, Rev. Ed Young of the Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas — an institution that services 20,000 congregants a week — ran an event at his church called the Seven Days of Sex. Married couples were encouraged to have sex seven days in a row in order to boost their intimacy. (Unmarried couples were not encouraged in this way so we can only assume that they either have no intimacy problems or that they aren’t have sex — neither of which is likely to be true.)

While the reporter says that the pastor claims this is not a gimmick or a publicity stunt, how can we consider it as anything but that? How can getting 20,000 people to have sex be anything but a publicity stunt?

It also seems incredibly hypocritical to me that the same groups that are clamoring for abstinence before marriage are using a publicity stunt to generate sex after wards. I think this says more about the confusion about sex in our culture than just about anything I’ve ever seen.

This week’s cover story for Religion & Ethics Newsweekly is about online religion.

Overall, I liked the story. The frame they took for it is that for some people, online religion can be a valid alternative to a brick and mortar church. Some of the “news” in the piece, however, wasn’t really new. We know people go online for religion. We know that people have traditionally turned to media as a way to experiment with faiths that are not their own, and people have been talking about virtual churches for years. (They even mentioned the Church of the Blind Chihuahua, which is one of my personal favorites — especially the virtual bathroom.) They mention Godtube (again, how hasn’t?), but they also note Jewtube (which I haven’t yet checked out, but will and will report back).

I would have loved to see how churches are using the online space now that we are in Web 2.0. It has been reported, for example, that Joel Osteen is presenting more and more web only content. Why is that? What is that? What was the thinking behind it and who is it targetted to? Are other churches updating their web sites, and if so, what are they doing to enhance the online experience?

Any religious institutions want to chime in here?

Brands of Faith: Marketing religion in a commercial age was just announced as a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2008.

CHOICE is a publication that reviews academic texts for the nation’s libraries. They receive approximately 25,000 titles annually of which about 25% are reviewed. Of those less than 10% are selected as an Outstanding Academic Title.

According to Choice, “these outstanding works have been selected for their excellence in scholarship and presentation, the significance of their contribution to the field, and their value as important — often the first — treatment of their subject.”

So if you haven’t bought the book (and more importantly read it), what are you waiting for?!?!?!?

There’s a new art installation in New York where things that look like telephone kiosks (something that are in short supply these days with the introduction of cell phones) are in reality prayer booths.

The description from the New York City web site appears below:

Dylan Mortimer, Public Prayer Booths
September – November 2008
Tramway Plaza, Manhattan

Image: Dylan Mortimer, Public Prayer Booths

Description:
Dylan Mortimer’s work deals with how private faith functions in the public realm. The interactive Public Prayer Booth is a synthesis of a telephone booth and a prayer station. The viewer can flip down a kneeler and engage in prayer.

“My goal is to spark dialogue about a topic often avoided, and often treated cynically by the contemporary art world,” says Mortimer. “I employ the visual language of signage and public information systems, using them as a contemporary form of older religious communication systems: stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, church furniture, etc. I balance humor and seriousness, sarcasm and sincerity, in a way that bridges a subject matter that is often presented as heavy or difficult.”

The artist is based in Kansas City, and is a recent graduate of NY’s School of Visual Arts Masters (MFA) program.

While the artist may be making a statement about “public information systems and older religious communication,” what he has also done is create a form of practicing faith that is in line with today’s spiritual practitioner. As more and more church close, people practice their faith in more haphazard, pastiche ways. Praying on the run, as it were, seems to fit quite nicely into that framework. It also acts as a reminder to people to pray (if they are inclined to do so) much in the same way other religious symbols have done in the past.

My only issue is that it is not a real old-time phone booth a la Get Smart where people could actually close the door and get some sense of privacy. Now that would have been a real prayer booth.

Megachurch pastor and bestselling author, TD Jakes, is now slated to have a new talk show come fall of 2009 according to online newsletter TV Newsday. The show comes from CBS and Dr. Phil’s production company, Stage 29.

The current show from this production company is called The Drs, which I think is some of the worst television I’ve ever seen. However, as we all know, there is no accounting for taste. This show is one of the most successful new shows in syndication this year. We’ll have to see if it has legs and what direction the show will take. It’s highest rated show to date was about plastic surgery dos and don’ts. Enough said.

The Drs, as the proposed T.D. Jakes program, follows in the formula begun by Oprah in creating “Dr. Phil.” Oprah gave Dr. Phil a platform on multiple occasions to see whether he would draw an audience. So too Dr. Phil has had T.D. Jakes as a recurring guest on his show. (Note: Oprah has done the same thing for Dr. Oz, who will also have a new talk show come 2009.)

As for Pastor Jakes, in addition to his appearances on Dr. Phil, he has the 10th largest megachurch in the US (The Potter’s House in Dallas) which attracts 17,000 congregants on a weekly basis. He also has a huge following from his books, his conferences, his video preaching and movies which are developed through his own company, T.D. Jakes Enterprises. He has an extensive web site . In fact except for the size of his church, I would suggest he is equal to Joel Osteen in the media/marketing arena. Perhaps more so since he has also tapped into Oprah, appearing on her show numerous times.

I have no problems with any of that. What I find myself objecting to is a pastor having a daily secular talk show. I haven’t quite figured out why this is so bothersome to me, but I know it is because I have had to rewrite this post several times because it kept coming out snarky. Eventually, I had to ask myself “why?” Part of it is Dr. Phil has gotten more and more preachy over the years. His Christian roots are increasingly in evidence in his show, not least of which is demonstrated by the oversized cross worn by his wife, Robin. As a Jew I find this offensive and a bit in your face. This move — the T.D. Jakes show — feels like another step in turning day time talk show into Christian self-help. The bottom line is that I don’t think that a preacher should have a secular TV talk show. It is crossing a line that even I don’t think should be crossed.

I’m ready for anyone to talk me down.

I’m so sorry this happened again. I think I know what the problem is now and I’m hopeful it won’t happen again. Again, my apologies.