An Emmy award-winning pastor who was banned from GodTube has released a book about his “absurd religion,” challenging today’s Christian and Evangelical leaders and churches with the question “Is religion to blame for the current American crisis?”
Though the idea behind My Absurd Religion may itself be absurd, as author Steve Gray himself admits, the Kansas City pastor says his goal is to help people get away from the clutter and get down to where they can really encounter God.
“Writing this book might be the most absurd idea I’ve ever had,” says Gray, who pastors World Revival Church of Kansas City. “I mean, who takes a swing or a punch at their own religion?”
But Gray says he wanted to give readers something more than just a book that “patted us on the back and said ‘Keep going. We’re doing great.’”
People, he says, have to have something more to sustain them and to bring them life.
What people need is to encounter God, Gray insists, an encounter that many churchgoers are not able to experience in most traditional churches and even newer, seeker-friendly churches, which he claims are “trying anything to get people interested.”
“People [are] going to church and not actually encountering God,” Gray said in an appearance on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s 700 Club. “They’re encountering inspiration, they’re encountering good friends, they’re encountering groups and supports groups [but] not encountering God.”
Once people encounter God, “gimmicks” and “tricks” are not needed to keep them in church, he added.
In fact, people have grown tired of them, Grey said.
According to The Barna Group, there was around a 90 percent increase in the number of unchurched Americans in the last decade. In 1991 there were 39 million unchurched Americans compared with 75 million found in 2004.
A more recent study released earlier this year further found that tens of millions of people are experiencing and expressing their faith in God independent of any connection to a conventional church.
In his appearance on the 700 Club, Gray claimed that the decline in church attendance reveals the need for churches that are God-centered rather than people-centered.
When the church is one “God would attend, that makes it God-centered,” he explained.
“Instead of making it seeker-sensitive – is this too long, too short, too loud, too much – you get that away. We recreate as best we can the atmosphere of Heaven, biblically speaking. And I’m finding God will attend that, and He comes down,” Gray continued.
With this in mind, the Kansas City pastor says it’s time to step out of “absurd religion” that is “faithless, powerless, pointless.”
“We cannot keep going on with powerless religion,” he says, noting that many people today are weak in prayer, weak in their commitment, and weak in walking with Jesus.
“We need to empower the people and get the blessings of God back down on this country again.”
Aside from his book, Gray has also been addressing the issues of his “absurd religion” through The Steve & Kathy Show, a Christian comedy TV show featuring skits that are often critical of megachurches and the emergent church movement.
One skit, titled “Seeker-Sensitive Mega Church Guy,” which spoofs the megachurch phenomenon in America, has attracted over 49,000 viewers on YouTube as well as a recently-won Emmy award.
Another, titled ''Cheech & Chong at the drive thru,'' has garnered over 95,000 hits over the course of 7 months.
Not all, however, approve of Gray's skits. GodTube.com, the highly popular Christian alternative to YouTube.com, banned Gray over the skit titled “Sexy God,” which spoofs popular pastor and Sex God author Rob Bell. Other critics, meanwhile, question whether Gray's methods are much different from those employed by the ones he criticizes.
“Not for the religiously inclined, these spoofs help the American public see through the gimmicks of religion and consider a better way to do church,” the promoters of The Steve & Kathy Show explain in a press release.
Most importantly, however, Gray’s show and new book aim to address the need for people to “connect to the life of God.”
“Everybody deserves to experience the presence of God,” he says.
On the Web::
MyAbsurdReligion.com.
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I find it interesting that he talks about the lack of needs for gimmicks while creating skits which are gimmicks to make his no gimmick point....
Being in a seeker church I can tell you there is quite a mission field their. We just need to make sure they come to Christ and grow as servants of Jesus.
I have watched some of these videos on youtube. Their take on the Samurai pastor and the monty python spam skit are hilarious. I must say that the 'sexy god' video was justifiably banned.
These videos are a form of ministry. Sometimes a serious lecture just won't grab someone's attention. Jesus used parables about things that didn't seem at all related to the teachings of the scribes and pharisees.
Prophet
You have said....
"People aren't encountering God, so God isn't moving"
Perhaps if I could use this analogy.
If the wind is blowing on the outside, but you're closed up on the inside, you won't feel that wind.
The wind hasn't stopped blowing, you are just not where you need to be to experience it.
In like manner, we need to experience the movement of the Holy Spirit. But if we are not in the right place, we won't be able to discern that movement.
But it doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit stopped moving.
The author of this article said
"Once people encounter God, â
And the "faith" books just keep piling up.
With all these books, and the others, I just don't have the time for the real Word of God.
(This was my version of a critical skit)
But the truth is that any encounters with God start with His Word. Then the Holy Spirit follows. Talk about an encounter.
To: PhatDajuan
Not that I necessarily believe God blessed the Tampa Bay Rays any more because they dropped the "Devil" from their name, but I do believe that receiving God's blessing does not always translate to a "win" as we would view one. I think in a way, the Rays were winners 'cause they became the AL champs after a long time at the bottom of the well. Know what I mean? I think man's idea of victory is mostly not aligned with what God sees as victory. The cross is a perfect example of that.
Problems exists in Christian churches today, but the real problem lies in the heart, and the answers are not in improved "church" experiences, but in truth and the Holy Spirit. The tools we need to critique the church are God's Word. Jesus letters to the seven churches contain rebuke and encouragement. The church has and will need to change, as the pastoral epistles often note.
There is a subtle or not so subtle pressure to conform to the world, meaning the spirit and heart of the culture; in light of the materialistic and hedonistic bent of our culture, jaded with cynicism (so readily noticed in many of the posts), it is no wonder that we are in need of a sweeping revival of deep cleansing.
Jesus spoke of a "fire". That is what we have always needed. That will not come from studying the moving target of wandering hearts.
Forgive me for being off-topic, but I couldn't help but notice NO mention of the Phillies winning the World Series. I thought GOD was supposed to give the World Series to Tampa Bay for removing the "Devil" from the team name.
crossfire, thanks for the clarification. The author of this article did not make it clear that the skit was a spoof of Rod Bell's book of the same title, rather it states that it was a spoof of Rod Bell.
My point is this, I've been to many different types of Church services and I don't believe that there is only one right way to have church in order to encounter God.
His message is exactly right. And there is a hunger among God's people for this message.
jkconner: Your post is very ironic.
Not that I agree with Gray, but I think your (jkconnor) question is what Gray was also asking. "Sexy God" is a spoof of Rob Bell's book "Sex God."
Perhaps it would be more productive for this Pastor to focus on advancing the Kingdom rather than picking on those he disagrees with. He may make some good points, but his delivery is all wrong. Really, who's going to take seriously someone who produces a video titled "Sexy God"?