Monday, September 18, 2006

I trust everyone's pleased?

Tonight at 10, a local television station (WMC-TV, Channel 5) will air a report about "a website spreading 'concerns' about a Mid-South church." What two words were in the middle of the television screen?

"Saving Bellevue."

(Wonder what "Mid-South church" they're referring to?)

And I highlighted the word "concerns" because that's how it was delivered on-air--as though the "concerns" weren't as innocuous as one might think. Hopefully the report won't take the anti-Bellevue nonsense at face value.

More after the report airs... I have a request to play Superheroes now that's much more important.

--Mike

EDITED TO ADD: Would you believe it? We were having so much fun I didn't tune in until after the story aired. However, the WMC-TV website carries the video.

Let's see just how much pride the few-and-far-between anti-Bellevue people are feeling after this story. Some quotes, which I attempt to share thusly, and like so:

"Is there a rift at one of the Mid-South's largest, most powerful churches?"

"Tonight, a new website is hinting at battles brewing at Bellevue." (Don't you just enjoy the alliteration?)

"According to a counter at the bottom of the page, it's already had more than 30,000 hits." Let's be honest here, people. Counters can say whatever one wants them to say, and can be set to start at any number one chooses.

One bit of illumination was the identity, which was not public knowledge until tonight, of the individual in charge of the so-called "Saving Bellevue" website: Bellevue choir member (at least, I think he still is) Jim Haywood. Jim, I don't mind telling you how disappointed I am at your choice of tactics--and the next time I see you, I'll talk with you about your poor choice in person. For now, though, this will have to do.

"The older people," you say, are the ones who are the most dissatisfied? Are their personal preferences supposed to supersede the decisions of any other group in the church? And do you believe that "the older people" monolithically share precisely the same tastes in music and worship styles?

You've facilitated the spread of lies, half-truths, and innuendo in the name of "saving" a church which--despite the best efforts of a handful of people, including your own self--isn't in any particular peril.

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