Consumer driven indoctrination

I recently heard a pastor refer to marketing and sales strategies as "evangelizing the public". Consumer driven indoctrination  is not discipleship.

A pie of faith

A few Sundays ago, I went to get some chinese food at our favorite chinese restaurant in our city, the restaurant belongs to a family that came from a town near Hong Kong; in several opportunities I shared the gospel with the owner, and although I have never invited them to church, their objection was "we don't have time to go to church". We are pretty faithful customers there and I have always been amazed at their spirituality. The first thing that one could notice when walking into "Do Tan" is the chinese god Guan-Yu, "the Saintly Emperor Guan the Great God Who Subdues Demons of the Three Worlds and Whose Awe Spreads Far and Moves Heaven". Well, just in case Mr Yu does not know much about finances and good luck in Brazil, Tan placed next to Guan Yu the a sculpture of the welcoming, money maker,fortune maker, lucky giver Japanese cat Maneki Neko (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maneki_Neko). Next to Maneki Neko, there is another small altar with the statute of the Patroness of Brazil, Our Lady of Aparecida (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Aparecida), maybe just in case Guan Yu and the lucky welcoming cat don't have enough tricks or powers to help Tan and his family, Tan has "devoted" a small part of his faith to the statue of the local goddess. Tan has two little girls, both are pretty faithful participants at a local Methodist church. When I wainent to the cashier to pay for my take out, I also noticed two more things, one 2010 calendar of the local Korean presbyterian church and another calendar with cute positive messages from a very popular Buddhist cult in Brazil named Seicho-no-Ie ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seicho-no-Ie).
So, what is going on with Tan? is he confused? he does not know what to believe? maybe he does not have enough faith... it seems like he divides his faith in several pieces and gives his share to whom ever he thinks deserves his trust. Well, even thou Tan is Chinese, he is a good example of what is going on ALWAYS among the people that we work with. Sets of values and believes systems are not be believed, but rather to be use when necessary.

10 reason why 50 million Hispanics in the US will never become Southern Baptist

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1. Most Hispanics are not  Republican and apparently I need to be one. Ideology drives the denomination rather than Christology

2. Most Hispanics are not considered "white". For the most part SBC is an ethnocentric religion (not denomination) that operates in a colonialist fashion in the US and abroad, dividing the globe by race in the name of reaching “people groups”.

3. Bible is not as important as SBC claims. Pick, choose and champion topics such as abortion, marriage to fit ideology, ignoring topics such as the “care for the alien who live among you” for the same reason.

4. SBC comes across as is not interested in people, but rather interested in numbers, politics and ideology. People are treated as assets or liability. Employees tent to hide moral issues including homosexuality, porn use and drinking among others. Use of whistle blowers is extremely common and encourage by SBC organizations

5. Similarities with government rather than a living organism: Although democracy is a great way of conducting politics in a country (by the way, we (USA) are a republic), democracy is not the way church should be guided. Boards of trustees, commissions are running the organization voting in favor or against based on their political, economical and ideological convictions rather than within biblical parameters.

6. Out of touch with reality. Most churches affiliated with SBC based their evangelism strategy in condescending patronizing models that include but are not limited to touristic evangelism trips. SBC churches are dying in the inner cities and completely unable to connect with minorities and working class. 16 million members but only 6 million attend church. 45% of member’s income is greater than $50,000. SBC is a religion almost exclusive of middle and upper middle class

7. Moralistic religion in which a moral code that is not based on grace and is more important than the work of Jesus. For example, most SBC members are Pro-life for about 9 months.

8. In the US Currency and Economy we trust!  Cooperative Program, Strategy and programs heavily based on the performance of the US economy: 2001 giving was down, 2008 giving was down again to the cooperative program with significant cuts to diverse programs and initiatives and programs both in the US and Internationally. Faith in the economy rather than in God

9. Minorities are the only SBC churches growing. Less than 3% of members are Hispanic, 50% of new SBC churches are not white, If ethnic churches are the only part of SBC growing, and if 70% of Hispanics voted for Obama in 2012, that may be an indication that 70% of Hispanics will not attend or become part of an SBC church, in other words, the future of SBC maybe in the hands of a small percentage of minorities. SBC marketability among Hispanics (the future of the denomination) in the US maybe less than 15 million people (including children, women and men of all ages). 1 in 6 Americans are Hispanic while 91% of SBC members are White or Caucasian and less than 3% of SBC members are Hispanic, Hispanics grew at a rate of 43% during the last 10 years, while membership of SBC churches decline every year.

10. Why would a Hispanic person would be  part of the least diverse organized religion in America? Only 6.6 millions SBC members attend church, based on that number and if statistics are correct less than 180 thousand Hispanics, less than 240 thousand African-American and less than 60 thousand Asians attend SBC churches regularly.  ONLY .36% of Hispanics in the US attend SBC churches regularly. Minorities, including Hispanics are not a priority for SBC churches or organizations.