Uhhh ohhhh! Hold on to your latte and Iphone because your boy is going off! Just get ready to RT or comment. The fact that I put the word church and machine in the same sentence should give you a pretty good idea where this brain explosion is heading –  no pun intended. What has the church created, and is it congruent to the Bible?

Look, I have been in church for 35 years and I am only 29 years old, so that will give you a pretty good indication of my church lens. I have seen visitor cards filled out, clipboards signed, a million different announcements for a billion different events. I have put money in plastic buckets, plastic bags, pottery things, velvet bags and even in one of those boxes in the back. I have sat in wooden pews, comfy theatre chairs, non comfy plastic chairs and even the floor. So what is happening to church?

I’ll tell ya what’s happening: it is called, dollars and sense. You see, WE create these mega churches simply because we like these things. We like great audio systems, we like awesome lighting grids, we like nice buildings with glass and ergonimcally designed chairs. We like modern (and) clean bathrooms with touchless soap, paper and flushing systems. We like our kids to go to church – a.k.a. day care for free and have fun – play with toys and do this all in a state of the art children’s facility. We like walking into a bookstore that looks like Barnes & Noble with a coffee bar and really, really nice people working there (because they are after all, Christians). We like that, it makes us feel good and we begin to say to ourself… wow, my church is awesome, but we don’t use too much excitement because we don’t want to spill our steaming hot latte on the beautiful new carpet.

So what about the churches who don’t have all of these ammenities? I use the word ammenity and I feel like I just checked into the Park Hyatt and am listening to Susan at the front desk tell me about the mini bar, heated towel rack, 7pm complimentary turn down service and the free daily edition of the NY Times. Aaaaaah. I am not at the Park Hyatt, I am at the First Baptist Church of God Covenant Tabernacle trying to figure out what the (explitive) Wifi password is? Wait, you guys don’t have Wifi? How the (explitive) am I going to check my FB status and send a tweetpic? OMG, this church is laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame!

What do you do now? Well that is when we make sure every new visitor is called each week and invited to our welcome brunch on the 8th sunday of the month to meet our team and fellowship. aaaaaaaah! Hate that word fellowship. Really? When was the last time you told your neighbor/friend that you had some great fellowship last night? If you answered that question and said (anytime) in the past 2 weeks then you need to check yourself into Christanese Rehab … NOW. Seriously, call this number 1-800-Intervention.

I am not doubting the purpose of building the church. But let’s (explitive) think about the type of people we are attracting and assess. I checked out a website recently, Billionaire Exchange after reading Details magazine. They went on to say that you had to have confirmed $2 million USD in assets before placing any types of exchange. Did you peep that out, confirmed it said, of $2 million. No big deal right? What does this tell you? It tells me my *** ain’t on that website and pretty sure most of you probaby are not either. Why? Well, there is a set of standards in place to eliminate a whole lot of users who want to ACT like they have money and don’t. Sound like anyone you may know? You got the Range but can’t afford grocery’s?

Something to think about. If we are to build the church and build leaders I would take a different approach to what you see in alot of settings today. I think what you will find out is you have a ton of over-hype for something without proper infrastructure. It’s like building the twin towers and only digging 50 feet below. Those bad boys are falling over just as soon as you built them. Growth that is organic, slow and steady is something to look for. The moment you blow up, is the moment when it exponentially adds more difficulty in rebuilding the infrastructure.

Then you begin to Hate Church because your entire strategy relies on cashflow. Build something you love not something you think you love.

We couldn’t help but notice Suze Orman on Oprah’s show as she swings the BIG FINANCIAL STICK. If you feel your sinking in recession sand, here are a few tips to jump out.

1–Go back to basics. Keep your skills sharp in all the core disciplines, whether it’s HR management, marketing or finance. Keep yourself up to date with the latest thinking and trends.

2–Now is the time to network. Taillards says that in times of economic uncertainty, networking is an area that is often neglected. “People have trouble going to events where there is networking and getting their names out, but now is not the time to give up networking,” she says.

3–Network smart. The internet offers great networking opportunities, but work out which are suitable for you. “Be appropriate with your online networking,” says Enelow, “Facebook and Twitter might be appropriate for young professionals but for older professionals with years of experience, LinkedIn is probably the only online networking tool you need, unless you work in high-tech industries.”

Matthew 25:21“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ ”