Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.
Just get a cold drink, sit back and watch all ten minutes. And if it seems totally straight to you, then you need to change churches.
Ignatius
14 Mar by
...dispatches from the post-evangelical wilderness
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Imonk,
So true.
The kids I teach in a public school were relaying there Wedn. night at the local huge SBC church. It was all guitar hero and pizza.
$70 is a moderately-priced haircut? Huh?
“…It doesn’t say what to do when the teacher is a fruit.” – I love it!
That’s hilarious. Thanks for sharing.
This was awesome.
Okay, when I saw the title “Ignatius”, I went “Huh? Someone is going to be talking about Ignatius Loyola?”
Shows what I know, eh?
OK, I just had a flashback to the churches I grew up in. Not cool! Then again, I should now have a better appreciation for what I’ll be hearing (and not hearing) tomorrow morning, so maybe those 10 minutes weren’t such a waste after all.
If you’re reading this thinking it’s way over the top, it’s just not. This kind of crap really happens.
And it has to stop. Teenagers don’t want adults pretending to be cool. They want adults who know and care what’s going on in their life.
Parents, pay attention to what they’re teaching your kids in youth group. People really do teach this way-it happens.
Were you trying to be mean by telling me to get a drink before watching this? I had to keep myself from spitting it on my computer when I laughed
Just once I’d like people to name names: who, specifically, is this satire of?
OH NO! He TOTALLY STOLE the slogan for my new and upcoming youth ministry campaign!
Now how am I supposed to reach youth with the message of the gospel? All I have to offer is a dated trend…..
Hmmm…. post flamer trend….
Kids will be looking for something…. cool…
Seriously thought, the thought about just loving the kids? That was good.
In the vein of ministry philosophy, an old dead guy once said, “Love God and do as you will.”
And if you know who I’ll buy you a coke.
“Just once I’d like people to name names: who, specifically, is this satire of?”
While I’m not sure who this video is satirizing (if there even is one person), it IS an eerily accurate representation of the churches I attended for the first two decades of my life, the speakers at the youth camps I attended as a kid and teen, and the chapel speakers I heard at the Bible college I attended. And yes, that includes the sex talk! The only difference was that, unlike the leaders in the video, the leadership in those churches/youth groups/camps/college actually supported what was being taught and done. Frankly, I WISH this was merely some sort of far-fetched caricature.
And I was thinking *St.* Ignatius…!
You know what “Flamers” reminds me of? Landover Baptist’s Valentines Day evangelism campaign where they wear heart symbols that read, “I’ve got a heart on for Jesus!”
http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0201/valentine.html
Also check out Rex Ray, the Ex-Gay:
http://www.bettybowers.com/ray1.html
On the subject of coolness, I recall the Wall Street Journal advising Tony Blair (remember his “Cool Britannia” campaign?) that if you’re trying to be cool, it’s not cool. And that foreigners actually like the supposedly “uncool” stuff, like the Buckingham palace guards, as opposed to whatever it is they were promoting. Anyway, that’s what I think about whenever I hear about some church that has a rock band.
I’m a flamer!
Priceless.
Kinda like Marjoe.
This guy is like a parody of all youth minister parodies. For a moment, I thought this was some skit from the Daily Show or the Colbert Report.
Oh, gosh, how did you find this stuff?
Un-freaking-believable. Was trying my best to not fall off my chair while watching this. Thanks for the find Michael.
This is some skit, innit?
Now what’s more dangerous is,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMUabwVHE4k
Wait, this isn’t real? Thank God. But it seems so believable…I might go cry.
“I’m a flamer!” In my high school at least, that would be social suicide. I do hope no aspiring youth pastor thinks this is serious, but a few just might…
Miguel, wasn’t it Augustine who said that? Can I have my Coke?
Thanks for the belly laughs! I enjoyed watching this. What creativity!
Awesome! I guess I owe you a coke….
*snirk*
Not that far away from what we got in youth group, really…except we had a lot more volleyball (Guitar Hero hadn’t been invented yet).
And the sad thing is, any teen with an IQ over a protozoa is gonna walk away from crap like that in disgust, because there’s nobody there willing or able to actually discuss puzzling theological issues they’re wrestling with in their personal bible study…but of course, who actually wants to make a place for intelligent young people who are already unimpressed by much of modern youth culture in today’s christian church? Your loss, i guess. *shrug*
Hilarious. Sad, but hilarious. Thanks for posting.
More news report than parody. These are the depths to which we have sunk. Screwtape giggles with glee.
The first two Narnia films were great. I hope he writes another one….
The Hubble telescope can see things hundreds of miles away….
Ten minutes of continuous laughter! Let’s see, that’s one-twelfth of a prayer latté….
But the scariest of all were the local youth leaders.
If only more churches had folks involved with their youth ministry more like the “Veteran Volunteer.” I sat through some mess as a student in my youth ministry back home that could have used some of that sort of intervention. Scary that this isn’t so far from reality.
Reminded me of an ‘association’ I had with a local evangelical group called Firestarters whose slogan is “A generation set on fire for Jesus to be sparks of revival”. Not quite in the same league as Ignatius here but with some pretty questionable approaches themselves. To be fair, they were very Biblical in the way only evangelicals can be.
This probably sounds more negative than it deserves to be, but the parallels were there.
Gotta love Travis Hawkins. This had me laughing so much I nearly spurted water all over my laptop.
The sad thing is…it really does remind me of more than a few churches I’ve been to with some of my friends (and the parallels are so spot-on that it comes across as more eerily unnerving that satirically funny. The fancy (if not somewhat over-the-top and chintzy) PowerPoint graphics looked like they were ripped right out of the service at one church I was at a few weeks ago. Sigh.
John O, that’s what I’m talking about.
Who else knows of similar groups?
I’m pretty sure we have Catholic equivalents (though ours can only dream of being that cool).
I think I attended a couple of school retreats not too dissimilar in my time
Being a teenager in the late 70s/early 80s, Youth Groups were all the thing as The Big New Idea. Anyone who was around then will immediately identify with the experiences of St. Luke’s Youth Group and Fr. Noel Furlong in the “Father Ted” comedy series
This video shows (again) that the energy, talent and resources of the best and brightest evangelicals are singularly devoted to one unwavering mission: Making fun of evangelicals.
Looked like they were paying tribute to ordinary youth workers to me.
@Martha: Anyone who was around then will immediately identify with the experiences of St. Luke’s Youth Group and Fr. Noel Furlong in the “Father Ted†comedy series.
I remember watching the episode where Fr. Noel and the kids were all stuck in a trailer in the middle of nowhere. Ah, fun times.
milinerd: “This video shows (again) that the energy, talent and resources of the best and brightest evangelicals are singularly devoted to one unwavering mission: Making fun of evangelicals.”
I interpreted this as a parody, but when I didn’t find it funny, I wondered. Maybe, as iMonk figured, it was paying tribute to youth workers.
rampancy
Oh, yes, the holiday episode (called “Hell”)! When Ted and Dougal went to the caravan park, and Fr. Noel and his youth group showed up!
My sister turned to me when watching that episode and said “My God, that’s all true!” and you know, it is
This makes me terrified of bringing children into the world and all the more desperate in my theological search as I consider the possibility. I would much rather having my children and teens with me and my wife in a liturgy, repeating the ancient creeds and taking the eucharist. I guess I’m still technically an Evangelical, but I feel less affinity for the movement all the time. Maybe the crap like we see in this video happens because we’re more interested in attracting kids and getting them to say a prayer or walk the aisle and getting them “saved” so they can go on with their Guitar Hero game than beginning them on a lifelong path or spiritual development and discipline. I stagnated for years in that culture, and it has taken serious personal trauma to lead me to begin the process of deconstruction.
I want to make Song of Solomon look like Dr. Suess.
Its sad that so man who grew up in the church can actually say this reminds them of youth group.
This is why I say we need to leave children’s ministry and youth ministry behind and move towards family ministry. Most parents have no idea what it means to be a Christian, let alone how to teach their children. They want to drop them off for an hour or three a week, and we wonder why so many people leave the church when they leave home. Parents need to be involved and need to be mentored on how to be parents from a Biblical model. Parents need to model to their children how to be Christians. Parents need to teach their children and teenagers, through modeling it in their lives and in meetings, what it means to love God and love others through surrender to God and acceptance of Christ as Savior and what it means to minister to others.
He reminds me of GOB Bluth from Arrested Development TV series.
Man, that Ignatius was so deep. How can I contact him and invite him to my church?
I thought the video was brilliantly and painfully hilarious. I think it hits on several different levels — so, to only see it as a simple critical satire or parody does it a disservice.
Ignatius is so hip he’s irrelevant. His spiritual insights are as deep as his highlights.
The “veteran volunteer” and “ministry assistant” are so aware of their un-hipness that they are humble and seem to be the ones who are most truly concerned with how best to minister to the needs of those teens. They are appropriately appalled at Ignatius’ shallowness (something the higher ups in the church seemed unaware of or unconcerned with), and the older gentleman puts a firm but restrained end to the nonsense (which is uninentionally the “coolest” thing to do).
I aree with iMonk. I think they were also paying tribute to the kind of youth workers that often go unrecognized.
@rampancy & Martha:
Let’s not forget the very, very, very dark caves!
The sad thing is that I have sat through tons of sucky youth leaders and only ONCE has someone in the congregation had the guts to get up and put a stop to the wrongness that was going on. I’m ashamed to say it wasn’t me.
Sadly, Iggy actually sounds not too dissimilar from some pastors I have been exposed to over the last three or four years….and I am not talking about ‘youth’ pastors…
“God’s face takes up..like…5 galaxies!!”
Had me rolling!
My heart goes out to the youth ministers in the video.
Becky and the older gentleman are all good intentions, and the guy shows commendable courage in putting a stop to the madness. Yet, it is clear that they are not well catechized themselves, and have little confidence about what they believe and why they believe it.
While they clearly love the kids and want to do the right thing, they are clueless. By the time the guy gets around to protecting the flock from this clown, the damage has already been done.
Talk about a room full of athiests in the making. Truly terrifying!
And I would like to see the scene where the Senior Pastor and other leaders are leaning hard on the youth ministers to be hip and relevent. Its not all their fault.
This actually does encourage me as an “average” youth worker in my church.
In response to wbmoore, there are plenty of parents who do just “drop their kids off” at the church for a few hours, but many of those parents wouldn’t stay around for family ministry if it were offered. For many kids we have the opportunity – whether we have taken advantage of it or not – to share the gospel whereas the parents have no interest in it. Parents that dump their kids at church are at least giving us the chance to do something with them; we should make the most of it.
And yes, offering the programs to make parents better at the family thing is also something we should start doing.
Oh…my…stars…just gave the sinuses a Diet Coke flush…
I will admit to be hoodwinked by the Ignatius idea of a video on Loyola. I was looking forward to it.
Yet, at the same time this was better. I have sat through too many youth groups like this and too many youth leader sessions trying to make me like this to count.
I used to work for a guy who would sometimes respond like Ignatius when asked about spending time with the young people…”Why would I want to do that?” He was too busy with raising cash or doing book promotions.
Lord, help us in our unbelief.
youth ministry is a tough one. to be relevant and yet present solid theology and the Gospel might create some friction, but is completely worth it. in a generation that is so reliant on people trying to give us ideas on how to help ourselves (self-help books and sermons), there is a huge need for someone to take the Gospel to teenagers proclaiming that we can’t help ourselves!
youth ministers- PREACH the Gospel daily,and they will be changed by their relationship with the Lord.
Reminds me of a group that ran a confirmation retreat at my parish years ago …