Which Medium Is the Message?

Recently I was in the hospital for a few days (I'm doing fine now, thank you), and I couldn't help but notice that my roommate's television was on more than 18 hours a day. All day. Every day. It was an inescapable reminder that we live and minister in an entertainment-saturated world.

Sometimes the most obvious realities are overlooked or taken for granted. But if Max DePree is right and "The first task of a leader is to define reality," then it's important for leaders to address even the obvious realities. One such reality is this: it's an unusual person today who doesn't spend at least four hours a day absorbing TV, radio, iTunes, YouTube, Facebook, sports, movies, video games, or some other form of entertainment. For many, like my hospital roommate, it's a lot more than four hours a day.

What does this constant exposure to entertainment do to a person? How does it influence the way people think? The way they pray? The way they worship? And most important for those of us in ministry, how does it affect the way we encourage people to follow Christ?

When entertainment is perhaps the most prevalent form of communication, what does that mean for preachers, disciplers, worship leaders, and others in positions of Christian influence? Do we become entertainers ourselves? Do we refuse to become entertainers? Or do we land somewhere in between?

My friend Chuck Fromm, editor of Worship Leader magazine (and former president of Maranatha! Music), recently stirred my thinking on this in an email exchange. He pointed out that from the beginning of time, there have been controversies over media (the plural form of "medium") in worship.

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