There's a modest (no pun intended) controversy surrounding the Flamingo Road Church broadcasting situation. Joshua Cody, along with many others, covered it recently at Church Marketing Sucks in My Naked Pastor.
It seems Lead Pastor, Troy Gramling at Flamingo Road, is just hours away from broadcasting himself live 24/7 for ministry purposes.
On September 9th at 9 pm, Pastor Troy will be hooked up to a round the clock webcam for five weeks in four locations: house, car, hotel, and office. Every day, all day, you can see his life in a fishbowl - the good, the bad, the great, the ugly.
Why? Well, according to the website: "Let us tell you why not — it is not too exalt him. Rather, to realize with him, that we are all fish in a bowl. The more transparent (naked) we get, the more God can do amazing things through us. We weren’t created to be people in hiding, concealment, or shame, we were created to be real, naked and unashamed. So get ready, 'cause Flamingo Road Church is going in a bowl and we hope you’ll watch."
The controversy surrounding his story revolves around things like narcissism, sensationalism and publicity. People are wondering if he's gone too far. Would you put your laundry room online? How about your morning scramble for the carpool line, the tension over homework and soccer games, how about the half hour before dinner is served when all (usually) normal family members morph into otherworldly beings?
Last year I posted about My Life's Bits at Stanford University which launches the live webcam hookup into an entirely different league. Instead of simply putting daily life on tape, scientists are developing software to archive, in a hyperlinked, multi-media, kind of way, our whole lives. This means every document you read gets archived. Every show you watch, every song you listen to. Each photo you take and each photo you see, all go into your personal digital archive. Multi-media-ing your life might become normative when such software is released.
The near future might provide opportunities for our lives to be hyperlinked in a way we can't yet understand. Maybe Pastor Troy hasn't gone far enough…yet.
flamingo road church, innovative ministry, innovative pastors, live webcam, My Naked Pastor, online Christianity, transparent media Troy Gramling
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I think it is great that you’re floating the idea out there that he may not have gone far enough when most of the uptight bloggers out there will vilify him for these most recent actions.
revolutionfl.blogspot.com
As we continue to demystify the digital age, capitalizing on it’s strengths and mastering it’s weaknesses, we can expect to see more and more pastors/leaders broadcasting segments of their lives live online. What seems novel now may be well accepted, even expected, by the iGeneration.
Do not visit this church nor their website, as a former member of Flamingo Road Church. I am not pleased with the direction they’re going. This church has sermons & bible studies that promote modern evangelism, pop psycology & they’re way too seeker friendly. When you have a lack of preaching of The biblical gospel of Jesus Christ it becomes more difficult to win souls into the kingdom of God. I pray that you read this message board entry & understand the kind of direction Flamingo Road Church is heading. They are focused on themselves & not on christ. By all means find a locla church that teaches the whole counsel of God’s word, has great christ-center Praise & worship, Small group bible studies & God social fellowship as well.
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