So Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in September. Apparently, they are strapped with more than $900 million in debt, and they’ll end up using a $125 million loan to reorganize in order to compete with rivals such as Netflix and Redbox.
I don’t know what your experience has been in the entertainment world, but I’ve completely abandoned stores like Blockbuster. The fees, poor customer service, and dingy stores are only a couple of the reasons for this. Blockbuster, though, is unfortunately the best of its competition. Every time I walk in a Movie Gallery, I get badgered to join a club so I can save $2 a month (that is absolutely a true story). Ironically, Movie Gallery shut its doors in our city as well. Not surprised, are you?
We recently joined Netflix, and we absolutely love it. We watch movies online at that very moment. If we need to get a DVD shipped, it never takes more than two days to arrive. We’re so happy we made the switch. And it’s cheap!
So many churches are kicking back against the new ideas and thought-leaders of today. Many cite these new voices as “abandoning what’s central” or “so relevant that they’re not Biblical.”
Here’s the deal, church leaders: Feel free to “stay the course” and keep doing ministry the way you have been doing it all along. Just don’t be surprised when people don’t come to your church when someone down the road is reaching them right where they are.
After all, I didn’t stop renting movies. I just decided to get them from another source. In the world we live in, we can’t afford for people to go to the wrong source for truth.
Those who fear or reject innovation will risk reaching fewer people while clinging to business as usual.
