By Steve

Thinking Church through Campaigning, Quitting, Winning and Money

I believe it's broken. Broken things need to be thrown away or repaired, I would take either. The process by which we elect our countries president seems absurd to me. Not so much that we all get to vote, but how our vote is fought for.

The candidate with the most money may not necessarily win, but when money runs dry candidates quit. Does anyone else think its disgusting how much money is spent on winning your vote? Do candidates buy their way into the whitehouse? Could it be that the candidate who can produce the biggest show for the longest period of time sway the masses to his/her camp simply by mass marketing?

I believe the candidates really do care about "the issues" but could winning (or not losing) be just as important? The whole thing seems so shallow. The person with the best hair, best eyes, best tour bus, best slogan, best suit, best speech, best smile etc, will make the biggest impression and that person will win...whether the best person for the job or not.

It's sad to me when I hear about a friend considering ending the dream of starting a new church because money was gone (millions are wasted on getting my vote). It's somewhat upsetting while one church considers closing another down the street is spending millions on themselves. Big churches have learned how to campaign if you will, winning over people to join them. You may not think anything wrong with this...but at what cost. Who is winning? Who is quitting? And what has happened with all of the money?

Of course I wouldn't ask a wealthy, leading candidate to fund his competitors campaign...but they are on the same team. And I'm not necessarily suggesting that churches with money should help struggling churches. Use your money as you like. I just wonder what may happen if we all lived with a greater sense of generosity. Where winning/succeeding didn't rule. Where more didn't mean better. Where candidates and churches alike worked together.

It makes sense to me.