Views From the Hilton

During my junior year of college, I started having chest pains. I didn't think much of it at first. I was 21 years old and healthy by all standards. The pain went on for several weeks until I decided to google my symptoms (something you should never do). Of course, this resulted in me being WebMD’d into a frenzy. I went to the emergency room and was immediately admitted because they thought I was having heart problems. I spent a day or so in the hospital and had every conceivable test run on me, only to be told there was nothing wrong with me. I was sent home. The problem went away for a while, but a couple of years later it returned. This time, instead of paying the insane amount of money the ER would ask for, I decided to find a doctor. I went to several doctors over the next few years. One thought it might be a heart condition, others believed I had ulcers, still, others thought it was something else. I received several different medications trying to relieve the symptoms...

The American church is in a state of crisis. Many Churches are closing their doors and according to recent statistics, people are walking away from the church in large numbers. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the problem and the way to fix it.  I’m writing as a product of the church. Who I am was shaped by the (mostly) white, Pentecostal, American evangelicalism of the 80’s and 90’s. As I’ve grown older I have reflected back on my experience growing up in this subculture. It’s a subculture that left me many wonderful gifts. It led me to many experiences with God that shaped and formed the deepest parts of who I am. But it is also a subculture with many problems and issues. As I reflect on the current state of the American church, I can’t help but ask this question — how much did we contribute to our own demise?  Any movement that cannot self-reflect and ask this question is a movement that, in my opinion, is doomed. If we don’t see the problems, how can we f...