Once upon a time, some TV guys figured out that busy people needed to be able to turn on their televisions and catch the news anytime they wanted. So, the producers came up with a channel devoted to giving a synopsis of the news every 30 minutes. They called it, “Headline News.†And, behold, it was good.
About the same time, another group of producers had a breakthrough moment. They reasoned that people whose lives were busy needed to be able to turn on the television and get a quick overview of the weather and a weather forecast. No longer was the weather relegated to a five-minute slot on the evening news. Folks could watch the weather forecast anytime during the day. They called this new channel, “The Weather Channel.†And, behold, it was good.
In more recent times, other entrepreneurs figured out that there was a niche for starting a channel that appealed to people who liked gospel music. So, they began a channel that featured gospel music 24/7. People who liked this kind of music could tune in any time night or day. They called this new channel, “The Gospel Music Channel.†And, behold, it was good.
All of these channels attracted respectable audiences and made a decent income. But, as time went on, things began to change. The producers of the Headline News channel, the Weather Channel, and the Gospel Music Channel began to lust after bigger audiences and making more money. They didn’t want to have viewers tune in for 10 minutes or 30 minutes and then depart to other matters. They wanted to keep their audiences for longer periods of time. So, Headline News suspended giving the news in the evening and devoted programming to having 3-hour-free-for-alls on various subjects, and, even during the day, devoted long slots to video features of firemen trying to get cats out of trees. They changed their name to HLN. The Gospel Music Channel decided to show mainly old TV shows and changed their name to GMC. And, the Weather Channel made a decision to no longer broadcast much weather but to show old movies that had some weather in them. This included almost all old movies. The move to calling the channel TWC could not be far behind. The problem with all of this was that folks who liked the news, weather, and gospel music were not sure where to turn.
And once upon a time there was a movement to begin what came to be called “The Church.†It declared that people were sinners and that they could be saved by coming to the cross of Christ. They preached such things as self-denial, taking up your own cross, and dying to yourself. But some wanted larger audiences and more viewer-friendly programming. And new formats attracted many people. But those who gloried in the cross and felt that Jesus had called them to a life of sacrifice and service felt strangely dispossessed.
