Sweet: Church in jeopardy in a 'Millionaire' world
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--Two television game shows provide clues about where American culture has been and where it is headed, according to futurist Leonard Sweet.
___"Jeopardy" is rational and word-based, representing where America has been.
___But "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is based on a "totally different framework," Sweet said. "It's not designed to be a game show. It's designed to be a game experience."
___Sweet spoke Jan. 5 during a seminar for student ministers at the DestiNATIONS missions conference. He told the students "Jeopardy" is a product of modern culture but "Millionaire" is "high-modern," a transition toward postmodern.
___He used the shows to illustrate the importance of "EPICtivity," a word built around an acronym for Experiential, Participatory, Image-based and Connective. Those words provide the keys for ministry in a postmodern world, he said.
___At the beginning of "Millionaire," the lights go down and the music comes up, Sweet noted. The seats for host Regis Philbin and the contestant rise up like a "Star Wars hovercraft." The show, like a praise service in church, puts the action back-to-back. "You have to have momentum, ... movement, ... crescendo."
___This is all part of creating an experience, one in which the audience, a friend and a computer participate through "lifelines" used by the contestant. "Jeopardy" is about "who is the smartest." "Millionaire" is about "how well you use your lifelines."
___"It's not a dumbing down," Sweet said. "It's a drawing in."
___"Millionaire" also is built on an image, he said. "The image of a million bucks is powerful in this culture." And Philbin is made into the very image of a millionaire.
___When the contestant gives an answer, the host always asks, "Is that your final answer?" The question connects with something inside viewers. Greed drives contestants onward, Sweet said; but "deep down, we know that there are final answers."
___Sweet gave brief descriptions of each element of EPIC:
___ Experiential. In the modern world, reason reigned supreme, he said. But people today, while not repudiating the rational, have moved to embrace the experiential as well. The new emphasis on experience extends and expands on the rational.
___ Participatory. Postmodern life also has moved from the representative to the participatory, he said. "Everything is becoming participatory, except the church. This is a karaoke culture," where people don't want to just watch and listen. They want to be part of the show.
___ Image-based. Images are supplanting words in the new culture, Sweet said. Seminaries teach ministers to exegete words; but the world now thinks in images, not words. "These images are living in your head."
___The gospel, Sweet said, is "image based," because Jesus is the image of God.
___ Connective. This represents a transition from the merely individual. Postmodern culture is combining the individual with the communal and creating something that has never been seen before, Sweet said. It involves a stronger individuality while recognizing that the individual can only flourish in the communal. "Me needs we to be."
___Sweet also applied this cultural understanding to sports. The days of the National Football League's popularity are numbered, he said. "It's not a postmodern sport. It's boring--20 seconds of action, 20 minutes of deadness." That's why people have to have luxury boxes to enjoy it.
___College football is different because it is "much more participatory," Sweet said.
___He predicted, however, that there will be a new sport invented in the 21st century, and it will fit the EPIC mold.
___"The significance of this, ... and the excitement of it," Sweet said, is that "we're now back to the Jesus method of communication," where he used parables to communicate his message. "Twenty-first century ministry is much more like first century ministry."
___And it needs to be geared toward experiences, Sweet asserted. "Postmoderns collect experiences like modernists collected things. People are hunting for and starving for experiences."
___They're starving for an experience with Christ, he said, but church is the last place they expect to have it.
The Baptist Standard
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