OK, this video is unbelievable! I really hope that our “churches” can avoid this type of “love.” Personally, and maybe it is an emerging church thing, I say leave those cell phones on! And let the kids run around… I would hate for us to think that we need to set our lives aside when we gather together. Let’s be real, right?
Nathan Bettger | Oshkosh, WI 
Heaven forbid we actually set aside some time to turn the cell phones off and listen to the Lord…
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Two thoughts:
1) was everyone asked to turn off their phones ahead of time? If so, she was remiss.
2) a jerk is a jerk is a jerk. I can’t imagine my pastor being such a jerk about it.
my two cents
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That’s ridiculous. Okay, the kids and the phone annoyed the heck out of me, but come on! No one can look you in the eye and tell you that pastors are okay to act that way. That is so out of line I can hardly process it.
But dang, those kids were annoying. And she really should have been more considerate with the phone.
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Reminds me of a video of a professor that was interrupted by a cell phone and did the same thing.
If I remember breaking other peoples toys was something we went over in child-hood. And this was a perfect example of childish behavior. He could just have easily paused for a moment and made a joke, ‘I am sorry the word of God apparently must wait for X to turn off their cell-phone.’
I am sure though that this guy simply acted out what a lot of pastors want to, but think better of.
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Hehe… thanks for the comments. I am pretty sure that this video is a joke… which makes it funnier and less angering.
At the same time, though, it raises an issue for me. I won’t answer it quite yet as I am very interested in what people think. Part of being completely intentional about ALL aspects of the way we “do” church or community is to think about the theological reasons for everything we do. WHY do we do certain things?
My reasoning for being okay with kids making noise and cell phones staying on comes from how I think about God, how we hear him, and what happens when gather together for worship. I can explain that, but I am interested in whether people have theological or specific reasons for why we should turn phones off and keep our kids quiet.
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scary with a nervous laugh thrown in for good measure….classic,but scary…no real love = no restraint…run people..run away,run away!
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I’m afraid I’d like to keep kids quiet because I don’t have any. Or at least not any small ones… and it depends upon the setting. Often, I want to HEAR what is being said, and really FOCUS on the message… running and playing kids are fairly distracting for us old people.
And besides, I have a bias. I believe that children have become terribly coddled and believe they SHOULD be the center of attention. I’d prefer my attention be focus on God while I’m in church.
my other two cents
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I’m with the guy who needs to focus… My attention span is about that of a gnat! I can’t give you solid theology behind it (although Paul talks a lot about order in the church), but I am distracted and frustrated often by parents in church with screaming kids who could easily be with the rest of the kids in the nursery. But then again I’m a 23 year old guy with no kids.
I think it’s ultimately about maintaining some kind of peace to hear from the Lord while allowing the little ones to come to Jesus. I hesitate to send them away like the disciples, and I know much of my reasoning has to do with my own heart. I just don’t know what the right answer is to this, and I have a feeling there really isn’t one.
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I do like this blog. Keep on your great work, I will subscribe. What do you think of the new Nokia N97?
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