Couldn't Help Noticing

More things I couldn’t help noticing on a trip to the USA…

My previous posts—reflections on my recent visit to the USA—failed to disclose my main reason for going there. In fact, my perusal of the International Christian Retail Show was merely an interesting detour on my way home. (If you enjoyed reading about the ICRS, you can read more in this Los Angeles Times article.)

The primary purpose of my visit was to make final arrangements to start up “Matthias Media - USA”. And this mission was (largely) accomplished: we expect that MMUSA will open its office doors on 1 September, 2006, although it may be a couple more weeks until its shelves are fully stocked with MM resources to sell. (Here is a photo of the office even before we had shelves in it! And here's the outside of the office.)

MMUSA is being set up in a very pretty part of God's world: Pulaski, Pennsylvania. Heard of it? I'd be surprised. Pulaski is not exactly a central hub of industry. It has no traffic lights; in fact, from my time there, I'm not even sure Pulaski has a main street. And coming as I did from a country still largely in drought, the one thing I couldn't get over was how green the grass was. In fact, how green everything was.

So what's in Pulaski that made us choose it as “MMUSA-Central”? Two people: Marty and Abby Sweeney. In September Marty will become the full-time MMUSA Ministry Director. In my next post, I'll let you read Marty's version of the story of how this all came about. Suffice to say at this point that it is the enthusiasm of Marty, and his lovely wife Abby, for Matthias Media resources, and their willingness to serve us by joining the MM team, that has opened up the possibility of starting MMUSA.

In one sense, North America needs more Christian books like the internet needs more web pages. The ICRS was ample demonstration of the size and scope of the Christian retail industry. But, at the same time, it was also an ample demonstration that the number of publishers attempting to do what Matthias Media is attempting to do is very small. In fact, I'm not sure that I saw any who are doing something comparable; certainly not from the same theological perspective as us.

And so we set forth on a new venture for Matthias Media, expecting and hoping that there will be many evangelical pastors and leaders in American churches who are receptive to the idea of using our ‘resources for growing Christians’, and that we will quickly find enough of them to make the whole exercise self-funding.

We hope that our loyal supporters here in Australia and elsewhere will join us in praying, not just for the financial 'success' of this new venture, but that the Lord will use our resources more and more to build his Kingdom and strengthen his people in North America. (Oh, and you might also like to recomend us to any US or Canadian friends you have.)

If you'll excuse the pun, we'll keep you posted.

More things I couldn’t help noticing on a trip to the USA…

In my earlier posts, I've been telling you a little about my visit to the International Christian Retail Show in Denver. I know you just want to hear about the funny stuff I saw. And, though I don't particularly want to poke fun at things that I'm sure help some people somewhere, there were a few classics that caught my eye. Such as...

• The Official New Century Version Duct Tape Bible. “The first-ever Bible wrapped in duct-tape! ... We did the work for you ... Durable enough to take anywhere—finally a Bible that is tough enough to use in real life”. See www.ducttapebible.com. (No word in the ad about a life-time warranty.)
• Yankee Candle [R] Delivers more sales with Passion! I quote: “Fragrance is at the heart of everything we do. It's who we are. It drives us to create evocate (sic), long-lasting scents in candles and home fragrancing products, such as our Electric Home Fragrance Units for every style, taste and occasion.”
• “A Symbolic Gift of Love Your customers will want to know. The tear bottle tradition takes inspiration from the Bible and is a compassionate custom that has endured for more than 3,000 years. Timeless Traditions has reintroduced the tear bottle to contemporary gift-givers as a symbolic way to express shared feelings of love, sorrow, joy, and remembrance. Tear bottles express emotions in a way that no other gifts can. And their versatility allows them to be sold year-round.”
• VeggieTale Seeds When you're on a good thing, milk it for all its worth and then some! That, at least, seems to be the theory behind this great idea. This company sells little seed packets so that kids can grow their very own vegetables. “You know that VeggieTales stories and characters spark your children's imagination, and help them to grow spiritually. Well, Veggie Tales seed packets from the Ferry Morse seed company will grow their intellect and understanding of God's creation as they nurture the growth of their own garden.”
• Your child's name used 98 times in 8 songs This was the (apparently sole) selling-point for a personalised music CD for kids. (Yes, let's teach the littlies that they are the centre of the universe—they'll never pick that up if we don't model it to them.)
• My second favourite booth was one for a supplier of Christian jewelry, because of its brilliant slogan: Spreading the Gospel one piece of jewelry at a time.
• But my favourite booth, I think, that seemed to encapsulate all that was most superficial about the Christianity on offer at the ICRS, was the booth selling Good Newz Temporary Tattooz.

Space prevents me from telling you more about the Christian karaoke supplier, or the “full armour of God” costume for kids, or the “Bible Man” computer game, or the positively appalling wall hangings of Jesus, or ...

All I can say is that there are times when I am very glad that we are 7,500 miles away from the USA, and that as a result most of the hawkers of such “inspirational” products don't think it is worth their while to ship them to us Down Under.

More things I couldn’t help noticing on a trip to the USA…

The highlight for me of attending the International Christian Retail Show in Denver last week was to stand a mere six feet away from the great Jim Packer, as the people at Crossway Publishers celebrated his 80th birthday with a huge chocolate cake.

But I couldn't help wondering what this legendary Christian theologian and writer would have made of the ICRS.

For a start, I'm not sure he would be delighted with the name change. What for many years has been called the Christian Bookseller's Convention has had its name changed to refelect the reality that a declining proportion of the huge Christian retailing industry is made up of actual book sales. As I will highlight in my next post, the range of paraphernalia in the Christian marketplace is astonishing, amusing and somewhat soul-destroying (perhaps literally).

Here are a few other observations:

• This is a huge industry showcase. I had been warned that it was big, and overwhelming, and astonishingly crass, but to see it firsthand was truly remarkable. According to the Show web site the show has “125,000 net sq ft of exhibit space, 425 exhibits, and nearly 100 meeting rooms. The show brings together more than 10,000 attendees and exhibitor personnel from across the United States and more than 50 other countries.” The Christian retail industry has become so big, that large secular retailers, like Wal-Mart, have jumped on board and are selling Christian product.
• On show is not just the full range of Christian products, but almost every secular marketing technique under the sun (with the possible exception of attractive young women in skimpy bikinis—but there's always next year!). There is a worldliness that is almost tangible. And the retailers seem almost infatuated with the industry and its marketing techniques, forming long queues in order to get a personally autographed copy of a big name author's book or a musician's CD at one of the “personality booths”, wheeling around large bags full of freebies, and even dragging their children around so that they can get the freebies from the kids' product booths. They are also being thanked and praised for their selling efforts by the publishers through fine entertainment, ranging from expensive dinners to performances by members of Cirque du Soleil.
• Despite all the non-book products that were in evidence, there still seems to be a recognition that books remain a fundamental part of the Christian retail industry. It was encouraging to see that publishers like Christian Focus, Crossway-Goodnews, and Evangelical Press are still playing an important part.
• I couldn't help but notice that one of the new trends in Christian publishing is the success of authors who are young women (mostly blonde and of course extremely well-groomed). I'm not sure what that means, but I do note that they are very clever at coming up with titles that obviously appeal to other women: “Can Martha have a Mary Christmas?”, “Born to be Wild: Rediscover the Freedom of Fun”, “Divine Stories of the Yahweh Sisterhood”, “If You Don't Die to Self, I may Have to Kill You: an Extreme Marriage Makeover”, “The Bathtub is Overflowing, But I feel Drained: How to Defeat Mommy Stress”, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World”, “Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker”—and many, many, many more.
• The prize for the most overused word at the Show, thrashed to within an inch of its meaningful existence, is: “inspirational”. It seems that you can sell anything at the Christian Retail Show as long as you can label it with this word. Just what it means is a little unclear, but I think it basically means it makes you feel good about your life.

In my next post, I'll share with you some of the highlights of the show which caused me to chuckle at what people will do to make a buck... oops, I mean to inspire people in their daily walk with Jesus.

Things I couldn’t help noticing on a trip to the USA..

I may have to re-evaluate my interpretation of Isaiah 40:31 “they shall mount up with wings as eagles”. Previously I had assumed this verse was a metaphor of blessing. Now I'm thinking it may be a metaphor for air travel, and therefore a serious warning of fearful judgement.

It's not that I had a particularly bad trip—no lost luggage or missed connections—it's just that I'm starting to think that if God had intended us to fly, he may not have not have gone so far as to give us wings, but he certainly would have made it a much more pleasant experience to ride in a Boeing 747.

For one thing, I can think of no worse place than an airplane to try to sleep—except perhaps a maternity ward in a busy hospital. But although the two places share a number of common features, including young infants screaming at their mothers' inhuman treatment of them, I understand that the discomfort of air travel is of a different degree to the discomfort of many mothers immediately after giving birth, and, fearing retribution from said mothers, I decline to compare my own suffering to theirs.

Of course one benefit mothers in labour wards have over airplane travellers is that, in what is tacitly agreed by most passengers, irrespective of what time it is, to be regarded as the “middle of the night” and an ideal time for sleep, they don't have flight attendants walking down the aisles asking loudly if anybody wants “to buy any duty free goods”. (Incidentally, do they really think we'll want to buy stuff that is double the price we'd pay for it on the ground just because they call it “duty free”?)

(Before clicking the link below to read the remainder of these musings, let the reader be warned: there is no profound Christian reflection to follow. Avoid disappointment—stop now.)

Now, let me reflect on the four (yes four!) different airports I encountered in the journey to my ultimate destination:

Sydney: Busy and familiar. It has the advantage of being “home”. I look forward to seeing it again.

San Francisco: Busy and filthy. Also has the feature of being more secure than Fort Knox or the Royal Australian Mint (though a recent court case suggests the SF airport may have a slight edge over the latter). Not only did we go through the normal hand luggage X-ray and metal detectors, many of us were randomly selected to enter a new Tardis-like machine before passing into the USA. No explanation was provided for this machine, but for all intents and purposes it appeared to wait until people were standing in the centre of it and then sniff them. Perhaps they have discovered that terrorists have a distinct body odour—perhaps an odour somewhat chemical in nature? Anyway, all I can say is that I doubt I would have got through if I had used Old Spice aftershave at any time in the last three months. (Perhaps rightly so for the protection of US citizens.)

Chicago: Busy, clean, and with more shops per square metre than even Sydney. Also designed for optimum passenger exercise?catching my connecting flight involved completing a half-marathon from one concourse to another. They also added to the distance by surreptitiously changing my gate number whilst I was making my pedestrian transit, thereby forcing me to walk from one section to another and back again as I tried to figure out where my plane was actually going to leave from, and whether I could really trust those “Departure” monitors.

Cleveland: Sadly, I am unable to report, as I have absolutely no recollection of this airport. This could be because by this time I had not slept for about 28 hours. However, I do recall a sense of joy knowing that it marked the end of my air journey.

The misery of riding for 24 hours in airplanes does make me wonder one thing: why do most passengers queue up to be first on the plane? Now there's one of life's great mysteries.

G’day, Adsy and Eve.

Kel Richards continues to come the raw prawn with unbelievers. The Sydney Morning Herald, not noted for its positive coverage of things Christian, recently gave the “She'll be right” to the next installment of Kel Richard's The Aussie Bible. This version has stories from Genesis, Proverbs, John and 1 John, translated into the Oz vernacular.

In the next six months, Matthias Media will be publishing a new book on Defending the Gospel, also by Kel. Strewth. The bloke's churnin' them out like rabbits with myxo immunity, I tell ya! And if you need a translation of that, keep yer shirt on and shoot us an e-mail.