Kerusso!

Here's the latest movement that I'm thinking of starting. It's called "Kerusso." Sounds cool, right? Want in?

Okay, I guess I'll give you the backstory:

So on my sister's birthday a week or two ago, we made this really random video. Actually, it was just a picture slideshow. We put on funky costumes, took a bajillion photos of us in random poses (sort of like a stop-motion), made a bangin soundtrack, and then posted it on facebook. Responses poured in. I think 8 people had commented on the video before facebook took it down for excessive awesomeness. Okay, they actually took it down because the "bangin soundtrack" was a copyrighted song. But people went nuts for this really random video with no reason or plot or end.

The moral of the story? People are bored. They will watch, read, listen to, or download basically anything. Especially if they know you.

Well, that's one way to look at it anyway. At the retreat this past weekend Brandon Barker had a breakout session where he talked about the church and the internet/technology, and how the former is resistant to change at times while the latter is changing every second. Also, the internet has shifted from a place that you go to get information to a place that you go to be a part of the conversation. See: time spent on facebook, twitter.

This obviously is a new part of the culture. There was a day when people didn't have facebook or youtube or the internet or tv's or even radios. I think people mostly just sat around and talked back then. Kinda lame. But actually, I bet it was fun. Just in the town square, chillin on benches, chatting about what's going on. And if you think about it, we're just trying to make facebook and twitter our new townsquare where we chat about the latest whatever. So we're the lame ones.

Back to the movement and the title of this post. Kerusso. This is a big Greek word loaded with meaning. It means to herald, to proclaim, or to publish, public announcement. They usually just translate it "preach" in the new testament. So it would seem that it was in these town square, chillin and grillin times that Jesus or John the Baptizer would grab their audiences and say things like "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!"

That's what they did back then to kerusso. But now we do have the internet and facebook and youtube. How much more can we be kerusso-ing in the information age? My idea is to enable and encourage people to post their God stories all over the place. It was shocking how much conversation and attention a silly slideshow of dress-up generated. How much more if people are declaring the awesome things that God is doing in their lives! I already have videos I want to make where I tell the story of the car battery I prayed for or Melinda's jaw being healed or the witch doctor in Africa coming to Christ or Reggie repenting on the dorm floor or whatever else I can think of to properly herald, trumpet, and proclaim the Glory of God!

What would you want to kerusso from the rooftops? Or from the internet?