Christian Radio...Why I don't Listen

So let me set the scene. You are sitting back enjoying a quiet evening reading after a normally long day. Not a bad day...just a long one. You decide to check your Facebook one more time for the night and one of your friends informs you "hey someone is talking about you". Let me clarify that I truly am grateful that I found out from a friend. I begin to check my emails and nothing. There is no message from anyone. Facebook? No private messages. Out of curiosity I check the church web page stats along with www.thatsnotmygod.com and churchatthepub.com. The stats are off the chart with how many hits we are getting. I begin to click on the referring links and find out I am receiving hits from negative press. I do believe that even bad publicity is publicity none the less. However it tends to take a bit of the wind out of your sails when it is coming from two prominent “Christian” radio stations in Wisconsin. 

I fully understand the fact that when you go public with a ministry and do not stay confined simply to what happens within a church one can expect to get some critiquing. This I am okay with. However it is saddening when ministries/churches base their messages around critiquing and putting down other ones. Look at the archives of some of these churches and radio shows. They wouldn't have a message if it wasn't for talking ill about other ministries. This simply tells me that they do not have much of a ministry at all and the only way to look good is by putting down other ones. Now, I will not list these two radio stations simply because I do not want to give them a single ounce of publicity. However, it is quite hurtful when a church or pastor is doing some cool things that God has placed on their heart only to have someone come along and call them out by name. This happened to me with a chur....no I won’t call it a church....meeting in Milwaukee where this (not pastor) leader called me out as well. In the secular world they call this “compensating” for something they are lacking. In the church world I refer to it as Rob Bell does...“steeple envy”. Many ministries are guilty of pointing something out once in awhile. This does not mean it is okay. I have always strived NEVER to mention other people by name simply because...THEY ARE PEOPLE. These radio stations really have an axe to grind with "Church at the Pub" and some of the message series I have done namely "Welcome to My Nightmare" and "An Outcast Christmas." 

Yes I ought to get over it blah blah blah. I get that. This morning I even made two phone calls to talk to these talk show hosts one on one. This proved to be futile. I did this as to be biblical and confront the one I have issue with. No doubt some reading this will say “get over it man.” I would only ask that you consider what would happen if someone heard about the job you were doing only to find out you are being called out BY NAME on a radio show about how awful you are. Not only on two radio shows but on their Facebook page as well. 

So...there you have it. Yes, I will get over it. This will not be the last time this happens but I am not sure I will ever get used to it. You get hit by a hammer once it hurts. You get hit by it ten more times...guess what? It still hurts. Christian radio to me has a few good things going for it. Overall though...yeah...I have not listened to them it a long long time. For this I am grateful.