Maranatha's clever "I'm Gunna Apply" video

[SamH] reminded of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLglFSV88w4] this inspiring video from World Cup 2010 by this quote…(see around 00:50 into it…)

My point was not “at least we aren’t as bad as…” My only point is that it seems a bit odd to criticize this video when the method has been used by most schools for years. How is it that this video is different than the live recruiting visits by colleges? If they are similar, where has the criticism been for these methods?

[Bob Nutzhorn]… where has the criticism been for these methods?

Fish don’t know they’re wet.

I tried this before and received defensiveness and garbled thoughts as answers.

So, one more time.

Some questions:

Let’s agree for the moment that this video is not an indication that something undesirable is going on with the philosophy and practice of this school.

What precisely would be a bellwether of wrongheaded or even sinful change?

What in terms of the issue of worldliness, taste, or any sign of sin would make you pause and wonder about the leadership and direction at a school?

I have not gone with the “slippery slope” thing at this point. (I already hold my own estimation of MBBC’s place in relation to any kind of “slope” or a position on a spectrum.

Delnay addresses this kind of thing in the lectures I posted above. How can we hope to avoid disastrous results in trying to consider “the law of unintended consequences” to use his language?

Maybe there will just be crickets. But, I do think these kind of questions should be answered with care.

What would move it from “clever” to “uh oh” in anyone’s mind? Surely there is some metric—some kind of threshold. I have seen hints at it…

As to the so-called lack of criticism for other promo tools from other schools—what does the alleged lack of such evaluation prove? What difference would it make either way?

[Jim Peet] Question Re:

It should be noted that David Cloud and the FBFI are complaining about the video being worldly

Where have you seen the FBFI complaining? Link? Thanks

Yoikes! I meant the FBIS, not the FBFI! My apologies!

[SamH] Some questions:

Let’s agree for the moment that this video is not an indication that something undesirable is going on with the philosophy and practice of this school.

What precisely would be a bellwether of wrongheaded or even sinful change?

What in terms of the issue of worldliness, taste, or any sign of sin would make you pause and wonder about the leadership and direction at a school?

…Maybe there will just be crickets. But, I do think these kind of questions should be answered with care.

What would move it from “clever” to “uh oh” in anyone’s mind? Surely there is some metric—some kind of threshold. I have seen hints at it…

As to the so-called lack of criticism for other promo tools from other schools—what does the alleged lack of such evaluation prove? What difference would it make either way?

They are good questions.

For me, the promo video is ancillary. It has no bearing on what is actually being taught at the school; I’d want to look at:

1. What is preached in chapel
2. What is taught in the seminary and undergrad theology classes
3. What types of ministries MBBC is using for extension

That’s just for starters. Is there any one specific metric that I’d use? No…I think we need to look at the totality of the students, not just one video. What choices the students make while they are students are [mostly] irrelevant, because the policies used to guide the students (in regards to the film) are standards imposed by the school. Hey - the school is right to impose those standards on the students! You can’t tell a person’s heart and value system in a place where the students aren’t free to act in accordance with their true desires.

I also don’t think that this video works because we don’t know what MBBC allowed to be put into it - was the part involving the faculty member ad libbed and left in, although it wasn’t originally in the student script - and we don’t know what MBBC demanded be taken out of it. So it’s an artificial product that doesn’t help anyone at all in terms of figuring out what’s going on spiritually at the school. It did, however, serve its’ purpose in raising the awareness of the school.

Let me explain. A friend of my sister’s married a man who was a room leader, a society chaplain, and student body president while he was at a well known Christian college. Less than two years later, that ‘leader’ was serving prison time for some kind of sex crime with a minor (I don’t know the actual charge). My sister didn’t understand how that could happen when we were talking about it, so I pointed her to Matthew 6:20-24…the student did ‘fine’ (and I use that term loosely) as long as he was under the school’s policies - it sounds like he even flourished there. But once those external standards fell away, his heart was revealed.

[SamH]
As to the so-called lack of criticism for other promo tools from other schools—what does the alleged lack of such evaluation prove? What difference would it make either way?

Is it possible that our bias for or against a particular school makes us ignore or attack whatever they might do? That bias does affect how we view the actions of the schools. My point is that the supporters of Maranatha will for the most part not see a problem with the video, and those who support other schools will find plenty of problems with it. I was simply trying to point out that some of those in this discussion may have overlooked the same tactics for their favorite school.

[Bob Nutzhorn]… may have overlooked the same tactics for their favorite school.

All in all, Maranatha is my favorite school.