What is our role as consumers?

Last Friday marked the annual pinnacle of our consumerism (in stores at least). Today is "Cyber Monday," where everyone goes back to work and high-speed internet…and spends the work day shopping online. The coming weeks will see several of the top 5 shopping days of the year.

We've talked a lot about being Godly businessmen, but what is our role as consumers? Is it to consume less? Consume some products and not others?

An interesting phenomenon occurred in business two weeks ago and we have OJ Simpson to thank. OJ decided to write a book titled "If I Did It" that provides a hypothetical account of how he would have killed his wife and Ronald Goldman, if he had done it. It's an astonishingly bad idea but I'm not sure we should have the highest expectations of OJ. But what about the company (ReganBooks) that decided to publish the book? What about companies (Amazon.com) that were taking advanced orders of the book? What about the network (Fox) that decided to air a two-part special about the book during the all-important sweeps month? What about the companies that planned to advertise during the two-part special on Fox? Plenty of people create terrible products but those products disappear into obscurity if no one buys it or helps to sell it.

We can complain all we want about these big, bad companies, but what are we doing about it? Putting OJ and even ReganBooks and Fox/News Corp aside, what role do we have as consumers in this whole process?

The phenomenon that I observed two weeks ago was the reaction and subsequent counter-action. When the book was announced, people went crazy. An industry publication called it an "evil sweeps stunt." Bill O'Reilly (a Fox employee) called for a boycott of the book, the TV special, and every sponsor who advertised during the program. Sales of the book reached the top 20 on Amazon.com but by last Monday, had fallen to number 51. And last week, News Corp Chairman (parent company for Fox) Rupert Murdoch cancelled the book and TV special saying, "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project."

So while it was a disgusting product and several businesses participated in selling or promoting it, in the end, the reaction from customers got it pulled. This was an unprecedented move...and I have to wonder where else we might be able to exert our influence if we just thought more about our role as customers in the creation, sale, and consumption of products deemed unGodly.

This season is a time for us to focus on the incredible gift God gave us in Jesus but it often becomes more about the new trinkets we buy or get. So it seems this is as appropriate a time as ever to discuss our role as consumers. Here are some examples:

• Tobacco -- I heard a public service announcement the other day dogging tobacco companies saying tobacco kills 400,000 people a year and then I pulled into a Wal-Mart to get gas and the pump was advertising chewing tobacco. If I should boycott the tobacco companies, should I also boycott retailers that sell their product?
• Speaking of Wal-Mart -- We talked about some of Wal-Mart's business practices a few weeks back (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33034334&postID=115964340382678546) and I was particularly critical, yet I still shop there regularly. If I am going to be critical of them, do I need to stop shopping there?
• Starbucks -- I heard a quote recently that essentially said we are perpetuating poverty when we buy coffee that is not fair trade and we are fighting poverty when we buy fair trade. Only one of Starbucks' coffees is fair trade...
• Transportation -- If we care about God's creation, do we have a responsibility to choose the fuel efficient car or public transportation when we can?
• Christmas -- I'd say we all think Christmas is a holy day, a day for rest, reflection, and celebration. But often, my family's celebration takes us to a restaurant or a movie theater whereby we indirectly necessitate that some waiters or ticket-takers work on a day we'd say you shouldn't have to work. Should we stop patronizing businesses on days we think others shouldn't have to work? (Disclaimer: this is a question of consistency in profession/action, not a legalistic debate about keeping the Sabbath)

By buying products, we provide the demand side of the economic equation and, in this capitalistic society, business responds with supply to meet our demand. Sometimes business starts with the supply and tests whether we will buy it, but free enterprise always comes down to demand. The question is, should we demand some products/services and not others?

We have to realize that, whether we like it or not, we live in a community; our actions affect other people. Our actions as consumers introduce products and services to the market, Godly or otherwise. Our actions as consumers also encourage businesses (read: people, employees) to respond to meet our demands in ways that we may consider unGodly.

So what is our role over the next 4 weeks of this season? What are other examples of products/businesses that are unGodly? What are conflicts you expect to face as a customer during this Christmas shopping season? What should be our response as consumers? Do we boycott the product? The business altogether? Do we try to organize more public action like writing to Congressmen or staging protests?

How can we be what we should be right where we are?

I saw an interesting quote this week from Elton John. In addition to some comments about religion and homosexuality we could discuss for weeks, he said that, in general, people these days are too busy blogging on the internet to go out onto the streets to stand up for what they believe in. "They seem to do their protesting online and that's not good enough. You have to get out there and be seen to be vocal, and you've got to do it time and time again."

Sir Elton has got me pegged.

dany's comment from a few weeks ago keeps resonating in my head: "the call to obey is never absent." I feel like we spend too much time addressing secondary issues in our lives and justifying our actions and not enough considering those ways in which we disobey God every day at work. Similarly, as GJ pointed out from James 4:17, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." How many of us know things we should be doing differently and simply refuse to do them?

One of my favorite quotes is from Os Guinness: "It is not that the Christians are not where they should be, the problem is that they are not what they should be right where they are."

So, using some lessons I learned from Daniel about how to work in an unGodly environment to His glory, I'll start us off by confessing those things I know I should be doing now...and those of you who I see/talk to on a regular basis better make sure I'm actually doing these things and not just blogging about them (and I'm going to be super-practical so I can't hide behind some lame, half-hearted effort):

Lessons from Daniel:
1) He made little decisions to the glory of God when under the authority of a non-believing boss (chose not to eat the food given by the king)
2) Distinguished himself and glorified God through the quality of his work (4 different kings appointed him to leadership positions because they could see God through Daniel's work...every boss and co-worker knew that Daniel worshipped God)
3) Lived above reproach (jealous co-workers couldn't find anything to accuse him of so they used his religion to trap him)
4) Unwavering commitment to prayer (the king signed a decree that all who pray to anyone but the king would be thrown to the lions and Daniel responded by praying to God...Daniel prayed with such regularity that the co-workers knew the time of day and location where he would be praying when they sought to trap him)
5) He spoke the truth regardless of the circumstances (God gave him words to speak and he shared them...and amazingly, while all he could expect was to be killed by the kings for bringing such news, each time he was rewarded)

The five ways I can start obeying God right now:
1) Refuse to start or join in conversation that demeans other team members...instead, I will advocate for them. I will also explain to my project managers why I can't/won't endorse recommendations that I believe contradict with God's design for business.
2) Be disciplined during the day to stay off of ESPN.com, Astros.com, and CNN.com to ensure I produce the highest quality work every day
3) Be honest with Erica and my close friends about my deeper struggles so they can be exposed and addressed before blowing up at work
4) Commit to daily prayer, even prayer throughout the day, about the people I work with and the decisions I make at work
5) Be honest in every way at work -- this includes talking more openly about Jesus (I often choose not to bring Him up when opportunities present themselves) and giving people direct, candid feedback

I do some of these five things OK, but others are huge struggles. The call to obey, to do good right where I am, is unavoidable.

Blogs have their limitations...and true, vulnerable community is not really easily attainable through this medium. And I don't think this is the place for deep, intimate community. But I hope we can use this blog to drive people into the streets, to take the stuff we talk about here and translate that into action.

What are the things you feel God is calling you to do that you have been ignoring/ avoiding/ procrastinating? How can you be the man God called you to be right where you are?

How can we mix vulnerability and leadership?

The comments from last week's topic have challenged me to consider:

1) I am a bad listener. I think if I was more willing to listen to God rather that just talk at Him (or ignore Him altogether), I might realize that His call is much clearer than I want to admit. For example, I am currently wrestling with the decision of whether to look for/take a new job but if I would stop and listen, if I would be honest with myself, I think I would realize that God wants me to work on some heart issues (e.g., every day obedience, discipline, trusting Him, etc.) before changing circumstances. I wonder how true that is for the rest of us -- the clarity of God's call is not the question as much as "Are you willing to obey?"

2) The call to obey is very convicting. I talk all the time about how business should be done differently when God is more important than money, but I fail to act on that conviction right now, in my current situation. I look to a future job, a different situation in which obedience will be easier and rationalize today's decisions. What if I refused to make recommendations to clients when I believe they contradict the character of God? There are probably countless examples of ways I am ignoring His call to obey today, right where I am. We may talk more about this next week...

But the thing I want to talk about this week is related to The Dude's final comment about "the role of the church community in discerning God's call."

Unfortunately, I imagine most of you have seen the headlines from last week talking about how Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals (30 million members) and former pastor of New Life Church (14,000 member mega-church in Colorado Springs) has been asked to step down from both positions as at least some of the allegations relating to a homosexual affair and drug use proved true. In a letter read during services at New Life Church yesterday, Pastor Haggard said, "There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life."

While the effects of this scandal on individual lives and on the public perception of our God and our faith frustrate me, I am more concerned with the fact that we are all vulnerable to perpetrating this kind of deception. I imagine Pastor Haggard avoided discussing his sin primarily because of his position -- friends and family may have noticed signs, but how could they question the president of the National Association of Evangelicals? Surely he wasn't sinning.

Let's face it, we all have dark, repulsive sides to us we want no one to see. We are sinners and so are our pastors. And that is exactly why we need others in our lives to shine a light on the stuff we don't want to admit is there. Pastor Haggard said later in his letter, "When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me."

A couple of verses/passages that come to mind with all of this:

• James 5:16 -- "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
• 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-11 -- characteristics of overseers/elders/deacons of the Church.

As individual men seeking to be Jesus' disciples, I think each of us has to examine whether we truly confess our sins to others. Are you in a small group where you can get so real that those guys know when you're hiding something? If you're not, you are opening yourself up to justifying one sin, and then another, and another until you find yourself in a place you never imagined possible.

As leaders in our churches, we have a responsibility to be the kind of men outlined in 1 Timothy and Titus. Leading the Church is not entirely the pastor's or church staff's job. We must support them in a number of different ways, one of which being the willingness to speak truth when truth needs to be spoken. We need to stop treating pastors like celebrities and recognize that they are sinners just like us. We need to fight for Church governance that recognizes weakness in every man and enables truth to be spoken freely. We need to make sure Jesus, not a pastor, is the always in His rightful place as head of the Church.

I want to be sure we are clear -- I do not want to discuss Ted Haggard this week. I want to discuss us. Most of us are young guys -- maybe you're not an elder, but what can you do right now as an individual or as a current/potential leader in the Church to fight sin as a community? What can we do to prepare to be a 1 Timothy/Titus kind of elder? What has been your experience with this kind of vulnerable community? How can we be effective leaders in our jobs and in our churches while struggling with our own hypocrisy? Business, much like today's Church, is built on perception -- we strive to maintain the best (or even a "perfect") public image...but at what cost? Can honesty and vulnerability exist in business? Shouldn't it exist in the Church?