Ben Meredith, Author at BenandJacq in the Browser

January 21, 2010May 22, 2017

Stuff Christians Like a little too much.

I, being a guest poster at SCL, have noticed a problem that is nearly universal among Christians. Christians like Jon Acuff. But they take it a single, insidious step further than that.

They’re Acuffist.

I know, I don’t like throwing around political buzzwords any more than you like reading them, but this needs to be brought to the light. A quick perusal of the “most popular posts” on his site will show you that nearly every one that has any staying power was written by Jon Acuff. The posts that have the most comments? Also Acuffian posts. And even though my spell-check thinks that’s a ridiculous word, I fear the slide toward a single, monolithic Christian satire blog “experience” is well underway. It’s subtle, but the Acuffitude of his website is beginning to take over areas that previously lay untouched by his wit and charm. Did you notice how he subtly moved in on the Power Team, that staple of Christian satire? Readers find themselves pining for his next Twitter update, the next comment he makes on his already-Acufficient blog post of the day, or the next witty thing he’ll say on his facebook “fan page.”

Jon’s actions are not what is up for debate here, though. It’s the overt way in which other bloggers are forgotten, marginalized, and disrespected that has me taking a stand against Acuffism today. I’ve developed this test so that you can see just how Acuffist you really are.

1.)Which of the following Stuff Christians Like was written by a guest poster?

(a)The Popcorn Collision
(b)Near Death Visits to Heaven
(c)The Campus Babysitter
(d)Those are made up post titles, not written on his blog.

2.)What’s the last SCL post you commented on?

3.)Is your answer to #2 a post written by Jon Acuff?

4.)What’s the last SCL post you laughed out-loud about, or felt strong emotion while reading?

5.)Is your answer to #4 a post written by Jon Acuff?

6.)Can you name, without looking, just 5 of the guest bloggers who have posted on his site?

7.)Have you ever taken issue with the fact that Jon Acuff is the only blogger listed on this site, despite no less than 30 guest posts written by at least 10 other bloggers? Or is that sort of favoritism OK with you, you Acuffist?

I don’t even have to work up a score card for this one, because I’m sure that you’ve noticed your own Acuffism at this point. And identifying the problem is the first step. I’m starting a support group today, here at my blog. Together, we can stamp out Acuffism for good. Do your part today by commenting on today’s non-Acufficious post.

What’s one way you commit to ridding your life of Acuffism?

January 25, 2010February 18, 2014

We’re Moving!

For those astute followers of our twitter feed, you might have noticed that we took a trip to Apex, NC recently. We didn’t just visit because it’s “the peak of good living,” but because it is the location of our regional office with Campus Crusade for Christ. We’ve been prayerfully considering a move to the regional office for a number of months, and wanted to take a brief trip to the office to see what it might look like to work there.

After just 2 days, our questions have been answered, and we (along with the Leadership Development team in charge of placing us) have decided the time is right to make the move!

Over the next couple of days, we’ll be answering some of the questions we’ve been getting from friends and family regarding the move. Suffice it to say that we are very excited to be joining the team in Apex, and look forward to how God is going to use us to reach students all over the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

What questions do you have about the move?

January 26, 2010July 19, 2010

When, What, and wherefore:

Colleen asked some great questions yesterday in the comments, and so that’s where I’ll start.

We will be moving probably in April. There is a small chance we could go before then (with March as the absolute earliest), but I’d guess we’ll be going no earlier than April fools day. (no joke.)

As we have prayed and thought through our current roles on campus, I’d say starting about a year ago (maybe more), we felt that more and more of our time was being spent doing operational support type things (websites, communication, graphic design, etc), and that type of stuff was very energizing. That’s not to say we don’t still enjoy sharing our faith and engaging with students, or that we have changed our mind about our personal vision. We still long for Christ to be made famous on the college campus. We’re still devoting our energy to that end.

We’ve just broadened the scope. Before we were praying and laboring for a handful of campuses in Western NC, representing somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 students. In the regional office, the scope is 27 local areas (of which Western NC is one) representing a little over 1,000,000 students. (2 million if you count our partnership with Brooklyn)

So that’s the why. What we will be doing in the regional office is working with the operations team. On the team, each person is both a specialist and a generalist. My specialty will be in the creative vein, working with web design, writing, and social media. I also would love to help in leading worship/program planning at several regional conferences per year. As a generalist, I will help the team in the vision to “increase capacity and sustain the mission of turning lost students into Christ-centered laborers” In short, we want to do things that will free up field staff to be more effective at what they are already doing, and enable and equip them to move out in ways they haven’t before. Jacqueline will be helping out on a limited part-time basis in the office with the finance team and the conference/event planning team (both subsets of the operations team)

Colleen’s last question is one that I’m glad she asked.

“Is this at all related to the difficulties that you have had in raising support recently? How are you guys doing with that?”

Which is directly related to the most frequently asked question of them all.

“Will you still have to raise support?”

The answer to those questions, however, will take an entire post. Tomorrow I’ll cover that.

In the meantime, what other questions do you have? (and a big thank you to Colleen for asking great first-round questions!)

January 27, 2010July 19, 2010

Will you still have to Raise Support?

Like LL Cool J, I feel like this topic is less of comeback, and more like I’ve literally been here for years.

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about raising funds.

Perspective, when it comes to finances, is something I lose about every 15 minutes. I need to be reminded of the truth on a regular basis. I figure if I lose perspective, so do the people who support us. Hopefully not as often, though.

So when we talk about moving, and among the first questions is the ticking time-bomb of “will you still have to raise support?” I like to pause and remind myself (and anybody standing nearby enough to hear) why support raising is not a chore, but a blessing. A privilege. Not a “have to” but a “get to.”

The short answer is yes, we are still fully supported by the generous contributions of concerned individuals and churches. There’s no central fund for paying office staff or field staff within Campus Crusade.

And I’m glad. This way, we really rely on God even for the folks in the cubicles in Apex. There’s still a department that does the hiring, but God does the confirming by doing what we can’t do, raise up the funds to pay the staff. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, raising support is a constant reminder (in the midst of the money-driven “ethics” of western culture) that I am not a rock or an island, no matter what Paul Simon tells me, and I can’t do or have it “my way,” even if Frank Sinatra or Burger King urge me to. Calling folks and challenging them to be on my team of ministry partners pushes me toward a biblical, humble, interdependence with others.

In answer to Colleen’s specific question about the difficulties we’ve been having raising support recently, what coming off campus for a whole semester did was help us see clearly what it might look like to be off campus. So, yeah, the support struggles lately did help us to make the decision, but not because we are done raising support. They just afforded us the opportunity to see outside of the “campus” bubble we’d been in for years. And we liked it outside of the bubble.

So, until the next time I need reminding, you can always join our team of partners here.

January 27, 2010July 19, 2010

Public Servants.

Here’s my fear. By posting something during this administration, following this speech, and during this congress, you might think I am trying to make a political statement in favor of one party over the other. Rest assured that I think the elephant in the room has acted just as much like a jackass as anybody.

I want this, though, to be less of a statement, and more of a question. I am not going to pretend that I don’t have an opinion. I do. But my question is simple: when the President says the federal government is going to cut spending, why doesn’t he (or any one of the members of any of the other parties represented) take a voluntary pay cut? Commit to earing the same amount as a middle school science teacher during your 4 years, and I’ll believe that you are serious about balancing the budget.

Because what I saw tonight on the live stream of the State of the Union Address was a room full of $900 suits and $4,000 diamond broaches. And it’s tough to hear you over the ticking of your Rolex.

Let me reiterate that even the suits that were sitting down most of the night were still custom-tailored. This is not a dig against just one party.

When my church went through their budget crisis last year, the first people to take a pay cut (by choice) were the senior teaching pastors. And they announced that in front of everyone. That’s leadership.

Want to gain back the trust of this American? Simple. Put your money where your mouth is.