"Empire City" Church's first service in NYC
40 visitors? = there's a sucker born every minute.
Back in 1994, I attended my first church service of the NYC Church of Christ. I was 19 years and ready to make a change not only in my life, but to change the world as well. That service was actually a performance of Upside Down. Remember that play? People from all over the Northeast and beyond had come to see that show.
I remember checking out my second church service at a hotel near my parent's place just a few states away. There were at least 3 services going on in this hotel, and the one I ended up at had some people who had been on wheelchairs lying in the back, wailing. I learned that I had ended up at some Pentecostal service - not the ICC. Not that I could honestly tell that much of a difference, except for the wailing.
When I finally figured out how to recognize an ICC service, I found they were more like the ones pictured in the link at the Empire ICC city site.
Pretty bland - a conference room, mediocre singers, a young man who thinks more highly of himself than he'd ever admit and a soft pseudo-humble expression on his face when people approach him.
If you look at the front row, you'll see the old master, Kip, with his overgrown mullet. He still thinks he's going to change the world with that humble little service in some random NYC hotel.
All I know is that people keep giving him money.
When will you all ever learn? Took me a while til I finally did. It doesn't matter how cognitively intelligent you are - it's about what grabs your emotions. And he knows how to do it.
When you want to change the world, better watch out for those who want to change - and shortchange - you.
posted by icc at 2:32 PM
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