![Pastor Performs 1-Minute Service for NFL Playoff Game? [Video]](https://churchm.ag/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Christensen-Screen.png)
Pastor Tim Christensen of Gold Hill Lutheran Church in Butte, Montana, had a scheduling conflict.
You see, his second service started at the same time of the NFC playoff game between the 49ers and the Panthers.
His solution?
A :60 second service…
[tentblogger-youtube EbqVPt8zzWQ]
[YouTube]
If you were sitting in one of the pews at Gold Hill Lutheran Church, you would have found out moments later that this was only a joke — even though the service did have the same start time as the football game.
What I find interesting about this funny video, is reading through the comments on the church’s Facebook Page and YouTube. The video, title, and description make no reference to whether this was just for fun or actually real. While the church hopes the video would go viral — and it just may do that with over 60,000 views in just under 24-hours — an interesting question has been raised:
If this had not been a joke, was this “edgy” and “trendy,” or disrespectful?
From a church tech perspective, it brings another question to mind:
When posting funny videos of your pastor, should you reference the context so viewers understand what’s really going on?
What do you think?
Eric Dye
Support Lead at Valet, and Proprietor of DYECASTING. Human by day, gamer at night, lover of coffee, and all things spicy.
Yes. First it was an amateur video and it had no reference of what was going on and this would not make me want to attend the church. Even if I was a huge 49er fan. It’s another publicity stunt to get views for a church. It’s clever, but not smart, even IF it is a joke.
I tend to agree. From a marketing perspective, this falls flat.
I love this.
I think some sort of context would have been in helpful in the description however in all of these situations I ask why is someone shooting this on a phone which is usually a giveaway i.e. if it feels off that someone is filming in the first place, then it’s probably a stunt.
That said – is it disrespectful?
I don’t think so – I always try and look at this through God’s eyes. I don’t really care what other people think cause we always get it wrong anyway so the idea of it being disrespectful is a human concept therefore irrelevant not irreverent. (See what I did there!)
Good points, Mark, as usual. 😉
You are right about it being filmed with a phone, but again, I think some context in the description — which you usually have to go out of your way to click-on in the first place — would have been wiser.
I think this was obviously a joke, but as a west coaster I appreciate how hard it is to be a football fan. Most of the games I want to see are on during church (hello Saturday night service).
However, this pastor is totally in the wrong. If he was a Seahawks fan it’d be okay though. 🙂
LOL! Funny (or maybe not funny) how many people took this REALLY seriously.