The Highs and Lows of the Pop Culture Summer

The streets are filled with buses, football is underway, and there’s not much good on television or at the movies anymore. It must be the end of summer.

How would you rate the summer of 2015? I’m not referring to your tan or your vacations but to the movies released, the television given us to pass the time in between our favorite shows, and all other areas of pop culture?

In no particular order, here are my highs and lows of the summer that was:

HIGH: Movies! Movies! Movies! I cannot recall a summer blockbuster season that I enjoyed more than the one that just ended. Beginning with Avengers: Age of Ultron, then the guilty pleasure Pitch Perfect 2, May hit us with a bang right out of the box. (And I’m not even including Mad Max: Fury Road, which everyone loved who saw it, though it wasn’t one I found time to see.) In June, we found out we had not, in fact, had enough of dinosaurs yet, in Jurassic World, which was immediately followed by the instant Pixar classic Inside Out. Add in July’s Ant-Man (a surprisingly great Marvel movie) and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, and there’s only one conclusion to come to: this summer movie season was simply fun. (Which means my Blu-ray winter purchase season will be expensive!)

LOW: The Inappropriately Named Fantastic Four: Those who know me know that I have a lot of grace toward movies. If it entertains me for a couple of hours, I’ll find something good to say about it. But August’s Fantastic Four was simply terrible. I’d rather spend two hours watching on Repeat the dialogue scenes between Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba from Tim Story’s Fantastic Four. But the good news of this tragedy is that hopefully it’s the rock bottom that 20^th Century Fox needed to convince them to let Marvel take over with the family of superheroes.

HIGH: TV Family Time: For the most part, scripted television during the summer is terrible. We all know that. These are the shows that couldn’t even get a mid-season release, so they were banished to die in the hot summer heat. So our family tried some unscripted television this year…and had a blast. America’s Got Talent has now become a family favorite (the kids even vote). For some reason my 7-year-old daughter is addicted to American Ninja Warrior. She can’t get enough of these super-athletes attempting to cross obstacle after obstacle. Even Food Fighters found its way on the family tube occasionally. And the weekend became the Geekend, the term the Science Channel coined to describe its endless marathons of Outrageous Acts of Science, combined with Outrageous Acts of Psych, Race to Escape, and of course Mythbusters marathons. Who knew science could be so fun? My teachers never taught me this kind of stuff. They stuck with photosynthesis and the periodic table. Snore.

LOW: The Jim Gaffigan Show—non-family friendly: Don’t get me wrong. I really love this half-hour sitcom from the pale comedian who loves Hot Pockets, bagels, and donuts. But after thoroughly enjoying and laughing until my belly hurt some of his stand-up shows with my son, I was really hoping that the self-proclaimed family friendly comedian who loves his five kids just as much as he loves making jokes concerning his Catholic faith would have given us a sitcom that my kids can enjoy too. But unfortunately, too many of the topics are for adult comprehension only, so it has become simply something to enjoy with my wife. But no worries. We have ABC’s new Muppets show this fall that should fill that void of family comedy.

HIGH: Wayward Pines episodes 1–9: For nine episodes I was thrilled to have my one-time favorite filmmaker M. Night Shyama…something…trying out television. What started out as what appeared to be your typical “guy gets trapped in a creepy, small town” story quickly became a mind-bender zombie story with a lesson on how quickly man is corrupted and that no society can ever be perfect. However…

LOW: Wayward Pines episode 10: After ten weeks of watching this show live every week (yes, not even on the DVR—I couldn’t wait to watch it each week!) we are given just another conclusion that has unnecessary sacrifices (I’m looking at you, Hunger Games: Mockingjay!) and the most unlikable snot-nosed punks of the whole story winning in the end. No return for your investment whatsoever. What I thought was going to be Unbreakable ended up being The Lady in the Water.

LOW: Celebrity Marriages: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani. Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox. And those are just the divorces with people I’ve heard of. When even gossipy Hollywood websites are writing articles about something being in the water these days for celebrity couples, you know it’s bad. But these are not just actors and singers; they are God’s children with children of their own who now have to spend the rest of their childhood jumping from parent to parent. It’s not funny at all. I wish I could grab hold of every single person who has made the marriage vow and attempt to convince them that there are no “irreconcilable differences” when you have a union blessed by God. And parents, your kids want nothing more than for mom and dad to be together. Work it out! Job’s wife from the Bible literally told him to curse God and die! Yet they persevered and God blessed them double of everything they had lost.

HIGH: The Cubs Are Back, Baby! As of today, August 25, the lovable losers of Chi-town are 72-51, the fourth best record in all of baseball and have won 20 of their last 24 games. With less than 40 games to go, the Cubs have a 6.5 game lead on the final wild card spot in the National League. All this means, Wrigley Field is getting ready to sell playoff tickets! Woo-hoo! For the first time in several years, the summer has not just been the miserable desert in between hockey and football. Baseball is fun again for Cubs fans! There’s nothing like winning at Wrigley to soothe the pain of Fantastic Four, Wayward Pines, and all the other low points of summer.

So what would include on your list of highs and lows for the summer? What was your favorite movie? Your biggest disappointment? Have you tried watching the Geekend on the Science Channel? I’m telling you, it’s addictive.

Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, including the 2015 HarperCollins release All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture, available at Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Amazon. You can also find him keeping up with the latest goings-on in pop culture on Twitter: @PopCultureKevin

Every Church Needs a Fantastic Four in Leadership

The latest movie version of Fantastic Four is bland, uneventful, a lot of build-up with hardly any payoff, filled with dull personalities, and instantly forgettable the moment you walk out of the theater. A movie reviewer from Ain’t It Cool News labeled it as “the reason audiences are tiring of comic book films,” which sums up perfectly this second failed rendition of Reed Richards and his super-powered friends.

Bland. Uneventful. Dull personalities. Instantly forgettable. The reason audiences are tiring. Basically, every phrase you do not want used to describe your church. But if you believe the latest Fantastic Four film might resemble any part of your church in recent years, the solution to overcoming these accusations might also be found in looking at the same group of superheroes to resurrect your church from its forthcoming demise. It may be too late for Twentieth Century Fox and its most recent adaptation of Marvel’s favorite superhero family, but there’s still time for you and your church to diagnose and fix what may be missing from your church.

And it starts by looking at the Fantastic Four—the four personalities every church should have as part of its leadership.

Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic)

The genius leader of this group of super-powered astronauts can stretch, twist, and reshape his body into inhumane proportions. As dull as his personality may be at times, there is basically no shape he can’t adapt to or object he cannot grab with his stretching hand. Basically he is flexible, stretchable, and able to adapt, and he is needed in church leadership today.

The world Jesus sent his followers into is constantly changing, and that includes your church’s specific community. Whether you’re in small-town Alabama, inner-city Los Angeles, or always-trendy Nashville, your church’s community and the mission field within it are different than they were in years past. Which means a church’s missional strategies, worship styles, and perhaps even its building décor needs to evolve with it. But it takes flexible, stretchable, adaptable leaders in order to lead these sometimes Titanic-maneuvering progressions.

This does not mean compromising with biblical beliefs based on a progressive culture’s constant need to interpret the Bible in ways that make it feel better about its lifestyles. But the church does need to be sure to know exactly what to label as “unchanging gospel truth” and then tag its methods for sharing it with the world as “open for discussion.” A church that is unwilling to adapt is a church that is unwilling to go into the community Jesus placed them in. It must have leaders in charge who can stretch, flex, and contort their styles to meet the present needs.

Johnny Storm (Human Torch)

The adolescent hothead of the group is brash, rebellious, and sometimes a little obnoxious. And oh yeah, he can light himself on fire and set anything or anyone around him on fire too. Though he’s not always the best at following orders, he is a problem solver and believes he can kick-start a little fire into his companions fighting alongside him.

The personality he represents may simultaneously be both the most unpopular and also the most needed part of any church leadership team.

Show me a church with a bunch of “yes men” leading the way and I’ll show you a church—oh, wait, I can’t show it to you anymore. It’s gone. Never mind. It died when the pastor died and left his leadership team and congregation not knowing how to voice opinions and make decisions of their own.

Brash, rebellious, and obnoxious may not seem like the kind of person a church wants in their leadership, but who would say they didn’t need anyone lighting people on fire for the gospel in their church? And chances are, they’re only perceived as brash, rebellious, and obnoxious by those around them who don’t have the same charismatic excitement for reaching out into the community and transferring to them this amazing, transforming power of the gospel that has shaken up their lives.

A church leadership that avoids at all cost having any brash hotheads kick-starting some excitement into its congregation is probably also lacking its flexible, adaptable Mister Fantastic. Both are equally needed to take the gospel into its community as Jesus commanded.

Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)

The girlfriend and future wife of Reed Richards has the ability to bend and manipulate light in order to render herself and others as invisible. She later learns how to generate force fields with her powers, to be used in defending herself and her companions from their enemies’ attacks.

If only more people in church leadership could make themselves invisible at times and not always try to be so front and centered with every situation (especially the controversial ones) that comes about.

There are times to speak up and be a voice of truth in a matter that needs kingdom-building servants of God vocalizing the gospel. But there are also times when those same people need to stay seated, put a sock in their mouth, and love others as Jesus loves them in a not-so-verbal way. A person cannot help but have his or her own opinions on a matter; that is perfectly natural. But simply having thoughts and opinions isn’t reason enough to stand on a soapbox and voice them aloud. Church leaders should know when to speak up and when to appear invisible. Those who know when to wisely make themselves invisible in a matter may find that doing so causes them to later be the most approachable and the ones others come to when they are ready to seek help.

And like the Invisible Woman later learned, church leaders should also be able to generate force fields around themselves and their companions in the gospel when the enemies attack. Because indeed there will be attacks. However, church leaders would be wise to remember the apostle Paul’s armor of God that he wrote about in Ephesians 6—all defensive save for one offensive part of the armor: the sword of the Spirit, or the Word of God. Focus on defense and protecting your colleagues in the gospel, not attacking with offense unless it’s specifically from the Word of God and directed by the Spirit of God.

Speaking of attacks . . .

Ben Grimm (The Thing)

Ben Grimm is Reed Richards’s best friend who was transformed into a monstrous humanoid with rock-like skin and super-strength. He oftentimes is filled with anger and becomes “the heavy” of the group, but over the years he has become known just as well for his honest and direct way of handling tough situations. Watch out for when he says, “It’s clobbering time!” because you don’t want to be caught in the destruction.

Every church needs a leader who’s not afraid to be honest, direct, and “the heavy” when he sees something within his church that needs a little “clobbering.” Hopefully there have been leaders in place who were flexible and adaptable to the changing culture. In the best of churches, there are brash hotheads who know how to light a fire for the gospel in those around him. And churches everywhere need its leaders and congregation alike to know when to be more visible and when to back away. But when these leaders aren’t in place, when leaders are stubborn and unchanging, cold for the Great Commission, and too vocal in controversial matters, they need a Ben Grimm to say, “It’s clobbering time!” and start tearing things down. Every church needs leaders who aren’t afraid to get dirty, to make some people upset, and to destroy the man-made in order to make room for God’s work.

Who in church leadership hasn’t wanted to say, “It’s clobbering time!” to those around him doing a lackluster effort in spreading the gospel to the community, instead holding stubbornly to traditions, protecting their self-image, and seeking out only their own interests? But most don’t voice their differing opinions and therefore change never happens. Every church needs at least one or two Ben Grimms willing to get dirty and do some clobbering for the sake of the gospel.

Entertainment-wise, there is not much to take from the film adaptations of the Fantastic Four, especially the most recent train wreck in theaters right now. But church leaders would be wise to look to the super-powered team of family and friends and see how they can turn the bland, uneventful, dull, and instantly forgettable in their churches into being more adaptable, brash, invisible, and destructive (in a good way) so as to better reach the unchurched in their community and bring the gospel to an ever-changing culture.

It’s clobbering time!

Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, including the 2015 HarperCollins release All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture, available at Barnes and Noble, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Amazon. You can also find him keeping up with the latest goings-on in pop culture on Twitter: @PopCultureKevin