Most of the time, in the secular world, we see an amazing first season of a television show. Then season after season, it gets worse and worse till eventually it’s not worth watching anymore. The network pulls the strings only after the show has become a shadow of what it once was.

But that’s the secular world. There’s not much desire to please the audience other than to make a paycheck and attempt to entertain their fans. Once that gets stale and the checks keep coming in no matter what, you’re left with a sixth season of Lost.

I remember back when I was first really into Way of the Master. Right around the time God saved me, I would spend time watching Way of the Master episodes on Google Video. I was quite simply addicted to them as I had never heard anything like it before.

But, let’s be honest, the first episodes of Way of the Master were not amazing technical achievements in the creative arts. For the most part, it was Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort standing in front of some rocks, or at the Golden Gate Bridge talking. The next scene would be their now famous interviews, then on to an awful looking graphic of the ten- commandments, swing back to Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort and it would repeat until the episode was finished.
It did not have much entertainment value.

In Christian media, the Glory of God is what we should strive for. We have this tremendous opportunity to glorify Christ, the Creator of creativity with the abilities he has given us, and Way of the Master constantly amazes me as an example of sanctification. This Christian Media is constantly doing the opposite of the world’s media, and in fact, Way of the Master is getting better and better.

Last week I was given a preview of Mission Europe: Paris, which will be available in a few weeks. If you have not already heard, the fourth season of WOTM follows the crew as they travel to 13 European countries in just 13 days in an incredibly fast-paced evangelism trip. It’s really different from the previous seasons that usually cover a single topic. This season is different because it tells the story of the entire fast-paced European evangelism trip, behind the scenes technical difficulties and all.

Likewise, editing of the show is equally fast-paced, to the point, and saturated with the Gospel. Also, Season Four is rooted in open-air preaching. The main point of every episode emphasizes the importance of preaching in the open air. Paris is no different, and it’s truly unique to see Ray Comfort, Mark Spence and Scotty preach the truth about the Love of God, in the city of love.

One thing about open-air preaching you hear all the time is, “This is not the best way to reach the culture,” or, “You’re not relating to the people.” But, what the forth season of Way of the Master demonstrates is that in every country, regardless of the different cultures, different people, and different languages, you see preaching in the open-air being used to bring glory to God. During the open-air preaching, crowds of people gathered together, hecklers included, and they all responded with the same flawed arguments as the people in America. There truly is nothing new.

But, there is something new about the Paris episode, Season Four, which makes it stand out from the rest; it’s the motion graphic work. More specifically, the key to all the special and crazy effects seen in Season Four are the result of the skills God has given to Dale Jackson. Dale is the special effects genius at Living Waters.

Instead of taking a normal, chroma keyed monologue from Kirk Cameron, Mark Spence, or Stewart Scott, and just placing something bland or a photo behind them, Dale Jackson and the others that help him, create these really intense, and dynamic typographies that really help keep your attention and highlight what’s important. Not every graphic that is on the episode is created by Dale Jackson, as there is clearly some stock mediaused as well. However, the in-house graphics and the stock

graphics are blended together so well, that it’s almost impossible to tell which graphics are store bought, and which are from the desk of Dale Jackson.

It’s exciting to see a show progress through the years with such a caliber of excellence and I really look forward to seeing how Season Five advances and improves in the entire production. Season Four really is a treasure for the Body of Christ to cherish for generations.

Be sure to purchase every episode of Way of the Master Season 4 as they come out by clicking here.

So the past few weeks I was bombarded with facebook IM’s and phone calls asking me if I had heard the latest Matt Chandler sermon. The sermon which can be found here aired on the seventeenth of January and contained some pretty harsh words for us Way of the Master fanatics.

In the sermon he divided evangelism up in two camps. The relational evangelist and the Way of the Master Evangelist or as he called it “The Shotgun Approach”

I believe that Matt Chandler was very honest and what he said (for the most part) was correct.

Now please, breathe out all the air you just inhaled and lets continue.

The relational camp never gets around to sharing the Gospel using words and the Way of the Master camp does tend to generate a lot of pride-filled die hard “It’s Ray’s way or the high way followers.”

I want to be very clear from the front. Both statements are correct. However there is a very important reason that the title of this post contains an asterisk.

The Gospel can be presented to people you work with over time, in small chunks. It can be presented during times of crises, at Starbucks, in music, in poetry and many other ways contextually speaking. I think us Way of the Master folks can very easily become filled with pride and discouragement when 99% of the Church refuses to come out with you on your weekly outings but we have to remember that sharing the Gospel surrounded by drunks at 2am on a Saturday night is not everyone’s cup of tea. With that being said the relational evangelist cannot say that street evangelism is “not their thing” until they have tried it first and more times then not the relational camp uses their method of evangelism as an excuse to do nothing at all.

There are different places, times and ways people share the Gospel but the message of the Gospel cannot be contextualized.

And this is where I think the heart of the issue is.

In the sermon Matt Chandler mentions “The Law” when describing Way of the Master and then goes on to describe his shot gun approach to sharing the Gospel on an airplane by telling the person beside them that he teaches Hedonism and explains to them Joy in Christ.

I think this was unclear and has left people confused.

You see when sharing the Gospel it is vital that the one being witnessed to knows that they have personally violated God’s Law. They personally have rebelled against the creator because of their own personal sins. They personally stand before God without the blood of Jesus Christ at enmity, as His enemy deserving of Hell.

If this is something that Matt Chandler believes is “The Way of the Master” he is wrong. This is Biblical. This is a vital and irreplaceable part of the Gospel. Paul says in Galatians that “The law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ” and without it’s proper use, the one being witnessed to is not receiving the full council of God.

You see the Way of the Master “Have you ever told a lie” script is a great way to get people started sharing the Gospel. It is a biblical method as seen with the rich young ruler but “the script” is not the Gospel. It is merely a way to summarize the Gospel. There are many ways to expose someone to their wickedness before the creator and the grace shown through Jesus Christ without using a cue card.

In 1 Corinthians where Paul discusses the “divisions” and which Matt Chandler uses to address The Way of the Master idolatry; Apollos was not ‘only’ giving Grace and Paul was not ‘only’ giving Law. If this were the case they were both wrong, because none were sharing the entire Gospel which addresses both law and grace together.

So I would ask Matt Chandler to clarify his statement. What is a Gospel presentation? You surely wouldn’t say that a Gospel presentation is good if it fails to mention the death of Christ or his resurrection? So what must it contain? We can talk about contextualization of the Gospel all day long, but if we don’t know what the Gospel is then were completely wasting our time and the time of those we come in contact with.

PS
On a side note, stop endorsing movies that blaspheme the name of God from the pulpit. I think the Biblical overtones in my Bible are enough for me, I don’t need to see them in a movie. Especially one that only gets 44% on the Rotten Tomato meter.

Sola Scriptura