truth in advertising....

A restaurant has some mettle if it's willing to propose that it has the best "whatever" in town. Now this is okay if you are in a town that has a blinking yellow light at its only intersection and a general store for its town center. You can claim that you have the best orange marmalade preserves in this town if you want. No one has to know that it is the only orange marmalade preserves available in town, they just need to know it's the best.

Because when stacked up against, well.. air, yours is most likely the best. No worries to you restaurants in one-horse towns. You can probably claim to have the best whatever in town that you want, because it is the best (albeit the only) in town.

My beef is with establishments in the city that claim they have the best (you fill in the blank) food in town. I think you better have some serious grub, especially if you are in a city as big and diverse as (where I live) Orlando. Will I experience what you are claiming about your food??? I think it is only fair, if a restaurant claims they have the best in town, that they should be able to back it up. (i.e. the proof of the pudding is in the eating)

Now, I guess restaurants can't go around advertising themselves as "some of the most average" food in town or even "quite possibly the best second-tier" food you will ever eat. But don't B.S. me. Don't advertise your food is "the best" when it is average "at its best"

But as I thought about this I wonder if we can say the same thing about churches. I mean do we really mean what we advertise?

When your marquee says, "passionate about people", is that really what you are cooking? Does your mission statement say, "Caring for the city", when what the meal you are really serving is "Caring only for the insiders". I'm not saying I'm immune, because do I really believe that someone who came into our church (Grace), experience our moniker? But I think we seriously need to ask ourselves this question if we want people in our city to respect what we advertise.

Again, I'm not saying to adopt slogans like, "Jesus loves you..., but then again He loves everybody" or "You have three weeks to shape up, or you need to leave". But we need to get real with ourselves when it comes to our vision and mission. I mean do we just "say" that we are the light of the world and salt of the earth. Or are we illuminating dark places and creating a savory aroma of Christ in our city??

Big question to ask, but if we ask it of other things, why cant people ask it of us?