Adam McLane

Just say “Christian”

I read every bio of every new person who follows one of my Twitter accounts.

It amazes me how common it is for church leaders to use symbolic, flowery language to describe who they are or what they do.

You could just say “I’m the youth pastor at First Baptist.”

Why does it have to be “I lead others to follow the One in The Way He has lead me.”

We live in a trust society that has some trust issues with the church. We need the good people to be more direct about who they are to help people see that there are a lot more normal people leading churches than there are quacks.

Don’t beat around the bush… Don’t use flowery language or make people surf around to find out more.

It’s like the “I’ve got a smoking hot wife” thing, using a lot of flowery language to describe yourself seems to project an insecurity.

Just be direct, folks. Be proud of who you are and what you do.

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Adam McLane

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14 responses to “Just say “Christian””

  1. Rachel Blom Avatar
    Rachel Blom

    Mine says ‘Jesus follower’, is that direct enough for you? 🙂

    I hate the smoking hot wife thing by the way, I really do. If that’s the most important thing to say about your wife…and all the youth pastors seem to do it. Why?

    Reply
  2. mbayne76 Avatar
    mbayne76

    Great post and so tru!

    Reply
  3. mbayne76 Avatar
    mbayne76

    Its also TRUE that I can’t type (TRU)

    Reply
  4. Jonathan Wright Avatar
    Jonathan Wright

    What if we aren’t really using twitter for for work but as a more personal/sports kind of thing.

    Reply
    1. Chad Avatar
      Chad

      I don’t think your original purpose for starting a twitter really makes much a difference. In fact, if you’re not using it for work, it would seem that using a “creative” phrase becomes even more cryptic. Using terms like, “The Way,” and “The One,” are not exactly mainstream terms that other people will understand.

      Reply
  5. Robbie Mackenzie Avatar
    Robbie Mackenzie

    Thanks Adam.

    Reply
  6. Marty Estes Avatar
    Marty Estes

    Wow! I love this. No need to be “Truth Architect” or “Vision Leader” when you just say it plainly. People who aren’t Christians know exactly what those titles mean, anyway.

    Reply
    1. adam mclane Avatar
      adam mclane

      Yeah… Kinda all code for “insecure about being called a pastor.” 🙂

      Reply
  7. Brian Avatar
    Brian

    I agree with the twitter thing also, but the one that shrugs my shoulder is the email signature. Pastors/Ministers/Revs/FriendofChrist (whatever they call themselves at church) have elaborate email signatures. So when they send you a short response back like, “Sure that sounds fun” their email signature pops up

    So and So
    Youth Pastor, lover of Christ, who plays disc golf for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    After awhile its a little ridiculous

    Reply
    1. adam mclane Avatar
      adam mclane

      Agreed. An email signature should be as small as possible.

      Reply
    2. Kurt J. Avatar
      Kurt J.

      Hey Brian,
      Leave disc golf out of this! 🙂

      Reply
  8. Kurt J. Avatar
    Kurt J.

    Adam,
    I totally agree with you so this little exhortation is to myself as much as it is to me; and it’s been something I’ve noticed becoming a bit of a habit in my own life so I tend to be sort of sensitive when I see it.

    My only beef here is that you are assigning motives to people when you don’t know the motives. I think the truth that simply stating “Youth Pastor” or “Christian” is more clear is obvious and tough to dispute. However, WHY somebody chooses to use a more creative, poetic, descriptor isn’t as obvious, and while it might be out of insecurity…it might not be.

    And I think that one of the biggest problems amongst us Travelers of The Way of The One is that we assign motives far too comfortably:

    * If I have a more conservative of view of women in ministry I’m a misogynist and my motive is to protect my white male power and privilege.

    * If I have a more liberal view of sexuality I’m a progressive and my motive is to undermine the authority of scripture.

    * etc.

    Because you haven’t written anything in a while that fired me up, I had to come up with something…and that’s the best I could do! 🙂

    Reply
    1. adam mclane Avatar
      adam mclane

      I’ll work on my “why Saddleback is creole for devil worship” post.

      Reply
  9. Kurt J. Avatar
    Kurt J.

    P.S. I apologize to everybody for my use of TWO smiley face emojis this morning. No excuse folks, no excuse.

    Reply

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