Dead Flies and Church Plants (On the Hazards of Electrical Attraction)

First, I listened to this podcast from the Episcopal Herald. I did so because it 1) was hosted by my good friend and 2) promised to speak to a topic near to my heart as a missional campus minister: church-planting. So far, so good.

Then, I proceeded to watch a fly flirt with death around a spider web for the entirety of the podcast. Little known fact: spider webs send out electric signals weirdly made from the beating of a fly's own wings. The signal - what is called electrical attraction - calls out like a siren's song to the unsuspecting fly.

In other words, a fly gets deceived into chasing life in literally the only place where life isn't - a dark, small, corner of the building - even when God-fearing souls open the windows, which I tried, not because I like flies but because I'm conflict avoidant, generally.

All of which is more or less what happens to churches that don't listen to the guests on this outstanding podcast. The moral, as always: don't listen to the electric song; get out of the building. That's where the life is.

Filed under #GrimIllustrationsFromTheWorldOfCampusMinistry