 Okay, so this is kind of a weird video for me to make. I've been very, very, very outspoken about my opposition to trendy mega church pastors and folks that really don't preach the gospel and the hyper entertainmentization of worship and how it's just all about lights and show and smoke machines and all that kind of thing. And so people could easily look at me and my channel and say, okay, Isaac is just vehemently against this stuff. He sees no good in it whatsoever and he hates it. And yeah, that's pretty much the end of the story. But what if I were to tell you that there was a period of my life that not only did I not have a distaste for it, I was attracted to it. It appealed to me and this wasn't too long ago, maybe four years ago or so, that I really began to say, hey, like, I like this. I know I shouldn't like it, but I do like it. And I wanna tell you a little bit why trendy churches, trendy, you know, all that kind of that ambiance and that lifestyle, that culture appealed to me. And maybe by doing that, we can begin to understand a little bit more of what the problem is with it and where maybe we need to learn from it. Okay, so this is my story. I grew up in like a Christian homeschooled household. We were known as like the liberal homeschool family because just because we weren't like ultra-hyper-formers family conservative out in the middle of nowhere. So it was kind of funny because we were very conservative and yet we were seen as like the liberal ones because we wore pants and we listened to secular music sometimes. So anyway, that was kind of funny. But all that being said is that we grew up in this kind of conservative place, conservative bubble for the most part. And then also our church was fairly conservative. We sang some modern music as well, but we had pews. It was just very staunch, not hype and not cool and not trendy, that's for sure. So I'm growing up in this, you know, I liked it because I liked it because I was listening to a lot of like podcasts and things that were kind of very similar to the content that I make today, honestly, a lot of inspiration I took from that growing up. And I was like, okay, I don't want this. I want the meat. I don't want the milk that they're serving up. I don't want the trendy Ted talks that these pastors are trying to serve up. I want the true expositional preaching from the Bible and I don't want worship with running around and flag waving. I just want real, true worship that is focused on God and not on me. So I loved it. I was in it. And then either you go through a period of your life, you graduate and then I was at university for a while and then I left and I kind of got in a spiritual funk. I was like, you're kind of evaluating and I'm for most people, I think they do this, evaluating, okay, what did I grow up believing? What did I, what do I take from that? What do I disagree with? Like you got to be really honest with yourself. A lot of people aren't honest with themselves until way later down the line, but this was a moment of clarity where I'm like, okay, what do I really believe? I know I play this part that this is what I believe about this, but what do I actually feel in my heart about all this? And if I was honest at that point, a lot of the hype around hype worship and that kind of thing and people that were really into it. I'm not saying that it was just like necessarily the crazy, crazy stuff, but just like the worship where people were into it and they were really singing and they were really excited and they were really joyful about it. That appealed to me. It did, it appealed to me. I'm sorry, like it really did because I grew up where maybe you have a couple people raising their hand and that was pretty much it. And I also felt embarrassed to like kind of really show any kind of emotion during worship. And yet I wanted to, I was like, I'd catch the music, pick up a little bit and I'm like, I want to just go crazy right now because I'm experiencing this. But we can't, we can't, we got to reel it in, we got to reel it in. And so you're like, okay, this is appealing to me. What about the pastors that are preaching? If I'm honest, yeah, I knew they weren't super good. A lot of them weren't super good about focusing on the gospel or doing expositional preaching. Like that's true. They didn't go verse by verse. They could have focused a lot more on understanding the nuts and bolts of what the gospel means, absolutely. But they were really good about application. They're really good about practical things of life. They were, they had, a lot of them had a lot more of a softer heart it seemed like towards mental health, towards the daily life of what we're going through. It wasn't just all highfalutin theology. It was real like on the ground stuff. But okay, so that's what I was beginning to notice. In the midst of this, there is a battle. There's an internal battle because it's like having two people in your brain that constantly have answers for each other. So I would say, okay, if I'm honest at that point, I really like the worship. And then I would go back and my other side of me would say, okay Isaac, you like the worship and you're supposed to like the worship because it's entertaining and it's high emotion. That's what you like because you're a human and you wanna get stirred up by emotions but you need to stay grounded and focus on God. And I'd be like, well, our emotions are part of us. Like you can, you should engage with your emotions and be your whole being while you're in worship. Like to be emotionless, it just makes no sense. And the other side would say, oh, well, you're getting too stirred up into the emotion and you're getting swept away and it's not good to just be guided by your emotions in that way. And so there would be this internal battle when it comes to preaching, it would be like, well, hey, those guys, I know they're not super deep theologically and maybe they get some things wrong but they have a really soft heart and they understand the compassion and presence of Jesus and his healing power and his transforming power in our life and how he meets us in just the practical things. And the other side would say, well, that's true, but we preach high theology over here because you as a disciple should be able to take that theology yourself and apply that. We're just making sure that you're a theological, you have a great theological depth. And I would say, well, it's nice to hear some practical application every once in a while. Like, it's cool to just hear all this stuff about the Bible and that kind of thing, but I could use some help about applying it to my life. Like, I want it to feel real. And so there wouldn't be this paradox, it would be this battle where I'm like, I know, I know I shouldn't like this, maybe, but I kind of do. And why do I do? Is it all out of just self-indulgence? Is it all just because I want to be entertained or is there something to this here? Like, it'd be this weird thing where I'm like, I like the emotion that everyone is showing. And yet I see the emotional manipulation that is taking place. And so it's like, I want this, but I don't want this. I want people to be in it and I want to be in a place where faith is alive. Like, that's what I wanted. I wanted to be in a place where faith was alive, but yet when I was in places like that, I couldn't help but feeling fake because of the emotional manipulation that was taking place from the stage. And so there's this desire in my heart. I think what was going on, it was pulling out things in my heart that I wanted to connect with. Like, it's like I wanted there to be a real emotion in my heart about the worship. And I wanted there to be real application about the preaching, but yet it was kind of mingled and twisted with all this manipulation and just focus on the trendiness. And obviously, you guys, if you've seen my content about trendy pastors, you know my perspective on pastors that really flaunt themselves as celebrities and how damaging and negative that is. But that's where I was. I just want to pop in here real quick and tell you a little bit about Patreon. Patreon is a way that people support me on a monthly basis so I can continue to make content that equips people to follow Jesus daily. Thank you to everyone that's already signed up. And if you haven't and you're interested, we do video calls, we have exclusive videos. There's an exclusive Discord. I'd be so grateful if you signed up and supported what I'm doing. Click the link in my description now onto the video. I basically got to the point where I would say, okay, so conservative churches are really good about theology and they're really good about, you know, holding strong to the gospel and preaching the word and all that kind of thing. And like more trendy churches would be better at creating interesting art and creating good meaningful emotional worship that really hit you in the soul. And so they really do this well. They have really good method to how they go about things and it seems very seamless. And yet we really have the theology over here, but it's a false dichotomy. You, there aren't churches. The truth is what I've realized because I was looking for a church for a long time and I found a church and it really baffled me because for a long time I thought, trendy churches have community and they have practical application of their teaching and they have good worship that really gets ya. And then the conservative churches, they are the staunch ones that really don't have that much of a community but they really preach the gospel really well and they preach the Bible and that's really good. And that, you know, for me at that point, like that's the most important. You can do away with all the other stuff, but it's a false dichotomy. That's the truth of it. I don't want you to feel, some people do feel jaded. They feel jaded. They're like, okay, you know, all churches have just sold out and all the churches that haven't are just filled with 90-year-olds. It's not true. I guess I just wanna give some compassion to folks and maybe extend some compassion your way as well. People in your life that you're seeing are going to these churches and you're just like, hey, you're not, they're not preaching the gospel. Why are they going to this church? It might not be just because they're, you know, they want their ears to be tickled. It might not be just because they want to be entertained. They genuinely, I'm gonna say a bunch of them, genuinely want to know God. They want to hear his word. They want to be in community. And they're seeing these big churches come out of nowhere and they're really growing fast and it seems to be an exciting community and they're clinging on to them. Don't dismiss them. Don't dismiss their faith. But it's really just what their appetite is being formed into because that's what they're being fed. So you don't want, like, you're gonna consume what you're given. If all you're given is a diet of milk, then that's what your body is gonna be used to. Of course, they're gonna have a hard time understanding the meat or consuming the meat because they've been raised up on a diet of milk. That's not really their fault. That's, I mean, I get it. Like, okay, they could have put themselves in a better position. They could have went to a better church. Da, da, da, da, da. Young Christians, they don't know this. And so what can we do? Well, I mean, for me, the gateway was exposing them things on, exposing them to preachers online that really gave them the meat. And then they began to understand, wait a minute, my pastor at my church is really not giving me meat. Where can I find solid teaching? Where can I find things that are actually gonna fill me up? But I don't want you to go around, because I went around like this, thinking that, okay, you know, I've got it signed, sealed, and delivered. I know what the best kind of church is like. And I can just like, you know, I know what it's like and you're not going to one. Cause they're trying to find a place. They're trying to find a place to belong. They're trying to find a place to be fed. I have a lot more sympathy towards the people that go to these kind of trendy churches than I used to and compassion for them. I don't have as much compassion for the people that are leading them because there's a lot of manipulation going on. Truly, there is. But I guess that's the message of this video is that I was there. I was there. I was into this. I was, it appealed to me. I could genuinely say that I wanted to watch these sermons. I wanted to take this stuff in because it hits somewhere that that other preaching wasn't hitting. And I don't think that's because it was just hitting in a sinful, prideful place or just really building me up in a positive way. But it was hitting some of the wounds and talking about things and how to navigate anxiety and understanding God as an emotional healer and his presence and power in our life and how we can operate when we don't feel like getting out of bed. These are the things that really hit me that attracted me to it. So I get it. I've been there. And look, as cliche as it might sound, we are all on a spiritual journey. That's the truth. I've changed my theological perspectives. I've grown. I've matured. And now as I get older, and I'm not that old, but as I get older, I just have that much more compassion for people that are on a particular place on their journey. Saying you don't speak up when they're saying something false or they're going down a bad path, especially as a friend, I'm gonna say, maybe that's not the best church to go to or what are they teaching here? Do you think they're really teaching the Bible? That's cool, but I just have grace for people because look, they're learning. God is changing and he's transforming them. And I don't know, man. I'm a lot less into, I'm just gonna tell you what church to go to and you obviously are not a Christian because you go to that church. Like, I just don't think that's true. I just don't think that's true because I've been there. I've been there. Anyway, thanks for watching this video. I hope you got something from it. Until next time, God bless.