MBCC Mii Jesus raising a ruckus.

Oh now we gone and done it!  Our 2008 "Come and Follow Mii" postcard has totally blowuptuated in the gaming world.  They laughed, the cried, they defended and they mocked.  And in the end I think it is pretty awesome that an small idea born at the end of a book group over bubble tea and laughter has created such a level of conversation.

Unlike many at MBCC, I am not a gamer, so these websites - and much of the vernacular used within them - is totally foreign to me.  Still the blend of thoughtfullness, passion, anger, judgment, humor and insight was fascinating.

Here are three sites w/comments worth taking a look at or you just need to google "follow mii" or "mii church" and you'll get a bunch of links.  [Ongoing List]

kotaku.com
gonintendo.com
digg.com

You really have to read the comments yourself, but here are a few highlights that show the breadth and depth of the reactions.

On the color of our Wii Jesus // omicron1

Also, on racial issues: Jesus' human body would have been similar in race to his Israeli parents - neither white nor black, per se, but a sort of deep tanned skin color - sort of like the Mii above. However, as we really don't have any photographs of Christ's Bar Mitzvah, it has fallen to various church elders to reconstruct Christ's visage in their own mind's eyes and transcribe it to statues and paintings - thus we have black Christs in Africa and white Christs in Europe. It really doesn't matter either way, to be honest.  

On MBBC's irreverace // Chibi Forte

Can you say “emergent”?  “Seeker sensitive”, perhaps?  And, obviously, “irreverent”?  Really, this whole idea of “Churches being relevant to the culture” is driving me nuts. Can’t we just stick to sermons that are preached exegetically and reverently and go from there?  I mean, I would begrudgingly let them pass muster in a few areas on their website (membership classes, membership not equaling true conversion, lack of clown communion, etc.), but the sheer irreverent attitude and the pathetic mission statement disgusts me, frankly.  I’ll keep listening to my John MacArthur and John Piper, thank you.

On the intent // OnLegendary86

It's not sacreligious dude. Jesus was a man who had fun and danced and drank wine. There is nothing wrong with some cool advertising that makes people look at Christians and think of church differently.

There are many observations to make from the comments, least of all the passionate and strong opinions that are shared about the church and Jesus.  There seems to be both a reverence and repulsion about the church as well as assumptions about what kind of community MBCC is.  Again, fascinating.

In the end, like our website, if it offends you at that level, MBCC might not be a place where you will be fed.  But . . . if you could take it for what it was, a playful attempt at wit and welcome, MBCC might be a place for you.

Again, fascinating.

Comments

[L.L. Barkat]

Makes me wonder how Ezekiel would have fared in our public square... disturbing image-maker that he was.

[Kathi]

I love the commentary on some of these blog sites. My reaction was, ha, funny and clever. I think what a lot of the people commenting don't have the context or understanding that MBCC is just real people who are in culture (i.e. some of us play the wii), have a sense of humor, and go to church. Crazy combination I suppose??

It didn't occur to me that it was somehow a desperate attempt to connect with people or recruit churchgoers -- it's just a funny ad!

Also interesting how often the topic of 'wait, was Jesus black?' came up in the comments.

[Paul]

Hi Bruce -

I do love the Mii...but it would be even hipper if you used the "buddy Jesus" from Dogma.

:-D

Feel free to "franchise" your church down here at any time...

[David Williams]

I must disagree with Paul...Miis are way, way cooler. I love playing Wii Sports Baseball with my pups and having Jiisus come up to bat. Jolly entertaining!

[daniel so]

Bruce -- I love it! Stirring up trouble in gamerland. If you make it onto G4TV then you know you've made it into nerd-vana :)

What I find interesting/disturbing is how some people seem to hold the Wii in higher esteem than Jesus. I mean, even for non-churchy types, that's kind of an extreme point of view. But what an incredible set of discussions you've managed to generate!

[A.Y. Siu]

It actually is on G4TV now.
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/683827/Jesus_Mii_Invites_You_To_Easter_Services.html

It's also on the Australian Gamer Podcasttalk about the postcard starts about five minutes into the podcast.
http://www.australiangamer.com/podcast/Australian_Gamer_Podcast_115.mp3

[breyeschow]

Yeah, pretty wild. I have been added to the list on the MBCC blog post. There is one Christian site that has accused us of being "profane" so lets see if that gets picked up by others. This really is very interesting.