"Our people won't watch a screen."

This is a classic reaction from prospective multisite leaders who can't get over the hump. It's said from leaders in churches of all sizes and in all cities, countries, and cultures. But is it right?

No way, it’s not right.

First, this statement is too broad. Too extreme.

Who are “our people”? And what is “watch”? And what is a “screen” in this case?

This reminds me of the comical “screen fatigue” excuse of 2020 and 2021 when leaders couldn’t get their teams to engage in Zoom meetings. Simultaneously Netflix and other streaming services had record years in revenue, subscriptions, and hours watched. So a “screen” evidently wasn’t the problem. But we all loved throwing that excuse around to make us feel better about our lack of engagement.

Second, I’m not advocating the screen preaching model in multisite as THE model of all models. If you’ve followed me even for a little while then you know I don’t use the word “model” and don’t subscribe to any one model … in anything. So it’s funny to me when the initial response from pastors has to do with a screen. Not money, not a shallow leadership bench, not their inability to envision scaling, only that “our people” won’t “watch” on a screen. Why is that the enemy?

Let’s pick it apart.