Rob Bell says this:
Q: But what is the purpose of your tours?
A: One is that, when you work really hard to create something, a book or a film or a sermon, it’s just pure joy to share it with people. Tonight I’m in Ottawa, and I’ll go up and for two hours take people on a journey through the content of the book. It’s the joy of the communal gathering, taking these ideas and turning them loose. At the most basic level, it’s just great fun.Q: What is this tour about?
A: Give me the right music and lighting and setting, and you can do almost anything. What’s far more interesting is when people are presented with ideas and begin to reshape the way you see the world. This tour, I’m walking people through suffering and creativity. How many people, if you ask them to talk about defining moments in their lives, mention really hard things? People rarely say, ‘Well, I went on vacation…’ These moments in our lives that are the most traumatic, that we would do anything to avoid, end up in retrospect being the moments that shape us. My goal is to create an experience that opens people up. There is no altar call. No one comes down and checks a box.
It looks as though someone removed a brick...does it matter?
Apparently, it is also about making money, for someone….
Rob Bell Tickets
Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 8 p.m.
Section Row Price (ea) # Provider
TERR HH $180.00 7 TicketNetwork
ORCH Q $272.00 4 TicketNetwork
ORCH P $282.00 2 TicketNetwork
1/1
Yeah, I know…its a ticket broker. But somebody bought up tickets to see mega-superstar preacher, then sell them for $282. Do you know how many compassion kids could be fed for that?! No, we would rather worship a personality like Rob Bell.
I think I will go with the Apostle Paul:
2 Corinthians 11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! 2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you p as a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. 6 Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
7 Or a did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? 8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. 9 And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. 11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do12 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
16 I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord’s authority but as a fool. 18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!
But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and f often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
Rob Bell talks about helping people who suffer, and he has never suffered a day in his life for the Gospel. No, he travels like a rock star from venue to venue putting on a show that is devoid of the Gospel. He charges money for people to hear his false teaching. He publishes books and the publishing company sells them for $30 a pop. Somebody is making a profit off of the teaching he does, and even if it is not him, it is indicative of a wicked spirit in today’s evangelicalism. The Gospel is to be given free of charge.
Of course, there is much more money in the false Gospel that Rob Bell preaches anyway.
John,
Had you gone, one thing that you would have seen is that Bell partnered with an organization that provides clean drinking water to villages that do not have it. While talking about suffering and how we can come alongside people in their suffering, he shared how people can donate money to this organization by texting their pledge amount to the number on the screen. He personally texted in $200 and as I looked around the room, I would guess that half of the people in attendance had their phones out. I haven’t seen any numbers for the event I attended, but he shared that they have seen tens of thousands of dollars given over the course of the tour. So you know who made profited from the tour? People around the world who now have water to drink. Bell didn’t. In fact, he probably lost money on the tour since they give away any profits and since he personally donated money (presumably) at each stop along the way.
http://emergentpillage.blogspot.com/2009/03/pots-and-kettles.html
–Last year I was in Canada for a couple of days, staying in downtown Ottawa. When I got to my hotel, I noticed that there was a buzz about the lobby. Lots of people with cameras and lots of British accents.
–I got my key and took the elevator to my floor, and as I walked down the hall, the door of the room next to mine opened and a woman stepped out wearing a shirt with four words on it: “Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Charlie.”
–Ah, yes, the Rolling Stones.
–With great passion, she told me that they were staying in this very hotel, and that the concert was tomorrow night, only a mile form here.
Rob Bell, sex god, p. 34
The point here is, on a trip of some kind, Bell stayed in the same hotel as the Rolling Stones. Although it doesn’t say what hotel it was, one may safely assume that the Stones don’t do Motel 6 or Red Roof, or whatever the Canadian equivalents are.
Btw, how about letting us know what organization Bell is partnering with.
Tickets in tampa were $30. I brought people from my church who didn’t have enough money, and they were given tickets for whatever price they could afford. One young man was sold a ticket by the tour staff for $4. I’d say that’s very generous.
I would pay $180 to not hear Rob Bell.