Modest Proposal #1

For all of my nearly six decades, good churches have been bringing printed, audio, and, increasingly, video resources into the local church in attempts to be more productive for the kingdom. And, unfailingly, whether we're talking Here's Life, America, Promise Keepers, Purpose Driven Church, Treasure Principle or you name it, these "imported" resources generate controversy. Why is that? Really. Why is that?
Here is my proposal: A one year "fast" from inputs outside the congregation. For twelve months, the Bible will be our only source of content. No videos, no outside seminars, no fill in somebody else's blanks curriculum; no Wiersbe BE anything, no Christian karaoke (pre-recorded accompaniment), no Jesus is my Buddy children's programs. Just Scripture. If the Bible is sufficient, let it be so for one year.
By structuring this experience as a fast, we are suggesting that just as food is a good gift from a good God, but can be distracting from the essence of our faith, so all of these resources, although potentially useful, can also end up being a distraction.
So go for it; try this in your church for a year and let me know what you learn. Let me know what you plan to do with an empty church building; or let me know if the Spirit has broken through the cultural pollution that inevitably infects "universal" (we prefer the euphemism "transferrable") solutions to local needs.