Text and Context Conference: Session 4, Jim Gilmore

Day 2 of the conference kicked off at 9am with Session 4 by Jim Gilmore, Fear and Trembling in the Experience Economy.  Gilmore is a businessman and author who studies cultural trends and who, here, out of his love for the gospel and the local church, spoke to pastors about the cultural and economic trends he sees impacting the church today.Given the message title and content, it appears that much of what Gilmore said stems from his book (which is for sale here in the Mars Hill Bookstore), The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business A Stage.Gilmore began by surveying the progression of economic value that's taken place in America over the last several hundred years: the movement from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy to a service economy and now, to an "experience economy." Gilmore's thesis is that we are now living in an experience economy, an economy that commodifies time--that's driven by the quest for/sale of certain experiences (ie., the Starbucks experience, Las Vegas--"the epicenter of the experience economy...Everything that happens in Las Vegas is coming soon to your town").Gilmore predicts that we're beginning to become a "transformation economy," an economy and culture driven by a quest for ongoing transformation and self-change (ie., plastic surgery).Moving to application of his experience economy thesis for pastors and church planters, Gilmore asked the question, "Why is it that some experiences are more compelling than others?," encouraging pastors to think through church life through this experience grid. Here Gilmore worked with a continuum/chart that charted passive vs. active experience and absorbing vs. immersive relationships. Here's my buddy Steve Hart's (old college friend /godly man/husband and father of four/Acts29 church planter in Spokane/the guest speaker I have coming to teach our twenties retreat this summer) drawing of Gilmore's chart:Gilmore encouraged pastors to aim for the sweet spot on this chart, to lead churches that have a balance of educational (active experience/absorbing relationship), escapist (active experience/immersive relationship), entertainment (passive experience/absorbing relationship), and asthetic experiences and relationships (passive experience/immersive relationship).There's more to report, but I talked and laughed a lot with my buddy Steve during the session. Get the audio, or maybe just get the book.PS. I thought Gilmore's definition of culture was helpful: "Culture is that set of behavior that remains the same even after you've had a 100% turn over in the people."