I couldn’t agree with you more. Obviously, it’s what I wrote in this post. Which is why I’m not sure where you’re gathering the information when you say that I perform “only in churches and church venues,” or that “90% of my audiences are Christians,” or that my “entire schedule is a bunch of churches.” This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

1. The 3 shows I’m doing tomorrow will be at schools, not churches. On Saturday, I’m doing two shows, both at massive shopping malls in Bangkok. On Sunday, I’ll be at a convention center.

2. This entire month, I’m performing in a part of the world where less than 1% of the entire population is made up of Christians. At each show, 1-2 people out of every 1,000 might be a Christian.

3. Out of all the shows we just did this past fall, during our entire fall tour, we only performed in two church buildings. We mostly performed in theaters and performing arts centers, and the shows were marketed to entire cities, not people who go to church.

4. Two years ago, over 80% of our shows were in church venues. In 2009, that number will end up at less than 30%. And 30 of the 50 shows that make up that few 30% take place in the months of February & March, which happens to be the part of our tour schedule that is posted online right now, and the part that you’re focusing on. (And those 30% of shows are very intentionally created to serve a unique purpose within the church, to encourage those in it to think about those outside of it.)

The purpose of the post wasn’t to say that I’m leaving the church, but that we are actively pursuing more opportunities that fit the frame of thought I wrote about in the blog post. We’ve made a lot of progress in the past couple of years, whether it’s pursuing short-term contracts in Vegas, corporate events and cruise ships, or partnering with a church who wants to host an event outside of the building it owns.

I don’t want my church partnership to go away. It’s essential to what we do. Nor do I want to throw out the remaining 25%-30% of “church events” we do. Rob Bell wrote a book for Christians in hopes that they might understand this concept, among others. He is consistently working to reach those outside of the church, while continuing to teach and remind those within it. I’d like to go into to some churches, leave to go back into the world, and take a bunch of people with me. And as if that weren’t a good enough reason to stay there, there’s also a lot of people filling church seats on Sunday mornings who still aren’t actually Christians. Clearly, someone needs to let them know, and it’s a message I feel called to share.

Hopefully, this clarifies and offers you the needed perspective about how we’re currently doing things, and what we’re actually pursuing.

Thanks for reading the blog and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate your willingness to post your thoughts. Keep it up!