An Area of Growth!

It seems everywhere I turn I am hearing and seeing the shrinking of people who are leaving their homes to go to the theater, museums, ballets, operas, concerts, movies, sporting events, etc. It seems like leaving the house, and the associated costs of that trip, has become beyond discretionary, it has become prohibitive to many, if not most.

I sit on a number of non-profit arts and entertainment Boards and support other non-profit organizations so I see it first-hand. The thing call “subscribing” seems to be becoming a relic activity. And, getting people out to attend events, even when they are free, has become such a chore that organizations are shuttering these events and venues to save the productivity and overhead costs. So, it looks like an overall shrinking of audience, except in one place that I see. That is our church. For the past month plus, we have been seeing record number of attendees. These past couple of weekends, we have had people sitting everywhere we could find to be able and accommodate the crowds. Nothing has changed at the church. We haven’t changed the music or the message. What has changed, I believe, is that people are looking for more meaning in life and that the uncertain economic and world fundamentals are driving people back to their own fundamentals; the baseline quest for, and questioning of meaning and purpose. President-Elect Obama got slaughtered for his comments in San Francisco about what people do when they lose faith in their government and cling to their church and guns. I don’t know about the guns part, but he is more right than wrong about the first part and what is wrong with that? I like to say, “That when the going gets tough, the tough drop to their knees”. I personally, look to God and my faith to carry me in the bad times and I know I am not alone. I suspect that we are on the verge of a spiritual reawakening in America. We saw a short-lived one after 9/11 when people returned to their faith to cope and allay their fears. The same is happening again. I would also suggest that those non-profits and corporations who are looking for how to bring back their consumers find a way to delve and probe into what they can provide to help people feel meaningful and purposeful. At least until we are through the crisis, this will be top of mind.