Blogversation – David Goetz – Day One – Q Conference
One of the early speakers at the Q Conference in Austin was David Goetz, author of Death by Suburb. See more on this by visiting Jason Barnharts blog: Windmills
David Goetz immediately stirred my interest because he is not just an academic or unseasoned clergy with an opinion. He is He is president of CZ Marketing, a brand and strategy firm serving the nonprofit sector. AND Goetz lives with his family in the very suburban Wheaton, Illinois. He is positioned within the culture he is writing about, and admittedly knows first-hand the struggles and temptations of suburban temptation. For me, someone who is speaking out of their own experience and vulnerability has a special place.
To listen to David Goetz talk about Death by Suburb, download the MP3 file by going here Death By Suburb Audio
I am reminded over and over again how deceptive Satan is. This god we call the Suburban Dream seems so right and so heaven-like, and yet its very pursuit usually takes us in the very opposite direction from God. The more we find what we’re looking for in the suburban life, the more it creates an emptiness that demands to be filled. The hamster wheel is a perfect, in overused, metaphor for the suburban golden calf. It is an idolatry of our own making that seems under our control, but that really puts us on an endless, empty, exhausting pursuit that makes us spin wildly out of control, yet demands that we look calm and happy and put-together on the surface. It’s an amazing device of the Enemy that few see through unless prayer or hardship pull back the corner on the real scene.
Goetz’s talk wasn’t all that profound or novel, but it did pull back the corner a bit and sort of jabbed its finger into a familiar, but undefined sore spot. Now that we know what the pain is caused by, we can work on the tough, thankless job of helping ourselves and others detox. The hardest part of this whole picture is that every addiction denies its own existence and resists its own cure. Addiction can’t exist in the presence of a cure, so it makes the cure look ridiculous and impossible. Many of us have come to the point of knowing our Suburban addiction, and we want to detox, but the question is HOW?
“When Jesus heard this, he said to him (them), ‘You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.‘”
WRONG ANSWER! IS THERE ANOTHER WAY GOD?! David Goetz humbly says that the other ways will be prayer (which most don’t like) or hardship (which no one likes). Addictions suck!
“When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.”
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So anyways, I mentioned in the last post that one of the tradmarks of the Q Conference is its understated treatment of times of worship. Normally, it consists of an individual playing an instrument (guitar or piano) off to the side of the stage. There are white lyrics on a black screen to help lead the singing, but there is no sermonizing, no cheerleading, no request to stand/sit/kneel just sort of natural invitation to enter into worship with the presence of God and and the simplicity of song doing the “work”. Below is a cell phone shot of David Hodges, former member of Evanescence, leading worship from the side of the stage, plunking on a keyboard and singing softly.
Tags: david goetz, Q Conference