Selecting an Audience

When I read Rick Warren's "Purpose-Driven Church", one of the things that made me squirm was the picture of Saddleback Sam. Warren was talking about how his church had determined to define in detail who their audience was. For them it was a male, young urban professional. They wrapped up everything they knew about this demographic into one symbolic and fictional character they called Saddleback Sam. They even have a picture of this prototypical guy in the book
(The picture above is not the same picture, though it is close).

This made me very uneasy. I think it stemmed from the misunderstanding that this is the only type of person they were open to or interested in reaching. I've since learned that is not the case, but he is their primary target.

I'm not trying to proof-text, but it does seem that Paul and Barnabas had a primary target. Acts 13:5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. Often they started with a focus on those who already understood who YHWH was. Perhaps it had to do with some lingering questions about the Gentiles place in all of this. Perhaps the Jews were just typically more receptive... I don't know.

However, the Holy Spirit redirected them and sent them to testify before the Roman Proconsul Sergius Paulus.

I think, then it comes to this: Using worldy marketing methods, such as defining your audience, are not necessarily bad. But we should not hold so devoutly to them when the Spirit leads in other directions. Where there is revelation obey. Where there is no revelation, use wisdom.