Don't be Fred Allen

Don’t be Fred Allen. Most of you are scratching your head because you’ve never heard of Fred Allen. He was a very popular comedian in the 1940s who influenced notables like Groucho Marx, Henry Morgan, and Johnny Carson. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a huge fan of his as were legendary authors William Faulkner and John Steinbeck. He was perhaps the most popular spokesman of his day. And then, television came along. He had three short-lived shows. They gave him his own show. They tried to pair him up with other stars. They let him host a game show. They make him a panelist on others game shows. But he never made the jump. He didn’t like television and made fun of it and it’s executives and even the viewers. He couldn’t change to reach a new audience and medium. 

What has happened the last four weeks has screamed at me, “Don’t be Fred Allen.” Don’t quit: Learn to adjust. The Message must never change, “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Our Mission must never change, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” (Mark 16; 1 Corinthians 15). Our Method must never change, “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:1). But our Medium, it will vary from location to location, from generation to generation, sometimes even from Sunday to Sunday or audience to audience. 

Things change all the time. Rarely are those changes as instant and definable as this one. The Great Depression changed things, Pearl Harbor changed things, 9/11 changed things. The Gospel never changes, the vessels, do, the soil does. When a person has a child, loses a parent, faces divorce, moves, becomes an empty-nester, buries their spouse and a thousand other events may make one ready to hear the Message. 

As we’ve all hustled to keep up with this most recent change abruptly thrust upon us I want to speak a word of encouragement to you. It may not be easy, but work hard, adjust, embrace this opportunity - don’t quit. We don’t know how long this will last or what will come next (incidentally, God does, and our Boss is the only One who knows Omnisciently) but, there will be people you were not able to reach before who will now be reachable. Now, more than ever, don’t quit! Be your best, learn, work hard, your Work matters.