I will continue to look, but I won’t hold my breath. Look for what, you ask? I will continue to look for a person who’s been compelled to change because of a bumper sticker! I have been searching for years, but haven’t found one person who’s ever admitted to having been swayed to a pro-life position, to believe in God, or to change their political affiliation because a bumper sticker was so powerfully moving that they couldn’t but change. Despite the futility of my search, I know they will continue to be printed and placed on bumpers, the back of windows, or, as was the case for me today, passed out in a local WalMart.
I was torn yesterday morning. We’d been purchasing our fruit and vegetables at a local grocery store, but I was short on time. Heading back to campus, WalMart was right on the way. I let convenience reign, when I knew I should have forgone convenience for something more enduring (That’s another subject, though.). So I went to WalMart.
Inside I crossed paths with a man I’d met before. In fact, he is a part of my Christian fellowship, but not a member of our particular congregation. He hands me a religio-political bumper sticker. I’m not even an Obama fan and it ticked me off. The thought that a dumb bumper sticker like the one he handed me might, at all, be persuasive is simply absurd to me. It smacked of everything that I’ve grown weary of over the years. To be brutally frank, I was embarrassed- both for him and for the fact that this is what things have come to.
Last year, I read Lord Save Us From Your Followers by Dan Merchant. It was an insightful look into how people perceive professed Christians. Part of Merchant’s project was to stick a bunch of bumper stickers onto a white jump suite and ask New Yorkers questions about Jesus and Christians. He found that a good number of people, several of whom were atheists, had a favorable opinion about Jesus, but an unfavorable opinion about today’s Christians. There seems to be a growing disparity between the modern Christian and the First Century Savior. His book probes into why. He’s also produced a DVD that is probably worth watching. I haven’t seen it, though.
Merchant had more than a few things to suggest about “bumper sticker” evangelism. It’s not conversational, at all. Nor is it really affective. In fact, it tends to be rather offensive. But the book spoke to me because of my growing disgust for an approach that demeans more than discusses, that markets more than it moves.
I mean really, is this what we’ve come down to? Walking around WalMart passing out religio-political bumper stickers? Lord save us from your followers? These days I can’t help but agree!




