Jacob survived being on the five pm local news show. It was a segment in two parts about young urban families and the resurgence of regular church attendance, the trend of spirituality.
He thought that was very cool and so they came out to interview him in the church and instead started right in on an edgy pigeonholing of ministers under forty and how they bring a cool factor to an otherwise stodgy institution.
I've done it, thought it, said it myself. What irked Jacob was their intro, it blindsided him when they introduced him as Local Unitarian minister Jacob Reilly, the founder of (our church) in (our neighborhood) who is a lot more rock and roll than Reverend.
He didn't want to focus on Jacob. He doesn't want people showing up because it's the new cool thing to do, he wants them to show up to worship.
Once we stopped wincing (since what's done is done) the actual story itself was positive, upbeat and succinct, and both Sam and Jake are proud of the numbers they can quote attendance-wise, and even more proud of the stake the church has and the positive role it plays in the community.
Nowhere at any time did anyone mention how popular the back lot is at night for casual albeit safe-sex encounters. I went over to help rake leaves this morning and found four more condoms. Maybe they should put that on the news. Jacob is still over there now, installing motion-sensor lighting to try and make it less appealing. I came home. I'm out of steam already and it's only 10 a.m.
