I jumped on the Bell Bandwagon when his first Nooma video was released and used all his videos in my youth ministry. Honestly, his creativity challenged me to put more effort in all things ministry. Why should the world have all the best, most creative forms of advertising/entertainment//message delivering. Rob Bell really opened my eyes to how poorly most Christians deliver God's message to the lost.

However, around the time Velvet Elvis came out, I noticed a change in Rob's message. Gradually it felt like he was no longer being as creative as possible when delivering the Gospel but was trying as hard as possible to be shocking. He wasn't just thinking "outside the box" in regards to his methodology, he was jumping out of the box in regards to his doctrine. I must admit….I liked him so much that at first I just wanted to close my eyes to this change. Eventually, the changes were overwhelming and I couldn't deny them any longer.

I fear that Rob's creativity and knowledge has caused him to lose sight of why he started thinking outside the box in the first place. I think his goal was to reach people in new ways….to use methods previously unused….to "do Christianity in ways it's never been done before"……..

In my humble and saddened opinion…..he missed the mark. I pray that Rob will remember the message of salvation that started him on this journey; that he will remember why he accepted the message of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection as payment for his sin; and that he will stop trying to "shock-jock" the message of the Bible and start pointing people to a true relationship with Jesus Christ.

I pray that I will work to share the Gospel as creatively and with as high of quality as Rob once did.