Creps uses POV to stand for Point Of View. However, the chapter might be more aptly named, "The Discipline of Points of View," as that is what it actually discusses here. His point is the various points of view exist in the world and in the religious movements. A "Blueprint POV" consists of a point of view where a mission is either designed (blueprinted) and then made or simply borrowed from another successful model (using someone elses blueprint). A "Reverse Engineering POV" in a mission consists of disassembling a culture (such as Postmodernism) and developing a strategy to reach people coming from a particular cultural point of view. Many attempts to disassemble Postmodernism simply boil down to "its a new a different trend from Modernism." Hence, it has no name of its own but is simply described as "Post-Modernism" or "that which comes after Modernism, whatever that is, but we don't know what to call it yet." Creps attempts to describe Postmodernism using a "black hole" metaphor. (The very description smacks of his own Modernist assumptions--whatever. :) ) At the center of the black hole is the belief that nothing is truly knowable. How far you are sucked into Postmodernist belief depends on how close you are to the center of this philosophical black hole. As Creps puts it, "So the philosophy affects those under its influence according to their closeness to the ultimate no," (p. 30) or the center of the black hole where people believe that nothing is knowable. (Written like a true Modernist. :) ) However, the statement I thought which mosts reflects the Postmodern college students that I work with is, "Most people hold a hybrid view that is picked up from various sources along the way without much critical reflection," (p. 31) or as he calls it later in the chapter, "Folk Religion POV." I prefer to think of it as "buffet-style spirituality" where people pick a little of whatever they wish to sample, then go back for bigger helpings of the things they like. I agree with Creps that real faith knows how to thrive in a climate of folk religion by relying less on the tools of leadership skills and ministry methods and relying more on the powerful spiritual tools of faith, prayer, and love. You go Earl-baby!
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