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Hooters church
- Thread starter steveo
- Start date
Baptist in Richmond
Active Member
Can a Progressive Southern Baptist chime in on this topic?
In my old position down in Clearwater, FL, many of the employees at the company for which I worked would get together at the original Hooter's on Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. Although I didn't particularly like going there, I would usually go with my co-workers (under protest). I sat there drinking my Sprite and spending quality time with my fellow employees. Although we did not go there with the intent of "babe watching" (It is conveniently located near the Causeway), it was quite obvious that most of the clientele were there for that specific purpose. Eventually, I got them to try Pete & Shorty's next door (also owned by Hooter's) and the atmosphere was much more subdued (they have a neighborhood tavern theme) so that became our usual stop. Besides, there you could get a Pete & Shorty burger (similar to a Krystal or White Castle but with more beef) and a larger table.
I am not making any judgements on the people in question or their motives, I simply would beseech them to think about it for a second. Even junior high students know what the name of the restaurant implies. Most (not all) people go to Hooter's for one of three things:
1. To see the "eye candy."
2. To go on a bender.
3. Both 1. and 2.
Can you imagine saying to someone: Hey, a bunch of us are getting together at Hooter's for a Bible study, and we would really love it if you joined us. Does anyone really think that a lost person would take them seriously?
It may look good on paper, but it just doesn't work in the implementation.
In my old position down in Clearwater, FL, many of the employees at the company for which I worked would get together at the original Hooter's on Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. Although I didn't particularly like going there, I would usually go with my co-workers (under protest). I sat there drinking my Sprite and spending quality time with my fellow employees. Although we did not go there with the intent of "babe watching" (It is conveniently located near the Causeway), it was quite obvious that most of the clientele were there for that specific purpose. Eventually, I got them to try Pete & Shorty's next door (also owned by Hooter's) and the atmosphere was much more subdued (they have a neighborhood tavern theme) so that became our usual stop. Besides, there you could get a Pete & Shorty burger (similar to a Krystal or White Castle but with more beef) and a larger table.
I am not making any judgements on the people in question or their motives, I simply would beseech them to think about it for a second. Even junior high students know what the name of the restaurant implies. Most (not all) people go to Hooter's for one of three things:
1. To see the "eye candy."
2. To go on a bender.
3. Both 1. and 2.
Can you imagine saying to someone: Hey, a bunch of us are getting together at Hooter's for a Bible study, and we would really love it if you joined us. Does anyone really think that a lost person would take them seriously?
It may look good on paper, but it just doesn't work in the implementation.
D
dianetavegia
Guest
We have giant billboards on the highway advertising Hooter's in the next town. My 9 year old asked us what it was and why the girl in the picture was dressed like that. We sort of explained and within minutes, a female employee of Hooter's got out of her car to go into Wal-Mart. Well, Nick being Nick, he pointed her out and said we ought to go and tell her to put some clothes on and that she works at a bad place.
Diane
Diane
Guys! I got to looking at the original article linked about this Bible study at Hooo----hooo----hooo-----my wife won't let me pronounce it---much less go there!!
Anyway, turns out, I think, that the dude leading the study is non-denominational!! And it might be a success----his idea might take off and fly----but please
please
please
please
please
leave the name "Southern Baptist" OFF the new marque! And when it incorporates into a fullblown church----do not
do not
do not
constitute it into a SBC church!!
Just leave our name off!!
Blackbird
Anyway, turns out, I think, that the dude leading the study is non-denominational!! And it might be a success----his idea might take off and fly----but please
please
please
please
please
leave the name "Southern Baptist" OFF the new marque! And when it incorporates into a fullblown church----do not
do not
do not
constitute it into a SBC church!!
Just leave our name off!!
Blackbird
GODzThunder
New Member
Bottom line is that hooters is a bar first and a restaurant second, that hire (and clothe) waitresses with a physical and lustful appeal to the eye.
They want you to come for the women and stay for the beer...Not a place for Bible study or Chruch.
I think that it is shameful that a group of christians, teenagers at that, are degrading their testimony by meeting in this place. My counsin, an atheist, called me up just to gloat and laugh about this. The lost think that this is amusing and hypocritic! They are making a joke of this!
They want you to come for the women and stay for the beer...Not a place for Bible study or Chruch.
I think that it is shameful that a group of christians, teenagers at that, are degrading their testimony by meeting in this place. My counsin, an atheist, called me up just to gloat and laugh about this. The lost think that this is amusing and hypocritic! They are making a joke of this!
I once knew a Pastor from Arkansas who came to our church for a revival. He was a great guy and on fire for God. His downfall was that he got to going in bars to "win souls". As an old preacher friend of mine used to say; "you can't wallow in the pig pen without getting mud on you". The Pastor from Arkansas started drinking, had an affair and stole some money from his church. He lost his church, his wife and family and became an alcoholic because he lost his focus on God.
These youths need to be careful that the world doesn't win them over instead of the other way around.
We are the only Bible that some people ever read. We need to make sure that all our actions and the places we frequent reflect that we are Christians.
I not saying we should ignore these people, but we need to find other ways to reach them.
These youths need to be careful that the world doesn't win them over instead of the other way around.
We are the only Bible that some people ever read. We need to make sure that all our actions and the places we frequent reflect that we are Christians.
I not saying we should ignore these people, but we need to find other ways to reach them.
GODzThunder
New Member
I live in Georgia so it is no suprise that I would hear of this happening since it was in Atlanta BUT I am shocked that it has reached a national level. Considering that the first poster to comment on this is from Ohio.
Something like this is really making public notice, Churches everywhere are talking about the youth group in Atlanta that is going to hooters. Also, critics to the Church everywhere are commenting that we are soon going to take our youth to strip joints next
Something like this is really making public notice, Churches everywhere are talking about the youth group in Atlanta that is going to hooters. Also, critics to the Church everywhere are commenting that we are soon going to take our youth to strip joints next
GrannyGumbo
<img src ="/Granny.gif">
If you're a friend of the world, you're still the enemy of God.
Of course they are. We'll be happy to preach the Gospel outside the bar, but God forbid we ever bring the Gospel INTO the bar, where it's needed most.
Again, I'm not condoning a Hooters or pub bible study, but I don't think we should discourage people when they're trying, in their own imperfect way, to bring the Gospel to where the lost. I don't approve of their actions, but they should be allowed the religious liberty to do what they're doing.
Some of you better send an e-mail to Jesus and let him know that when He went to the well as recorded in John 4 in the middle of the afternoon and He was seen with the "town whore", He was doing the wrong thing and risking his ministry. What if someone saw him and started a rumor? And what exactly were His motives? I mean there were many other places that He could be sharing the gospel at.
He should have stayed away from there!
He should have maybe been in the "church" building hanging out with "the good people" and praying for the "bad people" and pointing out how bad they really are.
Someone better get that e-mail sent. My only concnern is that Jesus has a SPAM filter that blocks those types of e-mails.
He should have stayed away from there!
He should have maybe been in the "church" building hanging out with "the good people" and praying for the "bad people" and pointing out how bad they really are.
Someone better get that e-mail sent. My only concnern is that Jesus has a SPAM filter that blocks those types of e-mails.
GrannyGumbo
<img src ="/Granny.gif">
When it's Mardi Gras time here, we don't go into the parade where there is drunkenness, nudity, and revelry, but we are there beforehand, hoping to get someone to THINK about what they are doing. After the lewdness has started, it's just about too late to do any good.
Ah, dear HappyG, you have missed the point altogether!!
I know that you were being facecious, but nonetheless....
Jesus met her at the public well, a benign and harmless place where people simply went to draw water.
There was nothing wrong with hanging out around a well and witnessing to the lost woman. Be she whore or be she wirgin.
What people thought of him talking to her is irrelevant. I'm sure that there were a lot of people who saw them talking to her and wondered if she were making a new conquest.
Why do think he sent the disciples away? They were no different. They would have questioned his talking to her.
I mean, they didn't want him taking up time with children for Pete's sake, let alone women who were considered "tainted".
We should NEVER be concerned about what people think of us when we witness to the lost in a place of relative innocence.
If those young people want to bring employees and patrons of Hooter's to Jesus, then meet them in the parking lot and pass out tracts.
Meet them in the parking lot and invite them to church or Bible study.
Have prayer vigals.
The ends do not justify the means and Jesus lived that very motto.
He found very innocent and creative ways to reach the lost without patronizing their inappropriate businesses and engaging in their sinful behavior with them.
We should never think ourselves "too moral" or "too righteous" to reach out to ALL lost people.
We just should never engage in sinful behavior to do it.
That's the whole point.
Peace-
Scarlett O.
<><
I think it all boils down to this.
Would Jesus, today, patronize Hooters?
Would he walk in, pay money for a beer and a meal, chit-chat with the girls and then proceed to give a devotional?
I just in all honesty don't see it happening.
Jesus Christ would have DEFINITELY reached out to those people working there and finding entertainment there.
He just would have looked for another way.
And He WOULD have found it.
Peace-
YSIC
Scarlett O.
<><
Would Jesus, today, patronize Hooters?
Would he walk in, pay money for a beer and a meal, chit-chat with the girls and then proceed to give a devotional?
I just in all honesty don't see it happening.
Jesus Christ would have DEFINITELY reached out to those people working there and finding entertainment there.
He just would have looked for another way.
And He WOULD have found it.
Peace-
YSIC
Scarlett O.
<><
D
dianetavegia
Guest
We left our only daughter's wedding reception when the bar was opened. She knew ahead of time that we would. They held off until after the dinner. Her in-laws insisted there could be no wedding without all the drinking and band. They paid for it too.
Scarlet, I respectfully disagree with you.
You said, "Jesus met her at the public well, a benign and harmless place where people simply went to draw water.
There was nothing wrong with hanging out around a well and witnessing to the lost woman."
You have to contextualize what was going on. I know that going to the well in our culture sounds like going to the well and getting a drink of water. But going to the well in the middle of the afternoon was like going to the street corner in the middle of the night in our culture. Or for the sake of this argument we could say going to the well in the middle of the afternoon was like going to the "Hooters" of the day. It was not the place for an "upstanding Christian" to be. But Jesus wasn't there to "have drinks and google" the women. He was there for a different reason. He was there to have "church." He was there to "call someone out...to catch a human soul and make it fully alive."
The Jesus that I read in the New Testament was far more concerned about showing the "self-righteous" that they were not righteous then telling the sinners that they were sinful. Both are sinful...one group just doesn't know it. So to me he seemed more comfortable in the Hooters telling a known sinner that they are loved by God, then standing in the temple hanging out with the people with the phylacteries on their head but the love of God absent from their heart.
Now you don't have to start a church in a Hooters. And I'm not saying that I would but I understand what this person is trying to accomplish by doing it.
My church meets in a movie theater. And when we sing "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place" I get real tickled. People are being saved and lives are being changed at a "well." I just think Jesus would be pleased.
You said, "Jesus met her at the public well, a benign and harmless place where people simply went to draw water.
There was nothing wrong with hanging out around a well and witnessing to the lost woman."
You have to contextualize what was going on. I know that going to the well in our culture sounds like going to the well and getting a drink of water. But going to the well in the middle of the afternoon was like going to the street corner in the middle of the night in our culture. Or for the sake of this argument we could say going to the well in the middle of the afternoon was like going to the "Hooters" of the day. It was not the place for an "upstanding Christian" to be. But Jesus wasn't there to "have drinks and google" the women. He was there for a different reason. He was there to have "church." He was there to "call someone out...to catch a human soul and make it fully alive."
The Jesus that I read in the New Testament was far more concerned about showing the "self-righteous" that they were not righteous then telling the sinners that they were sinful. Both are sinful...one group just doesn't know it. So to me he seemed more comfortable in the Hooters telling a known sinner that they are loved by God, then standing in the temple hanging out with the people with the phylacteries on their head but the love of God absent from their heart.
Now you don't have to start a church in a Hooters. And I'm not saying that I would but I understand what this person is trying to accomplish by doing it.
My church meets in a movie theater. And when we sing "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place" I get real tickled. People are being saved and lives are being changed at a "well." I just think Jesus would be pleased.
WallyGator
New Member
WOW! Now I know what's going on in my little hometown. I think its disgraceful that people would gather just to ogle a bunch of owls. Shucks, I've seen naked owls before, not much to it.
HappyG---I mean no disrespect to you but think with me for a moment.
You say, "My church meets in a movie theater. And when we sing "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place" I get real tickled."
I mean no desrespect but let me ask you---when you're meeting in that theatre(and nothing is wrong with that---lots of churches meet in theatre's or in school cafeterias or in bank lobby's)but when you meet there in the theatre---what's showin' on the "Big Screen??"
Basic Instinct with Sharon Stone and Douglas??
"10" with Bo Derek
"Stripes" with Bill Murrey
See?? There's a big difference there!! Does the Preacher "preach" while the theatre show is showin'? Or is it after hours with the curtain drawn over the screen??
While I'm preachin' I don't like interruptions---and those women waitresses passin' by waitin' on their tables would be a distraction, now wouldn't it!!! And I betcha if your pastor were honest---he'd feel the same way, wouldn't he??
Now, if the "Hooter" establishment said, "Come on in at 4am to 5am and do your Bible Study!" and I know the place isn't open for business---I'd consider it if that were the only place I could find in town----but otherwise, I'd have to tell the folks----"Meet me at the church and we'll study . . .! See what I mean??
Your buddy,
Brother David
You say, "My church meets in a movie theater. And when we sing "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place" I get real tickled."
I mean no desrespect but let me ask you---when you're meeting in that theatre(and nothing is wrong with that---lots of churches meet in theatre's or in school cafeterias or in bank lobby's)but when you meet there in the theatre---what's showin' on the "Big Screen??"
Basic Instinct with Sharon Stone and Douglas??
"10" with Bo Derek
"Stripes" with Bill Murrey
See?? There's a big difference there!! Does the Preacher "preach" while the theatre show is showin'? Or is it after hours with the curtain drawn over the screen??
While I'm preachin' I don't like interruptions---and those women waitresses passin' by waitin' on their tables would be a distraction, now wouldn't it!!! And I betcha if your pastor were honest---he'd feel the same way, wouldn't he??
Now, if the "Hooter" establishment said, "Come on in at 4am to 5am and do your Bible Study!" and I know the place isn't open for business---I'd consider it if that were the only place I could find in town----but otherwise, I'd have to tell the folks----"Meet me at the church and we'll study . . .! See what I mean??
Your buddy,
Brother David