It’s a sad day for the online community.
Yesterday I announced the launch of the Summit’s brand new initiative called socialMEdia™ Small Groups: the groups that let you grow in grace without getting off the couch; that let you build community without any commitment. It was a genius idea, really: use your already-existing web presence to “do life together” while being very much alone.
The only problem was that we made that announcement on April 1.
April Fool’s Day.
Oh, many of you got it. You told me that you knew something was coming (maybe because I. do. this. every. year.), that you could tell two sentences in that it was a prank, or at least that you clicked the link at the bottom of the post and figured out the big reveal. (I was especially proud of four commenters: Josh, Jon, Chris, and Lori, who got the joke and played along. Well done, y’all. Well done indeed.)
But more than a few of you didn’t get it. I fielded phone calls and text messages and emails and personal conversations in the hallway, expressing concern about this new direction our discipleship strategy was going. That list included everyone from out of town relatives to pastors on our small group teams (those guys were really upset that they were just finding out about it).
And to all of you, I offer this:
Ha.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
I know, it’s not nice to laugh. But it was April 1, after all. My friends, that is my favorite day on the internet. And you should not believe anything you read on the interwebs on that day, especially on this blog. (Oh, and while we’re at it, Sonic is not unveiling a Kale Cream Pie milkshake, Cheetos is not launching a perfume line, and Southwest is not offering non-stop flights to Mars.)
So to clear things up:
- The Summit still believes in face-to-face discipleship.
- We’re not abandoning our current small group model.
- And we’d really rather not start a sanctification selfie trend anytime soon.
Did you bite? We’d all like to hear about it in the comments below. And after you comment, please feel free to go ahead and mark your calendars for March 31, 2015.
Thanks for playing.
If you’re so inclined, here’s a list of posts from April Fool’s Days gone by:
- 2013 – First Time Guest Giveaways
- 2012 – New Day, New Parking Rules
- 2011 – The New Venue’s Value
- 2010 – Baptism Xpress This Weekend!
- 2009 – Gospel-Centered Coffee
Connective Tissue 
April 2, 2014 at 8:43 am
Now THAT is hilarious!!!
April 2, 2014 at 9:33 am
If there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s that there is a very thin line between genius, almost believable pranks and dangerous, that-junk-might-actually-happen pranks. Unfortunately, I think people were tempted to believe the latter in this case because of the prevailing tides. I, for one, feel like the idea of purely-social small groups is incompatible with the DNA of our church, and it was obviously a joke – but I can’t fault those who were alarmed. The times, they are a-changing.
April 2, 2014 at 9:39 am
I 100% agree with you, Josh. I had one friend who said, “Why CAN’T this work?!?” I reckon’ this proves that next year we’re going to have to fall into the almost believable category.
April 2, 2014 at 9:42 am
[…] I enjoy the occasional social media surf, the Summit will not be launching online small groups. Danny Franks & I would like to thank those who played along to make this […]
April 2, 2014 at 11:10 am
As a card-carrying “out of town relative” who had been IN town and had talked Summit Church for hours this past weekend, you totally hooked me in. I confess. I’ve never read such a list of real and imagined social media terms in my life. Nor do I expect to again. Boy, I spent most of the day making a list of questions for you, because clearly you had some explaining to do — an inquisition was coming that would have far surpassed the upper room experience when you started getting serious with Merriem. Today I am just relieved and will indeed mark my calendar for next year’s entry.
April 2, 2014 at 11:18 am
I’m not gonna lie, Connie. That made my day! :)
April 2, 2014 at 3:44 pm
hey Danny, you really got me. Sean and I discussed for over an hour pros and cons of this approach! then my last thought was Oh MY, if this works… we just started this new church and home groups and now they’ll want us to change everything. The launch went great and we couldn’t have done it without you !! can’t wait to catch up when the dust settles.
April 2, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Believe me, Robin: there were more than a few “discussions” going on yesterday. For the record, I’d be pretty high on the list of “con” proponents for an approach like this. :)
April 3, 2014 at 8:30 am
[…] mentioned yesterday that April 1st (April Fool’s Day, here in these United States) is my favorite day on the […]