Oprah is Simply More Interesting

I was reading this article about why Oprah's spiritual campaigns seem to get so much traction in the US. The author posits this question: Could it be because Oprah is doing a better job at attempting to tackle the tough questions of life in a more interesting manner than most churches?

Many who go to churches find Oprah much more inspiring than the sermons they hear. And what can we say when we compare the typical parish Bible study, with a handful of believers, to the hundreds of thousands who tuned in earlier this year to her 10-week study with Eckart Tolle of A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose?

People are thirsty to learn how to face pervasive unhappiness, to experience God for themselves, to cultivate an inner life, to move beyond the parochialism and exclusivism of religion and to sense the spiritual bonds that connect everyone and everything, to overcome the depressing guilt and sin-focused faith that many have grown up with and to know real joy. Pastors and church leaders can learn plenty from this.

I'm not saying that churches have to have an 80-million dollar marketing machine to get the word out - I'm saying that what people are hungry for is the very stuff that churches should be specialists in. Churches can really can point people to answers that REALLY matter - the teachings and person of Jesus are THE MOST COMPELLING answers to all those problems.