Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, spent the past week guest blogging on Jewcy about some of the experiences he had traveling church to church throughout America to write his book.  First, he told us why he thinks he's going to Hell.  Then he spilled the juicy details about Stephen Baldwin's guilty proselytizing pleasure. He described five places you wouldn't expect to see a rabbi's son, himself excluded, of course.  And finally, Cohen told us why even rabbis are now looking to Rick Warren for guidance.  If one week out of this Jesus year isn't enough, go get the other 51!

People often ask me what synagogues can learn from churches. There are obviously many things and, indeed, several books have been written on this topic. One that comes immediately to mind is The Spirituality Of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into a Sacred Community, by Ron Wolfson.

Ron works with a fascinating organization called Synagogue 3000, which has a singular mission: to revitalize synagogue life in America. Its efforts cross over into many categories, everything from more inspiring prayer services to ways to attract new congregants. What's more, one of the ways it seeks to learn how to better a synagogue is by looking to churches to see what techniques can be brought back to the Jewish world. For example, a couple of years ago it invited megapastor Rick Warren to give a workshop to a group of rabbis on how they can do better outreach at their synagogues. They videotaped that seminar and you can watch those clips online.

And as it turns out, the organization had serendipitously picked Atlanta (where I live) as the one city where it will focus its efforts this year, holding monthly seminars and workshops with the city's more than forty synagogues. "Jews need to be more quote-unquote evangelical," Wolfson told me. "We need to do a better job of presenting Judaism to our own people. The story doesn't get across that Judaism is a way to find meaning and purpose in your life. And that's another lesson I've learned from the evangelical model."

Rick Warren: Founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CaliforniaI met up with Wolfson for coffee to talk shop about my church visits, and he later invited me to the workshops as an honorary member. One event featured Bernie Marcus, the cofounder of the Home Depot, as the guest speaker. He was the last person I expected to be teaching me about the beauty of synagogue attendance. But there I was. And there he was. Teaching me about the beauty of synagogue attendance.

Marcus was telling a group of about forty rabbis that attracting members to a synagogue was no different than attracting customers to a Home Depot. "You're not giving  people the product they want. It's no different than retail; it's the same thing," he said. "You're in the marketing business; you're selling a product. You're selling religion. It happens to be something that's good for people. But you can't get to them to sell them the religion because you're in the marketing business and you don't realize you're in the marketing business. You have to stop thinking in many respects like a scholar and start thinking like a retailer."

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, spent the past week guest blogging on Jewcy. This is his parting post.  Want more?  Buy his book!

 

1. A Christian wrestling match: To be fair, this was Ultimate Christian Wrestling where "good" wrestlers did battle against "evil" wrestlers. Fallen wrestlers, I kid you not, are actually resurrected at these matches. And you thought Rowdy Roddy Piper was weird.

2. The mosh pit at a Christian rock concert: I'm not a concert kind of a guy. I don't enjoy loud music, smoky joints, or - to be perfectly honest - any activity involving long periods of standing. But jamming with Jesus proved to be a pretty inspirational experience. Even if it did convince me to change all my car radio buttons to Christian rock stations. It gives Judas Priest a whole new meaning.

3. On Jesus' JumboTron: While attending a Baptist megachurch in suburban Georgia, the camera operators thought it was a good idea to focus in on the one Jew in the house among the 15,000 dancing faithful - thereby ensuring my fate as the proverbial Wicked Son in the eyes of my rabbinic father.

4. A monastery hanging out with 48 monks: Trying to clear my head from this holy headache spending 12-months church-hopping from denomination to denomination, I figured I should relax on 2,000 serene acres with a fraternity of men who have devoted themselves to peace, God, and loving kindness. If only I could pull myself away from my BlackBerry.

5. A Confession booth: After a year of going to churches every Sunday, I did what any good Jewish boy would do - go to Confession. Riddled with guilt and curiosity, I told a Catholic priest my deepest, darkest secrets. Well, except for the small part about me being Jewish. I guess I'll have to go back and confess for that sin another time. Maybe that's the sequel...

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and he'll be here all week. Stay tuned.

You don't start every day in the green room with Stephen Baldwin. Yes, that Stephen Baldwin. The youngest of the acting Baldwin brothers. You know, the one that became a born-again Christian, has his own punk ministry, and writes books about Jesus. That Stephen Baldwin.

A few weeks ago, Baldwin was out promoting his latest tome

(maybe he should guest blog on Jewcy for a week?) on the same local morning show that I was, Good Day Atlanta. I actually mention Stephen in my book (in a positive light) and, being that we were both on the show that morning, the interviewer asked me what I thought of him.

 

 

Anyway, after my interview was up I went back to the green room and bumped into Baldwin. He wasn't going to be on the show for another hour so we got to chatting. He seemed shocked when I told him that I spent a year going to 52 different churches and not once did someone try to convert me. And just about everybody knew I was Jewish.

"How much time we got until my interview?" Baldwin asked his publicist.

"About an hour," she responded."

"OK ... I got 60 minutes to convert you, Ben."

Stephen Balwin and meStephen was taking this challenge as a badge of honor - that somehow he would be the first Christian to not only try and convert me, but to succeed. The ensuing hour ended up being a fun theological conversation with a cast-off of Celebrity Apprentice. He even suggested we promote our books together on the road with the "Stephen and Ben Show."

Later that day, I decided to pop into Baldwin's book signing at a local Borders store. When he saw me walk in, he grabbed the microphone and told the crowd: "My Jewish friend Ben just walked in. Let's see if I can convert him."

I went to bed that night thinking that only Stephen Baldwin would do something like that. I was wrong.

Most of you know Kirk Cameron from his seminal role on the 1980's sitcom Growing Pains, but nowadays he's something of an evangelical icon. He recently made headlines for turning a tiny Christian independent movie about a fireman (filmed on location here in Georgia) into a blockbuster hit. Cameron has transformed from teen idol to running nothing short of a Christian empire. As I write in the book: "His 'Way of the Master Ministries' is a small media empire with books, speaking engagements, a radio show, DVDs, and an evangelical television show that's seen in seventy countries. Even Growing Pains isn't seen that far and wide."

And so I guess it was inevitable that the day would come when I would get interviewed by that very radio show - Way of the Master Radio. It's hosted by Todd Friel, a well-known evangelist. I assumed the interview would be a lot like the time I was on a Catholic radio show when a priest and I both shed a little light on the funnier aspects of our respective religions. The interview opened with some traditional Jewish music, funny for an evangelical radio show, so I assumed this interview would be light like the others. But soon after we got started, it turned into a theology lesson and conversion effort.

The truth is I don't mind. Todd's faith tells him to reach out to the unconverted. I respect that. I just find it strange because I spent an entire year going to church and not once did someone try to convert me. Until Stephen Baldwin and this guy.

Here's a clip of the radio interview with Todd. Despite the efforts to have me jump over the proverbial fence of faith, I had a good time. Sit back and enjoy.

 

 

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, is guest blogging on Jewcy, and he'll be here all week. Stay tuned.

Benyamin Cohen, author of My Jesus Year, is guest blogging this week as one of Jewcy's Lit Klatsch bloggers. Cohen is the son of an Orthodox rabbi and is married to the daughter of a Christian minister. His book is about his journey through America's Bible Belt.

Most likely, I'm going to hell. Not just to the heated nether regions where rank-and-file thieves, crooks, and Republicans hang out. If only I was so lucky. Instead, I'll be bypassing the guest entrance to the devil's playground and be sent, first-class, through the VIP ropes to where Beelzebub and his sidekick Andy Dick down Cristal.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling I'll be part of their new entourage. It's not that I committed murder or tricked unsuspecting email users to send their bank information to a little-known Nigerian prince. If only.

My sin, dear readers, was far worse. It's a long story, one riddled with guilt, regret, and the occasional Communion wafer. Space constraints and my own desire to mask what I've done forbid me from going into too much detail, but I'll offer up the highlight reel. I feel a confession is in order.

I'm a rabbi's son. Not just any rabbi's son, but the rabbi's son. Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I took everything you taught me, flushed it down the toilet, and married a minister's daughter. Wait, it gets better.

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