Balance, schmalance…”beer is a gift to be enjoyed in moderation” sayeth my neighbor Georgian evangelical pastor…and brewer.
Heavenly balance? A craft-beer-brewing, evangelical pastor
Alas, the dilemma of today’s newspaper editors. If an evangelical pastor founds a brewery, where should the story go? Better put it in the business, not religion, section of the paper, but be sure to include more than a little about the church angle; you know, details like the brewery founder has a degree from the venerable Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the concept that “beer brings people together”.
Eureka! Beer + people + religion = church, a craft sort-of church. Think boutique.
Well, so what?
Craft breweries have popped up like tattoo parlors and dry herb vape pen shops, they’re everywhere. And, this beer-and-church concept was pioneered a generation ago by clever, shirt tailed whippersnappers using promo lines like “suds and theology,” remember? Where’s the relevancy? Where’s the news value in this?
Even though the SBC has multiple resolutions against alcohol, we only go to the extent of kicking out churches for being gay friendly these days, not beer-friendly. The church in question is not listed in the SBCnet database. Perhaps the SBTS-trained pastor, who declares that starting a brewery is a lot tougher than starting a church, wanted to keep life simple, the church side of it anyway.
So, maybe it’s just no more than an interesting story, right?
Then again, the brewery is named “Reformation Brewery,” which jacks up the potency of a post like this, eh? Alcohol + SBTS + Reformation…critical mass has been achieved, an important matter to SBCers, especially the “critical” part (“mass’ we leave to the Catholics).
What’s left to say but……”cheers.”
[And, yeah, I know that this is so 2011 to some here. But the AJC article is today. And lest I incur wrath from the Matthew 18 crowd, believe me, both the brewery and the church will be appreciative of the publicity.]
