We’re In The Impact Business

We are a movie family. We regularly analyze movies together. We stay to watch all the credits.

One of the best things HH and I did as parents was take our kids out of school on opening day of epic movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and go to the Uptown Theater in D.C. We got in line early to grab our favorite seats: first row, center balcony. The red velvet curtains opened and we were transported.

The Oscars are tonight and we always watch although I’m not sure why. HH and I don’t care much about the fashions. Our favorites don’t always win and we often do not watch every nominated film. I’m fairly certain that some winners prevail because “it’s time” (Anthony Hopkins) or everybody likes them (Tom Hanks.) But it’s fun.

John Lithgow has never won an Oscar (maybe it’s time) but I watched an interview with him this morning and he and Geoffrey Rush were talking about their new movie and movies in general and he said something that sparked an epiphany:

“We’re in the impact business.”

Great movies are those that make an impact. HH and I have watched three Gene Hackman movies since his death (The Conversation, The French Connection, and The Royal Tenebaums) and only one had much of an impact on me. We’d seen The Royal Tenebaums before at least twice and – still – it moved us when we watched it again. We laughed. We cried. We coveted the luggage – like all Wes Anderson movies.

The truth is that every one of us is in the impact business. We were each born to make a difference.

It might be an earth-shaking difference: Margaret Sanger. Or it might be a tiny difference: Jan Edmiston. But this is a calling each of us shares.

A couple years ago, an esteemed pastor challenged me to close ten churches in our Presbytery before I retire. (!) First of all, I am not a bishop. I don’t have the authority to close any church. In fact I find that congregations tend to close themselves after years of making no impact in their communities.

I visited a “small church” today that makes an enormous impact in the recovery community. Perhaps a handful of people gather for worship on Sunday mornings but hundreds have found wholeness through the nightly AA meetings.

I visited another “little church” a few weeks ago with about 25 members, and I learned that they feed a couple hundred people every month. They even have freezers to store chicken to hand out, donated by a local processing plant. And they have a Bible study for developmentally delayed adults with about five adult women each Sunday morning. They are making an earth-shattering difference.

Everyone can make a difference in someone’s life or in the life of their community. It’s predicted that 100,000 churches (of all or no denominations) will close by 2030, according to Mark Elsdon. Those that will close are the ones who forgot that they were in the impact business. They will close after benefitting no one in their neighborhoods. They will have long become rote responsibilities for the handful of members left.

Consider the movies, the groups, the individuals, the animals, the experiences that have made an impact in our lives. And then consider how we are making an impact for one other person or many other people. Even the small impacts can be life-changing.

Image of the Uptown Theatre in Washington, D.C.