Stuff Cristianos Like

This is the sound of a typical conversation on a Sunday morning worship service:

Person #1: “The worship sounds a little different today. What happened to the other drummer?”

Person #2: “You mean Juan?”

Person #1: “Yeah Juan! What happened to that guy? He was a good drummer!”

Person #2: “You didn’t hear? The pastor put him on disciplina…”

Person #1: “What for?”

Person #2: “It’s cause he went out to the movies when he wasn’t supposed to….we won’t be seeing him for a while.”

For centuries before any of us were even born, Hispanic pastors all over the world have been notorious for putting their church members on disciplina.

If you have ever been in a Latin church for any number of years, you have probably had the distinct pleasure of being put on disciplina at some point in your life. In fact, your parents were probably even put on disciplina for going to the movies, dancing, or listening to rap music.

And for those of you that don’t understand the concept, disciplina is essentially the church equivalent of the penalty box in hockey. It is the Cristianos’ form of checks and balances that keeps those who skip out on Escuela Dominical from playing on the worship team. In fact, many Cristianos have developed this innate fear inside of them that their pastor will catch them doing something wrong and call them into his office, resulting in their disciplina. (Believe it or not, people have become more preoccupied by disciplina than the fact that Jesus is coming back…)

I’m fully aware of the consequences of even starting a website like this. I also realize that just by writing this blog post about disciplina, I am bound to get placed on disciplina. It’s inevitable. (I often think since I travel almost every weekend that the members of my church have come to the conclusion that I’ve been placed on disciplina since they never see me around. Just a thought.)

But in order to add a bit of seriousness to this discussion, you might even ask: “Why do I write this post about disciplina knowing that I’ll be facing disciplina?” Maybe it’s because church discipline is much more than just sitting people down from their place of ministry, but rather it is there to show the important ministry of reconciliation and restoration. Disciplina, in its original sense, is not there to discourage us or to destroy us, but rather to encourage us to reach another level that we would have never reached without being shown mercy.

So if you’ve been discouraged because of disciplina, don’t worry. It’s probably there to teach us a lesson of some sort. You’ll grow from where you’re at and you’ll be restored back to where God wants you to be. Submit to your leaders and you will save yourself a lot of headaches. Let go of your pride and just be faithful. God will honor it and you’ll be glad you did. God is still a God of restoration and sometimes it just takes a little disciplina to get us through it. We can’t run from it so we might as well embrace it!

So somewhere in a little Mexican village far, far away, someone came up with a chant and it goes like this:

Person: Quien Vive!

Crowd: Cristo!

Person: Y a su nombre!

Crowd: Gloria!

(And sometimes if the crowd demands it)

Person: Y a su pueblo!

Crowd: Victoria!

I have no idea who invented this cheer but I strongly believe that if this individual were to get a nickel every time this was chanted in a church, they would be richer than Mark Zuckerberg because of all the royalties that are due.

I don’t know about you, but I have actually tested this chant from coast to coast, from California to Florida, from Texas to Michigan, and even in the Midwest state of Missouri where few Hispanics are actually found. Somehow or another, people in Hispanic churches all know this battle cry without hesitation like if it were part of the new converts’ class right next to knowing John 3:16.

Where in a world where white people have, “We love Jesus, yes we do. We love Jesus, how about you?”, Hispanics have invented and capitalized on “Quien Vive!” Whether it is in the part of the service where the preacher wants to rally up the crowd and doesn’t know what to say next or whether to create some sort of relief in that awkward moment where little Maria’s CD starts to skip for her special song or in that time where that video takes forever to play. Quien Vive is the solution to any cumbersome moment in a service and pretty much anyone of any age, gender, or status can start it up. It will reproduce the same effect whether it is the person on stage yelling it or the hermana in the back of the room. This will always be a smash hit!

Here’s a preaching tip: If you are at a point in your sermon where the crowd seems to be falling asleep, throw in a Quien Vive and I’ll guarantee you that you’ll get the right response 10 out of 10 times. I’m currently at a 100% accuracy rate.

Quien Vive has been around for centuries and has been in the genesis of all Hispanic churches. Whoever you are, Mr. Inventor of Quien Vive, you should have copyrighted that because right now you would be the 10^th richest man on the planet. (As if our people actually follow the copyright laws.)