#2661: Michael Chanley

Though it is certainly the most famous, the Answer In Genesis Creation Museum Ark Encounter is not the only Noah’s Ark replica sideshow in the US. Another one, though at a smaller scale, is hosted by the Cornerstone Church in Texas, and is specifically targeted at kids: it’s “a two-story ship with 16 life-sized passengers – most with animatronic features, including a giraffe whose head bends from the floor to the second level.” The goal of the installation is to “spur wonderment” and “underscore the Bible’s authenticity”, says Matthew Hagee, executive pastor: “I want them to say it happened”. “The Ark was real. Salvation is real,” since nothing conveys authenticity like roadside plastic animals with animatronics features. No, really: “You’d be hard-pressed to find any church with animatronics,” says Michael Chanley, executive director of the International Network of Children’s Ministry (they’ve got 10,000-plus members worldwide): “It communicates so much value to the family. ‘We don’t just want your kids to come here and learn. We want them to experience God.’”

 

So yeah, we’ve mentioned this one before, but we reckoned it would be worth looking a bit more closely at Chanley, insofar as his International Network of Children’s Ministry is somewhat ominous-sounding. It turns out, however, that it’s mostly a product-placement blog with (presumably paid-for) business advice targeted at churches and ministries. Chanley also produces Bible study curricula, which are hard to review without paying for them, which we are not going to do. It mostly seems to consist of egregiously vapid self-help-inspired fluff. His assessment of the Cornerstone Ark more than suggests that you should turn elsewhere for advice on children’s education, however.

 

Diagnosis: Absolute, pure bullshit. But Chanley’s Cornerstone nonsense suggests where such vapid fluff might blow if the wind is right.