Dairy Queen Theology

One of my favorite camp speakers is Jon Harper. He is passionate, funny, relates to students well, and always gives a clear Gospel message. But a lot of camp speakers can do that. Perhaps the biggest reason that I like Jon so much is that he often brings scriptural truths down to the level of fast food. That’s right—Dairy Queen theology. This may sound strange, but it works. Let me give you an example:

“Like a Dairy Queen that only serves fish, some of us are broadcasting Jesus and living for ourselves, we are carrying His name but not His product.”

Now that makes sense to me. I used to live in a small town that had a Dairy Queen as its primary restaurant. A lot of students in my youth ministry often worked there, so I would regularly visit. On my way, I would start to think of which of my favorite meals I would order: would it be the Belt Buster Burger? Or the Hunger Buster Burger? Or the Dude (a chicken fried steak sandwich… yum!)? Imagine how disappointed I would be if I showed up with my mouth watering in anticipation of a delicious chicken fried steak sandwich only to discover that this Dairy Queen was now exclusively serving fish—yuck!

But that’s what happens to many people who spend time around so-called Christians. These are people who bear the label of “Christian;” they wear the T-shirts, go to church, have the bumper stickers on their car, and more. So, you would expect them to live like Christ did—after all, the word “Christian” actually means “little Christ.” 

But many of these so-called Christians are actually living for themselves—for their image, for their pride, for their success, for their satisfaction, for their family, for their peace of mind—all at the cost of others. They aren’t loving their neighbor as themselves; they are loving themselves at the expense of their neighbor. They are carrying the name of Jesus, but not His product.

The world sees this and is disgusted—like going to Dairy Queen and finding that they only serve fish. If that happens to me enough times, I’m going to stop going to Dairy Queen altogether and I’m going to start talking pretty badly about that terrible fast food place, because they aren’t serving what they advertise. People are responding the same way to our Jesus, because so many people who bear His name aren’t serving what they're advertising.

“Like a Dairy Queen that only serves fish, some of us are broadcasting Jesus and living for ourselves, we are carrying His name but not His product.”

Let’s both broadcast Jesus and carry His product of love to a lost and hurting world. A world that so desperately needs Him… and a chicken fried steak sandwich!