My three year old daughter McRae and my six year old L.E. both asked if they could put the Stuff Christians Like 
buttons on the back of their school backpacks. I said “Sure,” until I realized that the “booty, God, booty” button might not go over well at the Methodist pre-school. I just figured McRae would not be able to explain the wry Christian satire and ultimate message of hope in Christ it represented to a teacher who saw a three year old wearing something that said “booty” on it. Twice. Fair enough.
But then it struck me that I too had done a pretty poor job of explaining where and what the phrase “booty, God, booty” meant. That post came out on April 3rd, 2008 and has been long forgotten under the onslaught of other posts. And lately folks who didn’t see the original post have been asking me, “What the heck is the booty thing?” Worse than that, I recently saw a post on someone’s blog that featured the booty logo and just slammed the whole thing as being directly related to the fall of Western society. (I am summarizing, but that was the gist.)
So here now, to clear up the questions and the confusion, is a remix of the original post that started the whole idea …
Booty, God, Booty.
The archives don’t go back far enough, but I think that this is exactly the kind of idea that Billy Graham launched his ministry with when he was coming up. It makes sense too because Christians really like “Booty, God, Booty.”
I realized this while listening to my favorite radio station in Atlanta, V103, “The People’s Station.” It’s a hip hop station that plays mostly rap and R&B. The best thing about V103 is their morning show. Every day at 6:30AM when I’m driving to work, they have a segment called the “Inspirational Vitamin.” They read a Bible verse and play a gospel song or a clip by a minister from Atlanta. I honestly find it to be an uplifting experience overall. The thing I find most interesting, however, is how they wedge the Inspirational Vitamin into their normal programming. What often happens is that at 6:25AM, right before they transition to the spiritual segment of the show, they play some sort of booty song. Let’s say, “I’m N Luv Wit’ a Stripper.” Then they do the Bible verse at 6:30AM. And then they go right back to something like Lil’ Wayne “Lollipop” at 6:35AM. They essentially bookend the Inspirational Vitamin with booty, following a fairly simple formula: Booty, God, Booty.
It’s easy to laugh at how insincere that Inspirational Vitamin seems when it’s sandwiched between hardcore rap songs, but maybe God is listening to the broadcast of my week, and this is what he hears:
1. Saturday night, I’m out on the town. Doing my own thing. This is my time. God’s at home babysitting my stuff.
2. Sunday morning, back with God. We’re tight. We’re praying. We’re BFF. I might even be safely enrobed in the middle of a hedge of protection.
3. Monday, back at work in my office. God’s in the car in the parking lot, where I left my Bible.
It might not be as graphic or as neon, but the juxtaposition between who I am when I’m in “God mode” and who I am when I’m not is pretty substantial. Next time you transition between two parts of your day, ask yourself, “Did I just Booty, God, Booty?”
That’s my inspirational vitamin for today.
Comments
That is actual what Jon is diving into next, rapping. He is launching the book and then is moving into producing music videos. This will be the hit single and I am sure that it will be played on Atlantas V103, “The People’s Station.”
Well see, someone asks you about the button, you explain it (or fumble through an explanation, if you're me), a new reader joins the SCL fold, and Jon gets one potential donor closer to making his Worship Eagle Rescue Sanctuary a reality.
Sounds like my small group.
I really want to know where I can get a Booty, God, Booty button. It would go right on my lunchbox where it could witness to everyone on my walk from the parking garage to my office, plus my officemates and any students who might come to office hours. Please?
Wow! I am behind the times because I had not heard about Booty, God, Booty. What a great lesson. And LOVE the video posted by an earlier comment. Cute.
I think Tripp Crosby just found his new project:)
[...] “Booty, God, Booty – Remix” at Stuff Christians Like by Jon [...]
Glad to hear you're enjoying it! I have a lot of fun putting it together.
Tripp doing it would be absurdly awesome, especially if they did it like the andy stanley song
I just started reading your blog in the last month and I was not even brilliant enough to search out Booty, God, Booty's meaning. I just figured you are way too spiritual to even align the term booty with the name of God. I assumed "booty" referred to treasure (like in pirate) and you somehow spiritually souped it up with scripture. After this post I realize you did in fact align the real meaning of booty with God. Your spiritual giant factor was reduced and I finally felt like a spiritual contemporary…and I laughed and laughed. So kidding about the pirate thing BTW. Love your blog and love your transparency. But why the button? Just curious.
Wow, that was awesome! I literally laughed out loud, not just lol'd. I'm glad I get the reference now.
I'm not into Hip Hop… at all… not even a little bit. But I do my own BGB shuffle at work with Killswitch Engage, John Piper sermon, Bullet for my Valentine. Maybe that's more like Angry, God, Angry.
As Nick the Geek pointed out with regards to his Weds night youth group, I gotta say that my Awana's is also a perfect example of BGB. Fun intro time, God, Games, maybe some more God before going home. At least that's a little bit healthier than Kanye, God, Tupac though.
Its your blog, you are justified
Ah, thanks for this. I was amongst the uninitiated. Nice to be in the Booty, God, Booty loop now. Succinct, memorable, and humorous (always a plus) way to consider how we compartmentalize our lives.
Lol… great point… I'm always up for SCL evangelism and making the Worship Eagle dream a reality.
This is something that I am very passionate about right now. I compartmentalized my life for too long i.e. spiritual and secular. I now realize that everything I do is "spiritual" whether I recognize it or not. God owns ALL my life not just the parts that I call "spiritual."
Thanks for clearing this up, I really didn't understand it at ALL before. Will continue to follow your blog, God bless and keep.
And here I thought "Booty, God, Booty" was a tongue-in-cheek reference to Christians giving each other side hugs… Now I get it
What's the cyber-equivalent of turning on the sprinklers?
We'll if this isn't a blog for Jerk Christians, I'm outta here.
This is a rip off of the four stages of Christian spiritual maturity that Willow Creek has identified which are:
1. Booty, Booty, Booty
2. Booty, God, Booty
3. Booty, God, God
4. God, God, God
I am now crying tears of laughter.
Finally I understand the REVEAL survey!
lol
Hilarious!
I learned about it from your sermon video you posted. LOVE IT. Thanks!
Willow Creek identified those?
Hmm, I thought it was the Catholic church…
1, 2, 3, 4.
Rest, rest, rest, rest and
4, 3, 2, 1.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.
That was seriously the best medicine! Love it!
This reminds me of something I wanted to comment about a few weeks ago. At the end of September, I flew to Texas to take a boy on my caseload back to his mother. So it's like 3:30 in the morning and we're driving down to Baltimore to catch our 6 am flight. I always let the kids I'm transporting pick the radio station, even though I'm not a hip hop fan, but I think every kid on my case load is! Anyway. So we're driving and he's got on a DC hip hop station and they played some T.I. song, followed by a gospel song that I'm fairly positive was Mary Mary, and then a Lil' Wayne song. My immediate reaction was "wow! my own booty God booty moment!!"
Kuddos Jon – you are the man!
LOL
LOL 
LOL 
LOL 
excellent, truly excellent!
I wish I was in a small group.
funny. i just thought it was a plug at saving room for the holy spirit on the dance floor. you've got your booty, God, then her booty, all shaking it like a polaroid picture.
I was wondering what that meant… cool…
I am dying!!! DYING laughing!!! this is definitely getting some play on facebook!
And if there are some left, will you have them at Clemson's FCA in November?
It just makes me feel like a Stuff Christians Like OG. I read the remix with a bit of arrogance thinking, I don't need the extended explanation because I remember the first one!
I was thinking it is a mindset to be in more then specific actions to do, though the mindset will affect actions. I'm reminded of Phil 2:5 (had to look in the concordance cause I only remembered the phrase "have this mind among you….") it says: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
A mindset that loves without regard to ourselves and our rights. Taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Knowing my whole existence here is to live in this love.
Just as you said, driving and catching myself getting annoyed at other drivers and then remembering that my existence has nothing to do with how I'm treated on the highway.
Good thoughts Chris, thanks.
An obnoxious tweet directed their way?
Someone should build a laptop where instead of the built in camera they put a built in water squirter.
Perhaps we need a version of the NSFW (not safe for work) abbreviation for things that won't be safe for accountability software?
I don't know about in the UK, but in Australia there is a lot less angst about the Christian/non-christian music divide. A lot of christians listen to both, some christian radio stations play both. I mentioned to some christian friends that there are christians who only listen to christian music and they looked at me like i was crazy. People don't seem to argue much about whether are particular artist is christian.
This is by far a favorite post of mine. Why? Well I'll Tell you! (He's going to tell…)
1: When I first started hearing this phrase, before I had read the post, I heard it more like a command. Something like, "Booty, God. Booty!" As if one were addressing the Father about booty. I found that humorous and cannot seem to hear that without thinking of it that way.
2: After reading the post and realizing the link to Atlanta, it became rather significant given that I live in Atlanta. And no less than on Thanksgiving morning, while I was downtown helping some folks out, the radio was on V103 and I heard the Inspirational Vitamin. Priceless for an Atlantan.
3: It's so true. Whether it is booty then god then booty, gossip then god then gossip, or whatever, we all do it. It was a post that shines light on us just in the place where we don't want to be illuminated.