New City Church

Church Field Trip #18 There are three reasons I wanted to check out New City Church.

1. The name was different. I'll check out any church with a name that doesn't begin with "First Church of...." or carry a denominational tag in the name.


2. The logo looks cool.


3. The Senior Pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, is the grandson of Billy Graham. (I watch Billy Graham preach almost every Saturday night on t.v. This would explain why I am so geeked up to hear the Gospel on Sunday mornings. Graham can really lay the smack down, and I love every minute of it.)

This church was founded about 4 years ago. Their attendance runs at about 500 at two services at the Monarch High School auditorium. Upon arrival, we received no greetings, though one gentleman did hand me a bulletin (a twelve page booklet.) The bulletin/booklet listed just about every piece of information you could possibly want about the church: mission statement, order of service, the words to all of the songs - because they haven't been able to use a projector/screen in the school, 4 pages of ministry descriptions - more than 25 listed, as well as a list of all staff, elders, and deacons - we did notice that all of the deacons were men.

The worship was enjoyable, with a quaint, authentic atmosphere. The style was classic contemporary praise and worship choral anthems without the choir. They didn't do Shout to the Lord, but did manage to work in Awesome God, Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy, and Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow. This church was heavy on the prayer, I like that. Before the sermon had even started, we had already prayed at least 4 times.

The preacher, Pastor Tchividjian, was young, energetic, and articulate. He spoke for almost an hour and he leaned heavily towards philosophy and intellectualism. I understood most of his references to philosophy, theology, authors and speakers, but I doubt that most would be able to keep up with him. I'd say that he was possibly too smart for his own good, at least in presentation. For more than a year now, he has been working his way through the book of Ephesians - a 7 page book with only 6 chapters. This week, he taught on Ephesians 6:13-20 - the armor of God, more specifically the Sword of the Spirit. Here are some excerpts from his teaching:

Sword of the Spirit = God's Word

God's Living Word = Jesus

God's Written Word = Scripture

"Many think that this means that we should simply know Bible verses to use in times of need." He criticized those who continually pick verses out and toss them about, without having a holistic view of the Bible.

"Red-Letter Christians make a fundamental mistake in thinking that the words of Jesus are more important than the rest of scripture."

His grandfather, Billy Graham, turns 89 this week. Recently, Graham told his grandson that he hasn't been able to read the Bible for more than a year because of poor eyesight. He is lucky that he knows the Bible so well through meditation and memorization. (During the sermon, he told 3 anecdotes about his grandfather and grandmother.)

The 3 Big Questions that Everyone Asks:

1. How did it all begin?
2. What is wrong with the world?
3. What is the solution to the problem?

The Story of the Bible Answers those 3 Questions:

1. Creation
2. Fall
3. Redemption

Why don't people read the Bible?

1. Don't know where to begin.
2. Don't understand much of what they've read.

He made a few off-the-cuff references to the Gospel. One member of our group described it perfectly by saying that the "preacher danced around the Gospel, but never actually presented it." Bummer. That's all I have to say about that.