Church Evangelism during Xmas

This week, we received two pieces of mail from two different churches. Both were churches that we visited during our 2007 Church Field Trip Tour. Both pieces of mail are quite different. I'll let you weigh in on the obvious differences.


Solara Church - We received the typical full-color mailer announcing their Special Christmas Services on Dec. 20th and 21st. Nothing special, really. Just a simple invitation to join them for their Christmas services.



New City Church - We received a letter from Pastor Tullian letting us know that their congregation is in dire need of funds as these economic times have not been kind to the church budget. Currently, they are running more than 25% short on their budget on a weekly basis. They don't have a building, so this shortage is due mostly to their staffing costs.

Pastor Tullian says that during the Great Depression, Christians gave 24.2% of their income to the church, while today Christians give about 3.4% to the church. He says that a church of 600 people (with no building) ought to be able to finish the year with a surplus rather than a deficit. He says that most Christians are no different than their worldly counterparts - spending more than they make.

I'd go so far as to say that most Christians probably learned that lesson from their church - spending more than they bring in, and hoping for a year-end miracle. (This isn't the first time I've heard a December financial plea from a church - aiming for those "year-end gifts" that always seem to come - for tax purposes of course.)

Unfortunately, I've also seen churches/ministries "spend-out" at this time of year, so that their budget won't get reduced by a financial board in the new year. Either way, its a bit disheartening.

We don't receive regular pieces of mail from either of these two churches. I just thought it was interesting that these two churches would reach out to us - more than a year later - in such vastly different ways.

Why visit church worship services?

A friend of mine recently asked me two good questions:

1. Why are we visiting various church worship services?


2. What have we learned from these experiences?

I'd like to begin by stating that I do not rank, rate, or otherwise grade the churches that I visit. I merely report on my own personal experience during a worship service as a first-time visitor - as well as the experiences of those who join us. Another person's experience could be vastly different from my own, for better or worse. Also, I recognize that by solely experiencing the worship service only, my knowledge of a particular church in all of its functions and personality is severely limited. Also, let me clearly state that we are not "church shopping", "church hopping" or otherwise looking for a church family. Be that as it may, we have learned much from these past 8 months of church field trips.

We began this journey simply to see "what was out there" with a secondary motive of searching for any church which might fit the bill of "emerging". It is one thing to read about it, another to experience it.

Too many people never leave the spiritual/religious box in which they were raised: Catholic, Unitarian, Mormon, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, or no church at all. This also goes for adult converts who immediately adopt a "version" or denomination of Christianity. Simply leaving the box (a friend of mine calls it a pilgrimage) is a worthy exercise in itself. I would be lying if I said that I haven't been outside of my own comfort zone on more than one occasion during these field trips.

My wife and I have discovered that we are more charismatic in belief, if not practice, than we once thought we were. Having left the box, we've frequently found ourselves among people who both engage us, excite us, as well as just freaking us out with their own level of excitement about being followers of Jesus.

We have indeed seen the methodological aspects of the emerging church movement firsthand, and we like what we've seen.

We've seen bi-vocational pastors who immerse themselves in ecclesiastical hardships. We've seen pastors, as well as lay people go out of their way to meet and engage new people. Unfortunately, we've also seen some pastors who seem to driven purely by their own ego and intellectual haughtiness. We've seen struggling churches and we've seen "successful" churches - depending on your definition of success. (There was even a church in Pembroke Pines that called it quits before we had a chance to visit them. Sorry, Liz.)

We've seen pastors who prioritize preaching the Gospel, and we've seen pastors who forget to preach the Gospel.

We've worshipped with congregations that tear the roof down with their zeal, creativity, and volume. We've also worshipped with congregations that don't actually seem to be awake or alive or both. Mostly, this has taught us that corporate worship is between us and God, and if a few hundred people are surrounding us and they're as excited about worship as we are - well then, the more the merrier.

I could go on, but this is one of those occasions where I'll end up with a 12 page paper if I don't just go ahead and stop myself short.

Independence Church

Church Field Trip #26

I caught wind of this new church plant through the grapevine. Once each month during October, November, and December, Independence Church (Weston, FL) held a preview service. Each of these services was intended not only to build momentum with the community but also to give the church itself a chance to "practice" having a worship service. I should note that this is a popular way to go about planting a new church, as opposed to the more organic approach taken by churches such as Epic Remix. We attended the "launch" service for Independence - they've made a big marketing push this month advertising in the Herald, Sun-Sentinel, on Y100, and sending out mailers to just about every resident in the area.

The bi-vocational pastor, Nathan Griffis, moved to Weston from Orlando with the express purpose of starting Independence Church. Personally, I believe that it is absolutely necessary for a pastor to actually move into the community they are trying to reach with the message of Jesus. A pastor who is unwilling to become a member of the community that they claim to be ministering to isn't really trying to reach the community at all. I speak from personal experience, because that is exactly what my wife and I did almost 3 years ago. We picked up and moved directly into the heart of the community in which we were ministering. And we are still here - inviting the neighbors over for dinners/parties and building relationships and trust. Nathan recently invited his entire neighborhood to a party and was then scolded by his homeowners' association for "spamming" the neighborhood. Gotta love South Florida.

I usually do not have much to say about a church's website, but in this case I will divulge a bit about it. Mostly, I report on the experience of attending a church's worship service, but I do believe that the website experience for a church is supremely important as it serves as the first impression that one gets from a church. With that in mind, I could not find a map or driving directions on the website for Independence Church. With no map or driving directions, it was a little tricky finding the service, but we did manage it. Despite not including a way to actually find their service, the website did dedicate a couple of pages of interest: The Three-Month Money-back Guarantee Tithing Challenge and a page of Frequently Asked Questions concerning Tithing. Curious.

As we arrived at Sagemont School, we received two standard greetings. There were probably about 50 people in attendance for this "launch" service. Nathan explained that they still have not found a worship leader for their church. The band that lead worship, Asa, is out of Homestead and on loan for the next couple weeks only. If you are out there and you'd like to be a worship leader, you might want to contact Nathan about it.

After worship, there was a 10 minute intermission which gave everyone a chance to mingle, meet new people, and grab some coffee or pastries. In the coming weeks, Nathan is going to teach through the book of Ephesians, one chapter each week. Obviously, this week dealt with Ephesians 1. Here are a few notable excerpts from the sermon:

"God doesn't need us, He chooses us."

"At some point, we all test the water and ask God, 'Are you real?'"

"What God wills, He makes happen, in spite of us."

"We have a rule around here at Independence: Ask someone how they're doing and actually care about their response."

Nathan weaved the message of the Gospel in throughout the sermon. I suppose I could note that this was the shortest sermon I've ever heard. I'd swear it only lasted 20 minutes (I could be wrong.) Maybe it just seemed that way because the sermon at Mosaic clocked in at almost an hour and a half.

In the past 8 months, I've become more aware of the incorporation of prayer into a worship service without any real preference on my own part. I did notice, though, that we didn't pray corporately until the end of the service when we "prayed over the offering." Up until that point, I was starting to wonder if we were going to pray corporately at all.

After the service, Nathan caught us as we were heading out the door and we were able to speak to him for about 5 minutes about the hardships of planting a church, and about his search for a worship leader.

Follow-up: We received a hand-written note from Nathan that also included a $10 gift card to Border's.

Mosaic Miami

Church Field Trip # 25

Erwin Mcmanus is the pastor of Mosaic in Los Angeles, one of the original, more prominent "emerging" churches (circa early 90's). So it goes without saying that we had high expectations for our experience at Mosaic Miami. I remember first reading about Mosaic years ago in Newsweek magazine, in an article about new kinds of churches trying to reach younger generations in new ways. I do believe that that article was also the first time I was introduced to xxxchurch.com.

This was our first visit to an inner-city church. Mosaic is located in the heart of downtown Miami. They meet in a secondary building that belongs to Christ Fellowship's new downtown campus. Mosaic has been meeting in that building for four years, but Christ Fellowship, a growing Southern Baptist church with five Miami campuses, is presently threatening to muscle them out. Much like our visit to Metro South last month, Mosaic has completely transformed the space that they use for worship. This was a small room filled with about 50 people, couches, comfy chairs, tons of candles, paintings, art, bistro tables, and Bibles laying around everywhere. The communion elements were also made available on a back table near the lone offering box. The attenders were very diverse in both age and ethnicity, further dispelling the myth that emerging churches are for young, white trendy college students.

Upon entry, we were immediately engaged in conversation with the bi-vocational pastor, Kevin Sutherland and his wife, Shari. (When I called last week to simply ask for directions, Shari engaged me in a half hour conversation about their vision.) The setting was about as informal and comfortable as a worship setting could possibly be. As a matter of fact, everyone sat in their couches through the first half of the worship set. They pointed out, at the close of the worship set, that their drummer had just started playing the drums this past week. What a great illustration of God equipping his church to have a worship service. BTW, the drummer did a great job.

During worship, three different women read from scripture. After the worship was finished, they broke for a ten minute intermission so that everyone could mingle and conversate. (What a great idea. This beats the typical 10 second "turn around and shake hands"). They also announced that one of their members has a brain tumor, is unable to work, is a single mother, and needs help paying her bills. They asked everyone to prayerfully consider how they might help this woman. I like this, because it puts a face on where a person's money is going.

Kevin is one of the best preachers that we have seen in these 7 months. He is informal, practical, and fun. I also thought it was unique that he taught with his laptop at his side, rather than written notes. When writing these reports, if I think that a preacher is boring or long-winded, I keep it to myself. Normally, I like to dwell on the content of their sermons more than the delivery. In Kevin's case, though, I thought it would be worth mentioning that his preaching style is very enjoyable - or maybe it was just because we were hanging out on some comfy couches.

He began the teaching by reading an excerpt from Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. He then proceeded to preach for almost and hour and a half, referencing more than a dozen verses, including: Jer. 29:4-13, 1 Cor. 9:16-17, Gal. 5:7-8, Heb. 12:1, Ex. 34:5-7, Lev. 26:39-43, 2 Cor. 1:20-21, 2 Peter 1:3-4, John 4:2-5.

Here are some notable excerpts:

"90% of people who claim to be born-again Christians have not read the entire Bible. They've read bits and pieces, and even memorized smaller pieces, but how can they have a holistic view of the Bible without reading the whole thing?"

"Community is everything. If you don't have community, you don't have anything. Jesus didn't come to start individual faiths, He came to start faith communities."

"In community, we have an opportunity to show the love of Christ in a dramatic way."

"Everyone ends up somewhere, but few of us end up there on purpose."

"I don't expect you all to agree with everything that I have to say. That's ok. Questions are ok."

"God is calling the world back to Himself."

"God tells us to 'go forth', not 'huddle up'."

"You and I are called to join ourselves to community. Period."

"Your gifts, talents, and abilities are not given to you to be used for yourself, but for community."

After the service, we talked with Kevin and Shari for another 15 minutes. They told us that Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale (their former church home) helped them in the planning process for the church plant, but McManus asked them to become a part of the Mosaic family. "We just felt like we didn't fit in with the typical church crowd, so we started this church." They invited us to come over to their house for lunch, but we had to regrettably decline. It was a great gesture though. Also, most of the congregants gathered outside after the service to hang out and eat lunch together. I always appreciate when a church manages to break bread together during a worship service.

Good Shepard Methodist Church, Charlotte NC

Church Field Trip # 24

I love it when people who are not regular church attenders volunteer to attend a worship service with us. Their viewpoint on the service is invaluable to me. So imagine my elated surprise when my good friend told me that he visited a church while on vacation and had written a report on the experience.

Victor Mayoli (author of My Living Mind) is our first guest reporter. While visting his grandmother and mother in North Carolina, Victor decided to do a Church Field Trip Report of his own, unsolicited. Here's a little background on Victor's spiritual upbringing. He grew up attending a Catholic school and usually attended church with his family on holidays. He says that he probably has not been to church at all in the past couple years.

Here is Victor's report:

Before I start I have to warn you that I am not a consistent church goer and I do not have a deep understanding of the mechanics of the christian church. I'm just a guy trying to learn more about religion and I think that by visiting at least one church every once in a while I will be able to slowly grow my understanding of what kind of worship services I enjoy and maybe someday become a fixture at a local church.

We visited Good Shepherd Methodist Church in Charlotte,NC for their Sunday 11:30 service. There were about 400 people in attendance . I'm no expert, but that seems like a pretty good turnout. We arrived about 15 minutes early and received the general hello from several people but the only official welcome was from Talbot Davis, the pastor, as we waited inside the sanctuary, reading their materials and absorbing the atmosphere. He was very pleasant and energetic without being pushy. He even attempted to say a word or two in Spanish for my grandmother which impressed me, especially being in Charlotte. I also noted that he made it his job to greet everyone before the service started.

There was a full band with a drummer, guitarist and lead singer on a grand piano at the center of the stage. We started with 4 songs. The music seemed pretty normal; nothing too exciting but the vibe was light and upbeat. As a side note l noticed that there were translators for the deaf (I don't know if this is standard in churches but it was a nice touch). Once we were finished with the singing (the 4 songs were a little too similar to each other and didn't show enough variety for my own personal tastes) Pastor Davis came up and presented the theme of the month: Remedy. His presentation reminded me of Steve Jobs and his mannerisms.

His main point was Labels and how people put them on us and we put them on ourselves. He stated that we need to break away from the labels of society and rise above them. He mentioned that he likes to go out and not tell people that he is a pastor (avoiding the labels) so he can be with average people and talk to them in a normal way without them freaking out and thinking they have to act a certain way or become extremely religious all of a sudden. The focus of the sermon was "don't live the negative label, but let the Lord give you a label of love and peace." The main scripture he referenced during the sermon was: Luke 1:46-55 - The Magnificat: Mary's Song of Praise. "No matter the labels that people put on Mary when she was pregnant with Jesus. She knew in her heart that she was blessed with the best gift of all." He finished the service with a communion-like handing out of labels: relabeling all of us as BELOVED by God.

As we walked out, the atmosphere was calm and comfortable with a very friendly feeling of people that were really happy that we were there. And the thing I was most skeptical about - "the offering", surprisingly never came up. Only as we were leaving did I notice some people collecting away from the door allowing you to go to them in a non-confrontational manner (this was significant to me). I have been to quite a few churches in my search for something that sparked my religious interest. In those experiences I would have to say that the majority of the churches have pressed for money before, during, and after the worship.

Well, I had a great time at this church and look forward to going to more worship services, learning a little bit more along the way.

Metro South Church - Trenton, Michigan

Church Field Trip # 23

For the benefit of my brother and a few of my friends who live in Southeastern Michigan, I've been digging on the web for a modern, relevant church in their area for the past few years. Metro South Church (MSC) was the one and only church that I could find online that seemed as if it might meet my criteria for "relevancy." Michigan is by no means a part of the Southern Bible Belt, but the religious culture is, for the most part, too traditional for my own personal tastes. This, all the more, makes Metro South stand out on my radar. For the record, I grew up in a church in Southgate, MI called Bethel Baptist, and during my latter teen years, I attended the First Baptist Church of Temperance, MI. (My little brother actually attended Metro South a couple years ago at my suggestion and he complained that it was too loud. I refrained from punching him in the face for such a blasphemous statement.)

I had a great time at this church despite the fact that it was freezing cold outside and I was sick to my stomach from eating White Castle Sliders at 1 am the night before. Metro South started only 7 years ago in the home of Pastor J - a moniker of his own choosing - (Jeremy Schossau) with 25 people. They've now grown to over 800 people each weekend in two services. In March of 2007, they moved into an old FoodTown at the corner of Van Horn and Fort St. and overhauled the space in 90 days, at a cost of $300,000 with the help of only volunteers from the church.

Aesthetically, this was the most comfortable, modern, and coolest use of church space that I've ever experienced. This church proves that it is not about how much money you have, but how you choose to creatively use that money. According to Pastor J, their financial giving averages $9 per person, compared to the national average of $25 per person - though, admittedly, these figures are probably only significant to the pastoral readers of this site. Want some more numbers? How about the fact that their fourth annual Trunk or Treat this past Halloween drew more than 4000 people in attendance. Or the fact that this church of 800 has more than 300 teenagers in its youth ministry.

Two weeks ago, MSC opened their new full-time cafe, Baxters. It is inspired by Panera Bread and Starbucks, and the church opened the cafe as an effort to build community. Let me be clear in explaining that this is not some coffee bar that the churched propped up in the corner. It is a full-functioning cafe that could indeed compete with the likes of Panera Bread. Part of the church's entry lobby is their store, Journey. I've never seen a church sell merchandise like this. They had at least 5 racks of clothing - hoodies, beanies, t-shirts, kids' clothes, even infant clothes - that were all emblazoned with graphics reminiscent of brands such as Affliction, Hollister, and NOTW. More importantly, almost none of the merchandise carried the actual name of the church, though a small number of them had the church website located near the bottom in small print. I like the fact that they are giving preference to creating merchandise that you might actually want to wear rather than a blatant form of advertising.

We weren't there long before we ran into Pastor Jeremy and he proceeded to give us a 15 minute tour of the place. This personal tour hosted by the pastor was great, but I did think it was a bit out of place. We soon found out that Pastor J had preached for the previous 51 weeks, and he had decided to hand the teaching duties over to someone else that day. He also informed us that the band would be stripped down and acoustic for the morning. As I said about the G12 church we attended a few weeks ago, when the second string preaching and worship are out of this world, it just makes you want to come back for the full experience - and this was the case with MSC.

The worship was great. Though stripped down and acoustic, it was still very loud and engaging, a good thing in my book, despite what my brother may think about it. I think they played almost 6 songs, including about 10 minutes of announcements by Jeremy (on his day off).

The guest teacher was Terry Flint - he's the assistant principal at Grosse Ile High School. (Interesting factoid: One of my mentors, Mr. Gregory Loselle, is a teacher at that very same school.) He concluded their current series: Metro at the Movies. He taught on The Miserable Life, using 4 separate 4 minute video clips from the movie Les Miserables. It was a great approach to teaching. As a matter of fact, we've only seen a preacher "chop up" his sermon with video in this fashion one other time - at LifeChurch.tv with Craig Groeschel. Pastor Jeremy confirmed this, stating afterwards that he often uses this "LifeChurch.tv" approach to teaching by breaking up his sermon with video clips of himself teaching certain points in different locales.

The four clips that Terry showed us from Les Miserables:

1. Jean Valjean is shown hospitality by the priest and then proceeds to jack him up and rob him blind.


2. The priest, in turn, ransoms Jean Valjean's soul for God by forgiving him of his sin and giving him a chance to "become a new man".


3. Jean Valjean shows grace to a street prostitute, showing that he obviously learned his lesson from the priest. He tells the street prostitute that, in God's eyes, she is a beautiful woman.


4. The nemesis of Jean Valjean, Javert, finally learns his own lesson: try as he might to uphold the law, he can never be perfect. The only thing that can overcome this dismal state is grace.

Flint clearly delivered the Gospel in a compelling manner, referencing such verses as:

Ezekiel 36:25-28, Matthew 10:39, Rev. 3:20, Prov. 14:12, Num. 32:23, and John 14:6.

Here are a couple notable excerpts from the sermon:

"The grace of God never makes any sense. It defies logic."

"Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future."

"Even in our redemption, our past seldom dies easily."

"You have to commit fully in order to get the benefit from having a relationship with God. You have to surrender your life completely to Him."

"Is life change really possible? Is it really possible to be like Jesus? What does it really take to change?"

After the service, we peeked around and found the indoor skate park that Jeremy had mentioned during his tour. Another church first, to be sure. They had a half pipe, a handful of rails, and also a handful of ramps as well as a bunch of helmets and extra skateboards laying around. I know that it sounds too good to be true; too suspicious - that we should write it off as an exception because this church was in another state and in another culture. But I am serious when I say that this church was awesome.

As a matter of fact, there may have only been one noticeable drawback, and even that would be debatable. We brought along a friend of ours who is not a regular church attender. She really enjoyed herself, but she did admit that she felt a little uncomfortable when the offering bucket passed by. I, myself, though not uncomfortable, was surprised to see that this "postmodern" church had not opted for "stationary offering boxes" that are less intrusive upon visitors. This isn't a criticism, just an observation.

Follow-up: We received a personally written email from Jeremy.

Vintage Worship Gathering

Church Field Trip #22

The name alone would suggest that Vintage Worship Gathering (VWG) is, without a doubt, an emerging church. More so, that they would especially have a Dan Kimball influence - as Kimball supposedly coined not only the term "vintage worship" but "emerging church" as well. I must admit that when I first read Kimball's book, The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations, I didn't quite get it. I struggled to grasp why and how an almost "Catholic" atmosphere would work within a postmodern worship experience. Having experienced this atmosphere at VWG, I now get it. Take the beauty and serenity of the Catholic experience that we had months ago, and infuse it with postmodern relevance and you have a service that is beautiful, serene, and NOT boring. Go figure. It actually works.

We arrived about 15 minutes early to find that they have a 1/2 hour of "hang time" before the service. They all arrive early, eat breakfast (quiche, pastries, cookies, bagels, juice, coffee, etc.), and build relationships. During this time, we were engaged in conversation with at least 5 different people, including Albert - the preacher. I never once heard him or anyone else use the term pastor, so I won't either. There were candles everywhere, as well as plenty of comfortable chairs to sit in while everyone just hung out. It was a very inviting and comfortable atmosphere. Also, everyone wears a name tag, which has both its advantages and disadvantages.

VWG shares a small playhouse theatre called Mos'art with a theater company that performs plays there as well as an art gallery. It was a really cool set up for a church service; sorry, worship gathering. Albert started the church about a year ago with 15 other people who were tired of "church as usual". They now have about 50 people each week gathering in the small theater that seats about 100.

The worship was acoustic (two acoustic guitars and one djembe) and introspective, though we were told that their worship experience can often run the full gambit from small and acoustic to full-blown electrical onslaught requiring them to hand out earplugs at the door. I neglected to take a picture of their stage setup because the theatre company was putting on a show that afternoon and the stage was set up accordingly for the play itself. The worship leader introduced himself only as "Captain." I didn't inquire about the name's nature or origin.

Before preaching, Albert brought two soon-to-be missionaries, Nick and Jesse, up to the stage to discuss their missionary calling. In the spring they will be going to a Muslim country that is hostile to Christian missionaries, so they will actually be working for an NGO there and spreading the Gospel on the sly. I'd like to also note that during the entire service, I believe we were lead in prayer at least half a dozen times by at least three different people.

Albert used Matthew 2:1-12 for the basis of his sermon. Here are some notable excerpts from his teaching:

"Every day that you submit to God, you become more like Jesus."

"I always find myself wanting to build up my own kingdom, rather than live in God's kingdom."

"Repent and believe, because the kingdom of God is near."

"The Gospel is Christ breaking into this world, bringing God's kingdom. This presents us with a choice - whether or not we will submit to His rule and authority."

"The Gospel is this: God isn't on a power trip. We are on a power trip. He let us kill Him. And yet He still invites us to join His kingdom through mercy and forgiveness. Is this Good News to you? Or is it Bad News?"

"It is God's desire to have a relationship with you, even to the point of self-sacrifice."

We had a great time at VWG. It was very relaxed, authentic, and easy to engage despite us being first-timers. Having to drive an hour away to find a church like this is just heart-breaking in a metropolis with more than 5 million people.

I'd like to remark on something that I noticed at both VWG and also at Epic Remix last month. While both of these churches definitely have their fair share of twentysomethings, they are by no means solely made up of youngsters. Kelly, at 48, and Albert, at 40, have both managed to find a faith that appeals to all ages, if the makeup of the congregations is any indication.

Follow-up: We received a personally written email from Albert.

International Charasmatic Mission Church (G12)

Church Field Trip # 21

It's kind of hard to miss a new church that meets two miles from my house with a sign out front that reads: Revolution South Florida. From here on out, it gets a little confusing. International Charismatic Mission Church (ICMC) is a G12 cell church. G12 is an international cell-church network based out of Bogota, Columbia. According to Anthony, the pastor of the South Florida G12 Network, Revolution SF is the theme for this year, placing an emphasis on reaching the teens and twenty-somethings of South Florida. They have services every Saturday night at 8, targeting the younger generation; and they have services every Sunday morning at 10, for families and everyone else.


After hearing many of my christian peers complain about the mega-church movement leaving discipleship by the wayside, it is interesting to see a church/movement that is entirely made up of small discipleship groups. In G12, small groups aren't a ministry of the church, they are the church.

We arrived on time at 10 am, only to find that they run on "Spanish time, which means 20 minutes late", according to Anthony's wife, Jennifer. We received two bilingual greetings and soon discovered that everything was done bilingually; literally everything. The music - two singers singing in both English and Spanish interchangeably; and the preaching was done by two gentlemen bilingually and also interchanging throughout. You would think that this would either be frustrating or confusing, but it was neither. It took about 20 minutes to get used to it, and I would imagine that if I went to this church every week, I would probably learn a lot of Spanish. Anthony himself said that before he joined G12 and started the South Florida network with 8 people 6 years ago, he didn't speak any Spanish. Now he is fluently bilingual.


The service was in a former school gymnasium and there were probably about 500 people in attendance (over 1000 for the weekend.) They did an excellent job of transforming the space into an environment conducive for a great worship experience. To say that the worship experience was off the chain would be an understatement. They were loud, really loud. They were excited - everyone in the building - 100% participation. There was an energy level that I have never before seen in a church service. It was much more like going to a concert than going to a church service. We really had a great time. During one high energy song, they actually pulled one girl from the neo-pit that had formed at the front of the stage and let her freestyle rap during the song. I wish I could have gotten video of that moment - it was awesome. Now let me say two things that will undoubtedly bring me back for a repeat visit to this church.

1. The lead singer is actually the daughter of the leader of the worldwide G12 network. She and her band, Soulfire, were not present for this service. They are out touring and will be back in January. So that means that this was the "backup" band which rocked our socks off. Unbelievable. The worship leader, Vince, also told us that the preacher was a "backup preacher" which is also significant because he knocked it out of the park along with his Spanish partner.


2. We went to the Sunday morning service geared toward families. I can't imagine what the energy level must be like at the Saturday night service.

The whole service was somewhat chaotic, with people milling about, kids playing, mother's feeding their kids, people quietly talking, and I even saw at least one person on their laptop during the teaching time. For those of you who worship structure and organization, this would be a distracting nightmare - but for us, it was quite enjoyable. My wife described it as such, "It was like being at a wedding reception. Everyone was having a good time and just celebrating life." And for those of you who would dare to walk into a church like this and ask, "What are you going to do for my children?" or "I want my kids to be entertained." or "What youth and children's ministries do you offer?" (Come on. You know who you are.) The answer would be - "Stuff it. Go find a consumer-driven church. There are plenty of them." (That's my answer, not theirs.)


The topic for the sermon was "Understanding the Times", derived from I Chronicles 12. The pastor also used Nehemiah 2:17, II Cor. 13:5, Phil. 1:6, and Acts 3. He used a handful more verses, but I admit that I was lost at times, and was struggling to keep up. Having two preachers, one for each language, was fun and entertaining. They played off of each other and joked with each other, especially when there were translation difficulties. They were both equally energetic and engaging.


Here are some notable quotes:

"Don't wait for someone else to do what God has put in your heart for you to do."


"There are 3 types of people:

1. People who watch things happen
2. People who wonder what happened
3. People who make things happen

"How many warriors are in here?" At which point, he had us yelling like a scene out of Braveheart - Referencing I Chronicles 12:38. This church took audience participation to a whole new level. By the end of the service I was worn out and almost hoarse. But man, did I have a good time.

"God is here to meet you at the point of your need."

"God is in the restoration business."

"There are four things that you need to do.

1. Examine yourself
2. Ask for God's forgiveness
3. Have confidence in God's calling
4. Get busy doing God's work

To say that they presented the Gospel in a clear and convicting manner would be a gross understatement. If there was ever a church that didn't need to present the Gospel, it would be a G12 church. They don't actually expect anyone to just walk in off the street (like we did) because of their model of cell group evangelism. But that didn't stop them from presenting the Gospel in possibly the most compelling fashion that we've seen to date. I was starting to wonder if they were going to check us at the door and make sure that we were saved before we left.

As we were leaving, Pastor Anthony and his wife, Jennifer snagged us and engaged us in conversation for about 10 minutes about the G12 vision and God's calling on our lives. We exchanged contact information with them, as the church did not have any printed materials available - no bulletin, no brochures, no guest card, nothing. Very organic.

I shot some video, but, like a moron, I accidentally recorded it without audio. Sorry, I am an idiot. But I figured I would throw the video up anyways.

Experience a Church Service on the Internet

We have taken a two-week hiatus from church field tripping. This is simply poor timing considering the bevy of new readers that have come to this site because of the Sun-Sentinel article. This weekend, we will be back out on the road again. With that in mind, I thought I would give you the next best thing - the ability to take your own church field trip.

There are a handful of churches that show their entire service on the internet. I find this to be useful for two groups of people.

1. Those who are obligated to attend their own church and never get to experience other churches.

2. Those who have no interest in actually going to church, but are curious to see what it would be like.


Here are some churches which offer this opportunity to take a look inside:

Newspring Church - Anderson, SC

Lifechurch.tv - Edmond, OK (streams live only)

Granger Community Church - Granger, IN

Flamingo Road Church - Cooper City, FL (streams live only)

Vineyard Community Church - Cincinnati, OH

The People's Church - Franklin, TN


(Thanks to Jeff, for a couple of these.)

If you know of any more churches that provide video of their ENTIRE service, let me know. I'd love to watch them.

Journey Church

Church Field Trip #20

Journey Church meets at Lake Worth Christian School (in the gymnasium) every Sunday at 10:10 AM. They have established an interesting partnership with the school involving outfitting the gymnasium with audio/visual equipment. We arrived about 5-10 minutes late, but according to Jerry - the Small Group Pastor, they usually start about 5-10 minutes late anyways. Upon entering, we received two standard greetings and we were funneled to a table where everyone who enters gets a name tag. I like that they make everyone take a name tag, rather than just visitors, but I also have a problem with name tags. They make you lazy. When everyone is wearing a name tag, you are neither prompted to introduce yourself nor ask someone their name. Name tags are self-defeating in purpose.

The worship set only lasted about 15 minutes and it was pretty mellow. There were about 400 people packed into the gymnasium which was dimly lit. The gym floor was covered with a dark protective covering, there was a 12 foot black curtain running behind the entire front of the setup, and the stage itself was lightly illuminated in a "black light" (you know, the purple kind.) I liked the atmosphere. I liked the darkness, and I thought that the black light was an interesting touch. For my own personal tastes, I wish that some of the music had been a little more uptempo and I wish that the worship had lasted longer.

After the worship set, Pastor Scott Baugh introduced us to a missionary to Haiti. The missionary spoke for about 5 minutes about their work and then showed us a short video about their mission trip to Haiti. Scott talked about how Journey Church was going to begin getting involved in microfinance in Haiti, as well as building churches and schools there. He also showed a slide show of church members renovating a youth center next to the school in Lake Worth.

Pastor Scott gave a traditional Thanksgiving "Be Thankful" message. He taught on Deuteronomy 6:10-12, 8:10-18, and 26:1 - Three instances of God warning the people of Israel to be careful not to forget where they came from and what God had done for them.

Here are some excerpts from the sermon:

"What is the source of your wealth? Is it God? Or is it your own hard work?"

"When you are successful, you tend to forget about your dependence on God."

"There is no such thing as a self-made man."

"Haiti is only 2.5 hours away from us, but it is a completely different world from the one we live in."

"This isn't about feeling guilty for being blessed, it is about feeling grateful for being blessed."

He gave us a piece of blank paper so that we could write down what we are grateful for. He then told us that, in the past week, his father has had two strokes and his wife has miscarried their first child. Pastor Scott broke down into tears as he told us about his difficult week. It was difficult to watch. He then used this as an illustration of how, even in the worst of times, there are things that we can still be thankful for.

The Gospel was a complete no show. He didn't allude to it, reference it, or give any other such show of having anything whatsoever to say to those in the congregation who might be lost spiritually.

After the service, Jerry engaged us in conversation for about 10 minutes. He was definitely interested in whether or not "we liked the service" and if "we were coming back." Jerry told us that the church is now 4 years old. They gave us a guest bag that contained some left-over Halloween candy, a pen, a statement of faith, and a sermon CD on Parables.

Epic Remix Church

Church Field Trip #19

Our first emergent church! And possibly the only one we'll find in South Florida. Epic Remix was planted a mere 3 weeks ago. The founding pastor, Kelly Lyons, was a pastor at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale for the past 13 years. They meet at the North Broward Prep School at 6:30 pm on Sunday nights. (They meet on Sunday nights out of necessity, not preference.) Kelly was raised by missionary parents in Peru, but has lived in the States for the past 17 years. Kelly draws no salary from the church and has no plans to draw a salary. Epic Remix intends to give away 75% of its income, using only 25% for in-house costs.

It would not be appropriate to state whether or not we were "greeted." Rather, we had at least 5 different people engage us in genuine conversation before the service began. Two of these people were Kelly - he doesn't like to be called "Pastor Kelly"; and Chelsea - she runs the Homeless Outreach program called Love Bags. They don't just throw stuff at the homeless, but they actually get to know them as friends. They are even housing a couple of them in their own homes. The service began about 7 minutes late, but we didn't mind because we were enjoying the conversation.

Epic Remix openly models themselves after Mars Hill Bible Church/Rob Bell and Mosaic Church/Erwin Mcmanus (both prominent "emerging churches") - though I found it curious that Kelly didn't know that there was a Mosaic in Miami. The set up was a half-circle of chairs with Kelly seated on a stool in the middle. They began the service with a New Testament reading - a woman got up and read Col. 1:19-23.

The worship time was leaderless. In other words, it was us facing the screen. Despite the fact that they supposedly have a handful of worship leaders in the congregation, Kelly wanted to experiment and try video-led worship. It was a little weird; a little uncomfortable. But it was also kind of cool. I've never been so aware of the people around me. Unfortunately, our posse of 7 (4 adults, 2 youths) seemed to be among the few in the group of 60 people that were actually excited about worshipping. It was a catch-22. The videos that they played, Hillsong, were high-energy and really enjoyable. But most of the crowd around us, including Kelly standing at the front, seemed as if they were disinterested in worshipping.



Following worship, Kelly taught on I Kings 9-11 for about 20 minutes. The title of the teaching was "Everything is Not O.K."This passage showed that Solomon was beyond wealthy, rich in wisdom, and certainly blessed by God. Despite his outward appearances of rich blessing, Solomon was actually headed down the wrong path away from God because of the influence of his many wives. Kelly correlated the experience of Solomon to our experience in modern day America. We are rich beyond our wildest dreams (compared to the rest of the world), but morally and spiritually, things are a mess. He then showed us a video by Chris Seay, called "The 8 Dollar Hot Dog." After watching the video, Kelly led us in a 20 minute session of Question and Dialogue.



Here are some excerpts from the teaching and Q&A time:

"justice and righteousness are one and the same"

"Do we live in a Kingdom of comfort? Are we oppressing others without meaning to? What if our wealth was shared in such a way that it changed the world?"

We discussed: child labor, migrant workers, undocumented workers, organ trade, where our clothing comes from, etc.

"How can we listen for the cry of others? We need to get out of our house and meet people and get to know them."

"What makes God angry today? The self-serving complacent church. The church is not an institution. We are the church."

"What am I doing with what God has given me? We need to educate ourselves about what's really going on around us. We should pray for the people who make our clothing, because they are most likely oppressed."

"Fair Trade is not the same as Free Trade."

At the end of the service, Kelly invited us to participate in the Ten-Minute Party (which was actually almost a half hour of conversation). I have to say that some of the people in the group drilled him much harder than I would have, but here are some of the statements that he made in trying to describe the vision of Epic Remix.

Are you emergent?
"We refuse every label anyone wants to give us."
(Trust me, they are emergent. As a matter of fact, that would be the classic emergent answer to the question.)

"What if church is not about us? What if church was about it's non-members? What would an upside down church look like? What if the church didn't need massive amounts of money in order to operate? Where might that money go? What could it be used for?"

"What if the people of my generation (Kelly is almost 50) let the younger generation lead? Where would they take us?"

"The Grand Story of Scripture is not about us, it is about God."

"Epic Remix wants to be a safe place for you to ask questions, even questions you're not supposed to ask."

Do you preach a watered-down Gospel? Do you replace the Gospel of sacrifice and redemption with the Social Gospel of feeding and clothing the poor and oppressed?
"Of course we preach Jesus. Of course we preach a Gospel of repentance."
(Except, like many of the churches we've been to, he didn't. I guess, at least in Kelly's case, it is somewhat purposeful. The emergent thought is that a person will be saved through the experience of going on the journey with other followers of Christ, not by being told about their sin and the sacrifice that was made on their behalf by Jesus. It is in this respect, among others, that I disagree with the popular emergent theology. While it was great hearing so many ideas that we've never heard in church before; it is unfortunate that they willingly choose to leave out the most important message of all - the Gospel.)

"I'd love to keep Epic Remix as organic as possible."

"I think that liturgy and scripture readings can be a powerful aspect of worship."

Phew! After that experience, we decided that it would be appropriate to go to the ultra-hip Starbucks (I've never been there because I don't drink coffee) to discuss our emergent experience. As an added bonus, we had taken a 20 year old de-churched college student along with us to Epic, so we had the benefit of her perspective as well. Like many college students, she hasn't been involved in the church since she was in high school.

Yes, I've heard the hype about the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. And yes, it was, quite possibly, one of the greatest liquids that I have ever put into my mouth. And I'm saying that as a non-coffee drinker.



Follow-up: Kelly invited anyone who didn't have family in South Florida over to his house for Thanksgiving Dinner. This is a show of personal hospitality that I appreciate.

Follow-up: Kelly sent us a personal email thanking us for our visit as well as the feedback. He also invited us to come over to his house for dinner this week. Yet another show of the hospitality that Paul speaks of when listing the qualifications of an elder.

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.

Calvary Chapel Jupiter

Church Field Trip #17

The drive to get to Calvary Chapel Jupiter took about an hour. They meet at Jupiter High School, but they are presently building a church in Jupiter Farms which they will move into sometime in the spring of 2008. We parked our vehicle and then embarked on what seemed like a 1/4 mile winding journey through the school campus until we finally found the auditorium. Sometimes, in order to have a worship service, you do what you have to do. Because of this long walk, we received about 8 standard greetings from all of the greeters who were stationed along the way. Their attendance runs at about 500.

According to the Worship Pastor, Jeff Thompson, this week's worship was stripped down and acoustic. Though stripped down, it was still pretty high-energy. I don't know quite how to explain it, but sometimes I have fun during worship because the atmosphere is "helping me along" (Church by the Glades and Lifechurch.tv come to mind.) At other times, that sense of worship seems to come from somewhere inside of me with a sense of it being more raw (CC Jupiter and Oasis church come to mind.) I wouldn't say that either of these worship experiences is better than the other, just different. Jeff promised that next week, they would be back to their usual "plugged in" experience which also includes a DJ. Big props on using a DJ, Jeff. As I've mentioned before, the heavy participation by the audience during worship at CCJ was a big influence on my worship experience.

Pastor Dan Plourde founded the church 10 years ago. A few years back, he determined that his church of upper class homeschoolers had become too comfortable in their own Christian culture bubble, and they were no longer reaching the unchurched community. So he decided to change their atmosphere by bringing in Jeff with a fresh take on worship.

Plourde puts a high priority on expository preaching. So much so that the slogan for the church written on all of their materials is: Chapter by Chapter...Verse by Verse. Presently, Plourde is working his way through the Book of Genesis. Specifically, he taught through Genesis 41, the story of Joseph's rise to power.

He began the teaching by asking the congregation this question: "How many of you here are believers? If you are a believer, please raise your hand. This message today is for you: You should be absolutely convinced, as Joseph was, that God is with you." It is ironic, how often we have attended these churches only to find that the message was solely intended for the church family and not the unchurched who might be visiting.

He went on to say that this was "the great promise of the Bible: That God is always with us." To illustrate this, he referenced Isaiah 41:10, Hebrews 13:5-6, and Matthew 28:20.

Pastor Dan was convinced that the story of Joseph had special meaning for this congregation in particular, because they are a congregation that is "blessed when it comes to the corporate ladder." "Many of us in this room would be considered the rising stars of the business world, much like Joseph." "There are CEO's here, you've done very well, you're very successful. "This congregation could be considered well-off." "So this might be the most appropriate teaching for this congregation - Joseph's rise to power."

Mid-way through the teaching, he related a story about a motivational/infomercial speaker, Stephen K. Scott, who ended his series of motivational tapes by telling the listener that he was a Christian. The motivational speaker said that "he wouldn't be doing his job, if he didn't tell people the Gospel of Jesus." Unfortunately, Pastor Dan's only mention of Jesus at all was in this quote of the motivational speaker. And the quote itself was almost self-condemning of Pastor Dan's own failure to tell those congregants whose hands were not raised anything at all about Jesus.

He pointed out that he would be available to speak to visitors at the connections table outside in the courtyard (reminiscent of the Ten Minute Party at Calvary Fellowship). I like this because it sends the message that the pastor places a priority on meeting new people. We were given a gift bag with a variety of informational pamphlets, including a doctrinal belief statement. It also included a sermon CD entitled "The Gospel" and a small booklet by Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter. One of our group asked the pastor how many hands were not raised when he asked the believers to raise their hands. He explained that, "on a typical Sunday, probably 20% of the congregation would indicate that they are not believers. And another 20% probably think that they are even though they are most likely not."

Follow-up: Jeff, the worship leader, asked us to join him for lunch. In 16 church visits, this would be a first. We accepted, ate BBQ, and talked for almost two hours. It was an enlightening conversation.

Follow-up: We received a hand-written note from the "Calvary Jupiter Staff" including an invitation to their Newcomers Night.

LifeChurch.tv Wellington

Church Field Trip #16

It was only a matter of time before we made it up to the Wellington campus of LifeChurch.tv. They hold their services in a high school auditorium, but don't be fooled, because it was tricked out. This is actually a pre-existing congregation that has been in Wellington for 16 years. Last February, they decided to become a campus of Lifechurch.tv "before someone else in South Florida beat them to it," according to the campus pastor, Larry Mayer.

We arrived about 15 minutes early and milled about in the lobby. At least 4 different people engaged us in genuine conversation. Larry recognized new faces and introduced himself. He then spent about 10 minutes before and also after the service talking to us about their transition, their vision, and their progress. I want to note that every person that spoke to me at this church asked me for my name. For this reason alone, I could have left satisfied. THIS IS HUGE!

This church is currently running two services with almost 500 in attendance. While we were out in the lobby talking, I noticed that the band was already playing inside the amphitheater. Pastor Larry told us that the band plays cover-songs during the pre-service time, so we went inside. Upon entry the band was "blasting" out Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. At 11 am. That will wake you up for sure.

This was the loudest worship experience we've had. The band tore the roof off of that place. If you were in that crowd and you weren't worshipping and jamming to the music, you didn't have a pulse. I think that I've now determined, after visiting 15 churches, that I am personally not a fan of the "praise team." The "praise team" usually consists of 3 or 4 singers (usually pretty women) singing "parts." I've been to a lot of rock concerts in my life, at least 100, and the phenomenon of the "praise team" seems to be exclusive to the church world. I realize that this is just a personal preference on my part, but I just seem to be more into the worship when I'm not looking at a bunch of pretty girls standing up there without instruments.

When the band finished playing four songs, I wanted them to play four more, but they immediately moved into the teaching by Craig Groeschel via satellite. This was my second experience with live teaching being fed in via video. The first was Flamingo Road Church Sawgrass. Now I don't want to compare these two satellite experiences directly, but it is practically inevitable. The experience at FRC Sawgrass was satisfactory, but LifeChurch.tv are not only the authors, but quite possibly the masters of this new form of church experience.

Craig has mastered this form of teaching. At least 70% of time, he was looking directly into the cameras. They seamlessly switched the feed to whichever camera he happened to be looking at. They kept the shot tight on Craig so that he filled most of the three large screens in our auditorium. Craig addressed the campuses directly and intentionally. And, like the music, the audio feed was loud. All of these elements combined to successfully give the impression that Craig was actually in the room. They nailed it. This success was especially evident when he prodded the audience to participate by reading portions of Bible verses aloud. The entire audience participated just like he was in the room with us.

Since I'm devoting so much of this post to the overall experience, I'm not going to go into depth on the content of Groeschel's teaching. It was theologically sound. It was moving. It was convicting. And he delivered the Gospel in a clear and convicting manner. They just started a series called "Supernatural." You can watch the teaching on their website if you'd like. The teaching time for LifeChurch.tv usually runs about 30-35 minutes on the dot. During his teaching, they inserted at least 4 different video vignettes. We found this to be both unique and refreshing. The video capabilities of this church are off the chain. Rather than put together a 30 second video and tack it onto the beginning or end of the sermon, as many churches do, they actually produced 4 videos of varying lengths, 30 seconds to 4 minutes, and interspersed them throughout the teaching time.

At the close of the service, Pastor Craig led us in at least 5 minutes of prayer time. With my eyes closed and an ethereal music floating through the room, I was at last convinced that Craig was indeed in the room with us. I think that may be the longest period of time that I've spent in prayer in a church, another first. Want one more unique trademark of this church? They had the Communion elements available during the entire service at the side of the auditorium, for those who wanted to partake of them. I think I like that.

After the service, I asked Pastor Larry if LifeChurch.tv had any plans for more campuses in South Florida. He answered, "Orlando would probably be next because we already have a LifeGroup (their version of a small group) up there with 45 people." You see, LifeChurch.tv has stumbled onto another interesting phenomenon with their groundbreaking version of church. They've found that people are using their materials (which are freely available online) and their streaming video of worship and teaching to essentially hold their own versions of the church wherever they live. So, in essence, LifeChurch.tv already has a presence in Orlando, they just have to fill in the blanks. Wow.

If there was a curve, I do believe that this church just set it. Good thing there isn't one.

Follow-up: We received a personally written email from Pastor Mayer on Monday morning.

A Month of Sundays

A newspaper in Seattle sent 31 writers to 31 houses of worship in one weekend. This article, A Month of Sundays, is a keeper. Let's face it, when I am doing my church field trips, I am looking to worship God in the church that I am visiting. Not so with these reporters. And it gives them a unique perspective on the 31 houses of worship that they visit.

A Month of Sundays

For those of you who are easily offended, (we need to talk sometime), I should warn you that 5 out of the 31 writers have potty-mouths.

Church Field Trip Evolution

I had a certain purpose and vision in mind when I began the Church Field Trips. That purpose and vision is in the process of evolving due to outside influence.

• There seems to be genuine interest in hearing about these "Church Worship Experiences". Let's face it, half of us already attend a church regularly and don't get much opportunity to experience other churches. And the other half of us don't want to go to church at all, period. (I will say that if you find yourself in this second group, you could check out the "Internet campuses" for Flamingo Road Church, and Lifechurch.tv for at least a visual experience, albeit somewhat removed.)

• Some people have requested that we visit "churches" that are not Jesus-centered and Bible-based. I.E., Hindu, Jehovah's Witness, Mormon, Universalist, etc. I will admit that the jury is still out on that one, and I'd appreciate input.

• I've had requests from as far away as 80 miles from churches that would like us to visit their church and give a report on the experience.

Oasis Church

Church Field Trip #15
Oasis Church (Formerly Church of Pembroke Pines)

We visited this church for one reason. They are currently ranked #17 on the list of America's Most Innovative Churches. There are two other South Florida churches on that list: Flamingo Road Church (ranked #38), and Lifechurch.tv (ranked #7). I'll be visiting the Lifechurch.tv Wellington campus soon.

I can give you a couple guesses as to why these churches are on this list. Flamingo Road's two recent series, ivescrewedup.com and mynakedpastor.com were pretty innovative. Oasis Church began holding worship services 7 nights a week to help with their space issues on the weekends. And there were definitely parking issues at 10 am on Sunday morning. They have a total of 10 services on their main campus each week. That's actually daring and innovative. And Lifechurch.tv is just plain innovative by their very nature, period.

I must admit that I was caught a little off guard by how well-dressed everyone seemed to be at this church. I usually have a good sense of what to expect before heading into these churches, but this church surprised me in a few different ways. For the record, I like to dress casual for church if I can help it. (I'll pop a picture of my "church garb" up here for you.)

Upon arrival, a greeter checked us in at a wall kiosk. That was a nice high tech touch. Unfortunately, the kiosk then proceeded to print out name tags. Sorry, but I'm not a fan of the name tag. They have a cafe that is very well appointed. Coffee, pastries, cookies, juice, water, etc. This included a small bookstore set-up as well as some tables and chairs. Notably, the tables and chairs were quite nice. Some were high-tops and others were long tables with benches - the type you'd see in a German Beer House. I think that I've grown so accustomed to the appointments in a church either being portable or cheap or both, that I was surprised to see such a permanent dedication of materials to this cafe.

The worship was well done. This was one of the most satisfying worship experiences that I have had in these four months. There were no distractions. There was about 80% participation from the audience (a big factor for me). And the worship band was both diverse and talented. The sanctuary had a flag hanging from every country that is represented by the members of their congregation. Diversity is definitely a priority for this church.

Prior to the teaching, they played two videos. These are typical videos that certain websites produce and then sell to churches for $10-$20 a pop. I've seen both videos before. One video, Christian vs. Christ-follower (a play on the p.c. vs. Mac commercials) seemed to go over the heads of most of the congregation. The church had just begun a series on this premise of being a Christian vs. being a Christ-follower. Pastor Pat Roberts did a fine job teaching, incorporating the Gospel into the end of the sermon. He used a plethora of scriptures throughout the sermon, so I'm not even going to bother to record them here, sorry. Here are a couple notable quotes:

"Many people confuse Biblical paradoxes with Biblical contradictions. A Biblical paradox is simply God's reality, which to us, sometimes looks like a contradiction."

"A Christian will follow Jesus part of the way, until it gets difficult. A Christ-follower will follow Jesus all the way to the cross."

"You have to constantly empty yourself out so that God can fill you up with His purposes."

"Stop trying to figure out the Kingdom of God if you haven't been born-again. You must be born-again before any of this will make sense."

"As a pastor, if I go out and do something unbecoming of a pastor, then, in that moment, I cease being the person that I claimed to be. If Jesus had walked away from the cross, He would have ceased to be the person that He claimed to be."

This church was a bit of a paradox itself. In some ways, it fit some stereotypes. But in other ways, it was indeed innnovative.

Follow - Up: Recieved a letter from the church which included a hand-written note from Pastor Guy Melton, "Thanks for the blog comments. God bless you. Sorry, no cookies or goodie bags."

Trust me, I'd rather hear the Gospel and experience real worship than get cookies, a candle, and a book I'll never read.

3 Types of Churches

Church Field Trip Summary Statement

After visiting more than a dozen local churches, I think I am ready to give a summary statement. There are basically two things on my radar when attending a church: 1- Presentation of the Gospel in a clear and complete fashion; 2- Whether a service is up-to-date and relevant in its presentation and appearance. (This is simply my own personal criteria.) So far, I have seen three different types of churches based on these two observations.


1. Churches that are at least somewhat relevant to our culture and time, but somehow either missed the Gospel entirely or presented it incompletely, theologically speaking.


2. Churches that managed to present the Gospel in a clear and complete fashion theologically, but were not able to exhibit some sense of cultural relevance and an up-to-date presentation.


3. Churches that were able to present the Gospel completely, while at the same time, presenting at least some semblance of cultural relevance.

• So far we've been to 4 churches that nailed the Gospel, but were almost laughably irrelevant. Trust me, I don't use this term lightly. Sometimes, it can actually be hard to keep a straight face.


• We've also been to 4 churches that were up-to-date in their presentation and experience, but glossed over the reason we were there in the first place - the Gospel.


• We visited one church that didn't meet either criteria. This church is a large and growing church, which just goes to show that every study has to have its margin of error.


• And we've been to 3 churches that were able to do both. It should be noted that these three churches in this category were three of the largest, fastest growing churches we've visited. I wouldn't take this fact and run with it, but I do think that it is at least worth noting.

Would you say that this is a representative sampling of churches in South Florida?

First Church West

Church Field Trip #14

We visited First Church West in Plantation for two reasons: one, a member of our posse visited this church years ago and told us that the pastor opened the floor for questions at the end of the sermon - an intriguing approach. Two, the pastor, Dr. Norman Wise hosts a variety of meetup.com groups, one of which is called Socrates Cafe - a place for thinkers/philosophers to share their ideas - another approach many pastors would do well to adopt.

Upon our arrival, we received about three genuine greetings, and we were guided to sign in at the guest book. At this point, I should clarify my definitions for genuine and standard greetings. A standard greeting is the typical handshake at the door with a "Hello, how are you?" thrown in for good measure. A genuine greeting is one that involves an introduction by name, and also includes that person asking me what my name is as well. I want the greeter to at least feign interest in who I am and what my name is. Genuine greetings are few and far between at our church visits and that is unfortunate.

The music was early 90's contemporary. There were about 50 people in the room, but I'd venture a guess that there were probably more at their early morning traditional service. I was impressed with the way that Dr. Wise was multi-tasking by running the power point presentation both during the worship and during his own sermon. Of course, the use of power point itself would be another hallmark of the 90's.

The sermon, "Falling into Insanity" was based on Romans 1:21. I must admit that, for the first time in 3 months, I did not take good notes during the sermon. Pastor Norm did a fine job conveying the complete Gospel in a clear manner. He also used Jeremiah 2:5 and Ecc. 10:2 (NLT). In an interesting twist, he used Psalm 14:1 to prove the existence of atheists, countering the argument that there are no atheists in foxholes.

Three things he said did stand out to me though:

"It does me no good to speak to the unchurched people, because they aren't here in church."

"I have to speak to the people who are here, the church folk."

"Christianity is being reduced to an experience. An experience without knowledge."

Upon our departure, we were greeted by Pastor Norm and given a gift basket that included a small booklet - "Why a Crown?", a copy of a recent sermon CD, the Book of John on CD (I thought this was a really cool idea until I noticed that it was King James Version. Bummer), a vanilla scented candle, and a leather bound journal.

Once again, if you've never heard of meetup.com, I'd encourage you to check it out.

Follow - Up: Received a standard letter from the church.