Monday, July 25, 2016

Week 27 - Safe Harbor Church of the Nazarene

safeharbornaz.org
This week the pendulum  swung the other way and we discovered a community that was probably one of the smallest we visited to date. Safe Harbor Church is centrally located on a main thoroughfare within easy walking distance of several multi and single-family housing developments.

SHC provided a welcoming environment as we were greeted by a number of congregants and the pastor prior to the service. There was a comfortable familiarity among those in attendance and we recognized and sang to two young women for their birthdays and an older couple for their anniversary. The auditorium was well lit with both artificial and diffused natural light. A projection screen was used during the pre-service announcements, while the audience read aloud the a Apostles' Creed, and as a visual aide during the message. Music was provided by a seven instrument orchestra and three vocalists, and was made up entirely of Fanny Crosby classics. In addition a special piece was performed by an eight voice choir with a solo by the pastor. All-in-all nearly half in attendance  participated directly in some way during the service.

The message was a continuation of a series that is looking at eight specific signs highlighted in the Gospel of John. As stated these signs were included "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:31).  This week we took a look at the miracle of Jesus giving sight to a man born blind (Jn 9).

To begin with the pastor dispelled the myth that tragedy or misfortune only comes to those who sin, a common belief in Jesus time that persists even today. Like all of the signs that Jesus performed this one was designed to fulfill specific prophetic marks for the coming messiah that would have been understood by his Jewish community. In addition to the messianic fulfillment the pastor challenged us to consider another element to this event. Namely that "everything Jesus touches, changes."

  1. God became man to turn creatures into sons; not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.
  2. Jesus didn't come to merely comfort sinners; he came to transform them into saints.
  3. Some folks have a "Frebreze" Christianity-they aren't really clean, they just smell that way.
  4. Jesus doesn't just cover up the sin; he purges it.
Ultimately, he stated, this was "not just a miracle of healing; it was a miracle of creation."

The pastor then led us in a time of reflection and communion open to all in attendance.


SHC offered a casual, yet traditional, environment. The congregants were warm and welcoming and, while they didn't highlight it, there was evidence that they are involved in serving those who are less fortunate in our community.  

Thursday, July 7, 2016

Week 26 - Crossroads Community Church

crossroadschurch.net
This week found us in the world of megachurches. There are only a handful of such churches in our county and it was inevitable that we would end up in at least one. Crossroads Community Church is one of the largest, and probably the largest single-campus church in our area. It is the church that seems like everyone you know has gone to at some time in their life, if they have lived here for any length of time. As you might expect they have a large multi-million dollar facility, which is also home to Cornerstone Christian Academy. The multi-use site is also often used to host larger regional events, like Mission Connexion as recently as 2014.

CCC's building, where the weekend services take place, includes a large foyer, they call it the Family Room, with a complete cafe, adequate seating to visit with friends, and a water feature that serves as the baptismal font. The auditorium seats around 1000 and at the service we attended was at least 75% full. Lighting is provided solely by artificial lighting and was dimmed during the music performance which helped to accentuate the stage lighting. Dual side screens were used to project announcements, song lyrics and the speaker during the message. Music was provided by six instrumentalists, including two vocalists. Song selection was primarily contemporary praise songs and while well performed with lots of energy, but not overdone, we strained to hear the voices of several hundred congregants over the band. 

One thing that was unique about the service at CCC is that they live simulcast the service online. On the whole this didn't really affect much other than there were three large video cameras with operators located close to the stage. Several references were made of off-site viewers and a countdown clock was displayed during the five minute meet-n-greet so that people got back to their seats promptly. Loren does have to admit that he did find himself frequently trying to figure out when each camera was being used throughout the service. The drummer definitely received plenty of camera time during the band's performances. In keeping with the social media age the Creative Arts Pastor even encouraged people to pull out their smartphones and do a "check in" on Facebook and then tweet the service to their friends.

Did we mention that CCC has been around for awhile? About 40 years actually. Bill Richie was the founding pastor and served as their senior pastor until he retired about four years ago, handing the job over to a young, 30 something, upstart from California named Daniel Fusco. 

Pastor Fusco's style would best be described as "smooth like Jazz," fitting given his background as a professional Jazz musician. His message this week was a continuation of a series entitled Little is the new Big: Huge lessons from the Bible's smallest books. The specific talk drew from Jude 1-11 and was called The Struggle is Real. Working through this small, and often overlooked, book we were reminded that there is blessing for those who have been called, sanctified, and preserved in Christ (vs. 1-2). Then we were admonished to remember to fight for the right things (vs. 3-4) and learn from the past (vs. 5-11). Finally, we were challenged to view this recounting of past actions as a testimony that tells a story of how real the struggle is to be faithful to the life we have been called too. The service ended with a brief call to respond to the message and come forward for prayer.

Crossroads is big, no getting around that. We were fortunate that we knew a couple of the greeters as we came in. If you go as an unaccompanied visitor don't expect too much in the way of spontaneous connection. This is typical in megachurch settings so they do provide plenty of options to connect with a small group at other times. There is something for everyone and every age. In all likelihood you will eventually run into someone you know.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Week 25 - Laurelwood Baptist Church

www.laurelwoodbc.com
Our visit this week took us both back to our Baptist roots having grown up in Southern and Conservative Baptist traditions. Laurelwood Baptist Church was comfortably familiar due to our upbringings, but the reality is except for the "Baptist" identifier in the name a visitor wouldn't notice much difference (if any) between LBC and the many "Community" churches in the area. We have noticed a trend for several years where some denominational churches have dropped the specific denomination from their name; our former church did so, unceremoniously, many years back.

LBC is in the middle of a major structural renovation of their main meeting space so they are temporarily using the foyer area. The space is large enough to handle seating for around 350 comfortably and this week was about 3/4 capacity. The main auditorium was closed off so we don't know what it is like. However, the temporary space was comfortable and well lit with plenty of natural light. We were surprised with how well the sound system was balanced for the space; the five member band's understated performance was a nice complement to the voices of the congregants. 

Attendance this week was made up of a broad cross section of ages. We were greeted by and engaged in conversation with a couple of older couples and we heard about active ministries with children and youth. During the announcement time several young people were brought forward and given an opportunity to share their recent experiences working with Christian Youth in Action, a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship. 

The pastor was away with family to participate in a grandbaby dedication so the Children's Ministry Director shared the message. The passage he taught from was Psalm 8:3-8 and the topic was entitled Discovering Your Purpose in Life. He first reminded, and challenged, us to create space in our lives for reflection. This reflective space creates the opportunity to contemplate who God is and who we are as part of his creation (vs. 3-4). With that reflection we are better able to understand the position of "glory and honor" we have been given in his creation (v. 5). With this realization of our position we should begin to understand our greater purpose to "represent God's reign" (vs. 6-8).

After attending this week we were talking with some long-time friends about our visit only to discover that they had both grown up in the church and could attest to LBC's long and vibrant ministry in the community. We were warmly welcomed by several people and definitely felt a heart of service both within and without their community.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Week 24 - Glenwood Community Church

glenwoodcc.org
Expanded our radius just a bit this week and ventured out near our old church stomping grounds. Glenwood Community Church is located on the way to rural Clark County, on the edge of cow pastures and tree farms. GCC is one of the larger churches we have visited, offering two services with seating for about 500. We went to the later service and the auditorium was filled to capacity and, from what we saw, GCC has a broad cross-section of ages represented. It was evident that they have a robust children's and youth ministry, however the emphasis this week was on the upcoming Vacation Bible School where they expected several hundred children to be involved.

The auditorium was well lit and had some indirect natural light from above. An overhead screen was used for song lyrics, announcements, and bible passages during the message. Music was provided by five instrumentalists, including two vocalists. One thing we noticed immediately with the music was that the volume of the band was well balanced to allow the voices of the congregants to be heard easily heard throughout the auditorium. In addition they lead us through a selection contemporary praise songs without over performing. 

The message was based on Luke 5:27-32 and entitled Following Jesus Changes Everything. One thing we appreciated was the pastor gave a brief recap of the previous week's message, something we have always appreciated from our old church and noticed is not that common. Leading us through an expository study of the passage the pastor focused on how Jesus' calling of Levi the Tax Collector (Matthew) lead to significant changes in Levi's life: he left everything and introduced Jesus to everyone. Bringing us to the part of the story where Jesus is accused of hanging out with the socially undesirable. Through the actions of Levi and Jesus we were left with several takeaways: First, following Jesus unmasks the motives and loves of our heart. Second, following Jesus changes everything that we have. Third, following Jesus changes the way we look at who we are. Fourth, following Jesus changes what we do. Last, following Jesus changes how we look at others. In light of this interaction between Jesus and Levi we discover that Jesus' deceptively simple sounding "follow me" encompasses every aspect of our lives.

The people of GCC showed a lot of energy throughout our visit. While our interactions were brief and perfunctory it felt that there is a high level of personal connection between regular attenders.