So basically, in Lafayette, on a Sunday morning, I've never been to another church besides East Bayou. Never. Oh wait, I spoke at FBC Broussard once for their DNow, but other than that I have NO CLUE what other churches do on Sunday morning.
SOOOOO, here's what I've been doing while in Fort Worth. This is one of the reasons I chose FW over New Orleans... My first weekend here I went to 2 churches. My second weekend, I went to 3 different churches. And this weekend I went to 3 again. It's been awesome.
It's been a blast. I'm intentionally going to churches that I know I won't even like, b/c I still want to see first-hand how they do church. But here's what I've gotten the most out of so far...
Just in the past 3 weekends, my perspective of how to treat visitors has TOTALLY CHANGED! Yeah you can talk about what your church beleives and what your worship is like and all that stuff but here is the ONE thing it comes down to. People. I used to say that I'd never join a traditional church. After these 3 weeks, that has changed. I'd join a traditional church in a heartbeat IF, I wanted to be around it's people bad enough. In a hearbeat.
Lifechurc.tv is the church that's been the best so far (and guess where I've been back every week). I attended the church the first time, and before I knew it, one of the pastors is taking me to lunch that day. Lifechurch immeadiately gave me the op to meet as many people as I wanted, or to be left alone. Some people want to get thrown in the deep end of what's happening and other want to just stand in the back and watch. Too many of the churches I've visited assume I want to stand in the back and watch. But I don't. But I'm also not going to jump in without an invitation. Yes they are only a church of 400 people and it's WAY easier at that size to reach out to everyone, but it's just as important for the mega-churches. It's make or break. People aren't coming back if they didn't like the people at your church.
I've attended one church on Saturday night for 3 weekends in a row. It's easy for me to slip in, go to service, and slip out without ever having to have a conversation with anyone. Yeah, a TON of people go there, but I pose this question to myself to figure out how to answer for the next time I'm involved in church leadership. How do you reach out to everyone, when you're 100 strong, or 1,000 strong.
First time guests are NASTY scared, and shy and have NO CLUE what the heck is going on. They don't know where the bathrooms are at, where they need to go, who can they talk to or how to get out of the parking lot. I think it needs to be OVERLY obvious what a church offers to a first-time guess. Some of the websites I've checked out take 5 minutes to find out when they're services are. Once I find the page, then I have to decifer they're excel spread sheet they use to post it. We need to beat guests to any questions they'd ask. If they want to talk your ear off let them. If they want to be left alone, leave 'em alone. Don't assume anything.
I do know this. I miss East Bayou. Yeah our speaking is great (and I don't just say that b/c he's my dad :) ), our music is kicking, but I miss not being able to make it out of the auditorium of our church without being asked, "Hey, how are you doing?" and not just "Hello, it's good to see you. I'll see you later." I mean an actual conversation.
I'm still in touch with a few people who've been members of east bayou and then have to move out of state for whatever reason, and every single one of them has yet to find a place like East Bayou. I haven't found one here yet. Some are close. And if I do find one here, I won't hesitate to join.
Yeah good music is cool. Yeah great speaking can change your life. But I guarantee your visitors will be back if they like the people and they are met where they're at.
Churches I've visited...
Lifechurch.tv Fort Worth Campus
This church is amazing. The music is live and the sermon is live too, but the pastor is on a screen and he's live via sattelite from the mothership church in Oklahoma. They meet in a school where they tear down and set up for every weekend. And then on Wednesday too for their youth service. They run about 400 people on a weekend. All of their campuses combined they run about 18,000.
Fellowship ChurchFellowship church is basically the biggest production church out there. Let me put it in perspective for you. VH1, the channel, rents equipment from these guys. Their media is amazing. Their videos put MTV to shame, and their music is like a Coldplay concert every weekend. But the thing I like the most about them is that it's all done very simply. Everyone gets it. Yeah their high in production, but it's not a distracting kind of production. It's a supportive type of production. It's just done very well. Their pastor, Ed Young, is a master at fishing. He's brilliant at simply sharing the gospel in a way that makes sense and everyone gets. this church I think runs arounf 18,000 on a weekend.
Wedgewood Baptist ChurchI visited their college/career group this morning, but they weren't in full swing b/c of the holidays. I'll probably go back and check them out again. I'm told their pastor breaks out in song in the middle of his sermons. I look forward to seein that. :)
University Baptist ChurchThis church is on TCU's campus, but I couldn't find any college and career aged people there. I figured b/c it was on TCU's campus that's where all of their students would go. I was wrong.
Labels: Church, Church Hopping Posts, Ministry, People
