I’m happy to find that Quest (my church) is the 83rd fastest growing church in the country (according to Outreach Magazine). I’m excited. I just don’t know how they got it.
There are plenty of churches that had a smaller increase percentage-wise and people-wise that are higher on the list, so I’m not sure I understand it. I’m not complaining, just curious.
Paul
I’m happy to find that Quest (my church) is the 83rd fastest growing church in the country (according to Outreach Magazine). I’m excited. I just don’t know how they got it.
There are plenty of churches that had a smaller increase percentage-wise and people-wise that are higher on the list, so I’m not sure I understand it. I’m not complaining, just curious.
Paul
As I write this, I’ve just finished watching the last episode of “The Wonder Years”. There’s something about a good piece of art. I don’t know how the story of the Kevin Arnold and Winnie Cooper takes me back in time to the lesser known story of Paul and Christina.
We didn’t grow ou together in the late sixties and early seventies in a non-descript suburban town. We didn’t even grow up together. We didn’t even meet until she was 18 and I was 21, but I’m reminded of our story nonetheless.
That’s the power of good art. It affects you on a level you don’t quite understand. Now, here’s the question, “How many times have you been encountered that way at church?” I don’t mean, “How many times did you leave somewhat up?” I mean how many times has God encountered you in a way that you know changed you forever and how many times did he do it through art?
For me, it happens all the time. There are tons of times when I fight back tears (not because I don’t like to cry, but because it’s hard to call shots through tears). Songs, dramas, video clips, dance all impact you where you live, deep down.
Last week it was a clip from “Blood Diamond” that showed a wather welcoming a son who’d made bad decisions back home. It was Luke 15 (the story of the Prodigal son) all over again. Seeing the depth of forgiveness and grace in a father’s eyes nearly did me in.
I wonder if that’s what it felt like the first time anyone heard the prodigal son story. When people heard Jesus’ words dripping with a passion so intense that he couldn’t keep it in, did anyone hear the truth that even they could be forgiven. I think they did. Storytelling is art, too.
If you’re curious what Quest’s services are like, now you can find out. Services are Saturdays at 5:55, Sundays at 9:00, 10:22, and 11:55 (all times Eastern).
Check back here during those times. BTW, we have a streaming license for the songs, so all is kosher.
Paul
There’s something about a Mac. What makes them different is in the details. I recently started a new job where I have to use a PC. I was a PC guy from Windows 3.1 through Windows 98 (I still owned a PC during the Windows ME days, but happily decided against the upgrade). I made the IT guy a little mad by skinning my XP box to look like OS X. It still wasn’t quite right. That’s because there are little things that make a mac…a mac.
I tell you this because there are little things that make Quest…Quest. Tonight my younger daughter was dedicated (cf. I Samuel 1:22). As part of the experience, we were given a bag for Ellie. The bag included snacks, a toy, a marker, a bottle of water, and some paper. It was everything we needed to keep a baby happy and busy during service. It was a little something extra.
What if all churches did a little more? What if we thought about little details? What if we thought about what people didn’t expect, but knew they needed?
Just some ideas.
Paul
So you might remember that I once suggested that you that DRM (digital rights management) was bad (What if the RIAA…?, EMI to announce DRM-free Music Plans…I hope this isn’t an April Fools Joke, and It’s April 2, Apple and EMI announced no DRM).
This week I bought Foolish Thing‘s album b/c they played at my church Wednesday and as the video director that night I needed to listen up. Well I went to iTunes and to my surprise the album was listed. So, I decided to buy it there instead of buying the silly plastic disc (which you might know as a cd).
It was a great experience. It was cheaper than on Amazon, I didn’t have to wait for it, it was high quality, and I didn’t have to rip it to iTunes to get it on my iPod. I talked to a couple of the guys from the group and told them they needed to kiss their record company for me. They laughed, but were pleased to know that their music was available in this form.
BTW, they’re all Mac guys like yours truly. They really rock and have a heart for Jesus, too.
Paul
Numbers mean a lot to me. There’s 1/2, 4/8, 8/16, and 11/14. That’s my anniversary, wife’s birthday, oldest daughter’s birthday, and both my youngest daughter’s birthday and (24 years earlier) my spiritual birthday.
I often talk about the numbers of people coming to my church. I also talk about the substantial numbers of those who come to faith in Jesus. I care because each number is a person who was far from God and now knows Him.
I found out today that a relationship I started, a yes in following God, led to a friend stopping by Quest and getting his pastor there for a conference we had last year. The pastor left with the vision of an Acts 2 community. Now, just about a year later, over 130 people have come to know Jesus.
I said yes to a friendship with a guy I met online. That started something that resulted in 130 people coming to know Jesus. I can’t believe He used me. I get to help!
Paul
Tonight I heard our service through different ears. Someone at church came up to me and asked if it would bother me to have a deaf interpreter near my camera. It seems that someone who goes to Quest brought her hearing-impaired friend. You need to know that we don’t have a “deaf ministry”. We’re not against it; it’s just that my pastor believes you don’t start a new ministry unless it meets two criteria: 1) does it help accomplish the vision of “Transforming unconvinced people into whole-hearted followers of Jesus” and 2) it has a leader.
Anyway, knowing that there was someone, who at least had enough trouble hearing that she needed someone to sign for her, near my camera that I started wondering how accessible we’d be if there wasn’t someone there to interpret.
I realized that some of our service is already VERY accessible. Praise and worship is good. We show the lyrics large, and in short phrases. The font is clear and legible. It would be difficult for someone not to be able to read it. Additionally, our music is loud enough and bass pronounced enough that the deaf could feel it. Since we do IMAG, there is plenty to look at and enter into.
Performed songs (other churches call them special music or “anthems”) include most (but not all) of the lyrics keyed over the IMAG. As such, a deaf person could still enter in, albeit not as well.
Dramas have no visual cue of the words, just circumstances and IMAG, so lip-readers would be okay. Still we could use some improvement.
The message uses occasional words, pictures, and clips to illustrate the point, but is mostly spoken word, although the pastor often uses props, this could also use some improvement.
Finally, our announcement time is bolstered by the announcement slides. This means that many of the announcements can be read as well as heard. This is also helpful, although all announcements don’t include slides.
All in all, I’m pleased with the results for not even trying to suit this audience. There is room for improvement, but it goes to show that helping hearing people fully engage also helps others.
Paul
With gas prices at record highs, churchrelevance.com asks the question, “How far are people willing to drive to come to your church?”
I know the answer for my church: a little over 400 miles. That’s right. Last weekend we had a person drive from Milwaukee, WI and one from Birmingham, AL to visit our church in Lexington, KY. The person from Birmingham comes up most weekends. She’s really involved, too. She serves as our pastor’s volunteer assistant.
The one from Milwaukee was visiting family a couple of weeks ago, came to Quest and decided to come back for our Women’s Retreat.
Another lady came from West Virginia to go to that same retreat. “Why?”, you ask. God’s doing something here. You can feel the Holy Spirit when you drive up. People that don’t know Jesus say “it just feels different here”. Those of us who do know Him know He’s what’s different.
It’s not unusual for people to drive more than an hour to get here. You do whatever it takes to join God in what He’s doing.
Paul
In the list of dates that have affected my life, May 2, 1999 is one of the top. It’s not my birthday or that of my wife or one of our kids. It’s not our anniversary. It’s not any of the normal days, but it’s one I mark every year nonetheless.
When I woke up on that day, I didn’t know that it would be special. It was a Sunday and I went to church like I did at the time, just in time for Sunday School. My new wife was at my side. We’d been married for just four months (to the day). Married life was really starting to hit its stride.
After church, we went home, planning to cook something nice for lunch and enjoy the afternoon before church that night. It was then that everything changed. I got a call from my sister. “Dad died,” she said, her voice tremoring.
My father was so ill after a stroke that he’d lived in a nursing home for the previous two years. He almost never spoke. I’d hoped that he’d recover, but he didn’t. Time after time the call had come, he’s close. He wasn’t. In fact, he’d rallied a bit lately. I would later find out that he died between 11 and 12 that day.
I remember thinking, “I have no father, but God now.” I knew he would have been pleased that we were all (my wife, my sister, my mother, and I) in church when he died. That was one of the most important things to him in life–his relationship with Jesus.
I packed my two suits and headed to my mother’s house, my new wife in tow, consoling me all the way. The arrangements would take some time to complete, so I found myself spending time with my family, reliving old memories. I resolved to read a poem I’d written about him at his funeral. It was a difficult time, even though my grief was tempered by the hope we both shared that death is not the end and we’d see each other again.
At the same time that my father died, something new was being born. I didn’t know at the time, but a worship service fifteen minutes away would eventually change my life.
At 10:05 (I’m told), a fuse blew. Power to the sound of a church start-up had failed. People I had yet to meet, rushed around, prayerfully trying to figure out what had gone wrong. One rushed to a local store hoping to buy a replacement. The service was about to begin “unplugged” style when he returned with the new fuse. The sound board roared to life. The first service at Quest Community Church was beginning.
I didn’t yet know anything about video. My computer was a P-75 with 24 megs of ram (two four meg sticks and two eight meg sticks) running Windows 95. I’d never heard of a blog. The internet was filled with tabled-layout sites. Streaming video was still a dream. My wife is the only one who lived with me at the time, now I have two beautiful little girls.
A lot changes in eight years. For me, everthing did. May 2, 1999 was the day my father died and something more profound was birthed–the dream of an Acts 2 church.
Paul
Tech, No Babel 