College Church

This Sunday, I visited College Church, in Wheaton. The facilities themselves are a beautiful red brick in a classic look for a church. As the service started, there were still a dozen people on the steps of the church finishing their conversations (apparently this is a common thing in this congregation).

When I went into the sanctuary an usher whisked me to the front and squeezed me into a pew. The sanctuary is nearly standing room only, so this is one of the few places I have been where the ushers do more than hand out bulletins. However, no more than thirty seconds later, a Wheaton student who had met me the previous day was at my side bringing me to sit with the “Exegetes.” I am not sure whether this is a statement on the quality of students at Wheaton, or if it is a statement on the quality of member at College Church; nonetheless, whichever group it reflects on, it made me feel very welcome and like I was already at home with a group of friends.

The worship service has a high church feel to it, complete with communal reading of Scripture, recited prayers, and employing an organ. The church only sings hymns, which is an interesting choice since a large portion of the congregation is comprised of college students. Another facet of the music that is unusual is that they have no worship leader. The organist will play the opening line to a song, then will hold the last note to signal that it is time to start singing.

Though the church is rather large, they prayed by name for members who were sick or undergoing other serious troubles. The prayer time lasts for several minutes as the minister worked his way through the list.

As a side note, I noticed that there were quite a number of younger people who would make noise at inappropriate times in the service, but that no one in the congregation seemed bothered. I learned that the church had a vibrant disabilities ministry, and they are very welcoming of people who have disabilities, or families who have children with disabilities. In fact, the church has a staffer whose entire area of responsibility is this ministry.

This was Dr. Josh Moody’s first day back in the pulpit, as he had apparently been traveling over the summer. The sermon was very thorough, and focused more on the context of the passage than perhaps any sermon I have heard. It was obvious that the congregation was well educated in biblical studies. For instance, this was one of the few (at best) times I have heard a pastor use Greek in order to minimize its importance (“Now, regardless of how you understand the kat’ oikon, this still means…”) rather than use it to strengthen his point. That is, rather than assuming that his audience was unaware of the Greek text, he was assuming that they were aware of it, and was thus answering a potential exegetical difficulty arising from the text. As another example, his sermon illustration came from seventeenth century puritanism. However, given his personal education (PhD, Cambridge) and the demographics of the church, this highly intellectual approach made perfect sense.

Reflecting its non-denominational roots, there was no altar call, only another song followed by everyone standing and leaving while the organist played a postlude.

While many people would not be impressed with the high church style and intellectual nature of this church, I felt as though I had arrived at home.

Wilcrest Baptist Church

As you have all probably noticed, it has been quite some time since I posted a blog about a church visit. I settled down at First Baptist Dallas, and I am now partnering with Hickory Tree Baptist Church. However, over the past couple weeks I have been visiting my family in Houston over the holidays. This past Sunday, I attended Wilcrest Baptist Church with my brother and his family.

To avoid burying the lead, of all the churches I have written about, this one is “The One.” Obviously this is just a preliminary assessment, but this is the church I would be most interested in going under the hood and seeing what they do to bring in people, to build the people who are there, and to send out people.

The first thing that struck me is the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural dynamic of the church. In fact, the church describes itself as a multi-ethnic congregation that trains missionaries. Back in the late 80’s and early 90s, the church was primarily white and was dwindling as the neighboring communities underwent white-flight. But they called Rodney Woo (Ph.D., Southwestern Seminary) as pastor, and he led the church through a transformation: the church more than doubled in size, and now represents more than 40 nations. (Woo wrote a book on the experience, titled The Color of Church.)

The flavor of the worship was quite varied: the first song had a Jamaican jive, the next had a sort of Zydeco feel, the next had a contemporary praise-and-worship sound. Our pew was the only non-integrated pew in the building since my family alone took up the entire row. There were songs I didn’t know, and there were songs I did. But over-all, it felt different. It is hard to describe that exactly: it didn’t feel like anyone was being pushed into a mold. It seemed like there was a specific attempt at having something for everyone.

While I really appreciated the multi-cultural character of the church, the deal was sealed when their pastor (Jonathan Williams) began to preach. He was preaching over the Great Commission, He asked all the typical, general questions (what are the reasons to participate in missions) at the beginning of his sermon, but when he moved to the text, his sermon was structured according to the participles—love at first sight. This is the first of my blogged-about-church-visits where the sermon was structured around the syntax and structure of the Greek.

No church is perfect (and if it were, it wouldn’t be after I joined!), but this church definitely caught my attention. If you are ever in Houston, I would highly suggest visiting this church.

Lakewood Church

The lights went out and the crowd in the stadium started screaming as a platform was slowly raised into view to reveal the band that was blasting out a jam. Was I at a rock concert? No, rather I was at Lakewood Church, while visiting my family in Houston. Inside of the building, the “sanctuary” was massive. It even had that foggy air that is seen inside of other sports stadiums.

If I were to describe the atmosphere in one word, that word would be: showmanship. From the lights flashing in rhythm with the music as they panned over the crowd, to the lead guitarist looking at his cameraman (he had a cameraman who stayed with him the entire service), flipping his hair and flashing a grin as he ripped off another solo. Ushers made sure and seated people together with no gaps, and only turned the lights on over a section once it was full, so that you could not see the empty sections.

            As I mentioned before, when the service started, all the lights were put out and as the invisible band started cranking, the crowd started roaring. Suddenly, several spotlights flipped on to show the band coming into view as their platform rose into view from beneath the floor. The music was loud—loud enough that you could not hear yourself. I had the feeling that I was off-key, so I had to plug my ear just to be able to tell. The music lasted for an hour. Osteen’s wife then prayed for all the families and quoted from Ephesians, saying for men to love their wives, but she changed the part for women, saying that they should respect their husbands (instead of submit).

            Osteen’s sermon was much like what one might see on tv. It was full of positive affirmations, and he only quoted one verse (Gal. 6:9) during the entire sermon (and that one verse was only read once). He talked for some time about not becoming weary and not fainting. He urged everyone to take life one step at a time.

            After he finished “preaching”, he led everyone in the sinner’s prayer, and said that those who had not previously prayed it were not believers. And then asked for those people to stand; I would guess that about 150 people stood up. Then the band’s platform rose into vision again, they started playing, and the crowds started leaving.

Unity on Greenville

This Sunday, I went to Unity on Greenville—a Unitarian “church”. Unlike all the other denominations, which all had a “churchy” feel to them, there was no such thing at Unity, even though it was held in a church building.

           

            The church service consisted of lots of recitations and readings from things that were not Scripture. They had positive affirmations, such as, “I am strong, powerful, and confident.” The lesson was about becoming more spiritual through showing love. And, the “pastor” commented that it was wrong to worship Jesus, since the “divine spark is within all of us.” Before prayer, the leader started the first couple steps of hypnosis, and actually mentioned that they needed to alter their state of consciousness, so they dimmed the lights, and started a few breathing exercises before they started praying.

            The service was full of interesting phrases that orthodox Christians would find discomfort with. For instance, during their greeting they said the Hindu word, namaste (the god in me blesses and honors the god in you), which they used to mean, “The Christ in me blesses and honors the Christ in you.” The phrase, “The Christ in you,” was used throughout—in fact, the bulletin says, “Unity sees the good in all people and blesses the Christ—the Spirit of God—in everyone.” There was a recitation that stated, “There is only on Presence and one Power active as the universe and as my life, God the Good.” The prayers were offered to Mother-Father god (lack of capitalization mine).

           

            The atmosphere was very New-Age feeling. Very inclusive. There were multiple gay couples in the sanctuary; some were discreet, some were more, shall we say, flamboyant? One person looked like she was an old hippie which fit with the general New Age/hippie feel.

            The visit was very informative, but Unity is definitely not the place for me. In fact, I don’t think I would even give them the right to be called a church.

First United Lutheran Church

Next up on my tour of the various denominations was First United Lutheran Church, on Mockingbird. It was founded in the early 1900’s, and is a member of the ELCA. Their pastor, Dr. Russell Vardel, is professor of history at Paul Quinn College and dean of the Parish Lay Ministry Academy of the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod of the Evangelicl Lutheran Church in America. Mark Herbener was the assistant minister with the title of, “Theologian in Residence,” (which I thought is a good position for a church to have) and is a former bishop.

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that 10 minutes before service time, the parking lot was nearly completely empty. After the service started, I realized why: there were 21 attendees, including myself and the two ministers. I spent my high school years in a church about that size so I was aware of their situation and immediate response to a visitor. They were very friendly and were interested to here about my exploration of Christendom.

The inside of the church was fairly plain. It had lots of woodwork that did not look like it had a finish. Interestingly was the “Sanctuary Lamp” which hung from the ceiling to symbolize God’s presence.

The liturgy was based around Communion as with the Catholic and Anglican churches. It was interesting to see the small church dynamic with a liturgy. For instance, when it was time to “spread peace”, instead of just saying, “Peace,” the congregation all took time to visit with each other, since they knew everyone there. Similarly, the pastor moved to the middle of the sanctuary with his homily, to try to be closer to everyone. Different from the other denominations was that they turned off the pastor’s microphone when they recited the creeds and Lord’s Prayer.

The homily was pretty good as far as homilies go. No real exegetical work done on the text, but a good application of the text nonetheless. I am coming to miss solid exegetical sermons.

Overall, the church was friendly and obviously meshed well together. I liked the “Theologian in Residence” staff position. Much like the Presbyterian and Methodist, I could not particularly tell any theological differences from the service.

Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe

Read my disclaimer here.

The next church I visited was the Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe (Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe). This is the cathedral for the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. This church was originally known as Sacred Heart Cathedral, but by the 60’s attendance had dwindled, and their bishop invited a local Hispanic congregation, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to combine with them. They have 5 services every morning, attended by 11,000 people.

           

The first thing I noticed was the overwhelming Hispanic presence in the service: it was roughly 90% Hispanic, 8% Caucasian, and just a few families that were Asian or Black. It was somewhat amusing to see the different socio-cultural background: most of the Hispanics sat very close together, but the whites all sat far apart from each other (myself included).

The leadership of the church reflected the Hispanic/Caucasian combination. The Rector was Hispanic, and spoke with such a thick accent that I only could understand perhaps one in five or ten words. He even pronounced “Jesus” as “Yaysoos Christ”. The Parochial Vicar was white and had an accent that sounded like he had come from the sticks of East Texas. They swapped back and forth while performing their duties, although the Rector was the one who performed the Mass.

The music at the service was distinctly Catholic sounding, but ironically was not as Gregorian sounding as the Episcopal music. This type of sound has started to appeal to me as I am becoming more used to. There is something very beautiful about it’s harmony and simplicity.

The homily was by no means an exegetical sermon, but was much closer than the Episcopal church’s was. It was over how to live out the Word in your daily life. It wasn’t half bad.

Overall, the service was very familiar to anyone who has been to Mass before. The architecture of the building was pretty, but the twenty million dollar belltower throws off the symmetry of the building. The one thing I really like about this church was the cross-racial-ness of it: I believe that this is what Christ had in mind for the church, especially if the racial ratio was a little bit more balanced.

First Presbyterian Church

(Read my disclaimer here.)

            The fourth church I visited was First Presbyterian Church. I immediately noticed that the people were quite friendly helping me find my way to the sanctuary, and making sure to introduce themselves when I asked for help. In fact, at the end of the service, one of the members actually recommended a Baptist church for me to try when she heard I was a Baptist.

           

            The building was Greco-Roman style and looked like it could have doubled as a county courthouse. Inside, it was much smaller than First Methodist or First Baptist; it could probably seat a maximum of 600 people, and it looked like there were only 300 or 400 people in it. The sanctuary was fairly plain, lacking the beauty of the other three sanctuaries. The audience was entirely Caucasian with not a single minority in the building. They also all appeared to be middle to upper class.

            The service was very much like the Methodist service, with a liturgical service that was not nearly as Catholic as the Episcopalian church was. They also had a choir and organ arrangement.

           

            The sermon was a little bit better than the other two (Jeffress still has been the best, sadly). It was over Exodus 17, and sought to answer the question, “Is God with us?” Apparently due to the lack of growth over the last few years some in the church had started to wonder about this. The pastor wrote the problem off by saying that urban churches have trouble growing, and pointed to things like their feeding ministry, The Stewpot, as proof that God is with them.

            The church has a serious ethnicity issue. In a majority-minority area a church that is 100% white will not, and cannot, grow. Their feeding ministry is great; I think that is something every church should try and do! The service was interesting, but not as moving as the Episcopalian while still having the same liberalism issues. If you are going “high church” you might as well go all out.

Church of the Incarnation

           (Read my disclaimer here.)

           My third visit took me to the Church of the Incarnation, which is Episcopal (Anglican). I walked into the building, which reminded me of a small cathedral on the inside. The ceiling was vaulted, and it had internal pillars as supporting walls. It had beautiful stained glass.

           

I arrived at the church twenty minutes early, so I found a seat in the church. The choir was still practicing, and I was immediately struck by their beauty. Their melody was classic sounding, performed perfectly and with incredible power. The entire sanctuary filled with their music. Combined with the architecture and the style of music, I immediately felt as if I were in a European cathedral.

            The service started with a procession led by the choir and concluded by the bishop, wearing his mitre. They went to the front and started moving through the liturgy. I felt out of place with the liturgy since it was so ritualized, and as a Baptist that is very different. The music was beautiful throughout, and the congregation (about 200 people—less than half of the seats were occupied) participated in ways that I rarely see Baptists participate.

            The “sermon” should not have been called that at all. The minister simply talked about keeping the heart warm in regards to loved ones, and not letting it grow cold. He gave some ideas about what made it go cold, and what warmed it up more. He never read any Scripture.

            When it came time to participate in Communion, I refrained, since I hold different beliefs on it from the Anglican church. They very orderly proceeded to the front as is common to anyone who has ever participated in the Mass.

            One of the strangest things was when I walked outside after the service. I looked over to where the chapel was, and saw the people exiting from the simultaneous contemporary service. On my left was the traditional service: most people were in suits and nice dresses, and the bishop was in his robes. On my right was the contemporary service: the worship leader had an unbuttoned collared shirt and blue jeans, and the congregants were all in blue jeans and t-shirts or open button down shirts. The contrast was remarkable!

           

The music was beautiful, the sermon was lacking, and I disagree with the church on numerous theological issues. But, there was something in me that connected with the ritual of it all. I also recognized that if I would have walked in from the street as a non-believer, I would not have found how to follow Christ in that service (I would think), although I would learn the Nicene Creed.

First United Methodist Church

            (Read my disclaimer here.)

Next, I went to First United Methodist Church of Dallas. It was like stepping back in time. The plain wooden platform at the front. The stained glass windows. The old fashioned pews. I almost immediately realized that I was woefully underdressed: almost every single man in the sanctuary was wearing a coat and tie. Even quicker than that, I realized there were no trappings of many common Baptist churches: no screen, no baptistery, no praise band, in fact there was not even an orchestra.

Music was provided by a very large choir of 100-150 members. They were extremely talented and accompanied only by a sole pipe organ. The music was mostly unknown to me, but when they closed the service with, Be Thou My Vision, they sounded so good I quite literally got chills.

I witnessed an infant baptism for the first time. Their understanding of baptism is a promise by the parents and church to raise the child to be a part of the community—much like a baby dedication service in a Baptist church. I felt very uncomfortable watching.

The service was very orderly, with the congregation all standing at certain times, with no prompting from the bulletin or the minister of music, which made me feel very awkward since I did not know what I was supposed to do. They also all responded together with a call-and-response that was in the bulletin.

As the service progressed, I felt very restless, and it took me a minute to figure out why I was restless. Then it hit me: it was so quiet! There was a lot of talking, and very little music. The audience stayed almost completely silent except when they were supposed to say something.

The pastor, Dr. Fielder, read through the beatitudes, then left the text, and talked about the church receiving a new parking deal, and how if people are hospitable, and non violent, then God would reward them.

In short, I am not a Methodist, but there were definitely some elements from the service, such as the very traditional music that, that would be nice to see from time to time in a Baptist church.

First Baptist Church of Dallas

DISCLAIMER: I know that every church has its own weaknesses and strengths, and that every denomination has its own weaknesses and strengths. No one is perfect, neither is any church. I also know that most churches have ministries to the community that you cannot see from visiting, nor can you judge an entire denomination by one church. Furthermore, I am a Baptist, so I am approaching each of these churches with a Baptist’s belief system. I do not mean to attack anyone, just I have heard people ask me about my experiences and I wanted to write about them, positive and negative.

I moved into Dallas from my little suburb town and thus left my church that I had been a member of since I moved to the Metro-Plex, due to commute time and gas money. At the end of the semester, I had several preaching opportunities, as well as a couple times to lead worship through music ministry; this prevented me from church shopping, and then I went home for surgery followed by the holidays. After visiting a few Baptist congregations upon my return, I decided it would be insightful to spend a few weeks visiting other denominations, since I have only ever been in Baptist services (minus a few times when I went to Mass). I decided to use the “main” or preeminent church of each denomination as my destination of choice.

I started with the First Baptist Church of Dallas, pastored by Robert Jeffress. As I walked through the Criswell Center, I marveled at the size of the building. I found my way into the balcony of the historic sanctuary and spent ten minutes just enjoying the beautiful architecture inside. For how large the other buildings were, it shocked me how “small” the sanctuary was. I also noticed that seats seemed to be put in every possible place, and almost all of them were filled.

Once the service started, it immediately struck me as a grand production. Everything was perfectly orchestrated, even the singers in the praise chorus (which had separated from the choir) had tape marking off where they were supposed to stand.

The musicians were talented, but nothing to write home about. The Worship Pastor seemed to think his job title was “Lead Soloist”, by the way he sang—leaving the melody to go do his own thing. The talented orchestra added a lot. I could not really even tell there was a choir there, except that I could see them standing.

As an extra feature, they had a guest speaker—the colonel in charge of the capture of Saddam Hussein. I found problems with the church giving a standing ovation when talking about the harm his soldiers did to another human being, but that is a discussion for another time.

Robert Jeffress’ sermon was not the best. He preached from Ephesians on having your feet properly shod. He did go back to the historical use of Roman soldiers’ shoes, and how they had spikes to help them hold in place in battle. He had quite a bit of psychological aspects in the sermon—somewhat hard to describe.

At the invitation, a few people joined the church, which showed that people obviously enjoyed the service and preaching.
I honestly could not get over the 115 million dollar new buildings that are being constructed. They were a major place where attention was pointed in discussions, and in the large model of the new building, and the massive tv dedicated to only playing information on the new building. I could never be a part of this church simply because I can’t see any way to justify so much money on a building.