Earthdate: 7/29/07 Captains Log: DAY 5 Monroe, OH – Life Point Vineyard Church (LPVC) and Mars Hill Bible Church, Grand Rapids, MI
Today was a day with two very different experiences. The first experience was in Monroe, OH and the second was at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. (Rob Bell’s church) These two experiences could not be any more different.
First things first. Life Point is in Monroe, a suburb north of Cincinnati. It is a daughter church of yesterday’s visit to Vineyard Community Church.
LPVC in many ways felt much like Rejoice! It was, at this point, a relatively small (160 people), yet fun, energetic and dynamic church. LPVC did so many things right from our team’s perspective. They were very welcoming. There was a warm feeling from the moment you walked in the door. The music was great. The announcements were fun. There was just a fun, good vibe from the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left. Plus our experience was boosted by an excellent sermon by Pastor Andy Ransdell. Memorable, well delivered with pearls and nuggets to take home to use in daily living.
At LPVC, we were invited to arrive early and sit I on n the worship team’s pre-worship prayer, pep talk and strategy time. It was great. All the team’s that made Sunday happen were at this meeting. Pastor Andy shared with the team the mood of his sermon and the team together shared how best to make everything feel like it fit just right. The meeting finished with everyone putting their hands together in a circle (like a basketball team) Andy asked loudly, “What time is it?” They all said even more loudly, “It’s Worship Time!” Fun!
About the only thing that was dramatically different from a Rejoice! Sunday morning…and we would not change our way to theirs…was they don’t have their kids worship with the adults. This is typical practice for many non-denominational churches, but our team agreed we like kids worshiping with adults and we thought…we should keep doing things our way.
The day in Monroe ended with a golf cart ride to our van. The LPVC kids are in a building down the street and parents, after worship are carted to get their kids and then brought to their cars. It was different, but it was one more “fun” thing.
After LPVC, we got in the van and traveled to Mars Hill Bible Church (MHBC) in Grand Rapids, MI. I was duly warned by friends that it is quite difficult to find Rob Bell’s church. The warning was accurate. It was almost as if, Mars Hill was trying to hide its worship location. There were no signs that read “Mars Hill this way.” In fact the signs on the building almost added to the confusion. Old signs from old building tenants were still up and MHBC appeared to be in no hurry to take down the old signs and stop the confusion.
We made our way to the door of an old mall and found small letters on the door that read, “Mars Hill Bible Church.” …so we entered. No frills, no glitz. One team member commented, “It almost felt sterile.” To use an MTV word, there was no “bling” anywhere in the house. The bulletins were very simple…no graphics, just printed text in Ariel font. The wall decorations, the few that were there, were simple and Spartan. It was almost as if they decide to be as minimalistic as they could possibly be. It was almost like the MHBC leadership asked themselves, “What is really needed for worship?” People, some music, a message and some prayer. There was not much more there.
Although, almost to a person, MHBC was the least favorite worship experience of our trip, it still was a valuable reminder that churches grow (this one to over 10,000 people per Sunday…yes there are four zeros in ten thousand) not because of flawless worship, glitzy buildings, slick sermons (not everyone even liked Rob’s sermon), but churches grow because God decides to move in a community and the people willingly respond. Rejoice! does not need the latest greatest sound system, media production, best preaching, a flawless worship band, etc. All we really need is for God to move (and He is moving) and the people to respond (and we are responding). All Rejoice! really needs to do is to continue to pray and be faithful.
Now for some closing words…
Wow! What a great trip! What a great team (back home in Sioux Falls…pressing on in praising God without us…and…my 4 friends in the van who joined me on this wild ride) Whose idea was this trip anyways???? J
If you would like to see pictures from Day 5, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXYQ
Today was a day with two very different experiences. The first experience was in Monroe, OH and the second was at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI. (Rob Bell’s church) These two experiences could not be any more different.
First things first. Life Point is in Monroe, a suburb north of Cincinnati. It is a daughter church of yesterday’s visit to Vineyard Community Church.
LPVC in many ways felt much like Rejoice! It was, at this point, a relatively small (160 people), yet fun, energetic and dynamic church. LPVC did so many things right from our team’s perspective. They were very welcoming. There was a warm feeling from the moment you walked in the door. The music was great. The announcements were fun. There was just a fun, good vibe from the moment we walked in the door to the moment we left. Plus our experience was boosted by an excellent sermon by Pastor Andy Ransdell. Memorable, well delivered with pearls and nuggets to take home to use in daily living.
At LPVC, we were invited to arrive early and sit I on n the worship team’s pre-worship prayer, pep talk and strategy time. It was great. All the team’s that made Sunday happen were at this meeting. Pastor Andy shared with the team the mood of his sermon and the team together shared how best to make everything feel like it fit just right. The meeting finished with everyone putting their hands together in a circle (like a basketball team) Andy asked loudly, “What time is it?” They all said even more loudly, “It’s Worship Time!” Fun!
About the only thing that was dramatically different from a Rejoice! Sunday morning…and we would not change our way to theirs…was they don’t have their kids worship with the adults. This is typical practice for many non-denominational churches, but our team agreed we like kids worshiping with adults and we thought…we should keep doing things our way.
The day in Monroe ended with a golf cart ride to our van. The LPVC kids are in a building down the street and parents, after worship are carted to get their kids and then brought to their cars. It was different, but it was one more “fun” thing.
After LPVC, we got in the van and traveled to Mars Hill Bible Church (MHBC) in Grand Rapids, MI. I was duly warned by friends that it is quite difficult to find Rob Bell’s church. The warning was accurate. It was almost as if, Mars Hill was trying to hide its worship location. There were no signs that read “Mars Hill this way.” In fact the signs on the building almost added to the confusion. Old signs from old building tenants were still up and MHBC appeared to be in no hurry to take down the old signs and stop the confusion.
We made our way to the door of an old mall and found small letters on the door that read, “Mars Hill Bible Church.” …so we entered. No frills, no glitz. One team member commented, “It almost felt sterile.” To use an MTV word, there was no “bling” anywhere in the house. The bulletins were very simple…no graphics, just printed text in Ariel font. The wall decorations, the few that were there, were simple and Spartan. It was almost as if they decide to be as minimalistic as they could possibly be. It was almost like the MHBC leadership asked themselves, “What is really needed for worship?” People, some music, a message and some prayer. There was not much more there.
Although, almost to a person, MHBC was the least favorite worship experience of our trip, it still was a valuable reminder that churches grow (this one to over 10,000 people per Sunday…yes there are four zeros in ten thousand) not because of flawless worship, glitzy buildings, slick sermons (not everyone even liked Rob’s sermon), but churches grow because God decides to move in a community and the people willingly respond. Rejoice! does not need the latest greatest sound system, media production, best preaching, a flawless worship band, etc. All we really need is for God to move (and He is moving) and the people to respond (and we are responding). All Rejoice! really needs to do is to continue to pray and be faithful.
Now for some closing words…
Wow! What a great trip! What a great team (back home in Sioux Falls…pressing on in praising God without us…and…my 4 friends in the van who joined me on this wild ride) Whose idea was this trip anyways???? J
If you would like to see pictures from Day 5, click….
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0CYtW7lw3aMXYQ
Thanks for reading. Pray for a safe return…and…we will see you next Sunday if not sooner.
Peace Out!
T-Rob
1 comment:
I am going to try and comment again...I'm hoping it goes through this time...
This trip was indeed a wild ride! I would encourage everyone at Rejoice! to try a road trip like this one. I could not have asked for a nicer group of people to spend 6 days with. We learned many new things...we affirmed things already being done at Rejoice!...we met some amzing people...we strengthened relationships...we had spiritual experiences that will forever remain in our hearts. It was Wonderful! Thank you Tim, Jim, Sonia and DeWayne! Thanks, also, to my family at home and my Rejoice! family. Thank you, God, for answering our prayers!
Your servant,
Don
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