It started late. 600 people crammed into a hot gym in late July. The looks on the faces of those who just got done with their commute made it clear they would rather be at home, in the AC with a cold one or two. I agreed.
Ten minutes after we were supposed to start, a guy I had never met grabbed a microphone and invited everyone to head across the gym to sign up for their turn to work the booster booth. So like hogs to the slaughter, the crowds headed over to form two long, slow-moving lines. Twenty minutes later there were only 65% of the way done.
Thirty minutes later the same guy went back to the mic, “Ok, I guess I will go ahead and begin my long, boring speech.” For the next thirty minutes he read his power point slides top to bottom in a monotone. Each slide, each name, each odd job on the board of directors that was not yet filled was explained in painful detail.
Disorganized gatherings. Unskilled communicators who ramble on about irrelevancies. Crowds of people wanting direction but forced to sit in uncomfortable arrangements getting nothing helpful. Anxiety about when it will finally be over. Convinced that if it is this bad experience for you, and wondering how bad must it be for your 9 year old. Does this sound like church to you? It sounds like church to me.
Nothing keeps me up more at night than the wasted opportunities- TOTALLY FRICKIN WASTED- opportunities the church is given each week. We make people walk into our odd buildings, sit in weird arrangements, force them to dress like the are from another culture, stare at their kids for acting like kids, while we ramble on and on about the dumbest things- and wonder why the church is shrinking like an empty balloon.
All that is about to change- at least in one pocket of Kendall County. It is going to be fun. It is doing to be relevant. And the one thing you really want to learn about- Jesus- is all we are going to be about. No politics, no clichés. Just Jesus.
And we will start and end on time!
PneuProject - coming soon to Oswego, IL!
Ten minutes after we were supposed to start, a guy I had never met grabbed a microphone and invited everyone to head across the gym to sign up for their turn to work the booster booth. So like hogs to the slaughter, the crowds headed over to form two long, slow-moving lines. Twenty minutes later there were only 65% of the way done.
Thirty minutes later the same guy went back to the mic, “Ok, I guess I will go ahead and begin my long, boring speech.” For the next thirty minutes he read his power point slides top to bottom in a monotone. Each slide, each name, each odd job on the board of directors that was not yet filled was explained in painful detail.
Disorganized gatherings. Unskilled communicators who ramble on about irrelevancies. Crowds of people wanting direction but forced to sit in uncomfortable arrangements getting nothing helpful. Anxiety about when it will finally be over. Convinced that if it is this bad experience for you, and wondering how bad must it be for your 9 year old. Does this sound like church to you? It sounds like church to me.
Nothing keeps me up more at night than the wasted opportunities- TOTALLY FRICKIN WASTED- opportunities the church is given each week. We make people walk into our odd buildings, sit in weird arrangements, force them to dress like the are from another culture, stare at their kids for acting like kids, while we ramble on and on about the dumbest things- and wonder why the church is shrinking like an empty balloon.
All that is about to change- at least in one pocket of Kendall County. It is going to be fun. It is doing to be relevant. And the one thing you really want to learn about- Jesus- is all we are going to be about. No politics, no clichés. Just Jesus.
And we will start and end on time!
PneuProject - coming soon to Oswego, IL!