I’m not a fan of church. I’ll happily go on record. And I have. “I’m done with the traditional church.” I’ve been in a discussion recently with a friend who has been dealing with a lot of questions surrounding faith and the church and christians. My answer to his version of the “have we missed the mark?” question was an emphatic “Oh yeah, we’ve missed the mark.”

Now I realize that I’ve got to back this up, and I will very soon.

I don’t want to go as far as to say that church is inherently bad. I go to the church where I, personally, think they get it. They don’t always get it right, but they get that IT is about more than getting it right. To a very large degree, I understand that it’s a personal “taste” decision as to which church is for me. I go to a church whose pastors calls out feedback when it happens because feedback makes them unhappy and annoyed rather than the lack of feedback being what God would have wanted, or to veil the experience in a state of perfection.

When Watershed becomes more about the show than about the relationships on Sundays and throughout the week I will happily wish them well and be on my way. What I love about Watershed is that Watershed would never let that happen. The minute that a budget decision is made to buy a new screen rather than continue to increase the capacity to feed children in Africa, I’ll be rethinking my Sunday morning routine.

What I love about Watershed is that the 2nd full time hire after a music/worship coordinator (by title only, the dude does so much more) was a staffer focused COMPLETELY on Justice initiatives both locally, around the country and overseas. What I love about Watershed is that we love it when homosexuals, druggies, atheists, conservatives, liberals, skeptics, believers, punks, preps, and pizza makers come together and there is love.

I’ve been wanting to do a shameless plug for Watershed for a while too – maybe I’ll turn this into a post. But – there is a quick overview of what’s to come as soon as I can find the time to write it!

Thanks Kathy. I’m looking forward to many of these discussions with you over thanksgiving!!!!

Easter of this past year was the most difficult day for me in all of my church history. During ‘meet and greet’, the Pastor approached me and said I needed to be clapping more, bigger smiles, better choreography (ok, he didn’t say that last part, but that’s how I felt). We had three services that day and through out all of them, our worship leader sang one line of a song out of key due to an ear monitor problem and he was told by church staff to fix it by the third service because he sounded ‘atrocious’. I don’t think he’s gotten over the punch to his self confidence…
NOw don’t get me wrong, I love my ‘church’, as in the people who run it, go there and make it happen. Our pastor is one of the best teachers I have ever heard and he is passionate about reaching the lost and teaching them how to really live. We do indepth series about differing topics so people are actually fed meat and given tools to tackle life God’s way. If we ever leave Tallahassee and have to find a new Sunday morning place of worship, I will hope it’s similar…but all of this to say, Have we missed the mark?
I know the set up brings people in and allows them to be fed the word…which will most likely change their lives and introduce them to the living God…but is it right to have the tithe spent on back drops, scene set up and smoke machine refills instead of the hungry kids that come to church every week and down the free coffee like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet?
I don’t know…I go back and forth on this every Sunday. I went to a traditional methodist church 2 weeks ago and suddenly appreciated my church more than I ever had before for it’s ability to keep me focused and awake…but when that happens, am I getting caught up in the flash and the flare instead of being the hands and the feet?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.