Posted by Hemant Mehta on: 02.22.2006 /
This weekend, I’ll be going to a place called Parkview Christian Church. I’m glad– but kind of weirded out– when I see comments written by people who were at the same service I was at. Including the Pastor (Ron, you’re awesome for commenting). So, if you’re planning on attending Parkview this weekend, and you see someone clearly out of place… feel free to say hello to me :)
And there was some talk about Julia Sweeney and her show “Letting Go of God: My Beautiful Loss of Faith Story” on another post below. It’s a terrific play, and Julia will actually be performing and attending the Secular Student Alliance convention this year (The SSA is the group I do a lot of work with and the group to which I donated the eBay money). The website about the convention (which is co-hosted with Atheist Alliance International) can be found here: http://www.atheistalliance.org/conventions/2006/index.php. It’d be great to see some new faces there, religious and not religious!
I’ve made comments about preachers as good speakers. Is that necessary to convey the message of Christianity? Of course not. But I know in every high-school/college class I’ve attended, I could never pay attention to a teacher who had a boring, monotone voice. Even if they knew the material better than anyone. It just wouldn’t stick. I just know that when someone can convey the message that is in his/her heart with their voice and actions, it forces me to pay attention. Which is why, I suspect, Bible study groups have become incrasingly popular– people are expected to contribute their thoughts. It’s an all-way stream of information instead of a one-way flow.
And to respond to Pam, believe it or not, the decision to go on eBay was a sober one. I don’t drink, actually…
Comment by: john umland
1Some people have completely jettisoned the sunday/building/one teacher format and gone full time with the interactive format. its called different things by different people but some names are organic church/simple church/primitive church/house church. there are books with such phrases in their titles. i’ve been blogging about it. its not a huge conceptual link for believers who are unconventional already e.g. homeschoolers, spritual abuse victims, hippies, new converts with no grid to work from. i don’t know if OTM would consider them normal Christians. maybe OTM thinks they need to be normalized also. these groups are small cells and don’t necessarily broadcast, but if you found one in your area, it would be another interesting way station.
God is good
jpu
Comment by: john umland
2i meant to say its not a huge conceptual “jump” for those outside the norm already.
jpu
Comment by: Brtva (there are too many other Jessicas)
3The first time you posted this you said it was in Orland, is it? If so, YAY for a church in your hometown! I hope you get a chance to hang out with your family and your OP friends. :-) If it’s not…then, oh well. :-) This was a pretty useless and non-thoughtful comment. Have a good day!
Comment by: Mike Clawson
4Why are you guys sending Hemant to so many of the same kind of churches? Park Community, Willow, and Parkview all fall into the “seeker sensitive” megachurch category. (I know Park isn’t technically a “megachurch” yet, but according to the people I know from there, they are on their way.)
Wouldn’t it be more useful to send Hemant to a wider variety of churches? Why not send him to an emerging church likeSojourn, or a social justice oriented intentional community likeReba Place, or uniquely ethnic Catholic church like St. Sabina, or to a brand new church plant like Via Christus, or a mainline liberal church, or a pentecostal church, or a traditional Baptist Church, etc.
I think this is a great project and I’m reading avidly, but let’s get some variety for goodness sake! What good is it to send Hemant to a bunch of churches that share similar philosophies, theologies, and styles?
-Mike
Comment by: Ir
5Hemant, I hope you have an interesting experience on Sunday and I hope someone who’s “met” you via the Internet comes to meet you in person there.
I was wondering whether you & OTM would deliberately not say where you were going, so you could be ‘incognito’. But I’m glad you let us know ahead of time, this time, so that anyone who can meet you and is willing to attend church to do so :) is able to.
Oh, and I will try not to respond to your comments about Parkview CC with a lengthy explanation of [the Christian] life, the universe and everything!
Comment by: Jim Henderson
6Mike Clawson
Thanks for the reccomendations- We’ll check them out - keep watching
Comment by: Tim Harlow
7Hemet,
I’m the Pastor at Parkview in Orland. I actually saw the article and also bid on you. I thougth the fact that we were in Orland might be good. But mostly I respect what you’re doing and wanted to help. Yes, I am a “mega church” pastor, but I still actually care about every person who wants to find God. I actually believe that the size of the church could have two sides to it. Certainly it could be a selling out to the crowds. But it could also be that when you have authentic Biblical community, it attracts people. It’s part of what i’m preaching about tonight and tomorrow. The early church couldn’t stop the growth if they wanted. Did they have a sharp preacher in an Italian suit? No, they had Biblical community. They loved each other, gave for each other, and God was in their midst.
We are moving into a new building in two weeks so that we can have room for more, it’s true that we are one of “those” churches. There are a lot of misnomers about large churches or “seeker” churches. We are a seeker church with regard to loving seekers, but I honestly don’t believe we’re dumbing anything down. We just want to be relevant.
And by the way, if I had won I wasn’t going to make you come here. I agree with Mike that you need a lot of experiences. I am just so convinced that you will find God (in any number of places) if you’re heart is open.
Please introduce yourself to me this weekend. BTW, I told the whole church about you when I bid on you:) I had no idea that you’d end up coming. So I will keep you incognito this weekend. I won’t mention your being there publicly. You just come and please be honest with us all about what you find here. MOre than anything our church is about reaching people like you. And I’d love to buy you lunch sometime when you’re in the area.
I look forward to meeting you,
Tim Harlow
Comment by: Ir
8Hi Tim,
That was a nice welcome you posted to Hemant (his name is Hemant, not Hemet, by the way). I hope you do get to meet him tomorrow.
You wrote: “I am just so convinced that you will find God (in any number of places) if your heart is open.”
If an atheist says “I’m open to changing my mind if you can provide convincing evidence”, but then he/she claims that the evidence which convinces you isn’t convincing to him/her — does that mean he/she has a closed heart?
Comment by: Jim Henderson
9nice… Ir
Comment by: Mike Clawson
10I hope the “data” isn’t too corrupted by the fact that the pastors know Hemant is coming now. I guess it’s unavoidable (pastors can read blogs too), but I would think that there will be a lot of temptation to act differently knowing that Hemant is in the audience that week.
It’s the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle at work: the simple act of observing the data actually changes the data.
Comment by: Ir
11Good point, Mike.
My experience with churches is that they plan each service taking into account the possibility of having some visitors and/or people who aren’t Christians in attendance. (That doesn’t necessarily mean they choose to cater to the visitors/not-Christians who come; only that they are aware of the possibility of their presence in the service) Knowing that Hemant will be there turns the possibility into a certainty, but since they already knew that someone like him being there was a possibility I’m guessing they won’t feel the need to change anything about the service. Which means that his experience of the service itself will be what it would have been had they not known he was coming.
It may make a difference before or after the service, because I expect, like Tim’s comment show, the church community will hope Hemant introduces himself to them so they can give him a warm welcome. To be fair, I think many churches hope all visitors will do that. Some churches are small enough that all regular attenders see who the visitors are; but others are big enough that they have to rely on the visitors introducing themselves. (Because you don’t want to risk welcoming someone as a visitor and then finding out they’ve been coming for a while and you didn’t even notice…ouch…)
Comment by: Tom in Sacramento
12Hemant,
I would like to encourage you to report on one other thing as you check out churches. I would like to suggest that you NOT make any effort to introduce yourself to anyone. I’d like to suggest that you try to dress in accord with prevailing styles as much as possible. IOW, I’d like to suggest that you adopt “protective coloring” or camoflage and then see whether people reach out to you. A “friendliness index”, if you will.
You see, one of the big criticisms I hear and have experienced is that churches are cold, sterile places for an “outsider” to break into. Just the opposite of what Jesus exhorted and James taught. I’d be interested in your take on this.
Tom in Sacramento