WHAT THE CHURCH?_Pilot | What The…?
“Why don’t you take this opportunity to go visit some churches in your area and learn how other denominations are doing church?”
My dad was correct, and it was the little nudge I needed to see what was happening in the local churches.
Here is a quick history lesson of Chad:
I grew up in church, parents actively involved in all the churches we attended, Dad as an Usher, not the “How can I help you” usher, but the bouncer type, eventually becoming a pastor after I graduated High School, and mom was in the choir or band singing. We attended a few different types of churches growing up, all though in the Pentecostal vein.
My sophomore year of university, I attended bible college to be a pastor. The thought was, “I am a musician, love God, might as well become a worship pastor”. It was right in the peak when worship pastors were making albums and the music industries worship genre was in its infant stages.
The worship pastor thing didn’t pan out, not by me not trying or not good enough, just other things took my focus and attention. Moved from my home in Omaha to Tulsa, attended large 10,000 member congregation for 1 year and then moved back to Omaha to find an unsettling reality. I no longer fit in with the church that I had been attending the years before I left.
I was different. I had a different perspective. I could no longer do church just to do church. It was no longer a source of income, source of social acceptance, or an avenue for my talents to thrive. It’s not that I didn’t want to go to church, I just continued to think “is this all there is”. There seemed to be a competitiveness to grow a large…no…mega church in Omaha, to get more attendees then the next church.
So…I left.
Didn’t lose my convictions, salvation, pursuit of righteousness, or love for God and people. I was no longer seeing the God I read about in the Bible, in the church, the Jesus of grace, compassion, humility, kindness…LOVE. I was seeing marketing schemes labeled as outreach, entertainment called worship, motivational speakers were pastors, counseling disguised as prayer. I was seeing the show not the Christ. I was seeing segregation amongst the churches not unity. I was seeing cliques, elite clubs, private social circles, arrogance of status based on volunteer positions held.
I was missing Jesus!
People will argue where Christ is in the church. He is in the worship songs, the pastors message, the alter call. He is all around us, living in us. But I was struggling to find Him.
So I called my dad to get some guidance, some direction on what to do next.
“Why don’t you take this opportunity to go visit some churches in your area and learn how other denominations are doing church?”
I began, what I now call the “What the Church?” Tour, visiting churches of all denominations, on a journey to find God. The churches were picked at random, only knowing name, location, and service times. I would arrive to each church approximately 5 minutes before the start of church, sit in the middle of the back row alone, not engage during worship (which in some churches was very difficult as I enjoy singing the greatness of God), not actively go out of my way to say hello to people, stayed in the auditoriums/sanctuaries (still in the back row alone) until everyone left, then got up and left church.
Would people say hello to me other than the greeters or when told by the pastor to “greet those around you”? Would worship be a show, or singing about my problems, or would they sing glorious choruses of the magnitude of God? What would be preached? Would I find God…HERE!
Why the title “What The Church?”
Because I found myself multiple times while visiting churches in shock saying “What the”. So “What The Church” was born.
It is safe to say this is MY experience…not yours, MY opinion, MY perceptions…not fact. I have not lived your shoes and you have not in mine. Lets be honest! I can in no way speak on behalf of the collective, the group, or you. I can only speak on behalf of me and my experiences. I will give you facts, quote the best I can, and share my honest opinions.