Over 14,000 Celebrate Easter at Hope

 

I also pray the you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the high place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:19-20

It was an amazing weekend at Hope with the parking lot pressed to the limit and people walking into our sanctuary looking for some answers and a chance to walk through a door of transformation. There was nothing magical about the doors but their IS something powerful about a resurrected life in Christ. Over 14,000 people came to hear this message this weekend with two services on Saturday and three on Sunday. The 10 AM service was packed with over 5,000. What an amazing sight and the energy in the room was electric.

I talked with a woman visiting from Boston who was struck by the friendliness that she experienced. It caught her off guard. She thought Big = Impersonal. She was so happy to be wrong and so am I. Way to Go Volunteers. Way to Go all Hope Members. Way to Go God!

Welcoming Environments

“What are you doing to create an environment that says to people, We KNEW you were coming and we were EXPECTING you!”

                 

This is a quote from a post by Scott Hodge.  He does a great job of relating a bad experience at a restaurant and seeing what we can learn about being churches that are truly welcoming.  One thing I have commented on is that coffee ministers to our sense of smell. (See First Impressions & Coffee) but Scott takes it to a different level when he says this:

“There’s no reason that churches should smell like Ben-gay and mothballs.  So we use Henri Bendel Scentports scattered throughout our auditorium using a scent called Firewood - which is a mix of birch, cedar, sandalwood with a slight hint of tobacco.  This fits the wood-beamed architecture of our auditorium perfectly.  (On a side note - please leave the flowery smelling potpourri at home.  And DON’T spray Lysol before starting a service.  That makes the room smell like someone just threw up minutes before people arrived.)”

Someone spilt one of those cheep flowery scent canisters in the office last week and it was smelling like the bathroom on a Greyhound Bus!!!!

Read the full post here.

First Presbyterian Downtown Memphis

Last week Laurie had an opportunity to speak at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Memphis. After a wonderful dinner, we headed up to the sanctuary where she talked about her ministry to refugees and immigrants in the city through Multi-National Ministries. She did an excellent job and was warmly received by the people there.

Rev. Bo Scarborough graciously turned on the lights to the huge stained glass windows and this is what we saw.

          

First Pres is the 2nd oldest church in Memphis. It was founded in 1828 when there were a mere 500 people who lived in the city. Now, 180 years later they are still serving downtown Memphis with the compassion of Christ.

With the traditional stained glass beauty of First Pres in my mind, I just read an interesting blog from Dave Ferguson about the unchurched and their perception about the look of the church facility. He made this observation:

“What if I told you that the average unchurched person would be more likely to walk into a cathedral than any contemporary facility when looking for a church? It’s true! When unchurched people were shown four pics that included two contemporary church designs, a church with a steeple and a cathedral the unchurched said they preferred the look of a cathedral by 2:1 over any other option.”

Interesting insight. I think I am drawn to a beautiful building both traditional and contemporary. But the key to whole thing is what happens inside!!!

Read the rest of Dave’s post here.

First Impressions & Coffee

                    

This past week I had another church contact me about our philosophy of coffee at Hope.  They had visited last week and saw that we had three coffee bars located throughout our campus serving free coffee. (Picture above of Hope’s South Foyer Coffee Bar) I told them that yes, it was free, but we have some jars out to accept any donations folks might want to give.  We serve over 350 gallons a weekend and have over 150 volunteers to pull this ministry off.  It is a huge priority and commitment for us.  Here is what I emailed this church as to why we do the coffee at Hope:

1. OUR MISSION:  Bottom line is that our mission is to be a church for the unchurched. Therefore, we are looking for ways to have the environment as positive as possible for folks who walk in our facility. We know that some people are entering the building with some preconceived ideas about church and can be coming in with some real painful experiences in their past. We want them to walk in and be touched by the positive experience.
2. CORE VALUE:  We want to achieve the unexpected. That is one of our core values here at Hope. We want them to walk away telling others what a great place Hope is. The first week they might not go back to work and tell others about the sermon — hopefully they will!! — but they might go and tell their friends about the coffee. “Man, you will not believe this but I went to church this weekend. Yes, I went to church, but the cool thing was this coffee bar. Right there in the lobby they had this coffee bar with all kinds of flavors — Dark Blend, Hazelnut, Vanilla, even a Southern Pecan! And to top it all off, you could take the coffee into the sanctuary!!!” (We have lids for the coffee that we encourage people to use. This cuts down on the spills.)
3. MINISTRY TO THE SENSES:  We are touching the senses. They drive in and see our Coneheads (parking lot attendants) welcoming them with a smile. They see how clean and inviting our facility is. They are touched by the friendliness of our greeters at the door. They walk in the door and immediately smell the freshly brewed coffee. They step up to the coffee kiosk and pour a cup of coffee and taste how good it is. They enter into the sanctuary and hear some great music and a message from God’s Word.
4. COFFEE CULTURE:  Coffee says many things in our culture today. Look at the impact of Starbucks. Here is what they say, “Starbucks Coffee Company provides an uplifting experience that enriches people’s lives one moment, one human being, one extraordinary cup of coffee at a time.” It is about the experience. It speaks of community. It helps people feel comfortable in an environment.
5. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY:  What a great place to have people serve. Some of my best greeters are there making the coffee and interacting with folks who come up for a cup.

Those are some of my thoughts in why we do coffee at Hope.  Anyone have other ideas? 

 

By the way, we proudly use Memphis roasted Ugly Mug Coffee.  Click on the bag to learn more.

Excellence in the Details

Yesterday, while walking down the hall between services, I passed our Senior Pastor Craig, and he asked me if I had a minute to follow him.  He led me into the men’s bathroom and we stood in front of this sign.

He asked, “Can you see what is wrong here?”  I bit my tongue and did not say, “The sinks seem to out of order on this side.”  No, I said that it seemed to be a blue tape issue.  We should have displayed that sign without the blue tape showing — we should have rolled the tape, stuck it on the back and then taped it on the mirror. 

THAT IS CORRECT Craig said!  I breathed a sigh of relief for two reasons.  First, that I had answered correctly and second, that I was not the guilty party.  Although, to be honest, I probably would have done the same thing if I was in a hurry to get this sign up.

The lesson that Craig points out and lives out is that details matter — that we need to have our eyes trained to look at the details.  We need to constantly look for things that might be out of place or that could be improved upon.  We can become blinded to the “stuff” around the church that sits there week after week — out of place.  We can be in such a rush that we forget to stop and ask a simple question:  “Does this show excellence in the details?” 

How do things look around your church?  Maybe this Christmas season is a good time to look around and check for the excellence in your details.