The Nones are Rising

I met with a guy yesterday who over the years has rejected any type of religion.  He does seem like he has moved from a hard-core atheist to a semi-open agnostic.  He has been visiting Hope with his girlfriend and has found himself being moved.  He certainly has not embraced a concept of God, but he is open to the possibility. 

It appears that this type of nonbelief is rising across the nation and even here at the buckle of the “Bible Belt”.   Here are some highlights — or lowlights — of what the survey found:

• 86% of American adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 76% in 2008.
• Even Tennessee followed that patternwith 92% of adults identified as Christians in 1990 and 83% in 2008
• The historic Mainline churches and denominations have experienced the steepest declines while the non-denominational Christian identity has been trending upward particularly since 2001.
• The challenge to Christianity in the U.S. does not come from otherreligions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.
• •The “Nones” (no stated religious preference, atheist, or agnostic)continue to grow, though at a much slower pace than in the 1990s, from 8.2% in 1990, to 14.1% in 2001, to 15.0% in 2008.

John Ortberg in an article on the blog Out of Ur asks this question:

“Are we witnessing the process of secularization here in America similar to what Europe experienced in the middle of the twentieth century? “

What are we doing to help stem the tide?  I want to reach more people like my agnostic friend and I am grateful that Hope feels like a place where questions are welcome and doubters can enter safely and hear of the life changing power of Christ.

Projected Art — The New Stained Glass

About 15 years ago the little church where I pastored had summer movies for the neighborhood. We did these movies on a huge drop down screen on the side of our building. It really was an impressive combination of pulleys and four king-sized sheets sewn together. Everyone loved watching movies there, and it was interesting to watch the cars slow down as they drove by to see what was on the side of the church.
I was reminded of this projecting we used to do when I saw this picture of a church in Texas that is projecting art on the facade of their church building. What a cool idea!!!

Looks like some great nighttime potential for this coming Christmas.  I’m going to pass this idea on to our creative team.

Here is a link for some more info:

http://visualworshiper.com/blog/2009/04/projection-party-1/

A Shining Example

We are having a funeral today for a wonderful man — Frank Braden.  Frank passed away a couple of days ago at the age of 82.  What makes his death significate in the life of Hope Church is that he was the first adult batism here at Hope.  This was way back in 1988.  Frank is a shining example of why we do what we do as a church.

My brother told this story at our staff meeting today about how Frank came to church —- Frank was your classic unchurched person.  He had not been to church in years and had absolutely no desire to waste his time on a Sunday morning sitting around with strangers being bored out of his mind.

He had a woman who worked for him who kept asking him to come to Hope and he kept saying no.  In desperation she said, “Just do one thing for me and I will never ask you to do anything.”  He said, “What’s that?”  “Just come to church with me once, and I will not bug you again.”  Frank reluctantly came, and it completely changed his life.  He found a group of real people how loved him and accepted him right where he was.  Ultimately, he found Christ.  Today at the funeral there were no family members present — he had outlived them all.  But family was there — his family of faith here at Hope.

Frank, we will miss you, but know for sure that we continue to reach out to people who are just like you were some twenty years ago.

Neither Rain nor Snow….

Last weekend we had a huge snow. Now, it might not be huge for folks in the north but for us southerners it was a biggie. We had anywhere from 6 to 10 inches in the Memphis area. With the snow came church cancellations scrolling across TV screens. But you did not see Hope listed there. We have an “always open” policy.  This commitment refects deeply into some of our core values.  We are open because:

• We are committed to positively outrageous service.
• We achieve the unexpected.
• We do whatever it takes.
• We sacrifice our wants for other’s needs.

Here is an excecerpt from an email to the staff from our senior management team:

“Do you know that even with the snow, and most churches closing, we had well over 2500 folks to chose to come to church.  That is huge! We had a full choir, all the worship team here, even when that means coming at 7. We had staff who stepped in and made coffee ( including our Sr. Pastor)  others who shoveled snow, and we made it all work.  Since it’s been some time, I have been asked to update you all, and let’s see if we can put together some action steps to make sure we are “super ready” for the next time.

· In case you don’t know, Hope doesn’t cancel worship services. We’ll have them even with 5 people, so if you ever wake up and  it’s snowy, or  such, WE ARE ON”

So, like our nation’s postal service, we deliver the love of Christ no matter what the weather!

Customer Service Surprise

Last week I was at the dentist and that is usally a pretty painful experience for me, my bad teeth and my wallet.  But this time is was not so bad.  As I was checking out, the receptionist handed me this Starbucks card and said, “This is just a little thank you from us because we had to cancel your appointment last week.  So, thanks for your patience!!”

I was blown away.  I have had some doctor and dentist appointments canceled in the past but have NEVER had anyone give me anything in appreciation for my patience.  And it is not like I was a new patient who they were trying to impress or keep their business.  No, I have been going there for years and have always had great service there.  This just took that service to another level.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness and care that this little card communicates.  What a great idea.

I’m off to Starbucks to get a tasty, sugary, frappuccino that will rot my teeth out… wait a minute… this might be part of an evil plan to get me back in the chair for some drilling….

But if you are in Memphis looking for a great dentist, check out Avery & Meadows Dentistry

Comment Cards – The Good, The Bad, The Dizzying.

Here is our weekly “Comment Card”.  These are in the bulletin every week.  We ask for all comments and we get ALL comments.  Here is a sampling from last week:

THE GOOD
“Love the greeters! They are all so friendly and it puts a smile on my heart!”

“I have never been so excited to come to church until I came here! Thanks!”

“Thank you so much, Pastor Craig and everyone on staff    and our wonderful volunteers.”

“Thank you for being so welcoming and friendly. I need you all so much right now. God bless!”

“My two sons need ‘Hope’ now more than ever.”

THE BAD
“You say you have a friendly church, yet I have been here for an hour and no one has spoken, not even your greeters. This happens every time I come here.”

“The phone calls to remind us to pledge are offensive.”

THE DIZZYING

“Please don’t use the moving background that was used today during ‘Yes Lord’. Visually that type of motion makes me feel sick.”

We take these comments very seriously.  It helps us every week to take the pulse of the church.  We also have a place on the card for prayer requests, and we receive between 10 to 15 typed single-spaced pages of requests that we pray for throughout the week.

And the Mouse Shall Lead Them

I saw this picture today over at Wired Jesus Podcast and could not help but laugh.  What an image!!!  What was the artist thinking or saying with this piece?  It is a sculpture by Alexandre Kosolapov entitled  — “the hero.  the leader.  the god.”  And if you notice that Jesus really has taken the lead as his toes are just out ahead of Lenin’s shoe!!!  I can’t help but picture that after the next few steps you see Lenin and Jesus lifting up a thrilled Mickey off the ground and going “Wheeeeeee!”

Back from Spain

We are back from Spain after visiting Madrid, Nerja, Granada and Barcelona.   Above is a pic of Laurie and me overlooking Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.  What a blast!!!

Off to Spain!!

Heading to Spain with my lovely wife for a couple of weeks.  Awesome!!!

Greeting Not Freaking

This past weekend we received this comment regarding one of our zealous greeters:

“I love his passion and energy, but the greeter that wants to shake everyone’s hand kind of freaks me out a little. I keep thinking about the germs! I know some of that is my problem, ha. Maybe he can just smile and say hello?“

It is a great comment. This is a great example of why we do comment cards in the first place. We learned something that we were not aware of. These comments are our eyes.

But how do we respond? Do we say, “Sorry, but we are a friendly church. Deal with it!!!” Or “Just shake his hand and carry some hand sanitizer in your pocket!!” That is not exactly our response. Here is what I said:

“I read your comment from the weekend regarding an aggressive greeting issue. I want to say that I agree with you and am sorry that we made you feel uncomfortable. I think it is an issue of training, and I am going to work on that. As you know, we try to make Hope as welcoming a place as possible without making people feel uncomfortable. We do not slap name tags on folks. We do not make visitors stand up during the service. We do want people to feel welcome and yet, be as anonymous as they want to be.

With that in mind, our shaking hands policy has always been to shake the hand of someone who reaches out to shake your hand but to not initiate the hand shake.

Thanks for pointing this out. We are going to spread the word so we don’t freak people out”

Each church has to come to their own conclusion as to what best fits their culture when it comes to welcoming and greeting people who walk through their doors. As for me and my church, no shaking unless shaken upon — or something like that….