LifeChurch.TV

(I suggest scrolling down and hitting play. You'll thank me for it later.)

Whew. I was up late Saturday night. Waaaay too late, dealing with issues that a friend of mine is having. I was up until 3am and probably didn't fall asleep until 3:30am. I had plans to go to church but I didn't wake up until about 10:30 this morning, and I wasn't sure what time they started, and all other kinds of things working against me.

So, I went with church online. Yes, church online. Everything is online nowadays, so is it really a stretch for there to be an online church?

Welcome to LifeChurch.TV.

I heard about LifeChurch last year when I went to a leadership conference down in Cincinnatti and I got to hear their pastor, Craig Groeschel, speak. He was a great speaker and made some really awesome points about what church is and some of the inner functions. He has a book out called, "IT". If you're in the church business, I'd recommend it.

"Going" to this church is very easy and the site is very straight forward. The church meets live and there is a countdown to start time. As you're waiting, there's a chat room where people meet and talk about what's going on with them. I guess this would be the lobby of your brick and mortar church.

First up was worship, which I have to be honest, only sort-of worked for me. Confession time: I wrote the 4 paragraphs of this while they were singing. Terrible, I know. I mean, at regular church, I sing and clap and do all that. But it being online really didn't have the same impact for me. Hrm. . . so I have a bigger problem singing by myself than in front of other people. . . I have no clue what that says about me but I'm not sure it's healthy!

Next up, communion. Oh yes, communion. Before the worship started, they announced that they were going to be partaking, and said that if you wanted to take, then go get some bread and wine (or grape juice) so that you would be prepared. Crazy, I know. No, I didn't partake but I still think it's an interesting concept to try. Still, kind of weird.

After this, Groeschel came on to give his sermon. He spoke about how each and everyone of us is called to be a minister. No, not just the guys who went to Bible college or who are paid staff at a church, but eveyone that is a Christian. He drew from the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), showing how the priest and the Levite went past the injured man, but it was the Samaritan, the layman, who helped the man with his needs.

A couple of good quotes from his message: "The church's message never changes, but the methods do change. To reach people no one is reaching, you have to do something no one is doing." I love the 2nd part of that. It reminds me of another quote, I think from Dave Ramsey, which says "If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got." Pretty simple stuff, yes. But I think so often, in our heads we're saying "Yeah, I need to change! I want things to be different!" but right after that, we end up doing the same exact things we've always been doing. Ugh.

His other good one: "When you know who you are, you'll know what to do." He gave the example of a time he was playing basketball and a guy there blew out his knee. Everyone there was just wincing and not sure what to do. But another guy ran up and said "I'm a doctor! Let me through." and he was able to help the man. The idea being that, if you know that you're a Christian, then you know what you are to do. You can help. You can make a difference by becoming involved. However, if you dont' know who you are . . .

After his message, he prayed and asked anyone if they committed themselves to Christ then to let them know by pushing the button (a little button popped up that you could hit). A virtual alter call. . . interesting. It was definitely a lot less creepy than the one at the Apostolic church, that's for sure.

Kind of a weird experience, in that I met no one new and didn't get to really get involved in worship. But I'm thinking - how many people do this by going to an actual building-church? You go to church, give a fake smile and handshake to a few people, sit in the pew, waiting for it to be over, and then leave. Never making a connection, never engaging in fellowship, never truly worshipping. I have to be honest, if nothing else, this online church made me miss real church all that much more.

They do have ways to meet with people in real life. There are small groups, I guess, that meet locally (a quick check of my zip code shows there are none in my area. Boo!) And something like that would be very interesting. There are a lot of interesting thoughts about doing church that way that are running through my mind, too many to put here.

A little announcement from your Reverend, I think my time of wandering is drawing to a close. Wandering has been good, and I have really enjoyed it. All the encouragement from people and compliments (fake compliments, I'm sure, but I'll take it anyway I can get it). I knew from the get-go that this could never be a full-time gig and that it would have to end some day.

But don't worry! You still have me for about another month! I have a big finale planned and then another, daily, project planned after that. What are the plans, you ask? I'm not giving it away! You'll have to stay tuned for it! But I really think you will enjoy them.

And sadly, you'll have to wait 2 weeks for the next church, as I'll be out of town next weekend. Maybe I'll make some time to drop some knowledge on you next week. . . if you're good.

With much love and respect from the interwebs,

Rev.