Three things that excite me right now are: 1) Yankee baseball. There is nothing like emerging from the underground on the 5 train and seeing Yankee stadium. The last game we attended was amazing as A-Rod hit a two run walk off homer in the bottom of the 11th to win the game. 2) The Olympics. Because we have the luxury of cable, the Olympics play in the background of our daily routines. To watch these athletes finally do what they’ve been training to do for years is simply spectacular. 3) Church planting. We are getting so close to some tangible manifestations of our preparation. In two weekends, Manhattan Church will have a “Church Planting Sunday” in which the Sunday services will be tailored around the theme of church planting. On September 19, we will have our first interest meeting for those interested in the Brooklyn church plant. Wow.

One of the things I’m currently doing to get ready for this church plant is visiting other churches to see what they are doing and not doing in their communities. Thus far I’ve visited three churches: The Journey, Brooklyn Tabernacle and Mosaic Manhattan. What is to follow are the notes I took on my experiences there and my thoughts concerning what they are doing as compared to what I hope to do with our church plant.

The Journey
One of The Journey’s founding pastors (they have two) went to seminary with me. We were in many of the same classes and played intramurals together. I was excited to finally go to his church and see what they were doing as they have numerically grown quickly. While the name “The Journey” might indicate it is a nondenominational church it has ties with the Southern Baptist Convention. This was my experience in going.

I first visited their website.. It was easy and user friendly. Without difficulty I found out what time the church service was, where it was located and what trains/busses I should take to get there. I was even told what to expect during the worship service such as, “the service lasts about an hour.” I was assured through the implication of this information that there would be no surprises. On one hand it was comforting knowing what to expect as I went but on the other hand, I wonder what has happened to the mysterious working of God. If something out of the ordinary happened, would this church be willing to break the service schedule and tend to the need? Have we made God so predictable that we can rest assured that there will be no surprises? Are we so bound to the gospel of comfort that anything slightly uncomfortable and uncontrollable is relegated to another time and another place or simply ignored altogether?

As Laura and I neared the East Village location of this particular service (that have two morning services that are in the Upper West Side) we could see signs on a street corner saying, “The Journey meets here!” There was someone standing by the sign handing out invitations to anyone who walked by. The greeter was friendly and excitedly told us where to go when we asked. The location was an elementary school. When we walked toward the entrance we were greeted once again. (There were more signs posted on the side fence to let you know “The Journey meets here!” I think there were probably signs on every corner and on other parts of the fences that surround the school. You could not walk by and not know that the church meets in that school.) As we walked through the doors of the school, we were greeted again and told where to go, “down the steps, to the left, you’ll find refreshments, water and coffee, have a good time…” I was impressed with how many people had already greeted us and we had just walked through the doors. Granted, their mission was not to make small talk but to direct the crowd. Their friendly faces were a welcomed relief in NYC. I could already imagine why this church was growing so quickly. So we did as we were told and walked down the steps and to our left. And sure enough there were refreshments. In fact, it seemed as if there were two different tables of refreshments: one table had bottled water and fruit while the other table seemed to have coffee (maybe), juice and bagels. People crowded the lobby as there were other tables set up as well. There was a table set up selling past sermon series that were on CDs and The Journey t-shirts in cool print on cool shirts. People were buying these items. It was noticeable from the moment we entered that Laura and I were old compared to the general audience. And we were definitely the only ones with a baby. We quickly made our way through the crowd and into the auditorium. Once again we were greeted as we walked through the doors. We were given a “bulletin” that came with a writing pen. The pen had The Journey’s info printed on it. Again, the design of the pen was not ordinary but cool. (I’m showing my true self by continuing the use of ‘80s terminology such as “cool” to describe things.) The band was playing up on stage and we got ourselves settled in the back row. I was disappointed to see that we were meeting in a traditional auditorium. I would have thought that a church plant would want to do something new but this fell into the same old category of passive worship. If anything was to happen, it was going to be up on stage and not within the congregation. There was no chance of intimate community in that setting. The decent sized auditorium was hardly full when we arrived. About thirty minutes later I looked around the place and realized that it was almost completely full. Like all New Yorkers, being late is being on time. The service started with the praise band leading us in two songs. After which one of the pastors got up and introduced us to the theme of the night: finding true identity. The Journey takes all the summer hit movies and turns them into sermon series. This Sunday was focused around the theme that the movie “Catwoman” attempts to explore: true identity. There was to be a short movie shown that was to help in the introduction but the media team had a hard time getting it going. I could sense the angst of the pastor as the movie stubbornly would not show itself. He dealt with it and moved on but there was an awkward moment. When your service becomes a production, a flaw such as the one we experienced was incredibly apparent. I’m sure the media ministry team were bummed about the film not working. What I didn’t realize when the pastor got up to introduce the theme was that it was the beginning of his sermon. His sermon was interrupted on several occasions in order to use another means of communication. I liked this. It seemed real and spoke on many different levels. For instance, there was a point in which a woman got on the keyboard and started playing a Christina Aguilera song called “I am beautiful” while another person did a monologue while another danced to the song and monologue. It must have taken quite a bit of time getting ready for that! I was amazed how it worked perfectly with the message that was being spoken. The sermon went on as the pastor highlighted several verses in the Bible that talk about how God loves us and we should love ourselves. We ended with one last song and some announcements. And it was over. No surprises, no interruptions, about an hour in length. Just as I was told on their website. We walked out to find that there were two new tables set up in the lobby. If it was your first time visiting, you could sign up and get a free book. People were at the table getting free books. The other table was a ministry table. There was a person at the table to tell you of all the different ministries one could be a part of: media team, dance team, praise band, sports teams, etc. and again what you can expect if you sign up for one of the ministries. As we left, we were greeted at the door and handed a cookie with a postcard with information on the next sermon series.


When talking with others about the experience I refer to The Journey as The Production. It is a well oiled machine that ran smoothly (with the exception of the video that didn’t play). It was impressive that everyone was in their place doing their thing. People were committed and giving of themselves and that is hard to find in NYC. The praise band was talented and the praise leader was gifted. It was a shame we didn’t spend more time worshipping through music. The Journey is definitely a “Purpose Driven” church who knows their mission. They are after the unchurched. Their service was light theologically and not a place for a seasoned Christian. Their response to that critique is their small groups that meet throughout the week. (They pumped up their small groups three different times throughout the service.) They cater to the young and are doing a good job of it as we seemed old compared to the rest. Families would have a hard time fitting in as there were no child care options. Overall, I was impressed with The Journey. They are reaching a very distinct demographic and doing so with effectiveness. My fears are twofold: 1) the lack of depth and 2) the focus on the individual. Will this shallow individualism continue to lead evangelicalism in the wrong direction?