today i made the 5 1/2 hour drive (listening to the bears game on the radio—go bears!) up to grand rapids to catch church at mars hill. it was a great experience sitting with friends in the “round” as we were able to see thousands of other people across the way as together we joined in singing, scripture reading, responsive readings and corporate prayer. it was extremely simple worship, yet extremely well done as together we enjoyed unique songs (unique to the mars hill community) and beautifully re-written hymns. it was probably the best “mega-church” worship experience. no videos, no “modern technological advances” just simple music that was creative and well done.
from there rob bell got up to speak and taught in the round—a pretty neat experience i must admit. and when he finished it was over, just a hard end as he mentioned the “joy boxes” (offering recepticles) and that was it. i would definitely say that this was not the typical “mega-church” experience.
tomorrow morning starts the “Isn’t She Beautiful” conference and i’m very much looking forward to it… i’ll be blogging throughout and wrestling with some of the concepts and thoughts presented. so, stay tuned. and if you’re reading this and attending the conference shoot me an email and maybe we can catch up and grab a cup of coffee. (aparently there are people from kenya and nigeria, england, new zealand, and even sweden… not to mention the great country of oklahoma.)
Related posts:
- journey on.
- the anti-biblical, emerging church.
- books and reviews… goals for ’07
- bonhoeffer’s warning.
- narnia.
WOW! What a cool opportunity. I’ve seen the Nooma videos and they are really good. I think mega-church is scarry. I have more respect for Rob Bell hearing that his church isn’t the typical super-bowl style “center.” I hope you get A LOT out of the conference, meet cool new people, and mostly I hope you have a DEEP connection with the Father.
Have a good and safe week.
Say hi to the rest of the gang. Sorry that I couldn’t tag along. Be sure to keep us updated on your experiences there.
can you explain the “in the round” idea, aaron?
it must be nice to attend conferences for a living.
i wish i was there with you. we could key rob’s land rover together!
I still say Mars Hill is a crappy name for a Christian church.
rags,
i agree. i no longer like to call gatherings of disciples “church” nor am i all that comfortable with referring to myself as a “christian.”
in the Spirit of God, i believe that we are free from all semantic boundaries.
Nice.
Monts, how many goatees in the room?
“in the round” = basically the room is set up with the stage in the center of the room and the “seating” surrounds the stage. each of the members of the “worship team” (not sure if that’s correct mars hill lingo) actually face inward towards the center of the stage as well instead of towards the congregation.
the teacher/preacher for the week will be on the stage and walk around in circles, or rotate around in a chair while teaching… it’s a very different experience that’s for sure, but i really have enjoyed experiencing it.
gentry it is really nice to attend conferences for a living… this is the first time i’ve ever been able to really do it! if only the church could pay for it next time, that’d be the best!
how many goatees? actually i think you’d be surprised at the diversity of people—not necessarily in ethnicity, but diversity in age. it’s certainly not dominated by 20 year olds, but there are people certainly in their 60′s here—and not a small number.
if i had to put a number on the goatees, i couldn’t do it, but i’d say it’s not the majority—the beard seems to rule!
i’ll blog about today’s experiences this evening…
monts, you should have just written yourself a check. i’ve heard that’s the way it works at frontier usa.
Be careful, Gentry. Just because a former pastor maintained a peculiar financial hold on the church in Frontier USA, doesn’t mean that the subsequent pastor has the same arrangement or desire for it.
ah, the good ol’ days!
i hear you dad. i would never bust aaron’s chops if i doubted his character. well, in this area anyway.
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Jason is blogging about his experience at mars hill’s conference as well. here are his thoughts on the sunday night service and a little about what mars is all about. it’s good stuff.
emerging conversation
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