WorshipCentral

I'm in the States at the moment doing a mini tour with my good friend Mike Pilavachi. We're hanging out in California leading at different churches that we have relationship with. It's been truly wonderful to see something of the beauty and diversity of God's Church.

Our first stop was the Desert Vineyard in Lancaster. A multi-site church of about 5,000 people that has grown hugely in recent years. The pastor, David Parker, told us something of their story. He took over the church and felt that he needed to put outreach at the heart of the church. He wasn't sure how that should look. Should they do evangelistic talks, should they do social outreach projects, should they encourage friendship evangelism? As he prayed it through he felt God say, just do something and I'll meet you as you step out. So they tried it all. Outreach events, social parties and every Sunday they would offer an altar call for people to come to Christ. David was saying that he did a call every Sunday for over 18 months and no one ever came forward. Not only was it awkward and embarrassing, but also people in the church were beginning to get frustrated. Then one sunday, 50 people gave their lives to Christ and since then they've seen around 50 people becoming Christians every month. Amazing! A challenging story about perseverance and reaching out to society.

We then headed off to Ventura, and led at a city-wide event. Apparently it's been hard to gather churches together in Ventura, but about 800 people joined as one to worship the Almighty God. It was a beautiful and in many ways profound night. Something wonderful happens when different churches of different denominations and cultures come together to worship.

Next stop was a church called the 'Loft,' led by David Ruis (see photo). Well what a night we had. The church is held in a space that Pink Floyd used to rehearse and record in. It can hold about 150 people but as soon as you walk in you realise that you're at something a bit different. Firstly as you walk in you see the bar, with beer on tap and amazing coffee machines. Mouth watering food is served. Community and friendship is clearly at the heart of the church. Then you look around and the room is covered in amazing art. Paintings, sculptures, drapes, flowers, cool lighting, candles, TV's with constant images - it looked incredible. Then you see the stage in the centre of the room. The band was set up with everyone looking inwards. Everyone would gather around in a circle to worship. To lead in that environment was wonderful - such freedom and openness. At the end of the night we were worshipping with percussion and people all over the room were grabbing pots and pans and joining in were the rhythm of praise. It was amazing vision of what church can be - free, welcoming, creative, raw, real, inspiring and yet always God-focused.

We've got more churches to attend to over the next few days. Travelling around reminds me that we are called to be family. We all make up God's Church - His bride. We may have different tastes and preferences, but we are all called to love and serve His Church. Let's enjoy and learn from our different brothers and sisters. Let's not judge from afar. God loves His Church and so must we.