With the blogging portion of this project effectively wrapped up, I've decided to leave a table of contents here for quick viewing convenience. Click on the titles below for specific church visits, or feel free to browse the old entries on the right-hand side of the page. I've organized them by order of the church visits, adding several of the less congregation-specific articles at the end:
Introduction (April 11th, 2011)
The Summit (Durham, NC)- April 10th, 2011
New Song Community Church (Baltimore, MD)- May 8th, 2011
- First Impressions
- Worship
- Worship (Part 1)
- Worship (Part 2)
LaSalle Street Church (Chicago, IL)- May 19th, 2011
Willow Creek Community Church (South Barrington, IL)- May 21st, 2011
- Worship (Part 1)
- Worship (Part 2)
Lawndale Community Church (Chicago, IL)- May 22nd, 2011
- Lou Malnati's
- Worship (Part 1)
- Worship (Part 2)
- First Impressions
- Part 1- Saturday Evening Praise Service
- Part 2- Saturday Evening Praise Service (Part 2)
- Part 3- Sunday Morning Contemporary Service
- Part 4- Sunday Morning Traditional Service
- Part 5- Sunday Evening Service and Other Thoughts
Detour: Westboro Baptist Church (Topeka, KS)- June 6th, 2011
New Life Church (Colorado Springs, CO)- June 12th, 2011
- Background on Rev. Ted Haggard
- How I Met Ted Haggard, Offended Him, and Was Subsequently Asked to Leave
- New Life
- New Life (part 2)
Detour: Temple Square (Salt Lake City, UT)- June 16th, 2011
Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA)- June 19th, 2011
- Reactions to Pastor Mark's Book
- Mark Driscoll Video Clips
- Prelude: WBC at Mars Hill
- Original WBC and Mars Hill Statements
- Part 1- Background, Ballard Campus, and Worship
- Part 2- Parable of the Ten Minas
- Part 3- Money Matters
- Part 4- Downtown
- Part 5- Concluding Comments
GLIDE Church and Temenos Catholic Worker (San Francisco, CA)- June 26th, 2011
- Research
- Declining to Comment
- Reflections on the X-Men
- Working For, Being With, Working With
- Part 1- When Church Goes on Vacation
- Part 2- Worship and Patriotism
- Part 3- Sermon (Romans 7)
- Part 4- Worship in the Cafe and Closing Thought
Mosaic (Pasadena, CA)- July 3rd, 2011
- Part 1- Background and "Big Box"
- Part 2- Worship and Contemporary/Traditional
- Part 3- Sermon: Rehoboam and Jeroboam
- Part 4- The Artist Tribe, Closing Thoughts, Personal Reflections
Austin Stone Community Church (Austin, TX)- July 17th, 2011
- Preface to Austin Stone and Hill Country
- Morning Service at St. John Campus (Part 1)
- Morning Service at St. John Campus (Part 2)
- Evening Service (Part 1)
- Evening Service (Part 2)
- Epilogue: Evangelical Youth Culture
Hill Country Bible Church (Austin, TX)- July 17th, 2011
- Worship (Part 1)
- Worship (Part 2)
- Part 1- Prosperity Gospel and Welcome
- Part 2- Getting the Lay of the Land and Worship
- Part 3- Worship Continues, Things Get Weird
- Part 4- Sermon: "God Is a Rewarder"
- Part 5- Joel Osteen: Friendly, Well-Intentioned, Dangerous
Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church (Houston, TX)- July 24th, 2011
- First Visit to Lord of the Streets (July 20th, 2011)
- Part 1- Arrival and "More than Conquerors"
- Part 2- Sermon, Departure, and the Fence
Ecclesia (Houston, TX)- July 24th, 2011
- Part 1- Background and Arrival
- Part 2- Worship
- Part 3- Sermon: Trust, Faith, and a Small Miracle
- Early Reactions to T.D. Jakes
- Part 1- Preliminary Comments
- Part 2- Welcome, Worship, Frustrations
- Part 3- Announcements, More Music, and a Quick Promo
- Part 4- Sermon: "Shake It Off"
- Part 5- More Sermon, Altar Call, Dismissal
- Part 6- Lingering Questions and Epilogue
Other Topical Pieces:
- Why Study Megachurches?
- The Life Cycle of a Church
- Generational Warfare in the Church
- "Real Ministry"
- Kenyon Visit and "Barbed Theology"
- Thoughts on Privilege
- Guest Commentary: Erin on Missions
- Panhandlers
- The Prayer of Jabez
- Dante
- On Creation
- What I've Learned from Batman
Personal Stuff:
- Testimony
- Why I Identify as Baptist
- Confession of Faith
- The Phoenix Prayer
- More Information on Post-It Art
I hope this has been useful! It was a long journey, and a lot of this may yet find its way into a book, but for now, I simply carry these experiences with me. Feel free to contact me with questions, comments, and insights!
Peace and Blessings,
Tom
Absolutely loved the journey. Thanks for allowing me to travel with you in spirit. Peace and God Bless, Tonya Black (your fellow Duke Divinity Alum)
ReplyDeleteI found your journey fascination. I am a senior myself in Liberty's Bachelor of Science in Religion program. I found that many of the articles seemed like critiques. But overall, I learned a lot. I am friends with Ted Haggard on Facebook and he's always been cool. How are you doing today? I hope your building your megachurch!
ReplyDeleteHey friends,
ReplyDeleteI'm leaving a long comment on this post since it's the most recent and likely the most seen. I'm the original author of this blog, but I haven't touched it in almost seven years and can't seem to find my old log-in info. With no way to update it, I guess it will remain the way it is, preserved forever on the internet. This bums me out since my views have changed a lot in the seven years since this project. I've served in multiple churches and hospitals since then; I even worked in a mini-mega church (i.e. 800+ on Sundays), but I found the administrative responsibilities kept me from interacting with people, so I left that role and haven't looked back. I now work with a number of brewery-based ministries around Jacksonville, FL. For more on what I'm doing, check out barchaplain.com, or visit any of the related social media accounts.
A lot of my views have shifted a bit over the past seven years as well. My perspectives on some issues have softened, while on other topics, I'm more zealous than ever. Reading a lot of my old posts about race and sexuality and homelessness is downright painful for me now (so much unacknowledged privilege!), and I've tried to become a better listener over these past years.
Also, candidly, a lot of the relationship stuff discussed on this blog is strange to read now. Remember: when I first started writing 8,000 Miles, I was 23 years old and smitten, and I thought the world needed all those details. The relationship described on this blog ended not long after the last post in December, and it would be five years before I met my wife, Jessi. We've been happily married since December, and it's hard to imagine being with anyone else, so this blog still exists as a strange little time capsule of my early 20s.
If you choose to read this blog, please remember that the content is dated and the author has changed a good bit. I don't think I'd ever delete this blog, and editing it now would feel revisionistic. Still, hindsight has brought mixed feelings about much of its contents. If you'd like to talk through any of these experiences, I'm always open to those conversations, so send an email to barchaplain@gmail.com, or reach out via Twitter (@barchaplain). I'd love to connect.
Grace and Peace,
Tom