Church Hopping Week 1 - Fellowship Missionary Church

As you all know, I'm new to the Fort Wayne area and am looking for a new home church, and so far I've visited two different churches in the area. It's really a shame that there's only one Sunday a week for me to visit churches, and with so many churches in the area, I might be church-hopping for a while! I should have started last week, but I'm going to document the churches that I visit so the different churches don't get mixed up in my head and I can remember the ones that I liked.

Last Sunday, January 22, my parents and I went to visit Fellowship Missionary Church. This was the church that one of Pastor Al's friend (one of my old pastors) attends, so we decided to check it out.

In A Nutshell: Very much like a huge New Life for adults, only with less Jesus.

Church Overview

Affiliation - Missionary Church (wiki, official site)
Attendance - 2,200 people, split up into 3 services
Demographics - Very diverse. Probably only 2/3 of the church was white, and a the rest were black or Hispanic, but we were the only Asians that we saw. Overall, the church was also very young, with a good number of young adults.

The Environment

Just walking into the building, it was very obvious that the church was very modern. They had a little cafe/lounge area to sit down and drink coffee, and instead of calling their worship center a sanctuary, they called it the "Activities Center". As we walked towards the Activity Center, we saw a lot of different stands and displays, with some booths set up for different ministries (like the Youth, Men's and Women's ministries) and some informational boards on the different missionaries being sponsored around the world. Even though everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and having a good time, we were never welcomed by an usher and our hands were never shaken. This is probably because of how large of a church it was, but as a new person who felt lost in such a big church, a welcome from someone would have been nice. The church itself seemed like a school building that had been converted to a church, and the auditorium seated around 800. The lighting and stage and everything of the auditorium reminded me a little bit of Urbana, with just a really big stage and really flashy technology.

Service

Overall the service didn't really have a sense of reverence to it. There wasn't a call to worship, a corporate Scripture reading, or a benediction, and the time for tithes was just slipped in and basically ignored, almost an afterthought. The worship was good, but the "sermon" wasn't much more than just advice from a guy on a stage.

The Worship

The music was really, really quality. It was a band of around 8 or 9 that spread themselves across the big stage. The songs we sang ranged from contemporary Christian worship songs from a decade ago to the most recent worship songs, and the execution of those songs were amazing - it really reminded me of New Life. Random note: their electric guitarist was sick! Also, because the service was held in what looked like it used to be a school auditorium, they had stage lights, so they did some cool light work on the band as the worship went on, like like moving around and changing colors and stuff. The worship was so contemporary that I found it hard to believe that older white people (of which there were a good number) would actually enjoy it. Maybe it's just me, but I have a hard time picturing 70 year old white gentlemen and ladies rocking out to Jesus Culture or Hillsong. But that all said, I really enjoyed the worship.

The Sermon

The talk (video here) we heard was the last of a three-part series on money called "Give. Save. Love". The pastor, Pastor Dave DeSelm, was really funny and extremely engaging, extensively using multimedia like a spiffy PowerPoint presentation and a long video at the end. He attempted to speak out of Deuteronomy 28:12-14, and, long story short, he is basically like Joel Olsteen with a Scripture reading in the beginning. He was just as engaging as Olsteen, gave a little more statistical and educated talk than Olsteen normally does, but just like him, he often repeated some nice quotables and gave a few self-glorifying stories on how not getting into debt has affected his life. To call the message shallow is an understatement. He was basically exhorting people to not get into debt and to live carefully with their money, saying things like "Live within the rest (of what you have after you've given and saved)" and "Living within one's means is not spending money you don't have." I learned a lot about the different statistics about credit card debt and interest rates and the difference between "good debt" and "bad debt". I learned some tips on how to budget and how to save money. But I didn't learn about Jesus. Not once in his message did Pastor Dave ever mention the name of Jesus. I think it's kind of funny that in claiming to preach against moralism and living a "free" life, churches like this (and Joel Olsteen's church) really just end up being moralistic churches because really any rule, or even guideline, ends up that way without Jesus.

My parents told me afterwards, "God prepared this message for you", as we had just been talking about a lot of money issues after getting an apartment and buying a car, but I was horrified. I told them how it was terrible and how Jesus wasn't even mentioned and everything, and my mom just replied, "I know, I know. But if you don't think of it like you came to worship God and think of it more as a financial seminar, it isn't so bad." The sad thing is that she's totally right. Marc Driscoll says that as Christians, we have good news, not just good advice. It's sad that you can walk into a church and leave only with some good advice but not the good news of Jesus.

This spiffy-lookin' thing was their bulletin for the week.

Reflection 

What I liked
Diversity - Given how predominantly white Fort Wayne has seemed so far, Fellowship Missionary Church was truly a multi-ethnic church. Not only was there people of different races, but there seemed to be immigrants from different countries and also a diversity of socio-economic status.

Youth - The church also seemed to have a good balance between young people and older people, something that I'm definitely looking for in a church.

Ministries - Looking at the bulletin, there was a long list of different ministries and classes that I could participate in. There was stuff from Christian book teachings to men's ministry to cell groups.

Community Service - The church seemed to also be very involved in a lot of different community service ministries throughout Fort Wayne, and actually at the service, the pastor presented two checks of around $44,000 each to two different organizations in the area. Apparently every Christmas service, they donate the entire amount of money given to the church that week to charities, and they presented those checks during the service that we attended.

Seems Mission-focused - I need to be careful in saying that the church is mission-focused because missions without Gospel isn't missions at all, but the church does seem to be involved in various movements around the world and it seems to have sent missionaries out, and there seems to be a good amount of resources invested in missional sort of endeavors like missional prayer and learning about the world and stuff.

What I didn't like
Size - As I mentioned before, it seemed way too easy to get lost in such a big church, and it didn't seem to me like the people that attended really knew that many other people that attended the church. There wasn't the tighter-knit sort of community in the church that I had grown accustomed too bad at home and at Knox.

No Gospel - This is the kicker. Above all, this is the reason that I cannot attend a church like Fellowship Missionary Church. It became apparent to me, looking through the Sunday School classes offered and the different ministries and the talk, that this is one of those churches that only exists to help make good Christians better. It's solely focused on application and how to be a "good" Christian and live a "better" life. All of these suspicions were ultimately affirmed in probably THE worst "sermon" I have ever heard in my life (Ken White's talk on politics in AIV is a close second, but Pastor White gets a tiny bit more leeway because it was a Friday night message, not a Sunday morning sermon), as the name of Jesus was never mentioned and the saving grace of God wasn't even alluded to. My parents suggested that the focus on application might have been because of the lower socio-economic and academic standing of the congregation (in comparison to Knox and MCCC), and while I agree, it really isn't much of an excuse. In the end, people need Jesus, not financial advice.

The Verdict

As much as FMC offers that other churches in the area probably won't, such as youth and diversity, church really isn't church without Jesus, and the gospel was not preached or even touched upon in the message. I'm tempted to go back and visit to see if it was just this one week that was horrible, but I think the reality is that if a pastor has a clear conscious giving a sermon without the any sort of gospel once, this church isn't somewhere that I want to be.

Moral of the story: Enjoy Knox while you're there, you lucky college kids!!

Why I Chose Raytheon

For those of you who don't know, starting January 23rd, 2012, I will be working for the Network Centric Systems division of Raytheon located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I'm going to be flying out to Fort Wayne on the 17th with my parents to look for an apartment, buy a car, buy furniture, and all that other fun adult stuff that costs a lot of money.

I haven't gotten a chance to explain to most of you why I've decided to go work for Raytheon at Fort Wayne, Indiana, so here are some of those reasons!

Good Company

Raytheon is a large defense contractor and industrial company with around 76,000 employees that does just about everything in the world. Because of the diversity of their products, Raytheon's eggs aren't all in one basket and can survive the different ebbs and flows of the economy (such as the recent cut in military spending). Also, the size of the company allows me to try new things, so I could work on different products and in different engineering areas in my time with Raytheon. I'm not completely sure what I'm going to be working on but I'll be in the Network Centric Systems division of Raytheon, of which there are around a thousand employees in the Fort Wayne location. When I visited Raytheon, it really seemed like all the people that I talked to really enjoyed working for Raytheon, and many of the employees talked about how good of a company Raytheon is and how well the company treats its employees, so I'm excited to be a part of this company! Also, isn't "Raytheon" just a really awesome name for a company?!

Good Work

I've always wanted to work on something that's meaningful, or at least meaningful to me. Ever since college started, I've felt like God has been leaning me towards this defense sort of work. I worked for the Army at Fort Monmouth for two summers and worked at Harris Corporation (another defense contractor) last summer. I don't remember all that much of what I did at Fort Monmouth, but what I will never forget is the feeling of working on and being a part of something that was bigger than myself or even the project that I was working on. There were signs and posters in hallways all throughout every building with pictures of soldiers and inspirational quotes and reminders like "You are supporting the warfighter!" and "Information security starts with you!". Since that internship experience, I've told myself that I want to do work that makes a real difference in people's lives.

When I was interviewing for a job at Harris Corporation, I shared this desire of mine with my interviewer (his name was Tim), and he said that part of working for Harris was this chance to really make a difference. Tim told me this awesome story of being at an airport wearing a Harris shirt or jacket or something and having a soldier come up to him and ask him, "Do you work for Harris Corporation?" Tim said he did. The soldier then asked him if he worked on some specific radio, and Tim said he did. Then the soldier went on to tell Tim that the radio that Harris made ended up saving his life because he was trapped behind enemy lines (or something like that) and he was able to use the radio to call in for help, and the soldier thanked Tim for his work. Tim told me that what struck him is that usually it is us civilians who thank our armed forces for their service, but it was actually the soldier who thanked Tim for his work!

Now I'm not going to work for Harris, but I want to be part of a company that makes products that makes a real difference in people's lives. I'm not talking about a "faster browser" kind of difference or even a "make a rich man richer" sort of a difference, but a real, life-saving kind of difference, and I think that Raytheon will give me an opportunity to do that.

Good location

It may not seem like Fort Wayne, Indiana is a great town to be in, and while it's not a college town like Ann Arbor, there are some certain advantages of living in Fort Wayne in comparison to the other places that offered me jobs.

Low Living Cost
Fort Wayne is very cheap to live in! The housing is cheap, the groceries are cheap, and the utilities are all cheaper. Plug in some numbers on this site to compare living costs! $100,000 earned in Fort Wayne is comparable to a salary of $132,237 here in Monmouth County in NJ.

Close to Ann Arbor
Fort Wayne is only around 2.5 hours from Ann Arbor, so I could go visit my likkle sister and all the other kiddies still in college! So if any of you people in Ann Arbor want to hang out on the weekends or want to come visit me, just let me know!

Proximity to big cities
Fort Wayne is around 2 hours from Detroit, 2 hours from Indianapolis, and 3 hours from Chicago. This makes it possible for me to go to different cities to do different stuff, though I'm mostly just interested in watching sporting events, like watching Lions games, maybe attending some Bulls games, and watching whatever Big Ten events are held in Indianapolis.

Churches
Fort Wayne is also known as the City of Churches, with around 365 churches in the area for around 250,000 people. Not only are there a lot of churches, there should also be some quality churches in the area. I have already been recommended two churches that have congregations of 2,500 and 1,500 people. Church hopping may take a while...

Good Career Decision

To put it simply, Raytheon not only offered me the largest salary in comparison to the other companies I was considering, they also offered me a higher starting position. I think that it is the best decision for my career to go to Raytheon, as I will be able to have some sort of a head start and possibly advance a little faster.

All in all, I'm very happy and excited at my chance to work at Raytheon. Thankfully, I do not feel subject to the following comic!

Prayer Requests
Life isn't going to be easy, so I would really appreciate your prayer!

Living Situation
Pray that we will be able to find a fitting and cheap apartment next week and that I will be able to find and buy a car, furniture, and all the other essential things that I need.

Work Lifestyle
The working lifestyle is completely different from a college lifestyle, and it may take some time for me to fully adjust to it. Pray that I will be able to be awake in the morning and to do good work throughout the day.

Christian Community
Pray that I will be to find a good church and a good Christian community that I can be a part of and contribute to.

Personal Growth
Pray that I would continually be renewed day by day and that I would be constantly growing closer to Jesus!

Again, thanks so much for your prayers!

Why I Hate "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus"

There has been this video floating around the internets the last few days of a guy reading a poem that he wrote about how he hates religion because Jesus hates religion and how the truth of the love of Jesus is so much better. It's been shared 10 times by my Facebook friends and has actually even found its way on to reddit. If you haven't seen it, I've embedded it at the bottom of the post if you really want to watch a silly misleading gospel presentation. This video is just a little more creative expression of the famous Christian cliche "It's not a religion, it's a relationship."

These Christian cliche is unhelpful at best and harmful at worst. What does it mean that Christianity isn't a religion? By every dictionary definition Christianity is absolutely a religion - it has a set of beliefs about God, a belief in the supernatural, an institutionalized system of religious beliefs, etc. Maybe it means that Christianity doesn't have rules and laws like the other religions do? But then why is it a sin to lie or to commit adultery or to kill people? Aren't those rules that hold people down? Every which way you look at it, Christianity IS a religion.

But of course I know the good intentions behind the video and the cliche - Christianity isn't just about rules but it's about a relationship with Jesus. Now I agree with this totally and completely, but we need to think seriously about how people who aren't gospel-saavy will hear and understand "It's not a religion, but a relationship."

To the skeptic, it's nonsensical.

"How stupid must Christians be to try and convince anyone that their religion isn't a religion? This just smells like a wolf trying to put on sheep's clothing. How can Christians say that Christianity isn't a religion if they have a ginormous multi-billion industry called the Catholic Church, historical atrocities like the Crusades, rules that tell people that they can't be gay or lesbian, pastors that try to lead the sheeple in the direction that they want, and followers that try to push their ideas on other people? This whole "it's not a religion, but a relationship" business is just another of the ploys of Christians to try and dress up their silly little religion to make it more appealing and to try and shed the injustices and the oppression caused by Christians over the centuries."

To the agnostic, it's misleading.

"Wait so are you telling me that Christianity isn't a religion but is just a relationship with Jesus? That's great! I'm tired of religions trying to push their rules on me and keep me from having fun and enjoying myself! I'm so glad that Christianity isn't about rules! So if I was to accept the love of Jesus and a relationship with Jesus that you are talking about, this means that I don't need to go to church on Sundays right? ...Wait what? I thought Christianity wasn't about rules, but I guess going to church isn't too bad...Can I still keep sleeping with my girlfriend at least? No?! Why not?! I thought Christianity wasn't about the rules that are meant to hold people down..."

To the Christian, it's a source of arrogance.

"I'm a Christian and I don't believe in religion. Unlike people of other faiths, I don't do things because I have to, but because I want to. I understand what it means to have genuine faith unlike the Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and all of all of those other people that don't understand what it means to have a genuine faith. I bet they've all been forced to go to synagogue and mosque as kids. I bet their parents forced their religion on them. Not for me! I chose to go to church as a child. I chose to believe in Jesus on my own accord. I'm not even like those other Christians that don't love Jesus as much as I do. I know the church isn't perfect, but it's not because of me! If I was there during the Crusades, I would have spoken up and kept people from doing that horrible stuff! I was there during the civil rights movement, I would have been one of the first people to support MLK! I don't understand why all of those other Christians failed to do the obviously Christian thing to do like I would have. All the other people in the church that are ruining the church should stop being greedy and hateful and need to just love people. Unlike all the other 'religious' people I know, I'm not a hypocrite!!"


Now I know I may have exaggerated a little bit, but the problems we face when advertising Christianity not as a religion but only a relationship are obvious. In the end, we need to do as the guy in the video says to do (and what the Bible says to do) and to "boast in our weakness" and instead of distancing ourselves from the brokenness of the church, take ownership of the church's flaws and to use it to point people to Jesus. Instead of denying that Christianity has rules and regulations that people don't like, showing that those rules, kept by Christ's power, bring life to the full. Instead of pointing fingers to tear apart the body, we need to "encourage one another and build one another up."

Wake up, Christians! Your words matter! Christianity is a religion, and despite the flaws in its followers and in the church, it is the only true religion! But Christianity is still a religion...

Matthew 5:17 - "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

James 1:27 - "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows and their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."