47 :: West Blvd Ministry

Today I spent time at West Blvd Ministry in Charlotte. I reached out to West Blvd Ministry's Founder Bart Noonan [link] on LinkedIn. In recent months, I had seen a large number of interesting posts that made me think that something of great significance was happening at West Blvd Ministry. My visit more than confirmed that. This organization is making a positive difference for both time and eternity.

Their mission statement - West Blvd Ministry's mission is to serve the spiritual and physical needs of the families and communities in the West Blvd corridor to the glory of Jesus Christ. 

During my visit, I heard Bart's testimony, learned more about what West Blvd Ministry does, as well as had a chance to reflect that I was seeing the Gospel in action. 

When I arrived, Bart met me with a big smile and firm handshake. We sat down and had a conversation, which ultimately led to his testimony. 

The breadth and depth of Bart's story is too much to write here. Instead of recounting its entirety, I'll focus on the parts that made the biggest impact on me.

The arc of Bart's walk to the cross involved the entirety of his life. 

Bart was raised in Miami, where his father played for the Dolphins. His family kept a vacation home around Blowing Rock, giving him a connection to the Carolinas during his youth. As time passed, Bart's family moved to Charlotte, where he graduated from The Charlotte Latin School. After Latin, Bart went to East Carolina University.

During his time at East Carolina University, the momentum of Bart's "partying ways" accelerated. 

The theme of excessive alcohol and drug use followed Bart through his adult years. At the end of 2011, Bart found his life spinning out of control, his marriage in shambles, his role as a father collapsing as he approached the place known as "hitting bottom." 

As Bart shared more about his story, he made a point about hitting bottom that I had never heard before.

"You know, Byl, what people forget about this idea of hitting bottom - there's always a trap door underneath it," he stated. 

I sat in silence pondering that point.

Death. There is always death lurking below the bottom.

He explained that as he kept hitting a deeper bottom through more intense addiction, it felt like his own life was telescoping away from him. His very existence was getting farther and farther away from what he could see.

"It got to the point that the two options that seemed available to me were a gun in the mouth or Jesus. And I chose Jesus. I actually spoke audibly to God and told Him I was ready to hand it all over to him."

That was January of 2012.

"Did this redemption come all at once? Did you have the kind of transformation that occurred all in a single moment?" I asked.

Bart pondered the question.

"To some degree, yes. My whole life changed at that time. After you get saved, you can look back and see what God was doing the whole way through. I now see that God was working on me the whole time," he answered.

Then Bart said something that was deeply simple and deeply profound.

"Byl, from where I sit, the whole world wants answers.

The answer to homelessness is _____. (he said the word blank each time)

The answer to addiction is _____.

The answer to crime is _____.

The answer to violence is _____.

The answer to broken families is _____.

The answer to oppression is _____.

The only lasting way to fill in those blanks is Jesus."

"I know this to be true," I said, smiling.

I asked about Bart's family.

Bart's family survived the challenges that his addiction brought their way. His marriage made it through. His children are thriving and moving into their adult lives. When he spoke of his children, Bart got choked up. I interpreted that emotional response to be a combination of things. A father's pride in how well his children are doing. Perhaps a dose of regret about the pain that they felt many years ago from things he had done and left undone. And a deep appreciation for what the Lord has knit back together and made new.

I'd be leaving out a key point if I didn't admit that I got a bit choked up at that moment. I can personally relate to these same themes - both the current good and the past challenges.

Bart finished up his testimony by saying that when he experienced his transformation, God put a heart of service into him. He spent multiple years working in a local charity and then five years ago, Bart started West Blvd Ministry. He moved his work life onto a side of Charlotte where there is profound need and where most of the local people don't look like Bart or like I do.

He stood up. 

"Let me show you what we've set up here."

Bart walked me around the property and house that is West Blvd Ministry. The lot has an expansive backyard. It has a very nice house on the property. There's a shelf that has pictures of the community members that West Blvd Ministry has helped. There was also a table with information about the ministry and about new life. On that table were some stickers from Stop the Killing, a partner organization of West Blvd Ministry. Stop the Killing is focused on eliminating black on black violence, which is the number one cause of death for young black men in the US. It's headed up by one of the many pastors from the black community that Bart works with.

West Blvd Ministry helps people in the local community with the various difficult circumstances that they can face. It's always contingent on the individuals showing the right willingness to do the work needed to make things better.

"I'm dealing right now with multiple six and seventh grade kids who haven't been showing up to school. There's almost never a man in these homes. Most of the mothers are scrambling just to keep a roof over their heads, in a lot of cases," Bart explained. "I talked to the people at the school about one of the kids and they talked my ear off. They were just excited that someone was finally reaching out to talk about him."

"Can you make the difference in his life?" I asked.

Bart paused for a minute. "Honestly, I don't know. If he is committed, I am too. I'm going to try."

When Bart showed me his office, he read me a brief section of a book that also he gave me a copy of - The Barbarian Way [link]. I look forward to reading it!

The time came when I had to return back to my car for a work meeting. I committed to make a contribution to West Blvd Ministry, which I have now given. We stood there for a moment and smiled, knowing that each of us had secured a life-changing redemption from the same Source. We shook hands and said we would stay in touch. 

Knowing about West Blvd Ministry is important. I will talk about what is happening here. I will contribute in the future, as well.

Additionally, the visit to Bart reminded me of a few things. 

First, there is great difficulty in the lives of so many people, both in Charlotte and beyond.

Secondly, communities and lives improve when people are connected.

Finally, we most definitely follow a God of second chances.

Thanks to Bart Noonan and West Blvd Ministry for today's visit. 

God is good!

46 :: Providence Baptist Church

Tonight we worshipped at Providence Baptist Church. This is Ash Wednesday and we decided to acknowledge the beginning of Lent. It ended up being pretty poignant. It also counts as my shortest worship experience on this spiritual journey.

First, a note about Providence Baptist Church. The church is (somewhat counterintuitively) on Randolph Road and not Providence Road. Many of Charlotte's largest and most ornate mainline churches are on Providence Road. Providence Methodist, Trinity Presbyterian and Christ Church Episcopal are great examples of Providence Road's expansive and beautiful churches.

Expansive and beautiful also describe Providence Baptist's campus on Randolph Road. 

Here's a picture:

 

Providence Baptist is part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship [link]. I  learned on the CBF site that there are seven CBF churches in Charlotte. My working assumption has always been that the word Baptist implies an affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. 

Not so.

We pulled into the church a little after 6 pm as the sun was setting on a very cold day in North Carolina. We got into the small line of cars to wait our turn.

When we pulled up, we were greeted by Blake Kendrick, Head of Adult Discipleship [link, scroll down]. He explained that they wouldn't be imposing ashes physically this year. Instead, he passed us slips of paper that had a Bible verse on it. It had also been freshly painted with a black cross. 

He said a series of things that were deeply meaningful. 

He said that we were to reflect on Ash Wednesday to remember that we are from dust and will return to dust. He reminded us that this is the season to reflect on the mercy and grace of the God who dwelled among us. He declared that the time was coming where redemption and grace and peace would be victorious, and that we had to travel to arrive at that destination.

I can't recount each and every word, but what he said was deeply inspiring. As he spoke, the world around me started to fade. It was as if I had suddenly gained ears to hear and eyes to see.

It changed things.

Wednesday had been a day like most days, which means a great deal of stuff had come at us. Work, family, friends, kids, and some worries of the day. Neither Beth nor I were very focused on spiritual things at six o'clock. But Blake Kendrick's words changed that. 

I think we both said the word Amen when he was done. It clearly deserved such a finish. So be it!

He handed us the slips of paper with Joel 2:13 on them.

Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

We sat with it for a moment. Then we thanked Blake and drove away. 

I dropped Beth off and headed back to my apartment. As I drove home, I listened to Jeremy Riddle of Bethel Music sing This is Amazing Grace. During the version I was listening to, Jeremy sang the following lyrics - 

God, we stand in awe of You

We stand in awe of You

What King would leave His throne to die?

What King would leave His glory?
This is Amazing Grace
This is unending Love

And so it will be with the next forty days of Lent. 

We must ponder the vicious and unjust slaughter of the Theanthropos.

We must pass through a darkness during Lent that is so thick as to invite a loss of hope.

During Lent, we must deny our very bodies those things that we desire.

We must dance with darkness during Lent, while not indulging it - instead we will wrestle with the darkness of Sin.

Then, out of the corner of our eyes, we will eventually see a Light. 

The first time anyone saw this Light, it was but a small glimmer at a distance. This Light was seen by two Israeli women in 33 AD, as they walked to a tomb. As they approached the tomb, the Light increased. The women then saw the source of the Light, a Messenger. In the Gospel of Matthew, the face of the Messenger is described as being "like lightning."

This small glimmer of Light had been transformed by a declaration of lightning. 

Shocking, thunderous, unexpected, blinding - those are the characteristics of lightning. 

But this Messenger's countenance of lightning did something different. Instead of spreading destruction, it did the reverse. Whatever this lightning impacted became more alive, not less. Where this lightning struck, grace flourished.

Because the Tomb was empty!

He is Risen.

And that Empty Tomb is our destination. 

We must first walk a darkened path for the forty days of Lent.

Nonetheless... can you see the light? It's there, off in the distance.

Do you see it?

Look.

.

.

Amen

45 :: The Heights

 

Friday night I worshipped at The Heights in Belmont, North Carolina. "The Heights" is the contemporary name of Catawba Heights Baptist Church. As observed on this blog, many churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention are undergoing a transformation.

I have driven past this church countless times on my way to my friend Nathan's house. This week, I noticed a sign that mentioned there was a service Friday night. It ended up being a different and moving experience for me. This was unlike anything I had yet experienced.

This was a Celebrate Recovery service. 

What is Celebrate Recovery? Celebrate Recovery (CR) is a twelve step program that has its origins in the same organization as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The organization is explicitly Christ-centered. The people at the church last night seemed to have a current or past relationship with NA, AA or both.

That's what I learned about CR during last night's visit. Virtually all of that information came from The Height's Recovery Pastor, Rodney Alexander [link, scroll down]. Rodney greeted me when I came in and help me understand what Celebrate Recovery is. His insights helped me.

Some pics:

As Rodney explained Celebrate Recovery to me, a woman and her friend walked into the church. They smiled widely at Rodney. 

"It's been eighteen months!" one of the women declared. Sober for a year and a half. During a timeframe when we have all been living in new, and often stress-inducing, ways.

Wow!

He gave the woman a smile back and a warm hug (I snapped a quick picture).

This was but a taste of what was to come.

Rodney then shared his testimony. It was a story of drug and alcohol use, a motorcycle shop, an empty heart, an upbringing without God and a variety of other things. Like any solid testimony, it includes a pivot that brought Rodney to the foot of the Cross. He was baptized in the whirlwind days after his salvation events.

This all happened in 2000. Rodney's sponsor has been with him since. You'll see him below.

It became clear that the service was about to start. I thanked Rodney, shook his hand and we went into the auditorium. 

Now, here's the thing about worship. It is multi-faceted and it's hard to predict what you will get. 

I have sat in quiet settings as Orthodox chants were offered up with incense.

Worship.

I have witnessed the continuity-laden rituals of a Catholic Mass.

Worship.

I've been in a place boiling over with the Holy Spirit.

Worship.

I've been in churches that are just starting up and boldly declaring their way forward with a wing and much prayer.

Worship.

Now, I've been in the company of people who worship together in celebration that they were saved from the oblivion of addiction and destruction. 

Worship!

Before the worship kicked in, Rodney said a few announcements. Then he asked if people had any prayer requests or announcements. One woman mentioned that someone she knew had been shot in the head the week prior. Another person asked for an "unspecified prayer." Finally, one man mentioned that it was important to pray for the homeless in the Charlotte area.

Everyone in the auditorium nodded their heads vigorously.

"Yeah, it is getting really cold this time of year," Rodney said, his voice carrying a note of sadness.

I thought there were perhaps a few people at the church who might have been close to homelessness in the pasts. Who knows, some of them may have spent the night outside when the bottom dropped out of their lives. 

The worship music started. The band played solidly... I could see that people felt the Spirit of God settling on the place.

A unique worship experience followed the music. Most of the worship was the people in Celebrate Recovery giving their testimonies. There was also a scriptural exploration of the Serenity Prayer, plus a group prayer at the end.

The testimonies were extremely powerful.

Of note, each one started with something that sounded like this - "Hello, my name is Jane Doe and I am a grateful follower of Jesus Christ. I have a history of co-dependency, anger, alcoholism and drug addiction."

The whole place greeted the speaker - "Hi, Jane!"

The aforementioned woman who achieved her eighteen month sobriety milestone walked up front and spoke. She touched on how she had achieved a year and a half of sobriety. She said that she actually didn't know how it had happened, that it had been "one day after another, one day at a time." 

She also explained that she had descended into addiction because her two sons had been murdered. She said that the only way she could find to stop that pain was through drugs and alcohol. Then she explained that there was one specific night when Jesus flooded into her broken life. 

It happened in her bathroom.

She explained that being saved didn't mean she became healed all at once. She had to decide to be happy in spite of what she had been through. And about six months after getting sober, she held her hands up and said, "I just decided I could go on. I became a bit more ok. And here I am tonight."

Everyone clapped.

I mean, does it get any more real than that?

Then a man came up and gave his testimony. He had trouble getting through it a couple times, as he felt a welling up of emotion as he recounted his story. His testimony was interspersed with Bible verses that applied perfectly to everything he said. 

He explained that the beginning of his addiction went back to when he was a young athlete. 

He explained that excelling at athletics caused him to merit a level of attention from other people that made him a boastful and arrogant person. It was a trend that followed him into his adult life and he counted it as the source of his addiction. His life eventually fell apart at the hands of substance abuse. He got saved and baptized, leading him out of the misery and pain he had been mired in.

"Am I perfect now that I am saved? No. But Jesus has changed my heart and my life, this I can tell you..."

These testimonies really got me thinking. How many churches are filled with people who want to portray the perfect family when there is really tumult behind the scenes? How many churches are filled with people who show up and daydream instead of listening to what is being preached? How many churches are filled with people performing an expected role for one hour a week and then acting like an entirely different person the rest of the week?

If we're honest, those places and people exist. And it's not our place to judge them or anyone else.

On the other hand, how many churches are filled with people who have had their very lives redeemed from a state of destruction and despair into a state of wholeness? How many churches are filled with stories about hitting bottom and rising by grace to new heights? How many churches have personal stories that convict us of the need to examine our own lives for where we have remaining work?

The Heights was a church where people shared stories that made me reflect on the amazing grace that is available to any contrite heart.

The group eventually said the Serenity Prayer. It is longer than the first few sentences, which most people are already familiar with. 

Here is the Serenity Prayer in its entirety:

It's a little more powerful in its full form, to me.

Toward the end of the service, Rodney's sponsor of twenty-one years came forward and led the church through prayer. 

Rodney told me that he had called this man at 3 am more than two decades ago, desperate to get some help to end his cycles of addiction. The man said to a broken Rodney that night many years ago, "I have been waiting for this call, Rodney. Let me come get you." 

Within days, Rodney's life changed, and he was baptized in a swimming pool (for lack of other options).

~ Graves that can be turned into gardens, that is what we are offered. 

~ We're offered the chance to walk dreadful valleys and then glance over our shoulders upon exiting them, seeing anew that those valleys are filled with trees that are bearing fruit. 

~ When we are cornered by our Enemy next to a vast and powerful ocean... we can expect that the waters might part, offering us a highway to freedom.

~ That is the kind of God we can choose to follow.

The Heights reminded me of this in a way that no other church has. For that, I am extremely grateful.

If someone is struggling with addiction and needs help, this will be one of the first places I mention to them. 

Thank you to Rodney and the folks at The Heights for a great visit. It reminded me that hardships can indeed be pathways to peace.

44 :: Vizion Church

 

Sunday night  I attended my fourth church service of this week. It was yet another powerful experience. I worshiped at Vizion Church in uptown Charlotte. This young congregation is using First Baptist's sanctuary in uptown Charlotte at this time.

I got to the sanctuary in advance of the 6 pm service and had my temperature taken. 

97.6. Good to go,

I entered First Baptist's sanctuary, a place I know very well. As mentioned in an earlier post, I attended services at First Baptist on and off for years. When the boys were little, we attended their Christmas Extravaganza annually. I was so involved that I attended Pastor Charles Page's memorial service there fifteen years ago. He was the First Baptist's Pastor who lost his Earthly life after a protracted fight with multiple myeloma cancer. His eulogy was given by his son, Robert, the current Pastor at Sharon Baptist in South Charlotte. 

It was quite moving stuff to be back in a sanctuary filled with so many memories. 

I watched the videos on the screens as people walked in. 

There were perhaps a hundred of us in the cavernous sanctuary. Every other row of pews was taped off. These two factors ensured that this was the ultimate in socially distanced worship.

A young woman walked up to me. I immediately recognized her. 

She asked me a question. "Hi, you go to Freedom House in South End, right?"

"I do, my fiancée and I have been going for a little while. It's nice to see you," I replied, smiling.

She reminded me that her name was Christine.

Christine and I had a good conversation during which I recalled that she serves in the coffee bar at Freedom House South End. We had both been at Freedom House that morning, so an obvious question emerged. 

I asked it. "Are you a member here at Vizion, or at South End, or both...?"

She smiled and answered, "I just love worship! I go a bunch of places. The preaching here is amazing, you're going to love it."

Her enthusiasm was impossible to miss.

The lights darkened across the sanctuary as the band came out. Christine and I retreated to our respective pews.

This band was really solid. Excellent praise and worship music.

The band performed multiple songs to an enthusiastic crowd. Hands were lifted up. We all knew the songs well. Multiple of us left our pews and worshiped in the wide central aisle. The massive sanctuary become Spirit-filled.

After the band finished up, Pastor Tyson Coughlin came up on the stage. 

As Tyson started his message, he was excited to be back in the pulpit. Two weeks ago, he and his wife had just had their first child! He was very enthusiastic about being a father. It was infectious. A first-time father is really a wonderful thing to see.

Tyson then announced that on February 21st, Vizion would be holding service first service at their own church at 1134 West Boulevard. There was thunderous applause from the small congregation.

Then I took a step back and took note of what was so unique about this situation. 

A new and growing church that meets in a borrowed sanctuary. 

A reasonably good turn out on Super Bowl Sunday.

The church was headed by a recent college graduate.

This congregation had enough momentum to buy a church building after only a couple years. 

And all of this happened during a pandemic. 

Seeing a church with all of these unique characteristics is rare. In fact, I've never seen anything quite like it. I developed a quick sense of how unusual this church was.

I knew that what was happening in front of me was deeply interesting and important.

Before I proceed, watch this video "Our Story" from Vizion Church's YouTube channel:

This young guy Tyson clearly has an anointing on him. Additionally, his personal testimony is very compelling. We met briefly after the service and I will also say he is very polite and extremely nice. I will also point out that the level of enthusiasm he brings to preaching is uncommonly high.

Tyson preached a sermon titled "When the Wine Runs Out." It was an exploration of Yeshua's first miracle during which he turned water into wine. He brought themes out of this story that candidly reflected an exceptional preaching ability.

It was really, really impressive.

There was one main theme that I found especially compelling. 

Tyson pointed out that it's common for people in other countries to have radical experiences of divine transformation. Many of these are spiritual transformations. There are also many experiences of physical healing. Put simply, radical transformations happen outside of the US more often than they do inside of the US.

Tyson pointed out that this is often because those people have no other options left. They are always closer to the edge, so they have fewer barriers to depending on God. In short, most people on the planet right now live in a place where the wine has run out. Because of this, they are more open to having their empty vessels filled with the new wine of transformation...

Then, he said that he hoped more people would run out of options. He said it would result in cutting us down to the place where we would seek solace in the only place it can be found - at the foot of the Cross.

Boom! It was a deeply compelling message. Tyson preached for about forty-five minutes, after which the band performed one final song. 

As the song played, a man who had been sitting close to the front of the church walked up the stairs of the stage and got on his knees. He wept during the music, pounding his fist into the ground multiple times. Tyson knelt down and whispered to him, checking if he was ok. The man gave Tyson a few words of assurance and Tyson retreated. 

The man poured his anguish out until the singing was done. It was both touching and profound to see.

Let's be honest, we've all been in that spot of desperation. I know I have. That this guy brought his anguish to a church where he could be wrapped in prayer and washed over by beautiful music and hearing a convicting message... well, right on. 

Good choice of venue, brother.

As I walked back to my car, I had a chance to talk to Christine one more time. I said something that summed up my thoughts of the whole experience. 

"Americans love to see a success story. This church looks to be at the beginning of one."

She laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

Vizion Church definitely has a bright future. Seeing the church in its nascent phase was an honor. I'm excited to see where it all goes!.

43:: The Gate

 

On Friday night, we worshiped at The Gate in South Charlotte. I say "we" because Beth is not only proving to be the ultimate intrepid worship partner, but she was also very much the catalyst for this whole thing last night! She finds all of the God things, at times. Friday night was clearly one of those times.

Whew! This place was powerful!!! 

As mentioned in my prior post [link], a serene week of silence in a monastery would likely count as a profound and intimate encounter with the Holy Spirit. But there is also clearly an ecstatic, cathartic and fire-based way to experience the Spirit's presence... and The Gate is clearly, clearly one of those places.

Beth had texted early on Friday - I need to worship tonight. 

Acknowledged. 

I thought we would likely have to wait until Sunday before that thirst would be quenched.

Later in the day, Beth sent me another text - I just stumbled across a place while driving by, check it out (link to The Gate).

I replied - Let's do it.

What followed was so wonderful that I can hardly find words to depict the experience. I'll make a basic effort at encapsulating all that happened by saying that places that are saturated with the presence of the Holy Spirit are clearly different from those places that are not. That sounds self-evident, but it is actually a palpable thing. You can feel and experience the presence of the Spirit. Places that do and don't have the Spirit's Presence are truly different from one another, both experientially and qualitatively. They are also very different in terms of scale and depth, as well.

Suffice it to say that it's not easy to describe things like this worship experience, but I will do my best to impart some of it via the written word.

When we got there, we walked in and smiled at people, we had our temperature taken - more or less an ordinary experience when you enter the narthex of a church in 2021. We entered the sanctuary and took our seats. People were streaming in.

Subdued lights. 

A stage bathed in blue lighting. 

Instruments at the ready, no band members yet. 

A good crowd.

The sign at the front told us what we were attending - a worship event simply (and intuitively) named Friday Night. It is held on the first Friday of every month. 

Everything felt nice.  A great setting. The promise of some worship. We were in and we were up for whatever lay ahead. The crowd was filled with people talking and greeting each other. It is always a sign of a healthy church when people are happy to see each other.

I noticed that there was a woman on the edge of the stage painting a lion. In my typical fashion, I was curious and walked up to her. I asked what she was painting. She smiled and explained that she had experienced multiple visions of a prowling lion searching for its adversary.

She pointed out that in her vision the lion's mane had flames coming off of it. She explained that this was the Lion of Judah and that some final reckoning was ahead. She explained some other attributes of her spiritual visions.

Fascinating.

It was then that I realized we were in a bit of a different place. Spiritual visions of cosmic reckoning. The Lion of Judah. Painting on the stage. I loved it!

Candidly, it was merely a small glimpse of what was ahead.

The band eventually came out on stage and started playing worship and praise music. Children were waving flags on the other side of the stage - the side without the painter, of course. As the band kept playing, it was evident that they were in the act of not only worshiping, but also of invoking the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hands were raised across the sanctuary. People left the confines of their seats, with many of the worshipers wandering around while the music cranked up.

Then it happened. 

You could feel the place change. 

The members of the band were showing signs of feeling His Presence. It impacted their demeanor and also the way that they were singing.

Powerful stuff started to assert itself. I felt it. All signs were that Beth did, too. People were bowed down, some were davening (the bowing back and forth that religious Jews do), some were dancing on an athletic level, while yet others swayed back and forth and sang along with the songs. A huge level of spiritual intensity kicked in across the entire place.

Note the escalation that we underwent by watching the series of videos below.

Mounting grace, trending upwards!

At points, the intensity increased far beyond even that level. But this gives you an idea.

This increasing energy level went on for more than an hour and a half. Put simply, I wasn't focused on taking pictures at that point. :)

All the while, the painting of the Lion of Judah continued uninterrupted.

At about the ninety-minute mark, Pastor John Matthew started to get more involved in the worship, taking a more visible role on the stage. As the music continued to play, John stoked the crowd with some words, some ideas, some exhortation. Then he said he could feel some things were on the cusp of breaking, of being loosened, of chains that were to be broken this night. He asked people that were struggling with crippling depression to raise their hands. Multiple hands were raised and the rest of us flocked to them. We extended our hands to them. 

At one point I was standing near a woman who moved here from Brazil with her husband and daughter. The three of them had Covid last summer and she has some lingering health concerns. Her husband is intrigued by worship at The Gate and she very much wants him to join her. (I talked to her at the end of the night and learned all of these details).

As we extended our hands to her, she eventually broke down into sobbing tears. I believe they were as much deep gratitude and love as they were reflective of some unspoken anguish. Then something interesting happened. I felt her pain moving through me, and I began to cry rather intensely; the dissipation of intense emotion. It was a profound experience. 

Another constant feature of this worship service were children enjoying the service and running and dancing together. What a set of memories this will give these young ones! No one was left untouched by the Spirit in this place.

I'm not entirely sure when the evening started to wind down; when I checked the time, two and a half hours had passed in what felt like mere moments. Beth and I sat holding each other at the end. 

Exhausted. 

Exhilarated. 

A woman in the back suddenly burst into holy laughter (I first saw this when in New Orleans). 

We both laughed in response.

Perfection.

As things were wrapping up, a member of the congregation (who is also on staff), Annie, struck up conversation with us. It was awesome to connect with another person with whom we had shared this liminal experience of praising Yeshua.

I don't make an effort to single out many churches while speaking directly to the reader, but in this case I will. If you want to experience community and the presence of God in a way that is rare in its intensity and wonder - go spend time at The Gate. It will be time well-spent.

Simply incredible.

42 :: Relentless Church

On Wednesday night I worshiped at Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina. I was returning back from Atlanta and decided to see where I might go to church on Wednesday night. I found Relentless Church on DuckDuckGo and decided to take part in their Pursuit Night service, which happens on the first Wednesday of every month. I was deeply moved by this experience.

This. Is. How. We. Are. Meant. To. Worship.

Or, at the very least, this is one of the primary ways we are meant to worship. Active. Cathartic. Free flowing. Spirit-filled. Healing. Redemptive.

I sense living at a monastery for a week under a vow of silence may be deeply transformative and profound, as well (a new goal?). With that said, this is clearly another way that one can commune with the Spirit.

Yes, this was that kind of experience. Charismatic. Pentecostal. Potent.

I loved it and found it fascinating.

As I pulled into the church, I saw how a large number of outer buildings. This is indeed a huge campus, right near the Greenville airport. The main church, pictured above, is a grand building that can seat thousands of worshipers. 

I was greeted warmly upon entering. My temperature was taken as they used the touchless thermometer on the forehead of my masked face. I was good to go and I entered the church.

I sat in the sanctuary as the Wednesday night faithful gathered. The crowd size was only a few hundred people in a sanctuary that holds thousands. Many people were tuning in online.

As per the norm in contemporary churches, there were many things to watch on the screens at the front, as well as a clock countdown for the start of worship.

The anticipation grew as the small (and I was soon to discover, mighty) crowd streamed in. There were two guys up front doing the job of emcee'ing the online video feed.

Then a multi-person group of singers came out. The place lit up and we all started to move. Hands were in the air. This was the highlight, as we were all welcomed into the act of lifting each other up as the song moved mightily over all of us.

They sang a mixture of modern gospel ballads, as well as contemporary tunes from the praise and worship fare. I knew some very well and was introduced to a couple songs that I enjoyed deeply.

Here is some of that. Please spend some time with these videos and put them in full screen mode, they are very powerful:

Then the music continued and the singing turned into ecstatic verbalism, where the lead singer shifted into praise and exhortation. 

This part of the worship ran for well over an hour. Music, dancing, movement and all forms of enthusiasm were evident as the Spirit was welcomed into the sanctuary. It was heady and exhilarating stuff! As has happened a couple of times before, I felt something move within me that manifested one of the spiritual gifts.

Eventually, Senior Pastors John & Aventer Gray came on the stage and kept the momentum going. This included more singing, for sure. It also included a section where Aventer lifted John up in front of the crowd and called him a "General" for God. In addition, one of the more junior Pastors came on the stage and continued to lift up the crowd up.

We were making a transition toward the part of the event where we would hear the sermon. This was about an hour and a half into the event.

Then things slowed down, albeit ever-so-slightly. Enthusiasm remained high as Pastor John took his place at the front of the stage and started his sermon - "Intentional Pursuit."

So much to say about this message. The big take away for me was the narrative of Lucifer's fall from heaven, which was described as happening like a "bolt of lightning." Also, one third of the angelic hosts accompanied Lucifer. These are the angels who became adversaries of humanity - demons. And Pastor John reminded us that we, mere humans created from the dust of the Earth, have dominion that has us above our adversaries. The Satan and demons are actually beneath us in God's Creation.

In addition to being thoughtful and theologically robust, his sermon helped me understand that he is also a very funny guy. There was an undercurrent of humor through so much of this message. Great orator.

Pastor John's message reminded me of how CS Lewis's short novel The Great Divorce ends. Without being too much of a spoiler, the full weight of sin and death are but a fragment of a pebble when seen in their full clarity. The Cross and Empty Grave are as much about shattering illusions as they are about redeeming us from the curses of decay and death.

Fantastic sermon. This man and his wife are anointed in a way that is evident and powerful.

We finished well beyond the two-hour mark. I felt that slight exhaustion that is accompanied by a high degree of exhilaration. Such worship events are like that. Lifted up and ready for some rest. We were dismissed and filed out of the church in a socially distanced way. Everyone and everything was crackling with divine energy.

A placid and quiet encounter with God can be transformational and redemptive. That is perhaps one form of essential worship.

Another is the kind of worship that shifts a crowd mightily through a charismatic engagement with the Holy Spirit. And I certainly, certainly experienced this latter type of experience at Relentless Church.

I thank them deeply for such a relentlessly inspiring worship experience.