Cocalico Community Chapel
Sunday took me to Denver, PA to visit Pastor John Miklas and Cocalico Community Chapel at their early service . I met John a few years ago. A matter of fact we had lunch with his staff and the NewSong staff, it was a nice time of fellowship. A couple of years ago John lead the church to move its services to Gehman’s Mennonite School and it is there that they live as a “church in the box” weekly. What a task it is to get the place set up and ready to receive people. Yet as I arrived I saw special signage for first time visitors and an active parking team. The way the building was set up looked really good. Still I could imagine that set-up and tear down would get old after time. This was an unusual Sunday, in that they were originally planning to have “Church in the Park” along with a church picnic but the call for bad weather tanked their plans and they had services as they normally would – two services at 9 and 10:45 AM. The service began with some simple praise and worship choruses led by the Worship Pastor and small band. I “guessed” by the songs that they were talking about evangelism or missions, but not because it was verbally communicated. My hunch was right! I figure that because of the change in venue, some of the morning was put together on the fly or at the last minute. Not that it was bad, but certainly you could tell people were not “in the rhythm” of the day! John spoke on “3D Living” taken from the Bill Hybels book – “Just Walk Across the Room.” I had read the book and knew of some of the principles. John did a good job of re-working the principles and presenting them in a personal way. I have to admit that this fall I am launching a major thrust on evangelism and living out the great commission daily, so it was good to “prime my pump!” He did a great job utilizing part of Hybel’s video of the same name of the book as well as had some people from the church give testimony of how they were building bridges in the lives of the lost. This was really good! As he finished, he called people to pray how they could reach out to the lost and had a man in the church sing a thematically connected song to tie everything together. The only disappointment was the lack of scripture or more so teaching from the scriptures. The Bible and various passages were mentioned but more so used as illustrations to the principles taught. I had to run out and get to the next church but I was encouraged that in Denver there is a church attempting to be outreach oriented in a non-programmatic way.
Celebrate Life Christian Church
The name says it all – “Celebrate!” – and this church certainly does that….and it should for a number of reasons. I first made contact with this church eight years ago when I ran into a dynamite soloist from CLCC and had her sing at NewSong. She has since left the area. Then this past January, one of the elders of the church took my Grad School class at LBC and we interacted a lot and especially about the history and nature of the church. The church began over tens years ago from a “Christian Church” denomination plant. Christian Church is evangelical but it has a number of interesting distinctive for instance baptism regeneration, having communion each week and a slight charismatic leaning. CLCC Has gone through some difficult times. It was mentioned that two years ago they were down to 58 people – today they are cruising in the mid 200’s. What is the difference? Very simple they have a tremendous new pastor. Steve Taylor came about a year ago and he is a go getter!! I really like him. He talks about repentance, the priority of prayer, by what I heard this Sunday – he is aggressively going after people. I have to tell you, he fits the exact profile of George Barna’s Turn Around Church pastor! He has single-handedly, breathed new life into the church and it is on the move! I had a chance to meet Steve this past week and was very impressed with him, that is why I changed my visitation schedule and went to CLCC. The church meets in a converted office complex on Oregon Pike. They have a small lobby, set of class rooms and a large group meeting area that fits 100-120 comfortably. They have three service – fantastic – they recognize the bigger the net, the better the chance to capture some people. The service starts with Pastor Steve welcoming people, praying and then encourage greeting people. Here is one reason they will continue to turn around – their people aggressively reached out to people and made every one feel welcomed. The hard-core seeker, wanting to remain completely anonymous will hate it! But my guess 85% of visitors will appreciate the authenticity and friendliness of the church. They had a fantastic worship team, which included a flutist, congas and a drummer who was off the charts. The worship time was lead by a woman – really three women singers but one was clearly in charge. I will tell you the most impressive thing was that the singers all SMILED!! They wore their joy on their face! Their exuberance was infectious. They bounce on the stage, sang with gusto and radiated joy! At the end of the worship they had communion. They do this each week, based on the idea, “each time you gather…” principle and I appreciated sharing the Lord’s Table but I also know that this could get old and lose its meaning . Again, like so many churches in the summer – Pastor Steve did not preach – its was “Change Life Sunday.” This meant five or six people gave testimony about what God was doing in their lives. But specifically what God was doing through the life and ministry of the church. I not only think it was appropriate and powerful, but try to tell pastors how important it is to get there people to talk about how great the church is!! Some pastors think it is bragging – I don’t!! I think people need to be encouraged and it is important to demonstrate that all we do as a church is having an impact. The service ended with some upbeat music and the people’s batteries were re-charged for another week.