An Amazing Church Experience

November 17, 2009 in Art and Media, Church with 13 Comments

I just returned from an amazing church experience.  It touched me so much, I had to blog about it.

It was very welcoming.¬† Before the service, everyone kept saying, “Welcome.¬† We’re glad you’re here.¬† It’s about to start.”¬† These comments seem to take down some of my barriers as a new person.

During the music portion of the service, I overheard a conversation that someone from the church was having with a guy named Bryan.  Bryan was asking him a ton of questions about faith.  His main question was centered around God the Father.  He wanted to know if Jesus (The Christian Faith) and Mohammed (The Muslim Faith) were prophets who both pointed to the same God.  I listened (and watched) at how Tyler Рa Christian man from the church Рwalked Bryan through the Christian belief about God.  It was loving, and filled with grace.  It was also filled with biblical truth.

Then, I heard Bryan make this comment to Tyler:¬† “I just thank God that He loves me, even though I’m gay.”¬† The music was getting softer, so I could experience their conversation fully.

Tyler’s response was amazing:¬† “I used to struggle with that too.¬† But Jesus set me free.”

Tyler went on to lavish grace and truth all over Bryan.  It was absolutely amazing.

As they were finishing up their discussion, a self-proclaimed atheist sat down near me, and began a conversation with a woman from the church.¬† By now the sermon was starting, and I found myself trying hard to listen to this conversation.¬† He was very open about his doubts, but also very kind and gentle.¬† He said it was the first time he’d been to this kind of church, and admitted that he was nervous.¬† They talked about God’s love, demonstrated in the Person of Christ Jesus.¬† The atheist seemed like he was listening.¬† I couldn’t believe that God was allowing me “in” on the beauty of the life that was happening next to me.

The pastor taught everyone about the Holy Spirit.  He took a very balanced view, which I appreciate.

By the time it was over, I felt like I had just participated in a true mish-mash of humanity – the kind of crowd Jesus spoke to when He was on the earth.¬† It strengthened my faith to simply be a part of the discussion, even though I didn’t say anything.¬† I left inspired.

Just one more thing.

The entire church experience was online.

Thanks to LifeChurch.tv, I just experienced Jesus.

About Gary: I explore the intersection where Christianity, creativity, and leadership converge. I wrote a book about that intersection called PURSUING CHRIST. CREATING ART.

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  • Dan Carter

    The beauty of on-line “discussions” is that you can participte in multiple and dynamic discuussions/conversations as fast as your mind can process them; no facial expressions, auditory or visual distractions. Those who are hearing impaired can participate equally with those who are not. With computer augmentation, those with visual limitations can participate as well.
    Many people believe that the “internet” is evil and deceitful. I believe that we as followers of Christ need to do a better job of bringing God’s message to the internet world. Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” Selah.

  • Chad Arnold

    Gary,

    Thanks for experiencing church online with LC. My wife and I are partners with LC and I am so encouraged by your post here. Thank you for your words today.

  • http://internet.lifechurch.tv Brandon Donaldson

    Wow, thanks for sharing this experience. I am so glad you came by to visit Church Online. It is amazing that even with the incredible tools, God still moves through and uses people. It is those who serve at Church Online, who really make the experience. God bless!

  • http://kylesrandom.com Kyle Gilbert

    Awesome! Love the approach you took with the story. Very disarming!

  • http://live.lifechurch.tv Terry Storch

    Gary, thanks for taking the time to share your experience at Church Online. We are in constant awe by what God is going…and that we get to participate in His movement is awesome.

  • Kim Quinn

    One big problem with on line churches, you have no idea of who is who and if they are what they say they are. I’ll stick with real people who know me and love me, the real me, not the online person, and I know them warts and all. I’ve watched their kids grow up. I’ve seen them in the real world not in some artificial environment, projecting some persona.

  • http://www.goodnews-em.blogspot.com Tyler

    I am just humbled to be used of the Lord in that way for His Kingdom purposes and for His glory. Soli deo gloria!

  • Sherri Ward

    Thanks for sharing this, Gary. You just put into words why I believe Church Online is so special. I was actually there as well, and was very inspired by Tyler and the way he interacted with Bryan with such compassion and love. It made me even more grateful to be part of the Church Online family.

  • Jason

    Truly inspiring… Thanks dude. I needed this reminder of just how awesome church online is. I get to talk to more non believers online then I do at a physical church…

    I honestly can’t describe the feeling I have… this is what Church is truly all about and meant to be!!!

    Whoever finds God, finds Life… :)

  • TonyH

    It’s so great and encouraging to hear such experiences. I too got to minister to someone just this past week, who had been coming for a while, but was seriously struggling with her faith. She lived near the Owasso campus, so I asked if she had ever been and she said she struggles with her faith so much, going just didn’t seem like the thing to do, although she knew where it was very well. Anyway, to catch you up, She’s been coming to a lifegroup I lead and continuing to attend online. She just wrote me telling me this past Sunday she went to the Owasso campus and loved it all and her kids won’t stop talking about it and on and on she went. It never would have happened without church online, so anyone can throw whatever critique they want, but real lives being changed is a hard argument to discourage the realness of it all and the impact it does make. Thanks everybody so blessed to hear all this, God is soooo GOOD!

  • Caroline

    Your right Jesus does love this man, and we SHOULDNT judge him РThere is a famous situation where a woman is caught in the very act of adultery and dragged before Jesus so that people could see what he would say – and Jesus did respond with amazing compassion.
    John 8:1-11. He certainly warned people not to judge harshly, but not simply because judging others was intrinsically bad. Rather, he reminded them that everyone was going to face judgement one day (by God) and they would be better off considering their own failures than someone else’s. And when he finished speaking to the crowd, he addressed the woman and encouraged her, but finished by reminding her that though no-one stood around to condemn her, that didn’t mean she was free to sin.

    What hits me about your post is a bible verse: Leviticus 18:22 ‚Äú‚ÄòYou shall not lie with a man, as with a woman…”
    How would you explain the above verse to a gay person? Doesnt this clearly say God doesnt aprove? And is telling us not to?

    I have NO, NO, NO doubt in my mind that Jesus loves gays – he loves everyone. However, he doesnt condone everything we do – And its NOT our place to judge that person/s.
    I would not be ashamed to state that God taught me that a sexual relationship suposed to be between only a married Man and Woman.

    On a side note though, I DONT think that being Gay is something a person chooses. HOWEVER, the choices they make on how they act on their sexual desire is something a person chooses.

  • Stripes

    In Reply to Jason’s comment:

    “I get to talk to more non believers online then I do at a physical church‚Ķ

    I honestly can’t describe the feeling I have… this is what Church is truly all about and meant to be!!!

    Whoever finds God, finds Life‚Ķ :) ”

    This is why I have connected with Church on-line. This is why the physical church that I have seen and been apart of has not punctured our lives to the degree it does on-line. Because of the anonymity we CAN TRULY BE ourselves where as the the physical church keeps a “wall of face” up to hide our true identity from the people of the church. We pretend that everything is fine, being kept busy with this ministry and the next, while all the while, what it gives us is more work and no time with God and allowing The World to be our master instead of God and if your a Christian, it would be the enemy that becomes your master over time, if you let it happen. So many leaders within church don’t realise what they are doing because if leaders of the church continue to police, judge, manipulate and use religious speak they are spreading a disease that will be difficult for them to be healed of if they don’t see it and the worst of it is, they spread it to their congregation, the very people that need to be shepherded, protected and lead without barriers. The next thing you know, because of one persons face which doesn’t look like it will fit or seem it will fit, is chosen over someone’s who does, leaving that person rejected. The physical church needs to ask itself why so many people leave church and never come back. I’ve met many of them and I’ve only been in the church for 4 years so that says alot as to what needs to change.

    God sees everything, but maybe by sharing experiences with one another instead of rushing down for coffee to catch up with someone to do with the ministry we’re involved with and instead, just take that time and try to truly minister to each other, with no barriers.

    I believe that the Physical church has become a place of power and influence, not necessarily for the church or God, but for ourselves. Because of this the physical church is constantly bypassing what I like to call “The Michael Angelo Canvas” painted by God and instead opting for “Survival”. Why would you possibly want to miss that and more importantly why would you want to listen to the enemy over God? The enemies plan is to isolate, control, bring down and eventually destroy. God, however, has come to give life and in abundance at that!

    Jason says ” I get to talk to more non believers online then I do at a physical church‚Ķ”. This is a great thing to be able to do for non-believers, because who knows, people on the web have Gods anointing power to help others find confidence within themselves to progress onto the physical church, particularly if their lives stop them because of social anxieties due to past life traumas. I hear you say “well, it shouldn’t be like that at the physical church”, well, it often is and if your a vulnerable person with hurts and wounds people in the church are no different to the people outside of it, and 9 times out of 10 it’s getting more and more difficult to distinguish a Christian compared with a non-Christian. We should be distinguishable because Jesus was and isn’t the aim of Christianity to be more Christ like rather than go along with the crowd because it’s what others prefer? Jesus always went against the grain, and with Gods help He reached eternity and if we follow Jesus we can do the same!!!

    And sometimes we need to get lost before we can truely return to God. Remember the story of the lost son? People will always have issues, heck, I have issues, but at the heart of it all is God, reaching, breaking, giving life, beyond our own understanding.

    God bless you and thank you Jason for your observance. I see that Grace has landed well on your doorstep.

    Hugs

    Stripes >: )

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