Hitchhiking to Substance

Are you an American Idol Fan?

I told myself:  “Peter, you are not gonna watch that this year.”  And of course, for some reason, I got sucked in again.  Last year, the worship pastor of one of my mentor pastors got into the finals (remember Chris Sligh).  So, of course, I had to vote. After all, I felt like he was family.  Again, this year, another one of my pastor friends’ worship leaders made it into the finals… Can you guess who?  No. Not Danny Gokey.  It’s Chris Allen from Arkansas.

Do you guys remember when Pastor Rick Bezet preached here?  (we’ve added almost 1500 members since then; so, I don’t suppose that 90% of you would.) But, anyway, that’s one of his guys!  Come ON!!!!!!!!  I LOVE it when Christians get a platform into secular realms!  On a similar note, I knew that Lifehouse, the Fray, and Mat Kearney were Christians, but I recently found out that the members of One Republic were Christians too!  (So, now I love them even more!).

But seriously, do you want to know why Christians are suddenly having a huge impact on secular audiences?  It’s because 40 years ago, churches began embracing contemporary worship on Sunday mornings.  I.e., we created an incubation chamber for Christian artists.  And finally, we are reaping the benefits.  The same is gonna happen for Christian film-makers if churches continue integrating film more into their Sunday morning worship experiences.

I know that change comes slowly in most Christian churches.  Most progressive trends in churches are written off as being “compromised” or “worldly.”  In fact, every time the church has introduced a new instrument or technology into the church, there’s been a movement to squelch it under the guise of “eliminating worldliness;” but, I have a different spin on worship formats.  I believe that it’s not so much the “form” of worship which glorifies God.  It’s the heart of the worshipper.  Just because YOU are not accustomed to worshipping to hip-hop doesn’t mean that that music style is intrinsically “pagan.”

In fact, a similar worship debate was going on during the time of Christ.   Once, when a woman started this “worship-form debate” with Christ, Jesus basically responded: “A time is coming when neither of these formats will matter.  Then he said the famous line: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and in truth.  For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks“  Jn. 4:23-24.

So, as we all grow older, let’s keep in mind:  Worship forms are always changing.  Just because it’s strange to us doesn’t mean it’s not worshipful.  Secondly, almost every worship form in church history has been nothing more than a “sanctified version” of a secular worship form.  Even organs were considered a completely pagan instrument at one time!  (Heck:  Easter is the name of the pagan godess of fertility; yet, it’s become one of the largest symbols of Christ’s resurrection!!)  You see:  God can sanctify any instrument or holiday.  So, let’s get beyond the silliness of thinking God is so petty as to prefer a “six stringed lyre” over an electric guitar.  And lastly, if the church doesn’t embrace new worship forms, we’ll never reclaim the secular art scene for Christ.  After every worship revival in the church, there has followed a “Christian Art Renaissance”.  So, let’s keep in mind:  As we embrace new forms of worship, we’re not only blessing our kids, but we’re starting new vehicles of evangelism.

So, Chris Allen:  Go for it this next week on American Idol.  The body of Christ is proud to have sons and daughters like you!

What a crazy 24 hours! I just got back from a cool event in Washington D.C. No. I didn’t go for the national day of prayer. (However, I did throw a few up while I was there). Rather, it was basically a pastor’s round-table discussing the emerging forms of 21^st century Pentecostalism. But the topic itself wasn’t the coolest part. The best part was meeting guys like Mark Batterson at National Community Church.

What I love about that church is that it’s right in the middle of everything (right next to Union Station on Capitol hill.) Obviously, to be in a place like that, building options are astronomically expensive; yet, God’s presence needs to be manifested everywhere.

Of course, the church realized that they need to create seats for lost people; but, they can’t afford to build big suburban style church auditoriums. So, out of necessity, they’ve turned to a video venue model. In fact, listen to how they do it.

They have a gorgeous coffee shop. In the basement, they have a 150 seat tv. studio auditorium (in which they have 2 Saturday night services). They record the sermon on video, then they have 6 other larger Sunday services the next day in movie theaters up and down the subway system (all of which are portable)! And you thought Substance had a complex set-up!

Of course, I know that some people perceive that “video venues” are cold, impersonal, and are probably the creation of an ego-maniac teaching pastor. But, if you ever visit churches like N.C.C., your mind will be changed forever!

Seriously, because of video-venue methods of church, N.C.C. is able to pour millions of more dollars into missions than the typical church. Even more, their staff pastors don’t need to waste endless time writing “duplicate sermons” when instead they could pour their time into discipleship. They also get to plant niche churches into expensive and/or urban areas that would never thrive outside of a “video-venue” model.

Anyway, even if you don’t agree with non-traditional models, we can still thank God for creativity. Because creative pastors like that are the ultimate answer to most of the prayers which went up last Thursday.

And, Oh Yea… Because it’s the national day of prayer… why do you throw up a few prayers of your own!

“God, I thank you for your gracious blessing on Substance. Help us be the church that can be a light unto this nation!” Amen?

17 years ago! Note: Grunge was cool then.

Peter Haas & wife 2009 - & 17 years hotter!

My wife and I started dating over 17 years ago! We’re celebrating her 34^th birthday today. And that means, we’ve been together for more years than we’ve been apart. Isn’t that crazy? In fact, for her 17^th birthday, I bought her a cassette tape of a band called “The Cure.” (And, if you don’t know what a cassette tape is, it’s a square hunk of plastic that people once used to play music).  And if I’m not mistaken, she bought me silk boxer shorts from Structure for my 17th birthday (but, we won’t talk about that.)

But, here’s the story: My wife and I have known each other through about 5 different hair styles (that’s a long time!) So, I just wanted to say publically: I love you sweetie! May you be blessed on your birthday. And I look forward to many exciting years together!

Love, Peter