Greetings!
This last weekend my wife and I were in Las Vegas to visit our generation Z son Daniel. On Sunday we decided to check out a church together, Central Church (the Henderson campus). The first thing you notice (because you can’t miss it) is the church’s slogan – It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.
The next thing we noticed was how very different the church was from the church Daniel grew up in, which had an average Sunday attendance of 200. Central Henderson had more staff members running cameras during the worship service than our entire church staff. It’s clear that one of the church’s values is that the worship service match Vegas entertainment quality – lights, sound, production, etc. It’s the first church I’ve ever been in that had a runway so that the lead singer could get closer to the congregation!
We had some riveting conversation in the car afterwards. Is it okay to spend the kind of money they’re spending to reach the crowd they’re reaching? Is it okay not to? The very thing that might be a stumbling block to some twenty- or thirty-somethings (highly polished professionalism) might be a draw to others, and vice versa.
Jesus didn’t pray that we would all be alike as His followers or as His congregations; he prayed that we would be aligned. I heard the same gospel I’ve heard in churches whose entire building could fit on the lower portion of this church’s stage. It’s okay
to not be like the church down the street, so long as the same Jesus is the one we’re proclaiming.
Dave Drum, Founder
J17 Ministries
