Notes from Vacation
I've been on vacation since the middle of the month. It's been a good time of seeing family and a few old friends. We go back to Bangkok in two days. I thought I would share something though that's relevant to our spiritual journey in Bangkok.
One thing I love to do while on vacation is visit churches. I love to hear other people preach. I love to see how other churches set up their worship service. I confess to being a bit critical at times. But I genuinely enjoy it and I think God uses these times.
Our first Sunday away - the 15th of June - we went to First Baptist Church of Hilton Head. It was their "Contemporary" service. It was okay. The atmosphere was good. A holiday weekend meant all their musicians were gone. It's FBC Hilton Head though - a fair sized church with big time resources and we had a song leader and taped music for about 150 people. Not what I expected. I realized that our evening service really has it going on! :) Made me feel very good about what we are doing. The preacher was an older gentleman (not the normal preacher for that service) who shared from the heart and was generally likable. Although my wife and father didn't appreciate him much. The highlight was the testimony from a former professional baseball player who shared that he was going through a hard time. Honesty is very disarming.
Our Second Sunday - 22 June - was in Boston. We went to Tremont Temple in the morning and Park Street Church in the evening. Interesting contrast.
Tremont Temple is the definition of a struggling urban church in search of an identity. They had formal organ music which no one sang to - or at least I couldn't hear anyone except the oversinging of the operatic songleader :(. It reminded me why I can't stand that. They had "praise piano" played by someone who doesn't really get praise music. Again, no one sang except the operatic songleader. Not enjoyable. But they also had a praise band. And they were great. They were sort of funky. Probably none of them would have "made the team" at a larger church, but that just meant it didn't come across as slick or cheesy. Really enjoyed what they did.
The preaching was okay. It started slow for me, but got better as it went along. Actually by the end I was blessed.
Park Street Church is right across the street from Tremont Temple. It's a great example of an urban church that has renewed well. They boldy (in your face ?) embrace conservative Christianity. Their evening service was fully contemporary with a big praise band. Their multimedia was weak though - perhaps why they were advertising for help. The Senior Pastor preached. I suspect he doesn't preach that service regularly because the message was good, but it didn't connect on a cultural level. Even I (and I'm a little older than the target audience for that service) left a little disappointed.
One interesting contrast was that Tremont Temple was much more diverse: ethnically, economically, and between sane and crazy people. If I were moving to Boston (or coming to pastor) I'd rather start with Tremont Temple than with Park Street.
What it really made me realize though was the strength of some of the stuff we do at the International Church of Bangkok. I complain sometimes about our "blend" of traditional and contemporary in the morning. And I think we do have some growth potential, but our blend was much better than Tremont's. Additionally - our evening service music was better than FBC Hilton Head, Tremont Temple (close second) and Park Street. It just affirms that God is doing really neat stuff at ICB and makes me excited to be back in July.
Tomorrow I'll go to Somerville Community Baptist Church. I'm the preacher. And then probably attend Park Street in the evening just to check it out again. They had an MC for the service who I suspect is the regular preacher for that service who connected much better with the audience. I'd love to hear him preach. My only disappointment is not getting to go back to Tremont Temple, or to visit Fourth Presbyterian in South Boston or First Baptist Boston (two of my favorite churches all time).
One thing I love to do while on vacation is visit churches. I love to hear other people preach. I love to see how other churches set up their worship service. I confess to being a bit critical at times. But I genuinely enjoy it and I think God uses these times.
Our first Sunday away - the 15th of June - we went to First Baptist Church of Hilton Head. It was their "Contemporary" service. It was okay. The atmosphere was good. A holiday weekend meant all their musicians were gone. It's FBC Hilton Head though - a fair sized church with big time resources and we had a song leader and taped music for about 150 people. Not what I expected. I realized that our evening service really has it going on! :) Made me feel very good about what we are doing. The preacher was an older gentleman (not the normal preacher for that service) who shared from the heart and was generally likable. Although my wife and father didn't appreciate him much. The highlight was the testimony from a former professional baseball player who shared that he was going through a hard time. Honesty is very disarming.
Our Second Sunday - 22 June - was in Boston. We went to Tremont Temple in the morning and Park Street Church in the evening. Interesting contrast.
Tremont Temple is the definition of a struggling urban church in search of an identity. They had formal organ music which no one sang to - or at least I couldn't hear anyone except the oversinging of the operatic songleader :(. It reminded me why I can't stand that. They had "praise piano" played by someone who doesn't really get praise music. Again, no one sang except the operatic songleader. Not enjoyable. But they also had a praise band. And they were great. They were sort of funky. Probably none of them would have "made the team" at a larger church, but that just meant it didn't come across as slick or cheesy. Really enjoyed what they did.
The preaching was okay. It started slow for me, but got better as it went along. Actually by the end I was blessed.
Park Street Church is right across the street from Tremont Temple. It's a great example of an urban church that has renewed well. They boldy (in your face ?) embrace conservative Christianity. Their evening service was fully contemporary with a big praise band. Their multimedia was weak though - perhaps why they were advertising for help. The Senior Pastor preached. I suspect he doesn't preach that service regularly because the message was good, but it didn't connect on a cultural level. Even I (and I'm a little older than the target audience for that service) left a little disappointed.
One interesting contrast was that Tremont Temple was much more diverse: ethnically, economically, and between sane and crazy people. If I were moving to Boston (or coming to pastor) I'd rather start with Tremont Temple than with Park Street.
What it really made me realize though was the strength of some of the stuff we do at the International Church of Bangkok. I complain sometimes about our "blend" of traditional and contemporary in the morning. And I think we do have some growth potential, but our blend was much better than Tremont's. Additionally - our evening service music was better than FBC Hilton Head, Tremont Temple (close second) and Park Street. It just affirms that God is doing really neat stuff at ICB and makes me excited to be back in July.
Tomorrow I'll go to Somerville Community Baptist Church. I'm the preacher. And then probably attend Park Street in the evening just to check it out again. They had an MC for the service who I suspect is the regular preacher for that service who connected much better with the audience. I'd love to hear him preach. My only disappointment is not getting to go back to Tremont Temple, or to visit Fourth Presbyterian in South Boston or First Baptist Boston (two of my favorite churches all time).
