Buckhead church

I can't wait till we get internet at the offices, it will give me somewhere I know that I can get reliable internet. You never realize how dependent you are on things like that until you don't have it. It is the ultimate source of information! I guess I should be grateful that every coffee shop in Atlanta, minus one or two, other than Starbucks, has free internet.

So, with that being said, I have found a quaint little place in Marietta, Emerson Coffee Co, that will do fine for today, except they only take cash. WHO ONLY EXCEPTS CASH in today's world, hardly anyone uses cash anymore! Anyways they were nice enough to give me a free coffee since I didn't have cash.

The days have been slow lately, we were only in the office one day this week! After going to Memphis everyone is just trying to get some of there personal things done. Things should pick up again on Sunday.

Last Sunday, however, we were able to visit Buckhead Church, a satellite church from Andy Stanley's church North Point Community Church. It was definitely a new experience because instead of having there own pastor they have video screens of Andy preaching. I am not sure what I think about this yet but I will say this, I was extremely surprised how well it worked and how the crowd responded. They repeated scripture and interacted with Andy like he was right there. Remember this is a video, I think of the last week's sermon at Northpoint, not a direct feed from Northpoint. I will say, if you're going to do this, do it like them, cause they did it well. While listening you completely forget that he was not there! I am still working through the issue in my head, I guess, because I just wonder if this is the best and healthiest way to have church. The only way you know the pastor is by video screen. Of course this could go back to the age old question of how big should a church get before it separates into separate congregations? There are plenty of arguments on each side of course, but it is worthy of thought.

The Music was amazing as well! Again, I am constantly challenged by the excellence with which everything is done at most of the churches I've been to lately. This band was GOOD and you could tell how much time they put into preparing. We entered the sanctuary to the sound of Sweet Home Alabama, Where The Streets Have No Name, and, Life is a Highway. All the songs tied into the message, however, I am still a little uneasy about this. I am still chewing on it! I will say, though, that the worship during the service was good!

I do have some beef, however! The message was good, inspirational, and came from a verse in Proverbs but I don't remember the Gospel being mentioned. Now, I am not bent on a come forward invitation to say the least but I do think that the Gospel should be proclaimed in every service. Not that you have to preach John 3:16 every week for sure but lives will never change by an inspirational pep talk! I try and be level headed about things and I have heard that it is not this way every week, there are weeks that the gospel is proclaimed very strongly and that Andy recently did a message series which included the gospel. I have also been to other ministries from Norhpoint, 722, where, Louis Giglio, faithfully proclaimed the gospel! I say that to say that I am not bashing Northpoint, or Andy Stanley, but that this issue is something that I am thinking through and passionate about!

All in all, another great experience! I learned a lot and have much more chewing to do!