Give Us A Shot
One of the many things I enjoy about my church is the fact I can be myself. No more putting on airs, no more pretending to be so pious, and no more lying about feeling good when I don't. When I first started to attend a lot of things caught me off gaurd:
1) My pastor actually told me how he was really feeling when I asked.
2) Several members of the church were just as geeky as I am and I finally had some people in the church who not only knew Dr. Who and B Star G, but actually enjoyed the shows.
3) The elders would go to a local bar after their weekly meetings.
I think it was #3 that really threw me for a loop. I know a lot of churches have people who enjoy to have a beer or two, but are so afraid to admit it. In fact a good friend of mine likes to go up to people he goes to church with when he runs into them at a bar so they can know they are not the only ones and can finally come out of the closet. That being said, my church also doesn't flaunt the fact we enjoy a few beers. We also support several AA groups to help those who do struggle with the addiction. I am giving this little introduction because of a few videos I saw recently both using shot glasses as a form of reaching the lost. There are two videos that are pretty interesting. I know in the past I wrote a post about how sad I felt watching a bunch of college kids at pub I visited to hear my friends band perform. Sorry, I am way too lazy to actually look for it to link back to it. In short, I was watching a bunch of twenty-somethings seeking connections in the most negative manner imaginable. None of what they were experiencing was real. I never was in the bar culture even now let alone when I was their age so it became pretty obvious to me that this was a ministry opportunity which I had no idea how to fill. I don't see these "Give Us A Shot" ministries as bad things. I am curious to see how successful they are.
1) My pastor actually told me how he was really feeling when I asked.
2) Several members of the church were just as geeky as I am and I finally had some people in the church who not only knew Dr. Who and B Star G, but actually enjoyed the shows.
3) The elders would go to a local bar after their weekly meetings.
I think it was #3 that really threw me for a loop. I know a lot of churches have people who enjoy to have a beer or two, but are so afraid to admit it. In fact a good friend of mine likes to go up to people he goes to church with when he runs into them at a bar so they can know they are not the only ones and can finally come out of the closet. That being said, my church also doesn't flaunt the fact we enjoy a few beers. We also support several AA groups to help those who do struggle with the addiction. I am giving this little introduction because of a few videos I saw recently both using shot glasses as a form of reaching the lost. There are two videos that are pretty interesting. I know in the past I wrote a post about how sad I felt watching a bunch of college kids at pub I visited to hear my friends band perform. Sorry, I am way too lazy to actually look for it to link back to it. In short, I was watching a bunch of twenty-somethings seeking connections in the most negative manner imaginable. None of what they were experiencing was real. I never was in the bar culture even now let alone when I was their age so it became pretty obvious to me that this was a ministry opportunity which I had no idea how to fill. I don't see these "Give Us A Shot" ministries as bad things. I am curious to see how successful they are.
posted by Out Of Jersey | 10:43 AM
2 Comments:
Count yourself lucky to have found a church like that!
seriously. there was a bit of a brouhouhou (sp?) last year or shortly before that over a conservative denomination's supposed 'emerging' outreach church that met in a bar to have church. although the pastor said that nobody official from the church drinks during these services (seriously?), some 'leaders' in this denom wanted to pull out b/c the associate pastor mentioned on his blog or somewhere that he does like to have the occasional drink.
my last church, God bless their hearts, taught that Jesus was just drinking super-sweet grape juice.
it's no wonder that the bar-owner across from the place where we wanted to have our church's multi-function site put up such a fuss. he thought we were gonna picket him and tee-total (sp? me no so gud wif speeling 2day) him out of a job. heck, we were gonna give him more business on a sunday than he'd see the rest of the week if he wanted it...
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