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I visited a Church in a Bar

By Jeremy Myers
16 Comments

I visited a Church in a Bar

Church in a barMy friend Kyle wants to plant a church called โ€œSt. Peteโ€™s Church Bar and Grill.โ€ It would be rather convenient for communion since the wine is close by, and you wouldnโ€™t have guys getting antsy to go home for the football game. They can watch the game right from their padded bar-stools in church.

Kyle isnโ€™t joking about this…

Church in a Bar

Bar ChurchThe cool thing is that I am already aware of some churches around the country doing something similar. I wrote a while back about the group in Montana called “Dirtbags” that meets in a bar, and I have also read about I heard about Vince Antonucci and his church in a bar in Virginia Beach. Then there is “Church in a Bar” in Rome, GA, and a few others around the country (If you know of one, leave a link to it in the comments below).

So I decided to see if there was one in the Dallas metroplex. I did a little searching, and found one with the Narrow Trail Church, which meets outside in the beer garden of a local restaurant, and decided to go visit. It turns out that this was not just a church in a bar, but was also a cowboy church.

Having previously pastored in Montana, I immediately felt at home when I walked in since most of the people were wearing cowboy hats, boots, wranglers, and big belt buckles. One bearded, heavily tattooed guy drove up on his Harley.

Breakfast in a Bar Church

I showed up at 9 am for their free breakfast and sat by a young couple who hadnโ€™t been in church for three or four years but decided to check out the church that meets in a bar because โ€œItโ€™s not churchy.โ€ Looking around, I knew what they meant. Where else can you attend church with one hundred neon beer signs and only one cross? However, as I was later reminded, “One cross is all you need.”

bar churchAs I ate, I had a dozen or so people come up and welcome me. I was back in an area of the beer garden that was hard to reach, so one guy got up and just walked across the top of the tables so he could come greet me. Thatโ€™s another thing you wonโ€™t see in the average churchโ€”people walking on the pews just to go greet a visitor. Since this church meets outside, I asked what they do in bad weather, and the guy proudly informed me that “rain or snow this is where they meet.” This is, after all, a cowboy church, and they are โ€œtough as nails.โ€ Part of the beer garden was covered, and so my guess is that when bad weather comes, they just gather under the covered area.

The Church Service in a Bar

The beginning of the service did not begin with a โ€œWelcomeโ€ but we did have a โ€œHowdy.โ€ They had a few announcements and then the musician sang. The music was country western, and the songs werenโ€™t really they type that people sang along to. It was more like you were in a bar listening to the house band. Considering the crowd that was there, I think this was a good idea since most of the people didnโ€™t appear to be the singing type. This isnโ€™t an insult; itโ€™s just that some people donโ€™t feel comfortable singing.

Church in a BarI did notice that when the music leader got up to sing, he had a Starbucks coffee in one hand. If you read the post on myย Emergent Immersion, you will know why this is funny to me. It seems like all singers, songwriters, and artists drink Starbucks. I half expected him to pull out an iPhone.

Of course, he probably drank Starbucks becuase the free coffee was pretty bad. I met the guy who proudly told me he made the coffee, but then confessed he can’t stand to drink coffee. (Note to all churches: The person who volunteers to make the coffee should be somone who actually drinks coffee). So anyway, Starbucks and all, theย songs were good quality, and since I like country music, found myself tapping my foot along to the music. I guess the musician has some CDs out, but I can’t remember his name…

The Sermon in a Bar

After the music, the pastor got up to preach. I had met him when I first walked into the beer garden, and he introduced himself at John Myers. I donโ€™t think there is any relation to me. But he did graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary, so I guess Iโ€™m on the right track. Speaking of tracks, as soon as he got up to preach, we heard a train whistle off in the distance. He said, โ€œWell, I guess Iโ€™ll wait for the train.โ€

It didnโ€™t take me long to find out what he meant. About thirty seconds later, the train came rumbling by not twenty feet from where we were seated, blowing its whistle and drowning out anything the pastor could have been saying. Not many pastors have to deal with trains coming through their church before they preach, but everybody took it in stride.

Once the train was gone, the pastor taught for about thirty minutes from John 15. His sermon was not full of Christian lingo and theological jargon, but was clear, simple, and down to earth. He peppered his sermon with cowboy terms like โ€œget โ€˜er done,โ€ โ€œhave at it,โ€ and โ€œainโ€™t.โ€ He even used a word in his sermon which would offend the gentler ears of most Christians, but which seemed right at home with this group.

When he was done, they closed out the service with a few more songs and then a rousing rendition of โ€œHappy Trails to You.โ€ On my way out, one man stopped me and asked if I would like to start teaching Sunday School next week. He either didnโ€™t know I was a visitor, or wasnโ€™t serious. I hope it was the latter because itโ€™s probably not a good idea to ask visitors to teach Sunday School.

All in all, I really enjoyed this church and felt more at home than I have in aย while. I felt welcome and I was instructed and challenged by the teaching of the Word.ย May churches like this flourish across America where the theology is conservative and the preaching is strong, but the church is flexible enough to meet the people where they are at.

God is Redeeming Church Bible & Theology Topics: church in a bar, Church planting, Discipleship, evangelism

The Power of Preaching (Eph 6:19-20)

By Jeremy Myers
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Learn why Preaching the Gospel is so important for Spiritual Warfare by listening to my new sermon, The Power of Preaching (Ephesians 6:19-20).

http://www.tillhecomes.org/Bible/Audio/Ephesians/Eph_6_19-20.mp3

Also, to download these automatically, you may subscribe to the free podcast.

After listening to it, or reading it, post your comments or questions here so I can interact with you on them.

God is Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible Study Podcast

The Secret Weapon: Prayer (Eph 6:18)

By Jeremy Myers
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Learn what our Secret Weapon is and why it is so important for Spiritual Warfare by listening to my new sermon, The Secret Weapon: Prayer (Ephesians 6:18).

http://www.tillhecomes.org/Bible/Audio/Ephesians/Eph_6_18.mp3

Also, to download these automatically, you may subscribe to the free podcast.

After listening to it, or reading it, post your comments or questions here so I can interact with you on them.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible Study Podcast

The Sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17b)

By Jeremy Myers
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Learn what the Sword of the Spirit is and how to use it for Spiritual Warfare by listening to my new sermon, The Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17b).

http://www.tillhecomes.org/Bible/Audio/Ephesians/Eph_6_17b.mp3

After listening to it, or reading it, post your comments or questions here so I can interact with you on them.

God is Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible Study Podcast

The Helmet of Salvation (Eph 6:17a)

By Jeremy Myers
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Learn what the Helmet of Salvation is and how to use it in Spiritual Warfare by listening to my new sermon, The Helmet of Salvation (Ephesians 6:17a).

http://www.tillhecomes.org/Bible/Audio/Ephesians/Eph_6_17a.mp3

Also, to download these automatically, you may subscribe to the free podcast.

After listening to it, or reading it, post your comments or questions here so I can interact with you on them.

God is Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible Study Podcast

Better than Mother Theresa

By Jeremy Myers
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Better than Mother Theresa

Mother Theresa with armless baby Here is the link for the PDF to my most recent newsletter: Better than Mother Theresa Newsletter (July 2007)

You can read the rest of these newsletters on my Matthew Sermons Page.


God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship

A Vision for the Future

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

A Vision for the Future

Vision

We in the Free Grace camp need to think BIG about the future. I am not sure if I mentioned in my post about the Acts 29 conference I went to, but my biggest ache on thatย day was that all these men were going out to plant churches, and they were all Lordship/Calvinistic.

Inย my post on Emergent Immersion, Don Reiher made the following comment which I thought was so good, I would postย it here:

Vision for the Future

To be perfectly honest, I cannot stand any of the churches in the area. In the Philadelphia area, there are really no good churches. ALL and I mean ALL the โ€œgoodโ€ mild lordship Bible believing Baptist churches have gone totally reformed over the last 30 years (yes I was born and raised here). There are a few mild lordship Bible churches, but the vast majority are hardline lordship. Then there are the KJV only, legalistic kind of churches.

I go to one of the โ€œmildโ€ lordship ones (75% of the elders are lordship, the pastor says he is free grace, but still makes me wonder). The music is horrible. I cannot blame people for going to โ€œemergentโ€ churches.

BTW. . . I recently read several books from Dan Kimball on Emergent issues, Emerging Worship, and The Emerging Church. I think his material is much better than McLarenโ€™s.

My point, is, my heart aches for the 20s/30s today. When I was that age, there were still some decent churches around. I learned so much doctrine in church, that when I went to Moody in 1979, I already had read most of the books for my classes. It was simply building on what I already knew. Nowadays, I think people are hungry, and will take whatever scraps of food people like Piper throw at them.

People seem to think that you have to throw away all the teaching of the great men of the last century because it doesnโ€™t match with the Westminster Confession. They think they are going back to their roots, by going back to the Reformation, rather than going back to the Bible.

I think we in the Free Grace movement should start putting together some of these big mega-conferences and provide some good worship bands, and dish out a good diet of sound teaching, from a free grace perspective. We need to provide an example of what God is like, and what missions are like, from a NON-Calvinistic, Non-Reformed perspective. In my opinion, their perspective of God is puny compared to what God is really like. Their perspective of the Gospel and missions is a massive confusion, dried up and withered, compared to the clear, fresh streams of water the more Free Grace type folks can provide for them.

I donโ€™t think we could get 20,000 college people, but I bet we could get several thousand. More importantly, I think God would honor it. We in the Free Grace camp need to think big, and think โ€œnext generation.

I agree with this 100%. Thank you Don!


God is z Bible & Theology Topics: Church planting, Discipleship, future, vision

You Be the Judge…(not really!)

By Jeremy Myers
57 Comments

You Be the Judge…(not really!)

judge1.jpgI indicated in a previous comment that I would refrain from debating this gospel issue any more because none of us on either side are getting anywhere with the others, and I have better things to do. But in light of what I came across today, I am compelled to begin another post.

Besides, I guess public “debates” like this are not really for the debaters, but for those who are “on the fence” trying to understand and decide between the two positions. Even still, my follow-up comments to this post will be limited.

Following the attempts by some of the commenters (from both sides of the debate) to get simple “yes” and “no”ย answers from each other to theological questions,ย I have a REAL LIFE situation to pose to the readers of this blog, and I want you to state with a simple “Yes” or “No” whether you believe the followingย woman is saved or not.

Certainly, only God knows, but based on how you understand the Bible, the Gospel, how people are justified, and what she says, is the following woman justified,ย Yes or No?

And just so you know, I am not making this woman up. She is aย REAL woman I encountered today. So give her the benefit of the doubt. Ifย she says she really believes something, let’s assume she really does believe it.

She says she believes that:

  1. Jesus is God… i.e., He is fully divine.
  2. Jesus is fully human, yet without sin. Also, He was born of a virgin.
  3. Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead three days later.
  4. She is a sinner and needed Jesus to pay for her sin through His death on the cross so that she could gain His righteousness.
  5. Simply by faith in Jesus, she has everlasting life which can never be lost.So far, all of us would vote a hearty “YES.” I know I do. But here is where it gets interesting. She also believes that:
  6. Humans are “divine like Jesus, but to a lesser degree” becuase we sin.
  7. God is Allah, the same god the Muslims worship.
  8. The Trinity is fiction… there is only one God and He is not in three person.
  9. The Qu’ran is inspired by God and is on equal footing with the Bible. Since the two are in conflict on some teachings, neither can be taken literally.

So, what is the verdict?

And here are the RULES for the comments on this post. YOU MUST, IN YOUR FIRST COMMENT, BEGIN WITH EITHER A “YES” OR A “NO.” Following your one-word answer, you may then explain your answer. Also, in subsequent comments, you do not need to begin those posts with your answer, unless you change you answer.

Obviously, none of us are the true judges of a person’s eternal destiny (Isn’t that a relief?), and the Gospel is not even primarily about where one will spend eternity, but this exercise is for the purpose of helping us think through what the Bible says about how to receive eternal life. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t go around judging people the way we are doing here on this post.

God is Redeeming Church Bible & Theology Topics: eternal life, evangelism, gospel, Jesus, sin, Theology - General, Theology of Salvation

Emergent Immersion

By Jeremy Myers
12 Comments

Emergent Immersion

candles.jpgNext to God, the Bible, and the Gospel of grace, one of my great loves is the Church. I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about the “emerging church” recently, so I decided to visit one on Sunday. I went to google and searched for “postmodern emergent church dallas” and eventually found one that looked good.

Visiting an Emerging Church

I had learned from my “Acts 29” experience, so this time, I decided to “dress down.” I wore shorts and a ball cap. I’ve never worn a ball cap to church before, and during the service, I kept wanting to take it off. I probably would have taken it off during prayer time, but they didn’t have a prayer time, so I was able to keep it on. If I really wanted to feel at home, I should have walked in carrying an iPhone in one hand (No, I don’t own one) and Starbucks coffee in the other (No, I don’t like Starbucks).

The service started at 5:10, which seemed kind of odd to me, but made a bit of sense later. When I walked in, my very first reaction was that the church was much smaller than I thought it would be. Maxed out, the room couldn’t sit more than 70 people. The primary lighting in the room was candles, which provided a soft, worshipful “feel.” Some think that candles are bad because they are used by Catholics, Mystics, and cults. Personally, I like candles.

As I wandered around the room trying to decide whether to sit in a couch (yes, they had couches) or a padded pew, I noticed several pieces of art on the wall, and a coffee bar off in the corner. Nobody greeted me or even said “hi.” I guess emergent churches are just as distant toward newcomers as regular churches.

Wandering Around an Emerging Church

Eventually, as I wandered around, I found a room in the back which was more dimly lit than everywhere else and had some blue glowing birds in the center on a table. I went in to see what they were. On the table with the glowing birds were some mirrors and some instructions that as we enter into prayer, we should clear our mind of all thoughts (or something like this). I was alarmed at this piece of Eastern Mysticism which contradicts commands in the Bible to not clear our minds, but fill our minds (cf. Php 4:8). But I didn’t linger long, because I noticed four or five other tables around the room, and wanted to see what was on them. One had a “finger labyrinth” which the instructions said was like a real life prayer labyrinth, only much, much smaller. Supposedly, as your finger traced its way through the labyrinth, you were supposed to leave the cares of the world outside, and focus on the kingdom of God inside. Okay.

The next table had a big bowl of sand with a smaller bowl of rocks. The instructions told me to pick up a rock and hold it in my hand while writing my sins in the sand. After my sins were written in the sand, I was supposed to wipe them away because Jesus had removed my sins from me. I didn’t understand the rock, and thought maybe it was supposed to help me focus or channel. It was only after I got home and told my wife Wendy about it that she enlightened me. She said, “Well of course. It’s like the woman caught in adultery, and as people gathered around to stone her, Jesus wrote their sins in the sand.” Now that my wife caught the imagery, I think this is a pretty cool idea. I now wonder if the labyrinth and the glowing birds have some biblical imagery that escapes me. Maybe the birds symbolize sparrows (Matt 10:29).

On another table there were prayer candles you could light. This is also a Catholic practice, but I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong about it. The final table held a pitcher, basin, and a towel, which I supposed could be used to wash someone’s feet (John 13), or maybe your own hands as a symbol of neglecting Jesus (Matt 27:24).

The Emerging Church Service

Emerging ChurchThe beginning of the service was announced by a funny little video which I won’t try to explain. The welcome was given by a young guy who explained that he was now happy in life again because he got a new iPhone. He was one of the first people in the country to get the iPhone on opening weekend, but the first day he had it, he went swimming with it for 20 minutes, and found out it wasn’t waterproof. So apparently, a week earlier in church he was pretty depressed because he had plunked down $600 for an iPhone and barely even got to show it off. Anyway, he took the phone into an Apple store and told them it was “broken” and they gave him a brand new one, no questions asked. So now life was good again.

The music was well done, and they even admitted to changing the lyrics on a few songs to fit proper theology. I agreed with their changes, which means our theology is somewhat in sync. They sang for about 20 minutes, which is typical for most churches, with a good blend of contemporary songs and hymns.

I wryly noticed during the singing that the pastor’s husband (Did I forget to mention that the pastor is a woman?) didn’t sing a word of any of the songs. He stood there next to his wife and scowled the whole time. She looked a little flustered herself. I’ve been a pastor before, and so I recognize what probably was going on. Most pastor families have big fights right before church. Actually, most families in general have big fights right before church. If you are part of a family, and you go to church, you know this is true. I don’t think this is coincidence. Anyway, I can’t be sure, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to find out that the pastor and her husband had a fight in the car on the way to church.

The Emerging Church Sermon

After the singing, the pastor got up to speak. Apparently, she is preaching through Acts, which pleasantly surprised me since most churches today are turning away from systemmatic, expository preaching. She spoke from a portion of Acts 17, where Paul presents Jesus and the resurrection to the philosophers in Athens. Honestly, it was one of the better sermons I’ve heard in Texas so far. She went through the text verse by verse, reading it, explaining it, and applying it. She did a fantastic job.

One thing I liked, but which was very new to me, was that at any time during her message, people from the congregation could intersperse comments, jokes, or questions. Probably, this is much closer to the way it was in Acts and in the early church (Read some of the sermons by St. John Chrystostom to see what I mean. He too was expository, teaching his way through books of the Bible, and the transcriptions of his sermons are often sprinkled with his response to questions or comments from the crowd). I think that given the setting, the number of people there, and the personality of the pastor, these comments and questions from the congregation really enhanced the message and kept it even more lively and interesting than it already was. Many of the comments were very witty. The pastor’s husband, by the way, scowled all the way through the sermon too. He never laughed or smiled at anyone’s comments. Yes, there was definitively some marital conflict before church.

Let me say for the record that I do not believe that there are any biblical grounds for women being elders or teaching pastors of a church. This doesn’t mean women don’t know how to teach the Bible or don’t have teaching gifts. This woman clearly had a gift of teaching and knew her Bible well. I was impressed. But that doesn’t make it right.

Anyway, she taught for about 35 minutes. She sat on a stool, and used minimal notes. After the message, she explained that they always have a time of response to the Word (which I think is another great idea), and this week, she thought that the best way to respond to what we had learned was to have a time of silence (which I didn’t think was the best idea). It’s not that I don’t like times of silence. I do. I think church services and life in general should have more times of silence. I have an idea for an entire silent sermon I might give someday (the tapes probably won’t sell real well though). I just think there might have been some better ways to respond to this particular text.

Emergent Church

The End of the Emerging Church

After the silence, they took an offering and had some closing announcements. The service ended at 6:10 pm, and they said in continuation of their worship, they would like to invite everyone to join them at Chipotle’s for food and fellowship. This is why they meet at 5:10, so they can all go share a meal together afterwards. Again, I really liked this idea (cf. Acts 2:42), but decided not to go since Wendy was waiting for me at home.

All in all, I don’t see what the big fuss is about. Maybe this church truly isn’t “emerging.” I never did see a doctrinal statement, and one visit doesn’t tell me too much about what they believe. But frankly, most “non emerging” churches I have visited are so stale and dead, they probably need to emerge a bit. Also, most sermons I hear in these other churches are so shallow and empty of content, it would almost be better if there were no sermon at all.

This shallowness and emptiness is one reason why “emergent” churches started. And I think we probably have a lot to learn from them. I’m going to visit this church again, just so I can get a few more questions answered (“What’s the deal with the birds?). And then maybe I will try to find another emerging church to visit. I do know that in a few weeks I am going to visit a “cowboy church.” I’ll report on that as well, but I can tell you one thing: there probably won’t be any candles.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Acts 29, bible, church, Discipleship, emergent, emerging church, gospel, grace, Jesus, Preaching, sermon, Theology of the Church

The Blog Monster

By Jeremy Myers
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The Blog Monster

monster.jpgI’ve never done much posting in forums or blogs, so this blog is new territory for me.

And wow, I am amazed at myself. The things I am tempted to write (and maybe occassionally do write) in the posts and comments reveal pride, anger, and an ego that I have never before experienced. Sure, I have some theological disagreements with some of those who make comments, but I don’t think I would get thisย upset if I were having a face-to-face conversation.

So I apologize. I thought about going back and deleting some of my comments, but then I figured, “Trying to hide my faults is only more pride.” Besides, I do say some good things in some of those comments. (There goes my pride again! Ha ha). So my dirty blog laundry is out for all to see. I have a monster within me, and he sometimes fights to get out.

Another factor of the blog monster I did not consider is the amount of time that blogging can consume. I am too busy to do the things that are already on my plate, let alone taking time to read and write comments.

If those of you who have more experience blogging than I do can give me some me some tips on how to control the blog monster, I would appreciate it. Maybe just more prayer and more time between readingย comments and responding to them is all I need.


God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Blogging, blogging, comments, pride

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