I was recently reading another Blog about Willow Creek whose leaders have recently come out with the findings that their “seeker friendly church” is producing shallow Christians. http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2007/10/willow_creek_re.html . It’s interesting, but my first thought was, “maybe I should look at what programs they have and compare them with ours so ours can be evaluated for shallowness! My second thought was that, God isn’t limited by what programs we do or don’t do - if we are listening to His voice and attempting to follow His guidance, even Willow Creek’s shallow programs could produce fruit in our environment. I think that is part of the problem with the “mega church” band-wagon. Everyone wants to be like them, yet I think God has given each church its own special DNA.

I was talking to one of the women who used to be on my leadership team, but who for other reasons, has recently moved on to a new church. When I invited her to the Fashion Show, I told her that, “Your family has left its stamp on this church and you are forever part of our DNA whether you worship here, there or anywhere else.” And so it is with any person who steps foot on our campus. I’m grateful to Pastor Mark for his insistence on meeting new people every week and for encouraging us to do the same. We can’t tell by looking who is going to ‘come, grow, go’ with us, but we can trust that as we reach out with God’s Hand, He will direct.

KL