On being religious...
Is there anything you can be called today that is worse than "religious"? It has become a supremely negative term, a term dripping with disdain.
I would suggest that the reason being "religious" is such a negative is because we have reinterpreted what being religious means.
Religion has become what we do, not who we are. Even being called “religious” carries a negative connotation with it. Emergent types rail against “religiosity” to the point that a popular video was circulating a year or so ago, a take off on the Apple vs. PC videos, that showed a dorky guy carrying his Bible around in contrast to the hip, cool “Christ-follower” who listens to U2 and wears sweatshirts to church. Now we see stuff like this that makes me cringe:
For more than two years, staff and volunteers at CedarCreek Church’s Whitehouse campus have spent countless hours carrying, setting it up, taking down, and storing the sound, lighting, and other equipment used for its services in Anthony Wayne High School.
Those weekend chores will become a thing of the past when the church moves into a permanent home at its Whitehouse campus next year.
CedarCreek announced that it has purchased a nine-acre parcel on State Rt. 64, just north of Finzel Road, where it will break ground on a 25,000-square-foot church this summer.
The Whitehouse campus will be the anchor tenant of a 160-acre, $150-million retail and residential development being built by JCT Enterprises, Inc.
While most retail developments are anchored by department stores, JCT’s Whitehouse Square will have a radically different look.
Ray Wood, project manager for JCT, said CedarCreek’s size — the total attendance at its three locations averages 8,000 — and a full schedule of activities throughout the week make the church a perfect fit for the new development.
“We’re doing something totally different than anything else that has been done in northwest Ohio,” he said. “We’re trying to keep a small-town feel in Whitehouse, and make the development a destination and a place for entertainment.”
He said the number of members and visitors heading for CedarCreek for weekend services and weekday events should help give a boost to the artisans and local businesses he is lining up for the development. The church also plans to tie in with senior programs and youth activities to be held in Whitehouse Square’s facilities, he said.
“All these things kind of knit together,” Mr. Wood said.
The church, CedarCreek, is an "anchor tenant"? Like a Macy's? Clearly the developer looks at this as a cross-selling opportunity, people show up for church and while they are there they can get some shopping in. As a business man, I say to the developer: Brilliant! As a Christian, I have to ask the church: What are you thinking? I guess I know what they are thinking. A quick perusal of the pastors blog page will exhibit what their focus is on: attendance and new buildings:
First of all if you are reading this between April 13 & 22, I am sitting in the sun vacationing in Florida with my wife.
I thought you might want a Toledo update. The attendance has held strong at over 2,500. This is way beyond what we expected! In addition we are very close to signing a contract to build our own building in Whitehouse. Keep praying.
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Please make this "goal" or "idea" part of your prayer life. Here is how it breaks down:
We currently have 3 campuses all carrying the CedarCreek DNA. We want to start six more like these, one per year beginning with 2010.
But what is new for us is that we want to start (or support in a significant way) six church plants that are not CedarCreek satellites. Rather they will be, God willing, independent of the Creek and may or may not be like us. We expect that these six church plants will probably be outside of our current reach but that is not a must
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Dear Creeker,
Many of you have expressed interest in being updated regarding the weekend attendance now that Toledo is online, so here it is:
Easter weekend total was 12,892 (Toledo was 2,950!)
This past "Big Push" weekend total was 9,182! (Toledo was 2,638!)
We expect attendance at Toledo to settle in at around 2,000.
Well at least they have their priorities in line. I watched a clip of a "sermon" and it starts off with a video of the pastor clowning around in a seventies disco outfit; followed by a string of announcements, followed by a story of a blind kid from a TV show who was speaking. About a third of the way through, I just couldn't take anymore of it. The whole thing was a carnival, an assembly allegedly designed to worship the Creator of the universe and it came across like a comedy club presentation. I get the occasional moment of light humor in a sermon but when there is no Gospel and nothing but entertainment I have to cry foul.
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