CityView Christian Fellowship

August 26, 2007

We are a church with a vision toward:

• Becoming a catalyst in bringing spiritual transformation to Lubbock and West Texas.
• Breaking the American tradition of being primarily a “come and hear” church to become a “go and tell” church.
• Equipping our people to see themselves as full-time ambassadors of the Kingdom of God where they live work and play.
• Endeavoring to influence pastors and church leaders through encouragement, friendship and training, to get outside the four walls of their church.
• Penetrating the marketplace with kingdom principles.

We figured a church with this kind of vision must have something good going on. It's located in a new building out on Milwaukee near the new Target - nice building, but kind of unassuming and not flashy with a big sign. You kind of have to know what it is since its not well marked. I kind of like that. We drove into the parking lot and though there were clearly marked "guest Parking" spaces, we opted to be stealthy and parked as though we knew what was going on. I didn't want some greeter guy who spies on the guest parking to prey on us as soon as the car door opened. that probably doesn't happen, but that is what having guest parking makes you feel like will happen when you are a guest. The building is nice and modern, set way back from the street and surrounded by undeveloped land. It was obvious where the entrance was (which is not always the case with a church) so we went in it. I guess our stealthy approach diminished upon entering the building because the man who greeted us at the door immediately asked if this was our first visit. Maybe he asks everyone he doesn't recognize that question, but probably we just looked lost.

He made a little small talk, welcomed us to the church and asked how old Avery was. He personally escorted us to her class area (which is a really cool thing for a visitor in a big building) and introduced us to the children's staff. They got us all fixed up and even let us go beyond the "sacred" check-in desk which parents are not allowed behind. She wanted us to feel comfortable leaving Avery and to meet her teachers and that was really great and much appreciated. I was surprised to find that her teachers (a couple team) was one of my customers. I didn't know he attended church there and we had a nice visit. I hoped she acted nice! We wandered back toward the big room and were again greeted by a guy handing out a paper for the worship service. He opened the door to the room and...

...it was filled with round tables! That is not what we were expecting. Not only that, but there was the smell of coffee and breakfast burritos in the air. We looked around and everyone was eating at those tables! Someone pointed us to the food and encouraged us to load up. We'd just eaten breakfast so, we got drinks and some fruit and cautiously looked for a table. I don't know about you, but I have some anxiety about finding a table in a big room full of complete strangers. We found one that was mostly empty (I'd hate to be told a seat we wanted was "reserved") and sat down. The lady across the table was alone and we introduced ourselves - deciding making small talk was our way to ease the tension. Rather Jill decided this - I probably would have just sat there staring at the stage. Turns out she was a visitor too and was a little thrown off by the circle table set-up. She'd visited one other time and assured us it wasn't like this the first time she came.

As we ate, there was a couple milling through the crowd meeting people, but we didn't notice that before they met us. Jill asked how long they'd been members here and they replied, "Well, I guess since the beginning when we started the church." Jill was mortified to discover that he was the Pastor and we had no idea! No wonder they were circulating and introducing themselves! Soon two other couples joined us and we had a really nice chat with them. They told us a lot about the church, its history and mission. One of them happened to be a farmer from New Deal, so we were able to connect and that made it much easier. After about 45 minutes, the Pastor got up and welcomed us. It turns out that every year the church celebrates their anniversary this way by having a big birthday bash. The church turned 7 this year and it was a really neat thing to see them celebrate their community like this.

Since we had eaten breakfast, there wasn't a musical part of the worship that morning. We watched a video about the the summer basketball camp the church had recently hosted in East Lubbock. It was pretty neat to see them reaching out to the community that way. One of the camp leaders got up afterwards to talk about the experience and to do that, he needed 8 volunteers to help him. Once they got up front, he borrowed an object from each of their pockets and proceeded to make up a rap, on the spot, about those objects. It was definitely my first rap in church! He did a great job and I applauded the church for not being afraid to tap the talents of the membership, even though it be nontraditional, and share that with the body. While he was rapping, one of the girls who is a cheerleading coach had a little group of girls on stage behind him doing their "choreography" to the rap. It was really neat!

The Pastor got up and shared a message with us after that. He had a lot of details about the church's history and God's hand in getting them where they were. He told an interesting story about how they came to own the land where they are and it was a good way to learn about the church and their mission. He introduced a class they offer called "Directions" that promised to help Christians learn their spiritual gifts, ministry styles and find a place in the Kingdom (not specifically in this church) to use those gifts. It was compelling enough that we attended the course on Wednesday nights throughout September and have been blessed very much by it.

Even though this was a very different Sunday to visit the church and we didn't really get a feel for their worship time, we are very glad we cam eon that day. It really gave us an opportunity to see the heart of the church by participating in their celebration, by visiting with members for an extended time and by enjoying the fellowship and their laid back style. This visit has been a highlight for us so far and we definitely want to go back on a "normal" Sunday. If we choose to worship in Lubbock, this is a very real possibility . We enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of the people and appreciate very much the heart and vision they have for ministry in the workplace and "outside" the church. That is what all churches ought to be focusing on!

See more at http://www.cityviewlubbock.org/