Louisville Church Tour Part 5 of 12 - Money for Nothing, And the Chicklets for Free
So, I originally captured these notes on February 25, 2006. It has now been six and a half months since I've gone to church. I'm not gonna try to clean this entry up, however, where appropriate I will fill in some of the blanks with some notes on the right in italics, like this note that you're reading now. Again, with the exception of the first few paragraphs these are the notes as they appear in my planner just as they were written the day I went to church. In some cases I could not really read them so I took a guess.
Southeast Christian Church
January 15, 2006
9 AM
Forgive me, Reader, for I have sinned. It has been at least a month since I last posted a report or attended church. For this I am deeply sorry and guilty of welching on a bet. I'm hoping that I can start attending church more regularly and put this chapter of my life behind me.
I really didn't truly hope then, nor do I really hope now that I can start attending church more regularly. I like to go shopping on Sunday morning and I like to make bacon and buy the girls donuts and read the paper and watch CBS Sunday Morning, and yeah I do like to hear the music and self-improvement strategies, but shit, no, I don't hope I start going more often. It was a good bet and a good reward.
But, yeah the shit was a bet and its been almost a year since I started. Sheesh. I need to get this over with.
My Mom calls it Six-Flags Over Jesus, but Southeast Christian is far from an amusement park. It would be better described as the University of Christ, or perhaps UC Jesus. The sprawling campus and its huge gold-topped buildings sits just off Interstate-64, and as I made my way to the off ramp for Blankenbaker Road I was met with a lot of traffic. Seems that folks come from all around the region to attend the weekly services in the main Worship Center that seats 9000.
Thats right 9000.
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After being directed into the parking lot by several uniformed Louisville Metro Police Officers I found a spot in the back and began the hike to the facilities. It was a nice enough day so I didn't bother jumping on one of the dozens of yellow school buses that were shuttling folks from the parking lot to the front entrance. As I walked in past the valet a friendly man opened the door for me and also seemed to check me out as a possible security risk. A second man opened a second door and gave me a second look.
Once inside I had to just stop and look around and try to not let my mouth hang open in disbelief. To my right was the Fellowship Center which looked about two-thirds the size of the aforementioned Worship Center which was to my left. In between was a huge Hall that joined these two massive buildings. Really, it was more like an atrium without the skylights except just super giant big. Along the far wall was a desk, like what you might see at a hotel, however it ran the entire length of the hall - musta been 200 feet. The desk was lined with folks just waiting to help. I'm not sure what they were doing at this desk but there was also a small information desk in the center of the hall shaped like an circle where Im sure you could find out what the folks at the other desk along the wall were there to do.
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In front of the Worship center there were three cascading flights of escalators surrounding a couple elevators. As I made my way to the worship center I could see long hallways running every which way from the main hall. There must have been dozens of classrooms down these hallways. I stopped and looked at a few and saw things like; Luke 101; Bible Basics 203; and Moses 599 The Parting of the Red Sea - Hand of God or Tsunami? This was some serious fucking shit.
The Worship Center was, well in my notes this is what I wrote:
Where to start, wow, GA, Floor, Loge, Upper
Stairs that run down
Big Stage
Big Screens way nicer than Forum
Pool or hot tub no luxury boxes
Lots of people
Lots
Thousands
Single Adult Super Bowl Party
Huge campus like a university
Lots of buildings almost all white folks couple Indian
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Now I've been to plenty of concerts but I've never seen one in a place as cozy as this. The seating was all general admission so I picked a spot in the second level. There was not a bad seat in this place, what, with the big screens hanging above the stage and more big screens on either side. In addition to the escalators outside the Worship Center and the elevators out in the hallway, there were also massive flights of stairs that ran from the top to the bottom that cut through the thousands of people sitting all around me.
As we waited for the show to start information would flash on the screen about upcoming shows and events, including a Super Bowl Party for singles.
Come and live forever / come as you are
Ushers still seating folks
I guess its standard issue to have two dumb ladies sing.
Need some soul
No grade or checking to get in
Standing listening to them sing Christian Rock
Hard not to laugh Im really here!
Wow, everyone is way singing
The lights dimmed and soon a band took the stage and it actually felt like, well, like just before a concert. There was an excited mumble that went through the crowd as if they were debating to themselves, "Journey to the Soul, Journey to the Soul, no, wait, Satans Demise, yeah, they gotta open with Satans Demise." Instead they let the spirit thrive with this little diddy;
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Come just as you are
Hear the sprit call
Come just as you are
Come and sing
Come receive
Come and live forever
Just like at Northeast Christian, they had a full band but much more polished. The singer/guitar player kinda looked like Viggo, the King from Lord of the Rings. They had drums and piano and bass and another guitar and, of course, the two lame white-lady singers. After the song they talked about how everyone was welcome and good morning. The message of being welcome was further defined to include no tests, passwords or secret judgment as requirement for attendance. No, were just here to sing and rejoice in Jesus name and all are welcome.
Psalm 19:14
Communion Singing and Praying CUP HOLDER!
Words meditation please Rock Redeemer
Fiver Guy talking Psalm 16: 5,6
Totally had to stop write envelope
Dont share treasure on earth in heaven where dreams heart also contents of heart not worth much enough have (okay, dear reader, some of my notes are hard to read)
right back into song offering song
leaving one by one ladies, lead, drums, guitar, bass, Piano
Well after the band wrapped up another song or two, the singer who Im now thinking is going to run the whole show starts quoting scripture and then BAM we throw down with a snack. Now as you can imagine thats a lot of snack to distribute but they did it quickly and efficiently and heck, with the band playing it seemed to take no time at all.
Two old guys came down each isle and started passing the trays. One full of little Chicklet-sized crackers and another with a zillion little cups of juice. After sucking down my juice I didnt have to worry about where to put the cup as we had tiny little cup holders, hooray! Next the singer quoted a little more scripture and they came out with the collection plate. I dropped a five but totally stalled things in my section because I didnt notice the envelopes until the last minute and I wanted to get my email address on there. I musta written it pretty sloppy cause they never sent me any email.
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Now that were done eating we hear one more song and then as the song is ending the members of the band get up and leave one at a time. They seemed to put down an instrument every couple measures and I thought it was really cool. Woulda been totally rad if the last person was the guitar player or the drummer and proceeded to scorch out a fucking blazing metal solo, but they just all disappeared.
table and chair skit
medium banker instead/ long hours
s occupation preoccupy missing family
slideshow 40 millionaires E D BM
never enough success on Earth Dead
God not impressed
The lights on the stage went dark as the singer finally put down his guitar and made his way behind the magic curtain. Then a light rose on the side of the stage and we could see a couple people watching a slide show, kinda like home movies or something. The story is familiar - man disses family for work. Missing out on the real treasures of life. When judgment calls God is not impressed with his overflowing bank account and empty soul.
Luke 12 NIV
Keep possessions in perspective
Lifestyle always change income savings day
My money is my money
Hoarding storage money is a test
Ecc 5:15
Money is a blessing
Money will buy security
Money will make content
Always need more to be content 2X
Ecc 5: 10, 11
Appetite indulge gets hungrier
More you have the more you want
Money does bring happiness, but for a moment
Heb 13: 5 heavy portfolio 0
Good shot at wrong target
Accurate wrong goal
Succeed at wrong thing Then what?
The perspective of eternity
How else bosy? Store in heaven
Wow, okay, Im not busting out the Bible to try and remember exactly what all these stories were about. Lets just say the young pastor who finally took center stage said something like:
You always want more shit, no matter how much you make and no matter what you already have. Most people go through their lives living paycheck to paycheck because they never really save any money and cause they always spend everything they got buying more junk and more shit in order to keep up with the joneses. While money should not be your sole focus in life, as ultimately that will leave your heavenly bank account empty, you do need to be wise with your money and make a pile of it.
Once you have a pile of money you can secure the blessings of liberty and security and happiness and then you can give some away. You can also do a lot of good things with money so you should share the wealth. If you die with a ton of cash in the bank you have done no good with your money.
So, to review: Don't make money the focus of your life. However do be wise and build wealth. Then share it and spend it well. In fact, why dont you start now by signing up for automatically withdrawal at 10% your annual income?
20 K $40 per week 10%
Luke 12: 33,34
What can I sell, do without, Cable!
Leave your kids not $$
Columbia Christian movies
End of the Spear building Gods kingdom
God does not want money he wants heart
Give what you cant keep to gain
What you cant lose
Yeah, so even though the plate had already been passed around, they made another pitch for dough. I mean basically they just told most folks, myself included, that what we put in the bowl earlier wasn't even close. They actually told people that if they have to they should give up cable and use that money for the bowl.
So, in the end I liked the experience of attending this church. Again, singing, music, and some inspirational wisdom were present and felt good and that's all one can really ask for on a Sunday morning at church. However, going in I had heard criticisms about this place being a cash cow and they were evident at the end, but then again, somebodys gotta pay for all this stuff.
Just now though, Im sitting here rubbing my chin and wondering if there are places I can cut spending in order to better serve my family and try to build some wealth? Do I have a lot of junk that I buy that I shouldn't? How do I waste my money?
Im also wondering if Im doing right by my wife and kids. Am I treating them right? Will I look back some day with great pride and say, "Yes, my heart is full and I have no regrets on how I spent my time. And I am healthy, wealthy and wise. And I long not for the days of old to do things differently than I have."
My motto has always been no regrets, because to regret is to change everything. Regret is a waste of time and you just have to move on and accept the choices you make. Do not waste a moment on regret. However, I suppose there is no harm in planning for a future with no opportunity for regret. To plan and live in such as way that I don't even have to try not to regret. A future full of joyful reflection and satisfaction.
Hmmm