warning: some people might find this post offensive

Occasionally I get asked to speak at non-church events in the community (company Christmas dinners, business meetings, etc.). I always try to say yes to these type of engagements because it affords me the opportunity to meet people I may not otherwise meet.

Last week I had the privilege of speaking at a local business association meeting. It was great. Saw a lot of people I knew and I also made some new friends. It's always interesting to see how the conversation goes once people find out what I do for a living. One lady I met at this particular event said, "Oh, I know your church. I think it's great. In fact, I've been there a couple times...but I'm Lutheran." In other words, I could never attend your church regularly because, well, I'm Lutheran and...you're...not. Fair enough. I don't make it a habit of inviting people who are already a part of another Christ-centered church to come to our church. At NewPointe, we're not interested in "stealing" people from other churches. Our mission--our primary focus--is to reach unchurched people. More on that in a moment...

This Lutheran lady went on to say, "However, my daughter and her husband are moving back to this area after having lived in another state. And when they return, I want them to attend NewPointe." In other words, there's nothing for them at my church and I'm afraid it might put them to sleep, so I want them to go to a place that's exciting and has a lot to offer their kids. Cool. I'll take that as a compliment. (By the way, that's not a knock on the Lutheran church...I don't even know which particular chuch she attends.)

I met another guy at this event who wanted to talk to me about our new building. Now this was a very interesting conversation. He used the third person approach to see what he could find out about how I might be able to justify spending millions of dollars on a building. He said, "I have some friends who attend other churches. And when they drive by your building they're put-off." He continued, "They tell me that their church has taken a vow of poverty and that they would never dump a whole bunch of money into a building like that because it would be wasteful. That kind of money could be put to better use, like giving it to the poor. So their church has taken a vow of poverty."

He wanted to see how I would respond. Here's what I said, "We're all for giving to the poor and making a difference in our community. I won't argue that that's not important. At the same time the mission and vision of our church is to reach unchurched, irreligious, disillusioned people who have given up on the church because they think it's irrelevant to their lives. If we're going to reach those people for Jesus Christ then we need to create relevant enviroments that are going to connect with them and speak into their lives. We can't invite them to some shabby shack and where things are old and unsafe for their kids. We're in competition with the world...and the world has nice stuff. If we're going to have any chance of reaching Joe Unchurched, we have to have a place that's attractive to him. Is our new building nice? Yes. You bet. Is it extravagant? No. Not in my opinion."

And then I fired a scud. I said, "Now, you'll have to give me some grace on this one. But when I hear people say that their church has taken a vow of poverty and that they'd never be interested in building a building like that, it usually means that nobody at that church is giving anything anyway, and so they're kind of forced to take a vow of poverty--they don't have any other choice. Now, I'm not saying that's the case with your friends' church. And if they're raising a bunch of money and giving a ton of money to the poor then I can't knock it...but the real question is: Have they taken that vow of poverty in their own lives? What kind of car do they drive? What kind of house do they live in? Are they giving away all their money to the poor? Or have they just taken a vow of poverty as a church...because that's easy. We'll just keep our money and let the church be poor."

I hope that's not the case but all-too-often it is. The dude who asked the question had to think about that. I could tell that his wheels were really turning. He went on to tell me that he and his wife had been checking out different churches, trying to find one they liked. He said, "We haven't visited your's yet, but I think we should give it a try."

I said, "You're welcome there any time. But fair warning: NewPointe is not your typical church. In fact it may change the way you view church." I love that about NewPointe.