brother Ed,

do you have any thoughts regarding Dr. Yarnell's new paper concerning Acts 17:16-34? there are a few excerpts over at sbctoday.com and I am curious as to your thoughts.

Ed --

Long time no blog, dude. :-)

You and I have tangentially chatted about this in the past, but I am still sort of puzzled by the implications of having a "country" church, a "praise" church, and a "coffee" church.

Doesn't having this level of cultural segmentation actually defeat that call of the Gospel to overcome the differences between races and nations and dividisons among men?

Don't get me wrong: I'm not against country-genre hymns or spiritual songs. However, I am concerned that if the Gospel cannot bring Cowboys and EMOs together, how can we trust it to bring Jew and Gentile together?

Thanks man -- you're always generous with your time. Hope your family is well.

Foxy, I have not published any thoughts about it, though Malcolm did graciously share it with me beforehand. I may later.

Frank,

"Doesn't having this level of cultural segmentation actually defeat that call of the Gospel to overcome the differences between races and nations and dividisons among men?"

A great question.

I have thought about writing some thoughts about that, but have not had a chance to write them out. I probably will soon.

Briefly, I think every church has to wrestle with how far we should segment. We would all probably segment people from different languages. But, how far is too far? For them, it is musical style. For that matter, thousands of churches are now dividing up in tradition vs. contemporary services.

And, if you do segment, how do you still build community? In other words, if all the old people go to the traditional service and all the young people to the contempoary, aren't you just adding to the problem?

I don't have the answers, but I do share the question. And, I don't know enough about Highlands to answer the question of how they handle it.

Ed

I am a member at Highlands Fellowship and I definately can not speak for Pastor Jimmie but I feel the reason we have separate venues is to reach people that are lost and would come to a Country Venue but may not come to another type of venue. Its also about making room for more people to come since the main area can only hold so many. Since we are making more room why not have different styles of venues! Its not about us but about reaching more for Christ!

first time post on any blog.

Ed, thank you for your balanced and gracious efforts in what can be and could become a very splintered world of church planting.

M Yates
There are still tensions. The gospel isn't about us, but it isn't about them either. If people only approach God because it can be done in a way that meets their preferences, that is more consumerism than contextualism. I don't have all the answers either, but as Willow Creek pointed out, there's a difference between "reaching people" and making disciples so it is important that all these groups learn and know what the true church is if they remain segregated in worship. Discernment is key to every context individually I think, we go too far to formulate everything too concretely. Anyway, thank you all for caring to ask the questions.

Re: The questions about Highland's venues.
This is such a unique concept, and is just another characteristic of Highland's incredible desire to reach as many as possible for the cause of Christ. I do not attend Highlands, but Pastor Jimmie and the folks at Highlands will forever hold a special place in my heart.
I have attended all of the venues. I felt the presence of God in all of them. God not only created each of us in His image, but He created us as individuals--remember, He said some of us would be eyes, some ears, some fingers, some hands, but ALL a part of the Body. Just to look at His creation tells us that our differences compose the beauty of the whole.
When I was organizing Graceway Church in the Greenville, NC area, I knew nothing about the Purpose Driven paradigm. I had been a traditional-style pastor for almost two decades. My research showed that we were losing people by the millions as the population grew. One of the reasons was, that we were trying to fit them all into our "box", our "style."
By, I believe, the leading of God, I went to the website of Highlands, not knowing anything about them, and explored the site. I called the church and told them that I lived over two hundred miles away and was trying to learn more about the PD movement. Long story short, they invited our little launch team to their campus and opened it to us. I have never seen such an outpouring of hospitality in all my life--we were treated like royalty.
The various venues all contribute to bring people together for the main purpose, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism: one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
That weekend, we saw dozens accept Christ throughout the venues. Upon our departure, I told Jimmie, "Jimmie your folks have been so gracious to us. What can we ever do to repay you?"
Without hesitation, he replied, "Steve, try to bring as many souls as possible into the Kingdom, and one day you will have the opportunity to pass the blessing on."

Hi Dear,
I am Pastor Jerome , I attend the Global Glory Conference in 2007. I will never forget that moment.I love Jimmy and all people there.
God bless you