Worship here. Score big.

If that was for real, and not a joke/parody ad, it would have Jesus rolling in His grave ... and He's not even in His grave!

Double-triple-quadruple barf.

Lord, have mercy.

UGGHH!!!!!

If you look on Youtube, there's more.

An August, 2007 Chicago Tribune article below on the very real City Church - yes, it's for real.

Personally, I have mixed feelings.

Let's face it: places like urban Chicago are post-Christian environments, and no offense to Rod or anyone else, but I can't see Orthodoxy reaching most of these people.

So is this church finding a way to expose very spiritually confused people to the Gospels, or just getting down the muck of the world and losing the battle through capitulation?

I'm not exactly a New Monastic, but I think it's an understatement to say that this all seems extremely worldly, what with medallions and androgynous clothes and focused discussion on "hot wives."

--------------------------------

Megachurch leaders try urban renewal
Satellites open in hearts of cities
By Margaret Ramirez
CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CHICAGO --
Not long after 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday, a steady stream of mostly 20- and 30-year-olds filed into the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. There were no tickets to buy and no show scheduled. They had come for a different gathering.
Some mingled in the lobby or gulped coffee before making their way into the theater. Just after 7 p.m., a rock band took center stage and belted out, "All I need is you, all I need is you, in every little thing I do ... Jesus."

The Rev. Kent Munsey, 27, a laid-back pastor with platinum hair and dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, took the microphone.

"We've got a guest preacher and great band from Australia, so we're partying here tonight," Munsey said as the church cheered. "But, let's start with a blessing."

Every Sunday night, this theater is transformed into City Church, the new Chicago location of the Family Christian Center, a megachurch in Munster, Ind. After only four months in the River West neighborhood, the non-denominational church has attracted a diverse congregation of more than 200 worshipers.

Although new churches are born nearly every day, City Church is part of a trend in which suburban megachurches are starting satellite locations in the nearest major cities.

In previous years, megachurches would open additional campuses or "multisites" in outer suburbs, seeking more worship space and parking, said Dave Travis, managing director of the Leadership Network, a church think tank.

The new urban satellites, often housed in rented theaters, reflect a desire to improve the neighboring city and a hope of reaching a younger, hipper and more ethnically diverse congregation, he said.

"The feeling is that, gosh, we're really blessed out here; we're living the good life in the suburbs. So, part of it is this suburban guilt," said Travis, co-author of Beyond Megachurch Myths: What We Can Learn from America's Largest Churches.

"The bigger piece now, from these suburban churches that I've observed around the country, is that they are following some of the younger (attendees) who now are moving back to the city because developers are creating vibrant places for young adults to live."

The ultimate success of these urban locations depends on several factors, including the selected neighborhood, the relevance of the message and the popularity of the messenger. At City Church, member Norma Coles says she thinks Munsey has what it takes.

"I feel like I was led here by the Lord," said Coles, 38. "I love that it's multicultural, and Pastor Kent is an example for all of us that you can love the Lord and still be cool."

The city campuses share many of the same worship characteristics as their suburban mother churches, including rock music, using sermons to address real-life issues, and making connections with community groups for volunteer service. But the trait that makes each church distinct is the chosen pastor.

When some suburban churches began planting campuses in the city in the 1980s and '90s, those early attempts functioned more like missions than extensions of the mother church, said Travis, the church expert.

"Back then, the thinking was, 'This is for the poor people.' It was really disconnected from the suburban church and it was paternalistic in a sense, like 'We're going to help these people out,' he said. "Now the mind-set is: The city is a great place, and we need to have a vibrant church there that meets those needs spiritually of the people who are moving into that area.

"So, the churches that are being planted now don't tend to be the same types that were planted 15 or 20 years ago. And the difference is the mind-set of who they are trying to reach."

Experts who study megachurches say the suburb-to-city phenomenon also is taking hold in other parts of the country. In Georgia, North Point Community Church, based in Alpharetta and led by Pastor Andy Stanley, opened a city campus in Atlanta known as Buckhead Church. More recently, Fellowship Church, the Texas megachurch that Pastor Ed Young launched in Grapevine, started a satellite location in the Dallas Arts District called Fellowship Church Downtown.

Research by Willow Creek also concluded that there is a dramatic shortage of churches in downtown Chicago compared with other major cities. For that reason, the Rev. Steve Wu, pastor of Willow Chicago, said he welcomes the arrival of more churches.

"It's tough to do church in the city," Wu said. "So having more churches available for the 3 million people in the city is a good thing. People will pick a church that they resonate with. Our job is to bring the word of God to all corners of the earth."

City Church's relaxed approach appeals to Ozzie Alamo, 43, who plays bass in the church band. Alamo was raised Pentecostal but said attending church had become a burden. He said he had stopped going for a couple of years when a friend told him about Munsey's idea to open a new church in the city.

"At the other churches I had been to, there were a lot of rules that didn't make sense, and I felt like there has to be a better way," he said. "It's a little more subtle here. It's a place where you can just be yourself. We're serving God, and it's fun."

For what it's worth, I think I probably smelled like Brut back in the day when I scored my smokin' wife. But my decollatage was waaaaaay to hirsute to wear a shirt like that to church. Come to think of it, it still is.

Joel Osteen has an extremely photogenic wife who, if I recall one of his homilies accurately, shops at Victoria's Secret. The impish revelation was intended as a pitch for what's good about a sanctified, traditional marriage, one supposes. But from that point onward, all I could think about was Rev. Osteen's wife in negligee.

How nice of him to share.

Suddenly this gospel thing intrigues me...

Carl's ideas intrigue me. Is there a newsletter I can subscribe to so I can learn more?

What the deal with the logo- you know, the one they show at the end with the C popping a zit?

I should learn how to play the guitar, spike my hair in all different directions, and form a Christian rock band. Then I'll make all the little chickies swoon. Oooohhhhh yeah.!! (note the sarcasm)

The saddest part is that they have no idea why it's so pathetic and wrong.

I wasn't really thinking about the pastor, Jeff. I was thinking about the people attending the church & the guy making the video(assuming he doesn't work for the church).

Still looking in the dictionary, but I haven't found the word or words yet.

I'll report back if I do.

Jesus is crawling back into his tomb just so he can spin a few times.

Hey, do we finally get credit for criticizing the heterosexual version of the Folsom Street Fair?

Jeff,
Sometimes it's best to just stay away. Take it from me-a bnet addict. The Electrowomen one didn't take up too much of my time because I got the idea within the first few seconds & stopped it. But this one? I watched it twice! Something's wrong with me.

Somebody's just too sexy for their shirt

And the future's so bright, I gotta wear blinders.

If the pastor's wife doesn't do a pole dance during the worship music, then I think this YouTube clip constitutes false advertising.

Uhhhhhhh. ok. I wish I could formulate something clever to say in response to this clip but I am too busy trying to keep my lunch down. I think it is safe to say that Jonathan Edwards or Charles Spurgeon might have a thing or two to say to this...uh...man.

I'd like to raise a substantive issue about gender concerning the guy in this advertisement: he strikes me as very self-absorbed--carefully crafted smile and expressions just to make him seem too cool; hair and skin looks like the dude went to a beautician; clothes the same; hands placed loosely in his pockets to give the aura of an eighth grade boy who thinks he is above it all.

Is anyone in the least bothered by that kind of trend among men? Don't get me wrong, I take care of myself and like to dress well. But c'mon, the level of egoism emanating from people like that guy always gives me the impression that they are trying to hide something or that I really am not getting the whole story. IOW, I find the whole masquerade to be untrustworthy in the extreme.

Thoughts?

What'd he say at the end - "peace in the Middle East", or "PIECE in the Middle East"?

What's crackin'?

I show less cleavage.

Eesh.

Dale & D.B.,

How 'bout...

Puke-ilanimous

Well, it looks as if the pastor of that church is the son of televangelist Steve Munsey. Anything more need to be said?

His web site was not so bad as this one YouTube video. Maybe before everyone rushes off to condemn this young guy, someone ought to look into the fruit of the ministry first. Nothing wrong with a young on-fire church.

Judge not or you will be judged by God. You don't know anything about City Church but yet you all write like you do?