New blog address

I have changed blog hosts. My new blog address is: www.kendallhibiske.wordpress.com.

Big Church(es)

Went to Port City Community Church this morning in Wilmington. A church that started from scratch, meeting in a public school . . . they grew exponentially and have now built a brand new campus and facilitate 4 services every Sunday. There are so many aspects of church at this magnitude that are overwhelming to me, especially the discipleship aspect. Overall I think they did everything with excellence and I really enjoyed the experience of being there. Plus they have free coffee in their cafe and everyone is friendly.

Its amazing to me how church is changing. I mean everything is changing, but we are graduating a whole generation of Christian youth now who have experienced church in an entirely different way than the generation before. I was just contemplating that this morning . . . what will it be like for these kids when they graduate and move away? How will they view church? What will they value in a church? What a huge task and responsibility for leaders in the kids/student ministry to help them be grounded in their faith and committed to the local church, even if its not fancy.

So the question of the day for me is how do you have a quality program with relevant audio/visual stimuli without creating a culture of consumer-driven young people who misunderstand worship? I know the staff at Port City is mindful of these things and working them out . . . along with many other churches in similar situations. I have a lot of respect for pastors and staff who have to administrate a ministry to thousands of people who all have unique needs and wants. We need to be praying for our pastors and leaders.