smaller than our website gives us credit for

Listening to John Mayer this morning and thinking about a comment from a guest at The Journey this weekend.

The comment was that we look organized and high energy on our website but there weren't nearly as many people there as he was expecting. Granted, this guy visited after having been part of a big ministry somewhere. I totally understand his comment. I wish we were bigger than what our website gives us credit for.

Some say you shouldn't portray something you're not. I agree. That's lying. Since I wanted to make sure we were being ethical in our advertising, I went back and read through our website. We don't misrepresent anything. The fact is, we all interpret things through a predetermined filter of experience, personality, and current emotional milieu...among other things. Case in point; another visitor within the last couple of weeks (that usually attends a well-known megachurch) said that our children's ministry was really organized considering we were a church plant. It's all about perspective.

Our philosophy about how we present ourselves is this: Just because we're a church plant doesn't mean we have to look crappy. You can be high quality and small. I was talking to an advertising executive this past week. He does stuff for Nintendo, Remax, Fisher Price, Hasbro, and Sony, etc. He told me that our website was way above average for a church of any size. I got warm fuzzies all over after he told me that.

Back to the guy that visited this week...

The guy said that he felt like everything that happened at The Journey Church this Sunday was made specifically for him...the worship, the message, and the people. That tells me two things: 1) The guy was looking for God to speak to Him. 2) The Journey is listening to God. I think this time smaller was very good.

A side note to end on: John Mayer is an incredible songwriter and musician.