Gerry Stoltzfoos, Freedom Valley Woship Center

Right off the bat I appreciate Freedom Valley Worship’s Center’s goal of reaching the unchurched, people who have been hurt by the church, and people who have negative preconceptions about the church and Christians. I think that there is definitely a need for that I think in my opinion. In all the creative outside the box ideas you see from Gerry Stoltzfoos, like the therapeutic horse riding, coffee shop, the band scene and all the other creative ideas that they have done, I think they are all great and are reaching people. I think it’s great that they are not afraid of failure at Freedom Valley. But in all the creative things I heard about what they were doing at the church you can begin to question their motives kind of and wonder if there just trying to be relevant, creative and maybe they have forgot about reaching souls. But then I saw and heard Pastor Gerry’s heart as he shared that it’s not all about the creativity, but it’s about a passion to reach souls that are going to hell. That the creativity part flows out of that desire and that is their main purpose to reach unsaved souls. And you can see and hear that when he talks about it. He stressed that the passion is the key component of evangelism and the creativity just flows out of it. One question I have been thinking about the past couple days as I am becoming more and more interested in church planting and hearing all the statistics and all. That question is what becomes of the churches that are already established, what becomes of them if everyone is being encouraged to start a new church? Are the already established churches forgotten about, it’s apparent that they are not reaching the people that are already solid Christians as the study at Willow Creek has shown. And they are not reaching unsaved people that effectively, according to the statistics. So what becomes their purpose, what are they to do?

Unchurched survey 2

This interview right off the bat brings up the same issue of that with my last interviewer. Before my interviewe, Jim, would respond to my email answering my survey questions. He emailed me and asked me before he would answer my questions if I would be able to listen to his thoughts, beliefs and lifestyles without judging him or think less of him. I guess my first interviewe is the only one who thinks Christians can be judgmental or prideful. Just thought that was ironic, but sad as well. The one thing that got me in this interview was that one asked why do you think most people don't attend church he said "If they are like me , I could say lazy. I would much rather take that hour or two or three and help my fellow man, and I do volunteer to be with and help others. I don't think going to church on Sunday makes one a better Christian, especially, if they act like a jerk the rest of the week. I don't need the show." Well I guess that shows that he thinks were hypocritical. What is happening in most churches when they can go to church weekly, but during the rest of the week be a jerk and a hypocrite. This makes me ask the question, what is the church doing wrong in this matter? Also maybe we aren't representing God and Jesus in the manner that he should be represented and really is. I think that we make Jesus look bad a lot. Maybe this is why so many people have more problems with Christians or the church then they do with Jesus himself. He also brought up a point about wars generally being fought for some religious reason and almost always being fought in the name of God or some religion. I haven't really thought about this until now, but I do see some truth in it. What is it with Christians always having or wanting to fight for their beliefs to be shoved down people's throats?

unchurched survey 1

I found this interview quite refreshing and also upseting at the same time. I interviewed my friend phil who does not regularly attend church accept for a college and career group occasionally. The one thing that he brought up in the interview was about Christians being judgmental and I'v heard this many times and this is a criticism that Christians get a lot and I believe we can be too judgmental a lot of times. But the thing he said was that "Most pastors start off with a tender heart, but develop a bitter condescending attitude over time as they begin to realize their success as a Moral Ruler." I think that this can be true sometimes and can happen when Christians especially pastors give into pride. I find it ironic that one of the main concepts of Christianity, well at least in my opinion, the idead of being humble. Being humble because we can't earn salvation and we can't receive it on our own and this is what we preach. But then as Christians I think one of the biggest things that we struggle with is pride. We can be judgmental sometimes and think that we are better than others just becuase we are saved. And I find this very said. He also shared with me, some of his bad experiences with Christian leaders and counselors, also we being judgmental and being ignorant I would say in the situation that he shared with me. I have been finding the issue of being judgmental as Christians very real and disturbing recently. I have also noticed this in my work, where I work as a banquet server working many events from weddings to business meetings and all. And I notice the people that are rude to me or usually condescending or ignorant are usually the Christian church groups. This problem with pride I think is a big issue for the church and needs to be talked about. I'm not saying that we need to change what we believe or our message but can we go about it in a way that is not prideful, especially if that's what were preaching?

Jason Lamer, Youth Alive

I like a lot of the ideas I see by Jason Lamer and his philosophy to go out into the schools and reach the students there, where they are at. I also like the ideas of his youth ministry and church that he started in the ideas of going along side local community projects and partnering with them. I think sometimes that the church today can miss those concepts of partnering with secular outreaches and programs. I think that youth alive’s ideas are good in their outreaches into school with assemblies and all and how to reach out. I feel that sometimes that while so much emphasis has been put on the outreaches and sometimes I see the Assemblies of God failing at discipleship once the students are in churches and youth groups. I do like the ideas of partnering with other churches in the community in doing these school assemblies and partnering with the schools. It seems like it is a lot easier to get into schools and places that are in the middle of nowhere. In the cities, such as Philadelphia that I have grown up in would not allow churches so easily into schools and have assemblies within the schools. Also a lot of the programs that I see being used seem to be very effective in rural areas, but in the city I have seen these same programs in the city and not very well responded to. I wonder if there are any different approaches in the city or even many of these projects in the city, as I have not seen many of them there. I do really feel for the idea of going to where the people are such as the schools in youth ministry and being able to connect with the community and partner with them.

Brian Bolt

One of the things that I appreaciated the most about Brain is his almost child like faith in believing God so passionately and faithfully. From the beginning of his salvation you could see and hear his passion for the lost and those that have real problems. I love the philosophy of his church with their full reliance on the Holy Spirit and looking for and expecting the supernatural. The belief that these people can have no other help and they need to see the supernatural in a place like that. And also their relization that it's all about God and his power. I think that his experiences have definately helped me in his inner ciry efforts. But you can also see his call by God and his passion for the inner city as well. His idea of having accountability as looking at their tithing is very interesting. I think ideas like that are very good, going back to the idea of where your money will be, their your heart will be also. His reliance on the Lord is incredible and its great to be able to see someone fully rely on God and the power of the Holy Spirit, I think it can be a great lesson for all of us. I appreciate his passion and full reliance on God.