Interview: 'Theater Church' Pastor on Positive Church Buzz, Creative Inflation
Friday, Jun. 29, 2007 Posted: 4:13:26PM EST
WASHINGTON - Coming out of the first day of the second annual Buzz Conference and a showing of the top ten sermon trailers, sermon illustrations, and other short movie clips produced by churches across the nation, Pastor Mark Batterson of National Community Church found himself amid some Hollywood-caliber creativity.
Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., hosts the second annual Buzz Conference.
Less stressed than when hosting last year’s first ever Buzz Conference, Batterson drew a sold-out crowd this year with around 260 pastors converging for a casual recline on leather seats inside Union Station’s movie theater to hear some of the most innovative church leaders in the nation.
And the pastors were all looking for ways for their churches to create an impacting “buzz” in their communities.
The following are excerpts from Batterson’s interview with The Christian Post on Thursday:
CP: What would you say the buzz about the Church is right now - not in the media, but in the America public?
Batterson: I think there are a lot of mixed reviews. Let’s be honest with each other, the Church has a little bit of a perception problem and I think part of it is media and part of it’s the Church. I think the big issue is the Church is more known for what it’s against than what it’s for. And I think to change our perception we have to live out the reality of what we believe and I think a couple of the ways we do that is with the spirit of humility which is serving our communities and blessing our communities and just showing the love of Christ .To me it’s always about going back to the most basic, simple principles. Jesus told us to love our neighbor. And if you love your neighbor, then you change their perception of who you are.
CP: A Gallup poll recently came out saying Americans’ confidence in the Church and organized religion is reaching an all-time low. Why do you think that is?
Batterson: I would say that it’s because organized religion is organized and it’s religious. And what Jesus was about was inviting people to follow him on a spiritual journey and that’s a little different deal. I don’t think people are looking for religion. I think they’re looking for God. And unfortunately, they can’t always find God in religion and so I think the Church has to find ways to incarnate the truth so that people can hear the Good News in a language they understand.
CP: What “category,” if you will, does your church fall under?
Batterson: We’re a mix; we’re sort of one of those emerging churches. I mean we’re reaching emerging generations but the funny thing is, I don’t really like labels because labels tend to come with stereotypes. Personally, I’m kind of a denominational mut. I come from seven different church backgrounds growing up. But I think the Lord’s used that in my life to see that nobody has a corner on the Truth, but each of those expressions are kind of one dimension of who God is and if we could learn from each other and love each other, I think we’d be a lot better off than focusing on our differences.
CP: There was an interesting question posed by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. He asked: “How do you stay relevant when people can entertain themselves?” So, how do churches stay relevant when people can entertain themselves?
