Sabbatical week 5

Week 5 of sabbatical began what was for me a packed couple of weeks. It began with the District Board of Ministry at our district office in Salem interviewing men and women for ordination in the church. I always enjoy these meetings and look forward to them as these called people of God begin a new chapter in their lives.

Next stop, southern California where the weather was in the 80’s, the highest temperatures in the country.

For Saturday evening church, I visited the campus of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. I had visited the campus years ago, but have never attended a worship service.

It’s a beautiful campus. I had read Pastor Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church years ago as it was required reading for a seminary course, but I have yet the read his best selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

The main worship center. I arrived on the campus about 1:30 pm and was planning to sit in on both the 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm worship services.

Scripture verses etched on the glass of the worship center.

Another side of the worship center.

One of the baptismals outside the worship center.

The worship center at Saddleback Church. Security guard Nick later told me it seats around 3,400 people. You’ll read about security guard Nick in the next picture.

I got up on the platform and took this picture behind the pulpit. As I quickly discovered, I wasn’t supposed to get on the platform, as I was caught on camera and talked to by security guard Nick. I was very apologetic and he was very nice, but in a church of this stature, I imagine security has to be a priority.

Every Saturday around 1:30 pm, 20 - 30 volunteers come to the church to stuff 20,000 – 25,000 bulletins for weekend worship services.

These two ladies on the end were fun to chat with. They were sharing with me that many of these same volunteers also serve by cleaning the bathrooms in between worship services.

And there’s a lot of bathroom to clean.

Bookstore right outside the main worship center.

I ventured out to look around their 170 acre campus. If you get lost, these signs point the way.

This is the children's ministry

Their nursery facility is probably larger than my church building.

They have a couple of these tents around campus that each seat a couple of hundred people, used for various purposes, but primarily, if I understood correctly, they house various worship venues. So if you wanted gospel worship, or rock worship, you would go to the tent of your choosing, then watch the message on a screen projected that was being preached from the main worship center.

Inside one of the tents

As I discovered with security guard Nick, there is security presence on the campus, with most of their security personnel being former police officers.

The newest building at Saddleback is the Refinery, a worship / hang out venue for the high school, twenty something crowd.

Inside the Refinery, where you can grab a bite to eat and hang out

Outside the Refinery they’ve built a skate board park

Or you can play volleyball, this is southern California after all.

Some of the orchestra getting ready for worship.

The guy with the guitar is Rick Muchow, worship leader at Saddleback. We chatted for a bit, very nice guy. The electric guitar player on the end was excellent!

Fresh from his return from Washington D.C. after praying at President Obama’s Inauguration, Pastor Warren was beginning a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. If you heard his prayer at the Inauguration, you know that he concluded with the Lord’s Prayer. He shared that the primary reason he did so was because as he researched past inaugural prayers, never before in our nation’s history has the Lord’s Prayer been prayed during a presidential inauguration, and Pastor Warren wanted to make sure that American history recorded the Lord’s Prayer for future generations. Brilliant!

Those of us in attendance the weekend I was there at Saddleback were given a piece of history, this full color, document sized text of the prayer that Pastor Warren prayed at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

Before the 4:30 pm service, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me. I told him I'm a pastor on sabbatical, etc. As it turned out, he knew Pastor Warren personally, and in between services, he introduced me to him and took our picture. Pastor Warren asked me what church I was with and I told him I’m a Nazarene pastor. He told me the very first sermon he ever preached was in a Nazarene church. It was an unexpected surprise to be able to meet and chat with Pastor Warren.

The conclusion of the 6:30 pm worship service.

People milling about outside following the 6:30 pm service.

For Sunday morning worship, I attended Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene.

The service began with children singing songs. The worship time was very good and Pastor Daniels was preaching through a series on Jonah. He is a very gifted preacher.

I chatted a bit with Pastor Daniels following the service and then walked around their campus and bookstore.

The next day I was in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. The day I arrived was the same day the Arizona Cardinals arrived from Tampa after losing the Super Bowl.

I was in Phoenix primarily for a Pastor’s conference at Phoenix First Assembly of God. I hadn’t known much about this church but quickly discovered why this church has and continues to make an impact in the greater Phoenix area.

It’s a huge campus with many facilities and this their main worship center.

I thought this was a great idea, especially for those of us who strongly believe that churches ought to be doing more compassionate work, but as people walk into the worship center, they can very easily drop off their non perishable food items or clothing.

I walked into what is most likely the largest church worship center I’ve ever been in. With the two balconies, this seats around 6,500 people.

The conference began with high energy worship.

With angels flying all around.

And a drummer suspended in mid air.

Pastor Tommy Barnett enthusiastically welcomed us to the Pastor’s conference. I didn’t know much about him before the conference but quickly discovered that this is a man of God who has a passion to see people come to the Lord.

Phoenix First Assembly highlighted their 200 ministries they offer to the church and the community in what they call the Parade of Ministries

Phoenix First Assembly has an extensive ministry of busing in people from all around the Phoenix area to their services, and here Pastor Barnett is introducing us to the “bus kids.”

Pastor Barnett introducing us to former Cardinals pro bowl cornerback and pastor Aeneas Williams.

The guy on the left in the white shirt is Elijah Kelley who was in the movie Hairspray and will be in the upcoming George Lucas movie The Tuskegee Airmen. He has a great testimony and is quite musically talented. On the right is the comedian Sinbad. As a believer, his comedy is free from the vulgarity that is so pervasive today. He did a couple of hilarious stand up, improvisational bits for us. His father was a Baptist minister, so he understands well what ministry is all about.

The guy with the guitar is Coffey Anderson who was a finalist on the show Nashville Star. Very talented guy, even did the whole Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme in one of his gospel songs, the audience loved it. The gal on the left is Paige Adkins, Sinbad’s daughter, a very good singer.

It’s hard to see, but the blonde gal in the middle used to dance for Britney Spears and has since come to Christ and heads the dance team at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. She and Coffey were married on Valentine's Day.

Pastor Barnett’s son Matthew who heads the Dream Center in Los Angeles. He gave an impassioned message on the role of the church today.

Directly behind Phoenix First Assembly and their prayer pavilion is a “mountain” that they refer to as prayer mountain. You can barely see people at the very top.

Beginning the climb up prayer mountain late one afternoon.

The view looking down from the top of prayer mountain.

The top of prayer mountain. It wasn’t Mt. Everest, but it was a fun climb. I didn’t plan it this way, but the sun was setting in the Arizona desert behind me just as the picture was taken.

A mock wrestling match (aren’t they all) with an evangelistic appeal. The man in the dark suit is former NFL defensive end Joe Jackson who played with the Jets and the Vikings in the 1970’s.

Former professional wrestler Ted DiBiase (The Million Dollar Man) who came to faith in Christ in 1992 and has been in evangelism since 2000.

Phoenix First Assembly has a top notch drama ministry and one evening, we were treated to their production of The Bucket List – A Musical Comedy, loosely based on the movie.

It was a funny, heart warming, and moving production with Pastor Barnett giving one of the best altar calls I’ve seen in a long time following the musical.

One evening we were given the opportunity to view the movie Billy, The Early Years of Billy Graham. It was a very good movie, particularly contrasting the paths chosen by Graham and his counterpart Charles Templeton. The two gentlemen are the producers (William Paul McKay, left, and Lawrence Mortorff, right) talking about the making of the movie (not a documentary).

I met many pastors and leaders from around the country and the world. I met one young person from France, formally a Muslim, who was visiting the United States for the first time.

The conference concluded the final evening with hundreds of pastors at the base of prayer mountain singing hymns and in prayer. The building lit in blue is a beautiful prayer pavilion built by the church which is open all the time. It was a great conference!