"The debates between hymns and choruses, choirs and drums, contemporary or traditional completely miss the point. It reveals a sickness in the American church that must be cured. We have divorced worship from justice and obedience, and we often substitute slick, planned-to-the-minute song lists that are poor alternatives to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.....Worship is not only what happens when we are singing in church. Our likes and dislikes take the place of radical engagement with God, His community, and His world. Because of this, people are now more concerned with being fed in worship (and teaching) than in encountering the living God and honoring Him in any way they can."
"Instead of focusing the best of our resources on creating an enriching, entertaining, and moving weekend experience, we must readjust our time and efforts to leaving, sending, and incarnating in the world around us."
"Are we becoming more and more the kind of people where God is free to unleash beauty and joy and peace and healing and forgiveness? Are you more free than you were six months ago? Or are you more bound? Are you praising God more than you were six months ago-are you finding yourself bursting out with spontaneous awe more now? Are we becoming like Jesus?"
"We have to have programs and ministries and budgets and leaders (though even that statement is debatable). But are they the focus, or is the presence of Jesus the focus? Under the incarnational understanding of the church, one doesn't go to church, one is the church. Is the building special? Not at all. (Our church) meets in a bar, in a warehouse, and in dorms, shops, and homes all across southern California. The building is just the place where the church gathers, but it isn't the church."
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