Rock 'n' Roll Church ...

Every rock 'n' roll preacher needs a rock 'n' roll church. This year, I had the privilege of meeting Sara Chappel, a Toronto journalist, over the phone. (Check out Sara's work on FaithWriters.com.) When Sara and I talked, she was trying to get a handle on the church in Canada. I told her the Central Baptist story. Here's what she took from our conversation.

Greg Glatz has written much of his doctoral dissertation and most of his sermons at a Winnipeg Starbucks, where the staff know him and, unbidden, keep him caffeinated as he taps away at his laptop and chats on his cell phone. Today, he’s hunkered down in the coffee shop against a brutal cold-snap that’s left Winnipeg ice-bound in -40 degree weather. His latte and his cell phone are both within arm’s reach, and he trades back and forth between them with an ease that’s almost hypnotic.

Glatz is the pastor – or “guru,” as he’s described on the church’s website – at Central Baptist Church, a “micro church with a mega mission” in Winnipeg. He sees nothing unusual in the image of a minister writing in a Starbucks, rather than in a dusty study surrounded by equally dusty academic tomes. In fact, it’s a perfect illustration of the kind of church he hopes to create, and the kind of church he thinks will survive an age of increasingly individualized religion. “We need to get out of our doors and into the world, which is where Jesus sent us,” he says. “I’m tired of people defining church by one hour on a Sunday morning.” So the church closes its doors on some Sunday mornings, to enable its members to go into the world and participate in community activities like charity walk-a-thons. Many of the activities of the church focus on meeting in coffee shops, or at blues concerts – anywhere other than the traditional pews n’ pulpit.

Glatz says his style of ministry is designed for “post modern pilgrims” – people disenchanted with the finger wagging and “thou shalt nots” of traditional organized religion. Church-goers – especially those with no previous religious background – “don’t want to be told what to believe and what they can’t believe. They don’t want to be dogmatized. They’re looking for guides and gurus.” To that end, he focuses on helping people experience the divine, rather than prescribing rules and beliefs. For Glatz, this “experiential” approach involves one of his twelve guitars and the church’s in-house band. It also means he uses contemporary phrases and imagery to bring Christianity closer to his congregants; one of his sermons about communion – written at Starbucks – was called “Bite Me.” Not surprisingly, many of Glatz’s parishioners are “refugees,” as Glatz calls them, from more traditional congregations, and many have no church background at all.

Glatz’s church is small, even by modern standards, although, since he’s been pastor, it’s doubled in size and is holding strong. He has a regular crowd on Sundays of about 60 people, and, although he’d like his congregation to be a little bigger – say, 85 or so – he’s perfectly happy with his small-but-strong congregation. In fact, he sees the mega church movement – congregations in the thousands, stadium seating, and massive television presence – as a dead end. “Mega is dead,” he says flatly. “Gen-Y’s – 20-somethings – aren’t finding what they want in those churches. They want house churches, coffee shops. As a rule, those churches are losing a whole generation. We’re going to have a whole lot of white elephant buildings sitting around in 10-20 years.” Although he’d welcome the extra revenue that more parishioners would bring in, Glatz’s overarching desire to build real connections between real humans means that the mega church model is completely inappropriate to his mission. For Glatz, the future of the church lies in being able to take the church into the world to make connections with people, many of whom only have the dimmest idea of what church actually means, and many of whom want to make their own decisions about what to believe.

My thanks to Sara for feeling our vibe.

Formerly ain't the same as has been ...

My new Pontiac has a factory-installed XM satellite radio ... along with a 90-day free trial. XM radio is cool for a lot of reasons: the music is commercial-free, the stations stay with you wherever you travel (even the backroads of rural Saskatchewan), and most of the 120 XM radio channels play music that commercial radio won't touch. Good music. Music you can't hear anywhere else. Music worth hearing.

One night, I was heading home down Portage Avenue listening to Bluesville -- channel 74 on the XM radio dial. A song began with a haunting electric guitar riff, followed by a female voice singing out the opening lines, "I got trouble, trouble up around every bend". This was real gritty blues about a momma who's got to do what it takes to get by. The song built up in intensity with every verse, then launched into a gospel-style chorus. Slide guitar, B3 organ riffs, and thumping bass lines with a touch of growl laid out an eerie, but compelling, groove. Then, midway through the song, some subtle Tele-style licks. I was hooked. (Check out this excerpt and listen for yourself.)

My XM radio display showed that I was listening to Freedom by Alice Stuart and The Formerlys. (You can download a full version of the tune from iTunes.) When I got home to my computer, I looked her up. As it turns out, Alice Stuart is a well-established artist. In the 1960's/70's, she had a successful career as a singer, songwriter, and guitar picker (including a stint with Frank Zappa and the Mothers). That's Alice in the picture at the top of this post ... back in 1970 or so!

However, the Alice Stuart song I heard on my XM radio wasn't an old track. Freedom was the title track of Stuart's brand new album released this summer. (See the Freedom album cover below, where Alice Stuart is rockin' out in her bright blue high-tops.) She took some time off in the 1980's/90's to raise a family, but she's back. And she's better than ever. Her voice isn't as pure and sweet as it was on her 1964 release All the Good Times or 1970's Full Time Woman, but she's got way more soul, a great guitar sound, and the accolades to prove it. Alice Stuart and The Formerlys won The Seattle Weekly award for Best Blues Band in 2004 and Best Guitarist in 2005, and were again chosen Best Blues Band in 2006. The band was also honored by the Washington Blues Society as the Best New/Reformed Band for 2006 and Stuart was given the award for Best Songwriter in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Alice Stuart might be old enough to get the senior's discount at Safeway, but this lady can rock!



Too many people think getting older is the same as being washed up. Artists like Alice Stuart, B.B. King, Tony Bennet, and The Rolling Stones are blowing that misconception out of the water, but it's a misconception that dies hard. It's been around since the beginning of time. I've been rummaging around the book of Genesis this month, where I recently revisited this story from the lives of Abraham and Sarah, two senior citizens who thought their best years were behind them:

Genesis 18.9-14
‘I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.’

Sarah thought she was old and washed up, but she only got the first half right ... which meant she got it all wrong. Old isn't washed up. It's vintage. It's mileage. It's pedigree born of experience. Sarah needed a little Alice Stuart spirit in her life. She needed to ask the same thing the Lord asked out loud: Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? That's a question we need to ask each and every time we come up against our own self-imposed limitations: Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? What a difference when we start thinking in terms of what God can do, rather than what we can't do.

Incidentally, Alice Stuart originally recorded Freedom way back in 1970. Not a bad song back then, but more than three decades later, she's topped herself with a fresher, funkier version. This formerly famous artist ain't no has been. (Need more proof? Check out her 2002 version of Big Boss Man. Go momma!)

Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?