Last Sunday, Pam and I attended The People’s Church in Franklin, Tenn., basically a suburb of Nashville. It was the last thing we did on vacation, before heading home. Just a month before, I had attended the MinistryCOM conference, which was hosted by The People’s Church. I thought it would be neat to actually attend a service there. So we attended the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night, and the next morning attended a Music City church service.

It was a great experience. I loved the service, loved the music, loved the message. But first, let me back up and give you a negative first impression.

We arrived around 8:50, with the service scheduled to start at 9:15. Interestingly, nobody greeted us. Nobody said a word to us. I stood in the lobby for a bit, and I might as well not have existed. I picked up some literature at an information booth, and the lady sitting there said hello, but that’s it.

When we entered the sanctuary at 9:00, only a few people were there. We found a seat toward the front. A few more people gradually filtered in. But by 9:10, the place still seemed rather empty. But the worship team came out at 9:15, we sang a few songs, and suddenly I realized that the place was well-filled with people. And I realized, “That’s the way it works at Anchor—only a few people come early, a bunch of people settle in right at starting time, and they keep coming through the first couple of songs. Why should a Nashville church be any different?”

The worship team, led by Integrity artist Michael Neale, was outstanding. I’d heard the scaled-down version at MinistryCOM; on Sunday, there were seven singers and six instrumentalists. We sang about five songs, and I’m pretty sure we stood the whole time. Neale’s song “More and More” blew me away. Drop what you’re doing (which is, reading this blog), go to the iTunes store, and download that song right now. While you’re at it, do the rest of his album. Good stuff.

Neale introduced the pastor for the sermon. Two large doors on the side of the stage opened, and out he came driving a golf cart. Fast. The new sermon series was titled “Stuff,” and it deals with possessions. The stage was set up elaborately to go along with the theme.

Pastor Rick White gave a superb message. The message was being broadcast to another church site, and to the “chapel” at People’s Church (where a choir provided music–obviously, the “traditional” service). I’d love to hear the rest of the series, because it’s an important topic (the contemporary church, I contend, is blind to how thoroughly it has bought into materialism). Here are the four titles.

• October 21: Who Owns This Stuff (1 Chronicles 29).
• October 28: How are We to Use Our Stuff? (Luke 16).
• November 4: Overcoming the Fear of Losing Our Stuff (2 Corinthians 9).
• November 11: How the People’s Church Uses Our Stuff.

After the offering, Pastor White directed out attention to the baptistry on the side of the sanctuary. A woman, probably a staff minister, introduced and baptized a white woman and a black woman, both coincidentally named Ashley Nicole. Then Pastor White took her place and baptized a young girl. It was neat. Only the baptizees were in the water; the ministers stood behind the water tank, reaching over to dunk the person. It’s always neat seeing baptisms.

The service ended, and we exited the sanctuary. There had been a “greeting time” early in the service, during which Pam and I shook a few hands and got a few “Welcome, glad to have you, blah blah blah.” But beyond that, nobody in the sanctuary said a word to us, and we made it out to our car without anyone saying a word. Strange, very strange. Maybe it’s intentional strategy; I’m not getting bent out of shape about it, because I realize we got only a small snapshot of what I know is a growing, vibrant church. This is a church that’s doing some real good things. Maybe we just caught them on a bad day.

You can watch the service online. The October 21 service is the one we attended. At least listen to the music; Michael Neale is a gifted worship leader. But then, you should also listen to the message. And check out the set decoration.