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… I didn’t know where else to put this, here’s a short video of the light, sound, and decoration’s display at our home this Christmas. Perhaps sometime I’ll figure out how to marry the music that’s playing in the front yard (with many thanks to our tolerant neighbors) to some sort of sound quality. But for now, you’ll get the idea.

Outside, we have 11 dancing trees, 7 blow-ups, 8 old-fashioned blow-mold figures, 10 lighted candy canes, 15 penguins lining the driveway, 2 manger scenes, and about 2500 LED lights outlining the house, windows, yard, and bushes.

Inside, we have 18 decorated Christmas trees (many decorated to themes) and every room has been transformed into a Christmas wonderland – with lots of thanks to the family for helping and especially Kris (my wife) who takes a week off from her denominational job every year following Thanksgiving so she can decorate.

Open house is Dec 12 from 11-2, so if you’re in the Columbia, Missouri area, please drop by and tour the house, eat some of the Christmas cookies the children are busy baking and decorating, and drink some Christmas punch. 308 West Blvd. N., Columbia, MO 65203.


Click to Watch!

This post comes from my Editor’s Foreward in the Nov-Dec issue of Net Results, North America’s most enduring and trusted church growth and evangelism magazine (for which I’m the managing editor). You can check out the whole issue at www.NetResults.org.

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The following account is a compilation of four or five church visits. It takes the best from each of the churches and creates what I can only call a Christmas vision.

It was Christmas Eve and we were new to town. Our family’s tradition is to attend an early Christmas Eve worship service with our children and return home for a late dinner. We’d seen a likely church a couple of miles away. Although it was further than we really liked, their sign gave us all the Christmas services information we needed. Many other churches used their sign to remind us that Jesus is the reason for the season or to wish us a Christmas filled with peace.

The “Family Friendly” service was scheduled at six o’clock, which was earlier than our usual experience, but we were excited that we would able to start our kids to bed at a reasonable hour for a change. Even though it was early, it was getting dark when we pulled into the parking lot. At each entrance we could see a “Shepherd” in full regalia with an orange safety flashlight waving us in and directing us to an open parking space near the front of the church. I noticed other cars being directed to the “back parking lot.” I later learned that as church members entered the lot they would dip their headlights in order to be directed to the membership lot – at the farthest reaches of the property so that guests could park in the “best” parking places.

As we got out of the car, we heard caroling and we noticed a strolling quartet of carolers in Victorian costume singing nearby. A young woman wearing a green elf hat was with them and as they continued to sing, she welcomed us conversationally and asked if we needed any help getting our children to the worship center. We didn’t need help, so she pointed out the open doors to the church and let us know there were light refreshments just inside the doors. We couldn’t help but notice that there were other elf hatted greeters both in the parking lot as well as at the doors.

We entered the entry hall and were well greeted and directed to the refreshment table where there were healthy snacks of apple slices, carrots, both warm apple cider, cold apple juice, and of course coffee and tea. One of the door greeters handed me a sealed envelope that was labeled For Parent’s Eyes Only. On the back was a cryptic message saying the envelope should be opened before the service ended and without child-presence. While my wife took the children to the refreshment table and then to check out the Make an Ornament station (where the kids had their digital picture taken, printed, and they pasted it in a frame they’d decorated with felt pens, glue, and bobbles), I opened the envelope. Inside was a contact card that asked for our name, address, number in the household, as well as an instruction card. The instructions said that within an hour following the service, Christmas Magi would stop by the house and drop off a Christmas gift for the family. It said the Magi would leave the gift at the front of the door and ring the doorbell. They would then make a hasty retreat so the children could find the gift on the doorsteps from the Christmas Magi. The card let us know the gift would include home-baked bread and a pot of local honey. I filled out the contact card and handed it to one of the elf hatted greeters (per the instructions) and we made our way to the worship center.

A cheery usher met us at the door and asked if we had a seating preference. Like most guests, I suppose, we preferred as far back as possible and we were escorted to a row in the back third of the church and were given a glossy, four-color program as we were seated. I noticed the front of the church was filling up, which in my experience was strange. Again, I learned later that members had opted to sit in the front of the church so guests could sit in the “premium” seats.

Before the service began, we were greeted by one of the members who introduced himself as Robert. We chatted for a couple of minutes and he asked about the family, our careers, and interests. He shared just a bit about the church and a small group that was starting in the new year that matched our interests. Then he excused himself and I noticed him having a conversation with another couple across the aisle. That made me look around and I saw a number of these conversations going on across the room as members left their seats to chat with folks that they’d just met.

As the service began, all of the children between two and twelve were invited to be a part of an impromptu Christmas Pageant if they wanted to. Shepherd costumed youth wandered the aisles and invited the children to follow them, but there was no pressure. No cajoling. Our younger children were game and followed like a flock of lambs. The service began with a round of Christmas carols and was followed by a hearty welcome from the pastor. Barely ten minutes had passed from the opening of the service, but as the pastor finished his welcome, he introduced the impromptu children’s pageant. The kids were wearing very basic costumes. Some wore oversized robes with a towel tied around their heads like scarves. Some wore robes and crowns from a local burger place. Others wore headbands with sheep ears, donkey ears, piggy noses, and so on. The Christmas story was read from the Bible from the Message version (with Luke’s and Matthew’s versions strung together), and the children acted it out while being shepherded by youth. There were a couple of digital photographers snapping photos and the program told us we would receive photos of the kids in action in the mail in a week or two (we got an 8×10 of each of our children posed in front of a manger scene that must have been in the costuming area) and a group photo of the kids in action at the front of the church.

After the Christmas Pageant, the kids rushed back to their seats while the pastor told us about their upcoming children’s worship themes. It turns out their Children Worship Too program has multiple-week series that correspond with the adult worship themes. The congregation was led through a couple more Christmas carols and then, using a clip from A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus recited the Christmas story from Luke. This led to a very short sermon that even the children could follow. The title was Making Memories, which was really an introduction to the upcoming sermon series they called Putting Fun Into Dysfunctional Families: Making the Best of Reality that was to begin the following week (rather than the first week of the new year). They ran a faux “reality show” video clip to introduce the series and bring the sermon to an end. All total, the sermon time must have been no longer than ten minutes and the children stayed with the pastor’s words from start to finish. Then we sang a couple more carols and one of the Shepherds prayed for us to have a memory filled and Christ focused Christmas.

We’re typically the first ones out the door when we visit a church in a new town, and generally we “escape” without so much as a good-bye, but every elf-hatted greeter we met coming in was apparently in place before the closing prayer and we were bid merry Christmas, thanks for coming, and hope to see you next Sunday. In the parking lot, the strolling Victorian carolers were making their rounds and the flashlight bearing shepherds were out in force to point the way out. Again, we found out later than members had been asked to hang back so that visitors could exit the parking lot first.

That evening, as promised, within an hour of returning home the doorbell rang and our children sprang to the door, as children often do. When they opened the door, there was a wrapped gift sitting on the steps and with great delight the children spied two Magi disappearing down our driveway.

The gift box had a loaf of homemade bread, honey in a jar, and a small honey pot that had the logo and contact information for the church imprinted on it. There was also a brochure about the ministries of the church, a commercial CD with Christmas carols on it, and a Christmas card hand-signed by the pastor with a church information magnet enclosed.

A Christmas dream of fantasy sugar plums? Hardly. Every part of this vision is being acted out in churches we’ve attended, worked with, or were associated with over the years. Put it all together and you have a service that will move, touch, and inspire your guests – and I’ll go out on a limb and predict that a pretty good number of them would show up again over the following weeks.

This month’s issue is chock full of ideas to help you lead your church through the holyday season and into next year. And though every article is simply fabulous, please don’t miss the Aha! comment on page 32 with Tom Bandy. His “Christmas Clergy Depression” is one that every church member needs to read and contemplate – for the sake of the church. (subscribe at www.NetResults.org)

Every time I pick up a mainline hymnal that was printed anytime after 1990 I get just a little bit disgusted. In an effort to save our sensibilities and to be as politically/theologically “correct” as possible, many of the old hyms were lyrically changed. Now, I’m all for inclusive language and all that, but I find myself bemused as I flip through the hymns and see the ones that were “tampered” with and the ones that were somehow seen as too “holy” or something to mess with. I’m not going into the specifics here, but I say all that to say this …

On Sunday, I was at a church where we sang out of one of those “mainline” hymnals. It’s Advent time, so churches all across the world are singing Christmas carols. We sang some of the good ol’ ones like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” that suffered only a modest molestation in the transition to the “new” hymnal. But then we sang “What Child is This.” Now, one would think that the hymnal committee would at least be moderately interested in transitioning ancient lyrics not only for the sake of political correctness, but for understanding’s sake as well. I mean, with less than 17 percent of the USAmerican public in church last week – and that number is shrinking as each year goes by – one would think that communicating the gospel would be a critical decision.

One would be wrong. Really, really wrong. Which, of course, is just another reflection of why the mainline is losing members and attendees faster than any other block of churches. As a rule, we’re less concerned about being relevant and more concerned about maintaining tradition (Matthew 15:3 comes immediately to mind).

And so, the “offending” lyrics? For a moment, put away your churchese and try and put yourself in the shoes of an unconnected first-time guest who will be showing up on your doorstep for his/her annual pilgrimage to the church. They’re hoping to find hope in the church, though only sort of, because they’ve made this trek many years in the past and have gone away with “nice” and “sweet” and “cute” and sometimes even “moving” year, after year – but hope and life giving? Not so much.

And so the service starts with the typical carols. “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “The First Noel” go by without incident. And then “What Child is This” gets going, and there, on the Big Screen – projected for all to see are these magical, mystical, moving lyrics:

“Why lies he in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding?”

What do you think when you read those words? My wife’s first thoughts were, “Sounds like a lot of churches I know.” I didn’t want to admit it, but that’s what went through my mind too. Of course, that’s not necessarily what an unchurched person might think, but I suspect confusion and maybe even bewilderment might be their first reaction if they were cognizant enough to be following the lyrics.

This year, as you finalize plans for your Christmas Eve service, keep in mind that what passes as tradition for you and me, may well pass for a “Huh?” moment in the minds of your unconnected guests. Plan and read and produce carefully. Remember, you may only get one shot at sharing the gospel with a lot of unconnected people this year. Choose even your hymns with that in mind.

Imagine finishing your meal at the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant. The server brings you the bill and snuggled up against it is a very special Fortune Cookie. I say it’s special because this time it’s going to accurately predict the future. With great anticipation you break open the cookie and eat it completely before you read it – that’s the house rule for making sure the fortune comes true – and then you uncoil the paper to read,

“Very soon your church will have a worship service and that will host the most unchurched guests for the year …”

You smile with anticipation and as you get ready to pay your bill, you notice that new words begin to appear on the Fortune Cookie’s strip of good news. You unfold it one more time and watch as the rest of the fortune fades in

“… and you will likely squander the opportunity.”

That Fortune Cookie accurately predicts a truth that will be manifest itself on December 24th in churches across the US. Although most pastors are aware that the Christmas Eve service will be one of the two largest worship services of the year, they fail to realize that it will also be the one service of the year they can expect a large number of the unconnected.

In today’s secular world, if a coworker casually mentions that they’re going to attend church on any given Sunday, someone is bound to ask incredulously “Why would you go to church?” Church going is not a particularly savvy thing to do, especially if you’re not already a practicing church goer. But something almost magical and significant occurs during the season of Advent. It somehow becomes politically correct, or at least not incorrect, to drop into church on Christmas Eve. There’s still enough of a national ethos to allow for a one-time pass to church. So if that same coworker announces they’re going to a Christmas Eve service, no one in the office will so much as blink. They might even invite themselves!

But how does the church respond to the one opportunity to really reach out and touch someone who’s unconnected with Jesus and the church? We sing carols. We read scripture (typically from the Good News for Modern Man of 1611 version). The pastor might say a few words, but if s/he does, they’re often laced with sentimentality and lacks any relevance to life’s burning questions. We light a candle, sing Silent Night and go home.

Did I mention that we almost never even bother to try and use the “Pew Pads” or “Friendship Rosters”? We not only allow the unconnected leave with their needs unmet, we endorse and encourage their anonymity.

Great leaders of growing churches recognize Christmas Eve as the best opportunity to connect with the unconnected and they move heaven and earth to ensure they do. They unapologetically create a worship service that’s more meaningful to the unconnected than it is to the well-churched. They ensure there’s a hand-off, an invitation to a near-future event that’s been designed to both pique the interest and meet the needs of the unconnected (like a sermon series or a seminar on Undoing Devastating Debt or Reviving Relationships). They get the guest’s names and contact information. They follow-up with a meaningful Christmas Eve gift (within two hours of their Christmas Eve attendance) even if it is inconvenient for us Christians to do so … remember, this is not about us – it’s about those unconnected with Jesus. They do whatever it takes to capitalize on the opportunity to reach the unconnected. They take Paul’s words to the Colossians seriously: “Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity” (4:5).

And so, you’ve just unwrapped your Fortune Cookie. What are you going to do about it this year?