Mars Hill Church opened their sixth campus in a former night club in downtown Seattle this past weekend.

"The new interior eschews traditional stained-glass windows and
crosses for a mod-style orange-and-gray color scheme, with lime-green
chairs and a downstairs espresso machine. The remaining go-go dancer’s cage has been converted into a coat hanger. The condom dispenser is now a diaper-changing station."

Check out the rest of the SeattlePI.com article describing the new campus. You can also read more on the Mars Hill Downtown Campus blog.

"There’s nothing sexy here. There’s no rock band, no drop-down
theater-size video screen, no 100-member gospel choir—just a few
chamber musicians and a couple of prayer leaders to help the
congregation along in its hymns. The crowd at Redeemer Presbyterian is
overwhelmingly young, single, professional and—for lack of a better
word—sober."

Check out the rest of the Newsweek article featuring Redeemer Presbyterian and their pastor, Tim Keller. Redeemer was recently selected #20 on the list of America’s Most Innovative Churches of 2008.

I’m a couple of months late to the game on this one. You’ve probably already seen it. In case you haven’t, this is the way to open a church service. Check out this opener from Buckhead Church. Loud music. Lights. Video. Imag. It all makes me happy. Los also has a version with separate Imag footage, a roaming camera shot and an official audio mix. Check it out.

I had the opportunity to hang out at Oak Leaf Church for both their services this morning. The church is located in Cartersville, Georgia about 45 minutes northwest of downtown Atlanta. The Oak Leaf launched only about 14 months ago, and they’re already averaging over 700 in attendance every week. They recently moved from a movie theater in town to one of the high schools in their community so that they have room for future growth. This is an impressive start considering the fact that the church is located in a community of only 20,000 people.

Here are some first impressions of Oak Leaf’s ministry:

• Michael is a great leader and communicator. Today, as an example, he taught several biblical principles on forgiveness. His personality, including his sense of humor, really came through, though, so it was easy for me to relate to his teaching on a topic that can be difficult to understand.
• The music was excellent. Their worship leader is obviously a gifted musician. More than that, though, I really appreciated his presence on the platform. He was there to lead us in worship. Not all gifted musicians are also gifted worship leaders. I loved his laid-back style. He was confident but genuine.
• What really impressed me was the sophistication of the media used during the service. I would not have expected that from a church that’s so new. They made use of three large screens that spanned the width of the stage and two television monitors. The presentation slides and motion graphics helped support both the worship and the message. I also loved the two medias they used to preview the message and to promote the beginning of their next series. I laughed out loud both times.
• Every other part of the experience from the parking lot to the greeters to the children’s ministry was well done. You can tell the Oak Leaf volunteers expect guests to show up every week. They’ve paid attention to the smallest of details. And, I can assure you, my kids are the sharpest critics when it comes to children’s ministry experiences. Oak Leaf is prepared to reach families…and they should be with 200 kids showing up each week.

Here’s my big takeaway from my experience at Oak Leaf–you don’t necessarily have to have a building and a big budget to reach people for Jesus. This church is proving that you can connect with today’s culture with limited resources. In fact, I’d argue it’s in instances like this that leaders really have an opportunity to innovate.

If you’re in the process of planting a church or thinking about it, I’d highly recommend you plan a trip to Cartersville, Georgia. And, if you make the trip, you’ll also want to check out Ambra restaurant in downtown Cartersville. Tell Kelly, the owner and chef, that her friend from Anderson, SC sent you.

A friend of mine recently asked about churches that I’d recommend visiting. Just in case you’re curious, these are the top ten churches I’ve never visited that I’m most intrigued by right now. So, if I’m ever in these areas of the country, don’t be surprised if I pop in to see what’s happening. Here they are in alphabetical order:

• Bay Area Fellowship (Corpus Christi, TX)
• Central Christian Church (Las Vegas, NV)
• Elevation Church (Charlotte, NC)
• Gateway Church (Austin, TX)
• Living Hope Church (Vancouver, WA)
• Mariners Church (Irvine, CA)
• NewSong Church
  (Irvine, CA)
• The People’s Church (Nashville, TN)
• Quest Community Church (Lexington, KY)
• The Rock Church (San Diego, CA)

What other churches would you recommend I visit?

Steven Furtick and the crew at Elevation Church have hit another home run. I’ve been dreaming of an 80’s series for years. Steven’s team actually had the guts to pull it off. Very clever way to communicate the vision of the church. Check out the Steven’s explanation, but make sure you click and watch the video trailer. Makes me want to figure out what I did with that pair of parachute pants.

Last week, I shared a little bit about the project I’m involved in with Outreach magazine. So far, there have been over 40 churches nominated. You can check out the list on the Squidoo lens. (Thank Seth Godin for that.) And, more importantly, go ahead and nominate a church that hasn’t been listed yet.

Once again, I’m going to be partnering with Outreach magazine
to develop the second annual America’s Most Innovative Churches list,
coming in the January/February 2008 issue. We want your help! We want
to hear about the churches YOU think are innovative, the churches, perhaps under our radar, that are doing ministry "out of the
box." What churches are using new strategies and methods in an effort to fulfill the Great Commission by delivering the unchanging Gospel message?

It could be your own church, or a church you admire. Nominate a church 
for consideration by the panel of experts that I will be connecting with in the coming days. They will be compiling a list of 25
churches, both from your nominations and their own research and
experience, that will be featured as America’s Most Innovative Churches
in 2008.

If you’d like to follow along at home, I’ve created a Squidoo lens to track the churches that have been nominated so far. Stay tuned for more details and dialogue. In the mean time, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on this question:

In your opinion, what makes a church innovative?

UPDATE: By the way, you only need to nominate your church one time. This isn’t a vote. The panel will make the final selection.