>>That should send some chills up the spines of any unsaved visitors.<<
What better thing for them to hear than:
"...and sinners plunged beneath that flood,
loose all their guilty stains"?
Versus
"We love you Lord, we love you, we love you" x12
Considering that you can't love the Lord properly unless your sins have been washed away.
See, that's the whole thing right there - I've been to the seeker churches, I've sat in on the sermons, and ALL of what I've heard has been the very simple message of "Trust in Jesus". Now, while that phrase is very sound for the believer, it does nothing to the unsaved, who doesn't know WHY he needs to trust Jesus, nor what he's being saved FROM.
The sermons I heard only spoke of calling on Jesus in times of need - like He's some sort of ATM. No mention of sin, no mention of the vileness that seperates us from God, no mention of the weight of our iniquities - just luv luv luv huggy huggy luv luv cotton candy theology.
Do you see what I'm saying? If the message is, "You're ok, but Jesus can make you better!", then why should the unsaved listen to anything beyond hearing that he's ok? If he's ok, why does he need to be any better?
People need to be convicted of their sin, not smokescreened with spiritual Similac.
>>Is your church in a rural area surrounded by cornfields?<<
No, it's about a half-mile from a huge industrial park. Why do you ask?
You need to get out more.
You mean like Marilyn Hickey's "Happy Church"?
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/fridaynews/fridaynews030829.html
BEWARE OF MARILYN HICKEY. Friday Church News Notes, August 29, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org, http://www.wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Marilyn Hickey, the co-pastor of Happy Church in Denver, Colorado, is one of the most influential women charismatic leaders. She teaches the unscriptural and dangerous Word-Faith message. She claims that it is “always God’s will to heal” (Hickey’s ministry paper, Dec. 1988). She claims that sicknesses are “demon spirits” and that God never uses sickness or poverty to chasten believers (Marilyn Hickey Show, Oct. 1, 1998; Charisma, May 1991). She says: “What do you need? Start creating it. Start speaking about it. Start speaking it into being. Speak to your billfold. Say, ‘You big, thick billfold full of money.’ Speak to your checkbook. Say, ‘You, checkbook, you. You’ve never been so prosperous since I owned you. You’re just jammed full of money’ ... Say to your body, ‘You’re whole, body! Why, you just function so beautifully and so well. Why, body, you never have any problems. You’re a strong, healthy body.’ Or speak to your leg, or speak to your foot, or speak to your neck, or speak to your back; and once you have spoken and believe that you have received, and don’t go back on it. Speak to your wife, speak to your husband, speak to your circumstances; and speak faith to them to create in them and God will create what you are speaking” (Hickey, Claim Your Miracles, audiotape #186).