(What I took away from three consecutive Sundays at Church of the Highlands)
Highlands is a good church. It’s probably a great church, in many ways. My son, daughter-in-law and now baby granddaughter attend there, and my son plays bass as part of the worship band rotation. I wanted to preface my observations with those statements because I do not want my random thoughts to be misconstrued as criticism, other than as constructive critique.
My thoughts, in no particular order:
• Highlands has grown rapidly and attracted so many people because of a lot of things, including an attitude of excellence, but I attribute it to (a) the worship music — Justin Bradshaw, John Larson, John Mark Dorough and the rest — is great, and (b) the church is committed to prayer. The twice-a-year 21 days of prayer is impressive.
• Chris Hodges is personable, self-effacing and genuine. He comes across as a guy I would enjoy hanging out with, without all the rock-star trappings of some mega-church pastors. I like him.
• At every service I have attended there I seem to recall some statements made to newcomers unaccustomed to expressive worship and contemporary music. While I understand, perhaps, the rationale, I think COTH is past the point where they need to explain, and it almost comes across as an apology sometimes. COTH has nothing to explain, and certainly nothing for which they must apologize.
• The coffee stations are wonderful. As the pastor of a casual church, I appreciate the welcoming nature of that gesture.
• I learned on a previous visit to Highlands the impression made by having well-stocked, clean restrooms with quality products used. It inspired me to recruit a wonderful volunteer who makes our own public school restrooms a hospitality plus, even adding seasonal decorative touches!
• A negative: perhaps it is just a characteristic of rapidly growing mega-churches, but during these three services I recently attended, and the total of maybe ten visits to COTH, not one single person other than the door greeters has ever spoken to me… nobody has approached me in the lobby to introduce themselves, nobody before or after church has walked over and said, “Hi… I’m ____ . Don’t think I’ve seen you here before. Glad you’re here!” (Just sayin’…)
• I had a surprise on a previous trip; I attended a summer evening baptism (wonderful) on the Grant’s Mill campus, at which ice cream treats and soft drinks were served free to the large crowd. When I asked where I could find the recycle bin for my empty can I was greeted by a blank stare, as if that was a question that had never been asked. I would expect Highlands, with a largely upper-middle-class and professional constituency to be setting the example in stewardship of the earth, or — at the very least — selling the aluminum and using the funds for a good cause.
• I wish I could connect COTH with Compassion International. The number of children who could be sponsored out of that church would be incredible.
• The back row bleacher seats? Spectator area. The people we usually go with on our visits like to sit on the back row, but I was itching to sit in the front section on the floor where the sound mix is a little better, and the active worshippers are engaged. That’s not Highlands’ problem, just an observation.
• I greatly appreciate the absence of lasers and hazers and rock concert pyrotechnics at COTH. The use of staging and lighting is subtle and does not distract from worship. My experience with some other mega-churches has been that they are overly produced and there is way too much show biz. Highlands does a great job of keeping the main thing the main thing.
• This is a large church with a small church heart. On a previous visit I observed a promo video I wanted to show to my tech team. I called the church, asked for the creative team, spoke to a wonderful woman who sent me a link to obtain the video and made it clear that Highlands has no circle-the-wagons and protect our turf attitude.
• I am aware of the complex issues of copyright laws and broadcast restrictions… and I hate them. The worship music at Highlands is excellent, including the original songs, and should be shared far and wide as a gift to the Body of Christ. There should be exceptions and exemptions for the broadcast/webcast of worship services so the musical portion could be included.
• If I lived in the area immediately surrounding the church I’d probably not like them very much. The traffic is overwhelming and the access roads are totally inadequate for the flow of vehicles.
• In order to do back-to-back services and move large crowds in and out effectively, as well as live multi-cast to other campus remote locations it is necessary to at least somewhat run things by the clock, but COTH does a great job of concealing the stopwatch effect. The music is programmed and click-track precise, but it never feels that way. The teaching, likewise, never feels rushed or stretched to fit a time constraint. That is, I suspect, the result of experience and a lot of adjustment over the years. (I would love to have an in-ear and listen to the cues during a service.)
I am not a mega-church guy. I love the smaller church familial and relational closeness, but I applaud large churches like Highlands who have grown large without growing arrogant.
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