Disney Church?

Yesterday, along with some 3000 of my closest friends, I went to First Baptist Church, Orlando.  It has been described by some as the church that Disney built.  When Walt Disney decided to locate his complex outside of Orlando, First Baptist was a typical First Church in a sleepy Florida town.

After Disney located, First relocated.  The church moved from its downtown location to a spot half-way between Orlando and the Disney property.  Under the leadership of Jim Henry, the church began to swell as the years passed.  As Disney raised the bar of expectation for public presentation and Disney people raised the level of technical proficiency, First Orlando was on the way to mega-church status.

Today, First Orlando has a campus that would be the envy of a corporation.  It even has its own school.  The worship center is built to look traditional while at the same time having a place for every modern technology and seating for 5,000 and three Jumbotrons and several monitors.  The sanctuary is so big that there are "A" and "B" welcome centers.  The congregation even has its own traffic light into the entrance of the church.  The church claims a membership of 14,000.

It was an interesting Sunday.

Without question, the service was technically flawless.  From the swirling spots that highlighted the praise singers, the plexi-glass drum hut and the perfect transitions the service showed all the earmarks of a good Disney production.

Although it was not advertised as such, the service may have been directed to seekers as the entire service was very basic in content.  The sermon from Acts 28 was well presented, even if it lacked much depth.  It was a traditional three point one:  1.  God is with you.  2.  Your chains are opportunities.  3.  God's message is unstoppable.  It was a fascinating presentation that included four interviews with church members on the stage, a multi-media map, and the minister being handed chains which he looped around his wrists for part of the sermon.

The people seemed to enjoy the worship if the amount of clapping was any indication.  It seemed to be generally directed towards self-congratulatory statements that highlighted something good that the congregation had done.  And, quite frankly, the congregation seems to be doing a lot of good.  Although the service and message seemed primarily to be about an internalized religious experience, the church seems to be active in a number of innovative ways in the community.  At the Welcome Centers, they even have three computer kiosks where people can search what is going on and how to get involved.

Maybe its just me and my smaller church experiences, but there were a few memorable moments.  When I noticed the three uniformed officers carrying tasers in the foyer for instance.  Or the 7 memorial slabs in the foyer that listed all the members of the military who had died in foreign wars.  The American flag made with the names of the fatalities of 9/11 seemed a bit out of place to me.  The fact that there is no worship order, because I assume that with the screens one is not needed.  The worship team who were all young, thin and good looking--Susan Boyle would not have fit in, and I'm not sure Kate Campbell would have either.

Like I said, it was interesting.