This weekend I went down to Santa Cruz to visit the church Vintage Faith. The pastor, Dan Kimball, is the author of several good books and an important figure in the world of Emergent Christianity. I’ve been reading his book called Emerging Worship (which has a funny forward by David Crowder) and I’ve really enjoyed it. The church was really cool. It’s a small congregation of about 450 people, but you can’t help but notice the authenticity and passion in the room. They’ve got an amazing coffee shop area where you can get something to drink and then hang out with other people from the church. The décor of the entire place was really amazing. They definitely had that “old world” feel to everything. They were burning incense in the lobby of the church and as you walked in they had tree branches with pink blossoms down the middle aisle attached to the pews… kinda hard to imagine, but trust me it was cool. They had great artwork everywhere and the people seemed really friendly with each other. I got to talk to the worship leader Josh Fox for a while and he seemed like a really cool guy. He did a great job leading worship and I really enjoyed the music. They had the best announcements that I’ve ever heard. I was really impressed. The woman who delivered them was just so enthusiastic and joyful that it made you attentive the whole time. They also took a moment where we all introduced ourselves to the people around us and chatted for a few minutes. Dan gave a great sermon on Jesus as the Good Sheppard, and it was awesome. He has a down to earth style and is very interactive with the congregation. Over all it was a really great experience. This is definitely a church that the world should be watching, because I know that God has great things in store for them.
