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Visit to Westside Family Church
By jason | June 23, 2008
With the fam out of town last night I loaded up the mini-van with some peeps and we headed over to Westside Family Church in Lenexa to check out the 5pm service, The Well.
After a 45 minute drive we arrived to their mammoth Lenexa campus. While it is a big building it isn’t outlandish. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice facility (that resembles a community center in the main area) but it’s not over-the-top with bells and whistles.
We were a few minutes early so we got to look around and see some of the main areas, including their cafe where they serve PTs (not a big fan, but still a good coffee roaster) with their logo emblazoned on the coffee sleeves (kinda cool).
After seeing someone I know, I needed to hit the restroom. I headed down the hall, saw the sign on the wall above the restroom and made a hard left in. This is where I entered into my worst nightmare.
As I walked in I noticed a wall of stalls. Thinking I just passed the urinals I stepped into a stall. There I saw the tp holder and then the throw-your-nastiness-away-don’t-flush-it-down box. That’s when I realized I was in the women’s restroom! Hastily I exited excusing myself to the 2 ladies who just walked in.
In my defense:
- The edge of the corner was blocking the “wo-,” so clearly this was an architectural error on their part, not mine.
- There was no picture by the sign. I need to see the little dude.
- When I entered the restroom I was completely distracted by the huge bowl of wintogreen mints sitting on the counter (everyone knows these are the best mints in the world).
So after relaying that story to everyone and having them laugh at me thoroughly we entered the service.
I was surprised at how sparsely attended it was. This is labeled as their “most edgy” service and I was expecting to see the place packed with young 20-somethings. Don’t get me wrong, there were probably a few hundred people there, but huge blocks of chairs were empty. (It was probably just an odd weekend for them.)
The music began with some very upbeat tunes (Robbie Seay and Steve Fee). They had a little interlude with some kids from VBS singing followed with a couple of last musical worship tunes (written by them?).
Then Dan Southerland spoke from Jonah chapter 3. I have only heard Southerland speak a few of times online, he is a very good communicator. He had great illustrations that went well with the teaching. He did a really good job.
I noticed immediately upon receiving their bulletin that we aren’t the only ones who are utilizing LifeChurch’s open source site as they were using video and graphics from LifeChurch’s Jonah series. I couldn’t, however, see if they were utilizing the teaching outline from LifeChurch.
After the service we hit Old Chicago for some pizza (not as good as I remembered it to be…the Dish in Liberty is still tops for best Chi-town pizza in KC) and discussed the service.
It was a good experience. WFC is doing some great things in the city. They are a multi-site church that is having some significant influence on the KS side - everyone knows Jayhawks need Jesus desperately.
Glad I went. Would definitely like to learn more about how they’re doing what they do.
Quote of the night: “Did you just call me by my dinner?”
Topics: Leadership, Update, Worship Experience |
June 30th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Jason,
WOW! Thanks for the write-up about your experience while visiting Westside. It is awesome to hear the viewpoint of a visitor. I’d love to talk to you any time about questions you might have about our Church and what we’re all about. As well as who you are!
Blessings to you.
Crystal Renaud
Communications Associate
Westside Family Church
PS. We are in the process of changing how the restroom signage looks.
You’re not the first one that has happened to!
July 6th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Nothing short of amazing that you had a great experience at Westside considering that I was speaking! LOL!
Thanks for the kind words. The restroom report is too funny.
LifeChurch was the source of much of the graphics and art work ideas. I did not use their outline - but would have if I had been thinking. Randy Coleman (from the staff at LifeChurch)speaks at Westside regularly and has been a great blessing to the church.
Keep up the good work!
Dan Southerland
Teaching Pastor
Next Level Church, Charlotte
Westside Family Church, Lenexa
Church by the Glades, Fort Lauderdale