Juice on the Loose

My mother-in-law was shocked after church this past Sunday.  It had nothing to do with the service we went to, but instead the reaction my wife and I had to it.  We both liked it.  It harkens back to the classic Life cereal commercials where there’s no conceivable way Mikey would like a healthy morning meal, but in disbelief he liked it. 

See, the churches my wife and I have attended in our lives are fairly contemporary.  New music fills the theater-like worship center while churchgoers...

I’ve spent every Sunday this summer away from my home church.  In a departure from Chicago suburban life, I found myself on the shores of Lake Michigan.  My wife and I spend our summer weekends at a small Christian community in southwest Michigan.  More than 150 years ago, it was founded as a retreat for people to spiritually refresh during the summer.  It’s still that way today.  It’s a place where the streets double as sidewalks, the beach is packed on warm afternoons, kids can run safe and...

It’s a long-standing tradition in my life that if I visit a church, there’s an 83 percent chance it will be youth weekend.  You know, that time of year (usually around graduation) when the adults step aside and let the youth take over the service.  There’s always a certain level of awkwardness as teens uncomfortably read the announcements or lead worship while their parents are sneaking up to the front pew to snap a few pictures, which makes their child feel even more awkward.  I’m not saying...

My wife and I recently tagged along with my in-laws to a Sunday service at a popular church in the south suburbs of Chicago.  As I was drinking my free coffee (major bonus points) and walking around the building, my wife pointed out something she saw all around the church: information kiosks.  While it’s not uncommon to see racks of brochures about programs in a church, it was clear to me that this church had made a conscious decision to have them in multiple places.  Clearly, these kiosks were...

Willow Creek is one of those churches that can be divisive for people.  One side loves the worship experience.  Others think this massive church has been a bad influence on smaller congregations around the country.  So I wasn’t completely sure what my reaction would be as my wife and I visited the main campus this past weekend.

I think the most successful communications achievement at Willow Creek is making a big place feel personable and non-intimidating.  Finding a place to park was easy. ...

Last week, I wrote about a recent visit to Community Christian Church’s Yellow Box campus in Naperville, IL.  While the focus of the last post was signage, there’s something else CCC is doing well that deserves a second post.

Community Christian did a great job of communicating their core values throughout the worship service.  For example, right before the offering, the pastor said, “I want to let you know how your giving is making a difference.”  He went on to tell about a church plant in...

There were several things that stood out, in a good way, on a recent Sunday trip to Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL.  My wife and I were at the Yellow Box main campus (aptly named since the building is a big, yellow square).  One of the things I noticed right away was the awesome signage.  There were lots of the brightly colored, easy to read signs that made it easy to find our way around.

Throughout my adult life when I visit a church, the lack of signage has been one of my...

Last weekend my wife and I continued our hunt for a new church home in the Chicagoland area.  We decided to go to a larger church in the western suburbs.  If I had to sum up the experience in a simple way, I’d say I wanted to like this church because they were doing a lot of communications things right—but in the end, I just couldn’t say this was a church I would attend.

It was easy to get information about the church.  I could find my way around with no problems.  During worship, the lyric...

Beware churches in the greater Chicagoland area.  Church Juice may be busting through your doors soon.  Well…kind of.  We’re actually more of a mosey-on-in, laid-back operation.  Anyway, after a fairly rough start to the new year, my wife and I find ourselves in the ever-popular Christian ritual of church shopping.  In some ways, it’s sort of exciting.  For the first time in awhile, we’ll be able to get a feel for what other churches are doing.  And as we visit each new church, I want to share...