Day 7 – Winding down

This is the second blog I’m writing this afternoon. This time I’m at the pool, which has become my favorite place to blog. Adam doesn’t understand why I want to keep working on the computer on the side of the pool. I had gone another 30 hours without Internet, so I was feeling pretty proud of myself. Funny how when I say the same thing to him about playing his GameBoy so much he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

The kids wanted to get up early to play with their new toys, so they were all up by 6:00 a.m., watching TV and opening toys like Christmas morning. Sandy and I were still drained from the day before, so we didn’t get up until 7:45. Today’s plan was for us to go to the Windmill tour (David and Adam) and the Children’s Discovery Museum.

I called for a reservation for the Windmill tour, and they said they were only taking a tour at 9:00 because of the heat and lack of demand. So I reserved a spot for Adam and me and we gulped down a quick breakfast. On the way, I got to drive by Sinatra’s original Palm Springs home, and the camera was now working. These four shots give a good idea of what it looks like. Very nice, but modest. I can see why he moved to the compound later. This one is so close to the street and to the downtown area that anyone (like me) could drop by and bug him when he lived here. The other reason I could see why he would move is that the next door neighbors didn’t look nearly as impressive as this one. You know these stars have an image to uphold.








We made it to the windmill tour with 5 minutes to spare. These windmills are really impressive. There are over 4,000 operating windmills and 80 separate wind farms in the San Gorgiano pass, the windiest spot on the planet. This pass has a 11,000 foot mountain on either side of it, creating a natural channel for wind to come through. There are four generations of wind turbines (windmills) here , each capable of creating between 300 and 1500 killowatt-hours of electricity. These three can each power the electrical needs of 1000 average homes.


There are so many details to go into about windmills, and our guide (a self-proclaimed “desert rat”) was very knowledgeable. He doesn’t work for any of the companies . . . all of them are privately held corporations. He has just researched on the Internet and in libraries to find out all of the technical, political, and geological realities about the windfarms. He was a one-man show . . . doing all the monologue and driving the bus. He must do well at it. Our tour would have netted him over $220 for his 1.5 hours of work. He does it 3 times a day four days a week. All there is to his operation is an old Ford People Mover (no air conditioning), two phone numbers, one secretary, a microphone and amplifier. But he was a very effective speaker and interesting to listen to. He’s also not a bad photographer, as he snapped this picture of Adam and me in front of two of the largest and newest windmills.


For more information on wind energy, you can read about it at www.awea.org. You can watch a movie of the windmills here.

Sandy wanted to go to the Olive Garden for lunch and see how our kids could handle being in a nice restaurant. So amidst the forty-something ladies and the senior citizens, the Fincher Five shared an Italian meal. The waitress was extra friendly, as she had three kids of her own. She even showed Alex how the cheese shredder worked.


At the end of the meal, she complimented us on our kids behavior, which was a nice feeling.


The Children’s Discovery Museum of the Desert was something that looked interesting in the flyer. We had no idea how awesome it would be. For $6 a person, the kids could play with all kinds of activities. We stayed 2.5 hours, and they still didn’t want to leave. We had dozens of cool pictures of the things they could do, but here are some of the best.

Adam hooked all of these gears up to make a customized machine.


Alex and Anna climbed in and around these ropes, teaching children spatial logic. Anna could figure it out, but Alex kept getting tangled up.


In the “Attic” were all kinds of dress-up outfits. Anna and Alex really enjoyed using their imagination to become other characters.


Alex has always liked firefighters.


And now he’s a bird.


Then he becomes a dog.


There was a VW bug that had layers and layers of children’s paint on it. Adam added some red, his favorite color.


Alex enjoyed this Kawasaki police motorcycle.


There was a pretend grocery store.


And a pizza parlor.



Finally, Adam and Anna tried out the rock wall.


This just scratches the surface of what was there.

The kids wanted one more chance to swim (the temperature is 110 in the sun, 102 in the shade), so we headed back to the resort one last time. I typed the blogs for Friday and Saturday, while the kids bugged me to get in the water with them. So I guess I’ll post this real quick from here and take my final dip in the pool.

Then it’s time to load up the van and have the last supper here. We have to get up at 5:00 a.m. in the morning in order to make it to church in the Burbank area by 8:30. That means baths and early bedtimes for everyone tonight. We’ll see how that goes.

Next Time: Day 8 – 4 hours of flying, 5 hours of driving, and another opportunity to visit an influential church.

Day 6 – Time to Get Soaked

We planned to spend all afternoon at Soak City Water Park, so we saved up our energy in the morning. That gave me the opportunity to catch up on the blog and take the bottles back to recycle. I received $.64 for taking back a sack full of bottles to earn the CRV rebate. Then I went to the grocery store and spent it on two more gallons of water and a loaf of bread. I think the grocery store always gets the good end of the deal. While there, the recycling kid told me that the retirees who collect bottles out of the trash and bring them in make $50 or more per day, “which is more than I make.” Considering that this teenage guy just stands there and counts bottles while listening to music on his car stereo, I wasn’t surprised.

Anna wanted me to post some of her pictures from the week. She has drawn the sights that she has found interesting. Here they are, with her description.

Windmills and cactuses


Mountains with rocks


Rocks


Palm tree


Sun


Mountain with spots that look like squiggly lines


Cactus


Giraffe


Camel


Tortoise


She was quite proud of her drawings.
Knott’s Soak City is a large water park here in Palm Springs. We’ve never taken the kids to a place like this, mainly because we didn’t know if we could trust them when they were smaller. It seemed like a good time to try it out. Let me begin by saying how enjoyable of an afternoon this was. There were plenty of things to do and it was perfect hot weather for being in the water all afternoon. Even though we all wound up with sunburns, I think we were glad to go.

However, this waterpark experience reminded me of the racket that is the American Theme Park.

Ticket Prices: $81 for the 5 of us to go.
Parking: $7
Locker Rental: $8
Sandals: $16
Total cost: $112 for 5 people to spend 5 hours, or $4.48 per hour per person.
(We ate off park before and after the afternoon.)

Unfortunately, my sandals had melted in the heat on the day that it was 114. They just came unglued. I felt the same way when I went to the Surf Shop at the park and saw that it cost $16 for replacements. After walking around on the sidewalk in my bare feet for an hour and a half, I bit the bullet and spent the money.

Here are pictures of some of the features at the park.

David, Anna, and Alex in the Wave Pool


Alex headed down a small water slide


The Typhoon Tower drops down at about a 100 degree angle. Adam did it early in the afternoon. He really didn’t know what it would be like, but he’s young and innocent, so I let him go. I couldn’t believe he didn’t chicken out. He said he felt like he came off of the surface and that it hurt going down. Well, I couldn’t be shown up by my 9 year old, so I took the plunge at 5:30. I can attest that it was painful in ways that can only be left to your imagination. Adam and I posed in front of this ride that we conquered.


Anna and Sandy went down the Sea Snake together. Anna liked it, but Sandy thought it was too dark.


In the Beach House were all kinds of areas to climb and get wet in. Alex didn’t want to go much higher than this yellow water slide.


By 6:00 p.m., we were hot and tired, but glad to have been there. I put on a shirt to cover my sunburn, which was about the same color. Alex isn’t very happy to leave, but the park was closing, so we had no choice.


We made a quick run to El Pollo Loco for supper. We had eaten at one last time in California, and it’s pretty good. Kind of a mix between KFC and Taco Bell, but the chicken is all cooked over an open flame, and the Mexican food seems more authentic. We met a very friendly Palm Springs resident who talked our leg off. At the end, I thanked her for the conversation, and she thanked me for bringing the family and leaving so much money there during the week. I haven’t added it up yet, but I’m afraid she’s right.

We finished the day at Toys R Us, where the kids each bought a toy to play with and remember the week by. Alex bought two Mega Man figures, Adam bought Backyard Basketball for GameBoy, and Anna bought a Polly Pocket Boutique.

Back to the resort. The pool was full of new residents, but we had enough water for one day.

Next time: Day 7 – Winding down

Day 5 – Too Hot to Trot

Day 5 – Too Hot to Trot

I went 33 hours without being on the Internet. Is anyone impressed? I didn’t think it could happen, but now that I’m logged on it’s just like getting back on a bicycle. Can’t imagine how many e-mail messages I’m going to have. Most of them are junk anyway. Though a bit inconvenient, not having the Internet in our room (most of the time) is a blessing. Getting out of the room for short periods of time is a good thing, as well.

Anyway, it’s now Friday, but I’m writing about Thursday, our hottest day yet. The highest I saw the thermometer reach was 114, but it may have gotten higher. When we went to the pool in the afternoon, it was 108 in the shade.



This is the pool where I can bring the laptop and get on the Internet. I’ve written some of the blogs from here. Today, I’m in the activities center adjacent to it. Not much activity going on in here. But some kids are having a pretty intense game of Marco Polo in the pool, and I didn’t want to get splashed. Here’s the pool with our kids in it yesterday.
It’s not quite as big as it looks, but we’ve had it to ourselves every time we have been down here. It’s really nice, even though it is hot. It’s just perfect swimming weather. Alex is wearing a life-jacket and goes wherever he wants in the pool. Anna and Adam swim all over the deep end (8.5 feet) without a life-jacket. I think those swimming lessons have paid off!

The kids share a room in the condo. Most of the time it’s trashed, but this was a picture I took after the maid was there to make the bed.
Alex actually enjoys sleeping on the floor and has slept better than the other two.

The camera wasn’t working real well in the morning, but here are a couple of shots from Indian Canyons. We got there at 9:00, but it was already about 92 degrees. Back in the 1800s, the government gave 32,000 acres to the Coahilla Indians here in the desert. The government probably thought it was a good place to stick the Indians out of the way. Actually, many of them were already living in this area. It turned out to be a pretty good deal for the Injuns, because they have gotten very wealthy off the sale and development of this land. They charged us $24 to come and see their oasis in the desert and their village. It was pretty interesting.

This is the place where the Indian women used to come and grind their flour.


This was a windy, hilly road, cut around the rocks. This picture shows how tight one of the squeezes was: The Uplander did a nice job navigating the hills. Sandy wishes we could take it home with us, but I think Budget Rent-a-Car would have something to say about that.

Alex thinks he saw a rattlesnake, but we couldn’t find it in the bushes. I went back later with the camera and did see a little groundsnake. However, the camera wasn’t working properly. I forgot to put charged batteries in it before we left. Oops.

We climbed back through the rocks to a little waterfall that fed a pool of water, right there in the middle of the hot area. Shady, cool, wet, and refreshing. Sandy and I sat on a rock and watched the kids splash around a little in the pool and explore. Watched a nice Hispanic family with their little children as well. He tried to take a picture for me, but of course, the camera still wouldn’t work.

By 10:30, we were hot and tired, so we headed out. Before I left, Mr. Schantz told me that if I went to see Frank Sinatra’s home, he would never forgive me. I wanted to test his spirituality, so we drove to the site of Sinatra’s first home in Palm Springs. It isn’t marked or anything, but I had gotten the address off the Internet. It looked nice, but nothing huge. There’s a big gate around it, but I took a couple of pictures. It’s called Twin Palms.

Unfortunately, the camera still wasn’t working properly. Now the memory card gave me an error. Grrr. So now Mr. Schantz doesn’t have to be too angry with me. We also drove past Sinatra’s second Palm Springs Home, called the Compound. Couldn’t take a picture of it, because it’s behind a huge wall on a golf course. Fortunately, I found a postcard at a gift shop with a picture taken from a helicopter.

We had to go to the mall again (long story) to return something I bought yesterday. I wanted to eat at Marie Callender’s, which is a really nice Italian type restaurant. It’s sort of like the food Marie on Everybody Loves Raymond might cook. Unfortunately, the prices are exorbitant, so we Sbarro and Teriyaki Express at the Food court.

Spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing, trying to stay cool. Adam and I played some NBA Live 2004, which I had purchased here. I couldn’t justify buying sports games until I had a son old enough to play with. Now, playing video games is family time! Adam and I created our own players. He was 5’0” and 120 pounds on the screen. It was pretty fun!

After supper in the room, we went to the street fair. They shut down 6 blocks of the street for this. It was kind of like the night market in Taiwan without the scooters and the cheap merchandise. There were lots of live musicians playing and selling their CDs.

This guy played New Age keyboard music.


This magician drew quite a crowd for card tricks.


Not sure what he was selling, though. Or what that gong was for.

Spanish music came from this group . . . very entertaining.


The drummer on the near side is throwing his stick up in the air as I snapped this picture. Four guys playing music, and one friend selling CDs off to my left. Sounds like a great way for them to spend a Thursday night.

Then there’s some authentic Native American music.


It was probably our favorite of all.

We had a little ice cream at ColdStone Creamery (thanks Dawn for the suggestion). They were very busy, and I can see why.


Well, the battery’s about dead, so I’ve got to go for now.

Next Time: Day 6 – Time to get soaked

Addendum – The service at Saddleback

Sandy fell asleep early tonight and I’m wide awake, so I’m taking some time to write about what happened in church on Sunday. Undoubtedly one of the most influential evangelical churches in American Christianity, Saddleback Community Church is celebrating 25 years of ministry, and it has really broken ground in so many ways that I couldn’t possibly do justice to it. My purpose in this blog is not to study Saddleback in a deep way, but to approach it as a visitor would. Part of their emphasis is on making people feel welcome to attend church, especially their target audience of “Saddleback Sam’s family”. I’m not Saddleback Sam (the unchurched, wealthy Californian who needs more meaning in life than he has found anywhere else). But I think I have an eye for the kinds of details that visitors look for. And I appreciate what it takes to make a service sparkle and shine.

So what did we see?

1. Getting situated - Though unintentional, our 1 minute late arrival actually mirrored what some visitors experience. The location is two turns off of a toll highway, which means there isn’t a ton of traffic. How is it to find a parking place, deliver the kids to the right buildings, and slip in unnoticed in such a large place? Surprisingly, not bad at all. Volunteers in red shirts with the Saddleback Logo were situated every few blocks, so if you had a question, it was easy to find someone with an answer. At 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, the parking lot had plenty of space.

Each building was clearly marked with signage on the outside (Children’s Ministries, Worship Center, etc.) that made it easier to get around. We didn’t walk the whole campus, but it looked easy to navigate. We got to the worship center first, and the music was already playing. I stopped there and Sandy walked the kids to their building. Three stories, and each kid went to a different story.
It took her about 12 minutes to get them all dropped off and checked in and return back to worship. She arrived just in time for the last song.

Evaluation: The people (ushers, greeters, check-ins) were extremely helpful. The spread out campus makes it difficult for a family to get everywhere they need to go, especially if running late. Had we gotten there on time, it probably wouldn’t have been a bad deal. Maybe if the parking were closer to the children’s building, it would have been easier. Of course, the real answer is to get to church on time, but not every visitor will be able to pull that off. No harsh glares for coming in late. I’ll give them an A-, but someone without kids would find nothing to complain about.

2. Campus / Facilities – It is obvious that they take great pride in their facility. It doesn’t look outlandish, but very high-quality. It would make a great Bible college campus! Landscaping, architecture, design is all top-notch. I felt like I was at a theme park, with the attention to detail.

This glass wall has the five purposes of the church and Scripture concerning each of them etched in as a reminder when you enter and exit the worship center.


The restroom I used was spotless. I saw no trash anywhere on the campus. The layout looked like a park with waterfalls, rocks, trees, flowers, and beauty all around. The kids climbed rocks, rolled down hills, and played in the water.


There are a lot of steps, which a handicapped person might not like. There were a surprising number of elderly people in church, as well as some foreigners. Since it’s built on a hill, they can’t do much about the steps. The chairs were not padded, but we were only seated during the sermon and offering. The video, sound, and lighting were second to none.


The only downside ….

The multiple Sprung buildings (kind of like a tent) have worked well to give them 6 different worship venues (Spanish, Passion, Classic Rock, etc.). But a visitor might think they look a little . . . weird? I’ve seen them before in other churches and they still seem odd, especially next to a normal building.

Evaluation: A-, but that’s speculation on my part. I just doubt if Saddleback Sam works in a Sprung tent. Given the choice, wouldn’t he invest in something that looked a little more permanent?

3. Children’s Programming – Doug Fields, their youth minister has written “Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry” (which we use at CCCB in YM class). No surprise that this is a huge emphasis. There are two separate children’s buildings, one for nursery (we didn’t go in) and one for pre-school to elementary. Each are three story and each look comparable to a children’s museum. Everything looks fun, industrial strength, and hands-on. We walked past a huge aquarium, great playgrounds, climbing area, and indoor game room.


They really expect you to trust them with your children (they emphasize the safety and quality in the bulletin). No kids under 5 are allowed in the main service. If you must come with the children, you can sit in a garden outside where you watch through glass and listen through a different sound system. That might actually look pretty.

Sandy was very impressed with the check-in system and the facilities. The pick-up was a little slow. The workers were very friendly.

But the true test was in the programming. Anna and Alex received a take-home calendar and coloring book that could have been sold in their bookstore for $5 each. Adam received a little sheet that kids could collect in a notebook. Anna and Alex both said it was the most fun church they had ever been in. They downright loved it all. Adam wasn’t impressed as much. He said Union Avenue is better because at UA the kids actually use their Bibles to look up verses and the words to the songs are projected on the screen so you can learn them if you don’t know the song. He tends to be negative towards new things, so I won’t judge them too harshly. My guess is that a visiting child who was told to look up verses in the Bible and read them out loud would be quite embarrassed and wouldn’t want to come back again. But how do I explain that to Adam?

Evaluation: A (from the point of view of the visitor) or C (from the viewpoint of a parent/kid who expects lots of Bible teaching within the context of that 70 minute program). I think I know who they are concerned with.

4. Worship Music – This was the highlight for me. Rick Muchow is the worship minister, and he writes much of their music. The music portion was 21 minutes long, and they did 4 songs: All About Love (rockin, up-tempo, Saddleback original), Trust God (mid-tempo, not sure who wrote it), Sweeter (adult contemporary style, fairly new Integrity chorus), and Shout to the Lord (classic Hillsongs). 11 musicians were on the stage, with the leader playing guitar and three additional singers. A saxophone was positioned prominently and he played in a very “showy” way. It was definitely a performance to enjoy, but not sure how worship-inducing it was. He was probably worshipping, but I was definitely noticing his facial expressions and mannerisms. Everybody else on the stage seemed less Vegas and more Hosanna.

The three songs I knew were a pleasure to belt out. I noticed most everyone singing. The one song I didn’t know was pretty easy to pick up on. There was clapping after every song (unspecified whether for the performers or for the Audience).

A bonus . . . the special music was after the end of the sermon, and done while the offering was taken (no communion this week). One of the praise team gals sang the classic “Whatever You Ask” accompanied by the band. Outstanding. No invitation song, no invitation for that matter.

After the announcements (saved for last), the band closed out with a reprise of Sweeter (one verse only) and an instrumental postlude. On-cue, the credits rolled on the big screen . . . giving extra announcements and information for those who were left in there to watch. 10% of the people left during the offering and another 10% left when the closing chorus started. Not sure if that’s encouraged or not, but probably a reality for those in a hurry to pick up their kids.

Evaluation: I’m not pleased when worship team members “ham it up” as part of their performance. Maybe the audience enjoys that, maybe they don’t know any better. It certainly wouldn’t be offensive to a non-Christian. It might actually be attractive to a quality musician who was visiting. It just didn’t sit right with me. Otherwise, I could sit there and worship with them for an hour. Grade: A-

5. Sermon – Lance Witt, an associate pastor there, was preaching the last message in a series “Use it or Lose it”. It was about faith. There were many biblical references (at least a dozen), plus it was centered on the story of Elisha and the widow in 2 Kings 4. The sermon time was 43 minutes (so much for keeping it short to keep visitors happy), but it didn’t seem that long to me. Part of that was due to the integration of a 7 minute testimony by a lady from the church in the middle. It was powerful and relevant. I’m noticing this technique in Southeast Christian Church’s sermons as well. One thing that helps a big church not feel so big is to have the sermons use illustrations from people in the church. It makes the audience feel a connection with one of their brothers or sisters.

It also enables you to get a variety of people (groups, gender, generation, etc.) in front of the congregation. Without the testimony, all the audience would have seen in front was two white, middle-age, highly religious, balding men. But the testimony was given by a Latina, a fifty-something lady who shared the story of her daughter’s death and how faith helped her cope with that situation. It was read from a manuscript, but she did a decent job. The testimony was very useful and the audience was completely quiet during it.

Powerpoint during the sermon . . . minimal, mainly for key points (reproduced in the printed outline) and to project Scripture. It was technically savvy, but didn’t add much to the message. It also didn’t distract.

The stage was filled with empty jars, which were used as a prop at the end when discussing how the widow was able to fill as many jars as she collected. The best line of the sermon: “God’s provision matched her faith down to the drop.” The point . . . what jar do you need faith to have filled by God? The decision . . . write something in the empty jar at the bottom of your outline that you want to ask God to help you handle by faith. I didn’t quite get it, and they only gave us 15 seconds to come up with something.

One other thing to note: You be the judge of this story, shared in the sermon. “A man is flying across country when he hears the pilot of the plane come on the microphone and say, ‘It looks like perfect weather for the flight today. Shouldn’t be any bumps and we’ll have a smooth flight.’ A minute passes by and then the passengers hear over the speaker, “Oh my goodness! Aaaahhh!” Then silence. Everyone on the plane is silent, wondering what is about to happen. Is it a terrorist? Is it mechanical failure? Is it a UFO? Finally, the pilot comes back on the intercom and says, “I’m really sorry ladies and gentlemen. I didn’t know that the microphone was on. I’m sorry you had to hear that. Everything is ok now. What happened was that one of the flight attendants brought me a hot cup of coffee, but she accidentally dropped it right in my lap. You should see the front of my pants.’ Then a passenger in the plane yells, ‘You should see the back of my pants.’” Polite laughter follows. Then the preacher says, “Some of you visiting today might wonder, ‘So is this the kind of things they talk about in this church?’” It made me wonder.

Evaluation: I was disappointed to not hear Rick Warren, but Lance Witt was capable and for all I know, Warren might have written the sermon anyway (they did say it was “Rick’s series.”) I thought it was a bit long, a bit rushed at the end, and would have been difficult for a newcomer to drive home. I had a hard time personalizing a message that seemed to be more generic. The testimony was a big plus, preaching from an Old Testament story was competently handled. Grade: Not the A preacher, so I expected a B+. I’ll have to give it a B-, though.

6. Atmosphere – How did it feel being at Saddleback? Like I was in the middle of a production: everything planned, well-executed, and coordinated. And I think that’s what they’re shooting for. This isn’t Hollywood, but it also isn’t the Ozarks (even though it is situated on the side of a mountain and I saw several people not wearing shoes). Nothing is done by the seat of the pants in the worship service or outside of it. No deacons being called to change a light-bulb right before Sunday school. This was the fifth service of the weekend and it looked just as spotless and professional as if it had been cleaned and prepared.

Of course, the beauty of the creation around adds to it. If you live in a city or even a suburb with a small lot, coming to Saddleback is something like a visit to the park. It’s not just a service, it’s an evening out. There’s a restaurant on campus and plenty more nearby. Walking around, I saw a table with free sandwiches, chips, and cookies. Parents were talking while kids played. It wasn’t the museum-like atmosphere of a mainline church. It was McDonalds Playplace meets Barnes and Noble meets a Christian convention. I can’t imagine the number of volunteers it takes to pull this service off 6 times a week every week. And that’s just one of 6 services. I have heard some people observe that the megachurch is really a triumph of efficient management of people and facilities. I hope that it’s more than that, but it is at least that.

Everything I saw communicated this: “Professional, efficient, quality, and meaningful work goes on here.” I left impressed and convinced that this church (and others like it) is successful because the atmosphere is attractive to so many people. It certainly was attractive to our family.

Evaluation: A+

7. People – There are all kinds of people there, though primarily white and Hispanic. I saw few African-Americans, but they have a separate “Gospel” worship service which probably serves that clientele. All ages were represented, though most looked 30-50.

How friendly were they? The recognizable volunteers were extremely helpful . . . situated in strategic spots and proactive in offering assistance. The members in the audience? Polite but not outgoing. We were asked to greet one another during one song. I got handshakes and smiles, but not many words. I tried to break the ice and even said we were visiting from out of town to a couple of people, but not much response was offered. Maybe they were visiting, too.

We did find more friendliness at the children’s ministry area. Parents have a way of breaking the ice when talking about kid-related things. But it was very non-confrontational. No one asked if we were part of the church or visiting as a prospect or a tourist. They just assumed we belonged there. This seems very dangerous to me. If everyone is treated as a member (even though I know they have clear membership requirements), it seems to me that it lets people lie low for a long time. I was never asked to give my name or address. No one recognized me as a visitor with a sack, or a name badge. I expect no follow-up letter from the preacher in the mailbox when I return. I’m sure this is by design.

The cynical side of me says their Calvinism would give them assurance that if the person is predestined to become a member, it will happen without any intervention or identification of the visitors. I suspect the reality is that they want no one to feel rushed.

That feels odd to me because I have always gone to churches from the revivalist type background where you preach at a person to walk down the aisle and become a Christian. Saddleback seems to operate under the philosophy that they are a safe, friendly place where you won’t be expected to move any faster than you want to. That’s ok except for one small problem I see. What happens if the Lord returns before Saddleback Sam gets comfortable going deeper? No wonder I didn’t hear anything about the end of the world or judgment.

Evaluation: If you come to Saddleback with someone you know, this will be an A. If you don’t know anyone there, you can slip in and out with as little or as much interaction as you initiate. I guess that’s better for a visitor than being scared off on the first Sunday. Grade: A-

Overall grade: A-
I am probably more critical than the average visitor. On the other hand, non-Christians tend to be critical of Christian things, especially when first exposed to them. I think they would find very little to criticize at Saddleback.

Our family was blessed to visit Saddleback. But I didn’t feel warmly welcomed, which we did experience when we visited Moody Church last summer. And the second string preacher at Moody was far more impressive than Saddleback’s back-up. We’ll see if my third attempt to hear a famous preacher in his own pulpit is successful when we visit Grace Community Church this Sunday.