NeoZine

Take a look at the spectacular slide show from the 2006 NeoXenos Florida spring break, and you’ll see why so many are so excited about getting out of here! This year three more families are joining the caravan to sunny Florida beaches!

by Andy Doman

At the Xenos Summer Institute in 2005, Bruxy Cavey gave two break-out session teachings. I attended his teachings and was extremely impressed with his insight, and Jesus-centered teachings. The description he gave of The Meeting House seemed impressive. He called it “a church for people who aren’t into church.” I made it a point to check out Cavey’s church, The Meeting House, never being as excited to see a new church before.

I noticed a favorite indie pop group of mine, The Pipettes, were touring on this side of the Atlantic for the first time. The tour was extremely limited and the only city in the area they were playing was Toronto. Michael Toth suggested going to Toronto to see the concert. I agreed, and also suggested we attend a meeting at The Meeting House the following day. I recruited Craig Smith for the trip, selling him on the experience of going to The Meeting House, also keeping in mind that traveling expenses would decrease. Although he had little exposure to The Pipettes, he was in a privileged position as a holder of a high-demand sold out ticket. Many people approached us asking for tickets as we waited outside to get in. So, Michael Toth, Craig Smith, and I were set to go on a spiritual journey to Toronto.

I contacted The Meeting House through their website prior to our arrival and asked which meeting I should attend. The pastor of the Downtown Toronto location, Paul Morris, suggested the 10am meeting, which was held in a large movie theater.

Morris also invited us to eat lunch with him after the meeting. We entered the extremely large downtown movie theater with stadium-style seating that was like Cinemark® on steroids. The movie theater had snack bars that served beer in addition to Pizza Hut®, Taco Bell®, and Burger King®, which were opening as we were leaving. We parked in a parking garage and received a parking coin we would later get validated to park for free.

The meeting began with a 5-piece band playing Contemporary Christian Music including a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and two singers. It was unusual because although every person in the room was standing, very few were singing or moving. The crowd was simply staring at the band, making me wonder what the purpose of standing was.

After the music and a prayer by the guitarist, a series of video clips about sex were shown and parts of the songs “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye and “Let’s Talk about Sex” by Salt-N-Pepa were played. Some of the video clips played were quite funny, especially the “Use Condoms” video, which can be found on YouTube. The pastor of the Downtown Toronto site, Paul Morris, gave a short introduction and the teaching began with a video of Bruxy Cavey introducing the guest speaker for the week, Eric Sandras. Sandras holds a PhD in Human Sexuality and is a pastor in California. Cavey gives the teaching at one site in suburban Oakville and the video of his teaching is shown at the other sites. The video was not quite as impersonal as I imagined it would be, probably because the movie screen was so large that it felt as if the teacher were near. It was impossible to ask questions to the speaker, however, because he was not present. The teaching was a sound, biblical presentation of sex. There was also a question and answer period in which people asked about homosexuality and other controversial issues.

Prior to our arrival we arranged to have lunch with Paul and some of his friends. We ate lunch at a downtown restaurant and had constant discussion about various topics such as serving the poor, the inner city, American politics, methods of Xenos and the Meeting House, the situation in Toronto, and various other topics. The people were a blast to talk with and we all had a great time.

Overall, The Meeting House seems like a place that is on a good track. The people we talked to seemed capable and willing to minister. The main teaching by Eric Sandras seemed to lack a discernable gospel message, however, which made me wonder if the main theater meetings are geared toward members and people that are already Christians. They have high transfer growth, and the teaching seemed to speak to those people, but they do have “Purge Sundays,” which are a mini-series of teachings that project a solid Christian life and encourage people who do not wish to participate to leave. This is one of the ways The Meeting House combats superficial Christianity. The teachings seem to be soundly Biblical and according to Morris, Xenos in Columbus and The Meeting House exchange ideas and talk often.

I am not sure how much I like the teachings on video at all of the sites. It seems take the opportunity away for others to teach. They can spread to different areas of Greater Toronto faster, however, because of the lack of need for teachers and have more convenient locations. Home churches at The Meeting House are a place to discuss the teaching from the main Sunday meeting. I did not visit one of these meetings, so I am not sure if a person who did not attend the main meeting would feel alienated or how dependent the home churches are on Cavey’s main teachings. I know one thing for sure, though. The Meeting House is like Xenos in the sense that they hold conservative theology presented with liberal, nontraditional means like no other church I have seen.

Florida is well-known for its chameleons, lizards and other rodents besides all the beauty, warmth and sunshine.

While topless college students across the nation flock to famous Florida beaches like Daytona and Fort Lauderdale, Xenos students and friends will be enjoying a spring break vacation far more exciting a little further north, on Amelia Island near Jacksonville. This year may add a bumper crop of newly-saved and rambunctious high school Christians to excitement.

“There are eight spots, so it is first-pay-first-serve,” said Kathryn Hughes, who was organizing the trip. Hopefully nobody will be hurt in the stampede.

This movie is a must-see for the thinking mind - not just Christians. It’s effects are haunting. In one scene, Wilberforce charges into a bar where a black slave was treated contemptuously. He rudely interrupts the crowd as they’re singing some drinking song, stands on a table, and begins to sing Amazing Grace. The first few stanzas of the slow, mournful song are greeted with hoots and cat-calls, and it looks like Wilberforce will be utterly disgraced. But he continues to sing it with bravado, and the song’s sweet tune starts to capture the crowd’s attention. The drunks grow silent and soon everyone is listening in awe.

This is but one of the many profound contrasts this movie makes about the apparent weakness of God’s love against the brutality and violence of man. Yes, Grace seems weak and soft, but it is powerful and victorious through the determined godliness of faithful men like Wilberforce.

You would not expect to see a group of high school students at this movie - it’s not the Terminator by any stretch. But when the lights of the theater turned on, I looked around at a theater full of 40+ somethings staring in disbelief at our High School cell group of eight boys bounding out of the theater. At that moment I realized how very much we older-types devalue teenage minds, because those boys were definitely impacted by Amazing Grace.

Read Joe Allie’s excellent movie review, and go see the movie while it’s still showing on the Big Screen - the cinematography is astounding and must be seen on that screen size to grasp its full impact!