a Shared Life

ADVENTURE # 3: LCBC (MANHEIM, PA)

LCBC originally stood for Lancaster County Bible Church. At some point, the meaning behind these letters became Lives Changed by Christ, which better reflects the current vision and reach of the congregation. LCBC broadcasts their sermons live to a multi-site about an hour away. Since each uses a live band, this requires coordination of the timing between services. A high-energy feeling permeates the sanctuary. Broadcast quality lighting, stage décor and professional sounding musicians produce a worship experience equivalent to or better than many concerts.

Sermon Evaluation

Content and Delivery
Keith Walker began by connecting with the song just sung corporately and a summarization of the series. The questions and statements created immediate interest. In the sermon, he dealt directly with Scripture and used effective illustrations such as descriptions of the generational and personal differences between his dad and himself. The stories Keith employed captured the attention of the mind and the emotions of the heart. The obviously well planned sermon used understandable language, smooth transitions and was delivered in a clear voice with good eye contact and engaging gestures.

Application and Effectiveness
The sermon’s point was clear and practical. It would be difficult to not understand his point. The sermon was appealing to different audiences, especially young adults and young parents who are wrestling with the question of what their lives will mean for the future. It would be a challenging message for older people who have not left the impression they might have wanted in life and encouraging to those who have done well to leave the impression they wanted.

Authenticity
By using personal stories and examples of failure, Keith showed himself appropriately transparent and vulnerable. His use of self-deprecating humor and personal stories made the sermon personal but not inappropriately focused on the speaker. His obvious passion and enthusiasm were evident and effective in capturing the audience.

Multimedia and General Effectiveness
LCBC utilizes more multimedia than most churches. The church often makes use of video clips. Additionally, assimilation of professional backdrops that have often been used by performers such as Madonna, the whole service feels like being inside a video clip. Since LCBC seeks to engage popular culture, using a clip from a recent movie, The Bucket List, came as no surprise when we visited. Keith used the clip in a way that supported and drove home the message being preached. The effect was powerful and memorable with clear application. The effectiveness of the message was also enhanced by its title, “Choosing a Legacy”, and use within the series, “Dash.” The speaker explains the message series each week. The image of the dash on a tombstone is easily remembered.

Interview Summary

LCBC is outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. Considering that LCBC expects to reach a weekly attendance of 10,000 soon, our first question to Keith was obvious: Where is everybody coming from? People drive up to an hour to attend the Lancaster Campus–east from the area surrounding Lancaster and west from the area surrounding Harrisburg. When the church reaches 10,000, a second service will be started in the west wing, complete with its own band. In time, that campus will launch as a multi-site with a video venue. Instead of relocating somewhere far off, LCBC intends to start the new campus within a fifteen-minute drive of the Lancaster campus. In this way, they will launch multi-sites with 1000 in attendance from the start. They feel that twenty-five minutes away is too far to plant 1000 person churches.

LCBC successfully reaches young adults while other churches struggle to attract or retain young adults. This grows from the simple vision of the pastor to create a church where disconnected people can become connected to God. In an obvious nod to Simple Church,¹ this is expressed simply as: Gather, Connect and Serve. Additionally, LCBC strives to do everything in excellence. Exceptional, edgy, recording quality music combined with drama, video clips and songs from pop culture give LCBC a style to which this generation responds.

Speakers
The Senior Pastor, David Ashcraft, brings concepts in need of development to the teaching team. As a team, they take two to three months to develop the messages. Then the music, drama and video teams come in to work on the material as well. After the parameters within which each team member will work are determined, the teaching team members each develop their message independently. Interestingly, the preaching team is comprised of the Senior Pastor, the High School and Middle School Pastors and Keith Walker, the Director of Singles and Men’s Ministries—and self-described “old guy” of the bunch. LCBC never uses Christmas and Easter to preach stand-alone, holiday messages. Rather, the teaching team intentionally begins a new series on these dates in order to intrigue the many visitors in hopes they will return.

Sermon Topics
The preaching at LCBC fits within compact four to eight week units. The whole environment and staging is changed for each series, creating memorable, visual impact. Drama, original video, video clips and music from popular culture are brought together to contextualize and emphasize the message proclaimed. Keith comments that the Senior Pastor, David Ashcraft, possesses a great sense of the surrounding Lancaster County culture and ably leads in deciding what will work in that culture.

For those wishing to reach young adults, Keith describes the philosophy of LCBC: make everybody on your campus about unconnected people. If people put reaching people for Christ above their own needs, a contagious atmosphere emerges. That philosophy influences every decision. Keith points to decisions like not having a choir and says “it’s about connecting the unconnected, not making you comfortable.” To illustrate that this value permeates the congregation, he relates a recent encounter with an older gentleman in the church. When Keith asked the older gentleman if the U2 clip used was too loud, the man remarked, “When you’re my age, and they do something in church that you don’t like, you just remember why we’re here!”

Each week, 100 visitors come to LCBC. Fifty to Seventy percent of those who come for the first time are not connected to God. Knowing that the back door lies within easy reach, LCBC tries to avoid churchy language and rolling in the aisles. The sermons, however, deal directly with serious topics. Many churches develop a young adult ministry service in order to connect with younger generations. LCBC believes this allows many churches to grow old. Instead, they intentionally gear their weekend services to connect with younger generations and allow the older people to either develop an appreciation for it or understand the purpose behind it.

Age Specific Ministry in a Young Adult Church
Mark Ashley serves as the Young Adults Pastor of LCBC. With literally thousands of young adults attracted to the Sunday morning service and a church geared to reach younger generations, he finds himself in a unique position while developing and maintaining a young adult ministry. In order to build community, the young adult ministry created three environments. First, a large group gathering, Saturate, meets on Tuesday nights. Along with worship and teaching, Mark casts vision for the ministry. Second, a midsize gathering called Hydrate meets on Sunday afternoons for discussion and interaction. Third, Life Groups, smaller, more intimate communities, meet throughout the week. This provides opportunity for Bible study, prayer and other social activities. These differently sized young adult groups designed for twenty-somethings help build the community that keeps young adults connected at LCBC.

Extension of Ministry through Technology
LCBC uses podcasts and streaming video for recent messages but wants to be wise in how they use the Internet. Their online resources serve as an introduction to the church or a refresher for those who attend. As for connecting people with the message they preach, they do not plan on an online service. Rather, LCBC prefers to rely on their strength: creating an attractive environment for people who are disconnected.

Influences
As with most seasoned preachers, Keith counts many people as influences on his preaching style. With Rob Bell’s highly successful, influential Nooma series reaching an image rich culture, it is no surprise that Keith cites him as one of his current influences. While many people have influenced Keith through the years, he lists Rob Bell as an influence because he creatively touches lives.

God Stories
As a result of the preaching at LCBC, many people have responded to the Gospel. During their baptism services, the church takes time to celebrate the stories of people whose lives are transformed. Former prostitutes testify to their changed lives. Men who used to be in prison now attend a small group with a guard who watched them in prison. One story comes from a local tattoo artist. Someone getting a tattoo told him about LCBC, so he came to see it for himself. The Gospel transformed his life, and he is directly responsible for bringing over one hundred people to LCBC.

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1. Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples (Nashville: Broadman Press, 2006). [↩]