Would you attend a church that talked about Star Wars Church (or Barbie, or Mario Brothers)? It turns out that some pastors are pulling out all the stops to get people to attend. David Boice is the host of 52 Churches in 52 Weeks and discusses what it’s like to attend these churches. Check out our conversation….
Star Wars Church – New Perspectives
Interview
GT 00:24 And so I remember from your presentation, you said, we talked about the cowboy church. We talked about the heavy metal church. We haven’t talked about the Star Wars church.
David 00:36 Oh, boy. Yes.
GT 00:37 Tell us more about that one.
David 00:39 With the Star Wars [church], what I’m seeing happen a lot is typically in seeker sensitive churches, those are usually your mega churches, they typically will try. They have the two big church services every year, Easter and Christmas. What a lot of these seeker sensitive churches are finding is during the summer, you have movies playing. A lot of these bigger churches are starting to head towards movie-based sermon series…
GT 01:09 Okay.
David 01:10 …for the entire month, and that will typically bump up attendance.{Rick laughing} The one that’s most prominent with this is Life Church based in Oklahoma. They have several satellite campuses. They’re very famous just because when it comes to one of the most popular Bible apps, it was created by Life Church. I want to say it’s either June or July, what they’ve started to do is based off popular movies at all their different campuses, in the lobbies, they will have church members create all these movie dioramas, these displays, all kinds of stuff. The main satellite campus focused this year on Mario Brothers. The entire lobby area was full of Mario and then I don’t know if it’s Life Church or not, but I remember seeing a video where you know that Mario Brothers, the Peaches song?
GT 02:07 Not really.
David 02:08 I haven’t seen the movie. But in the movie, they start singing Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches. Here, they would try and do a Jesus version with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, to try and incorporate these movies and bring that type of person who’s typically not going to go to church. Maybe they had a faith crisis themselves in the past and swore off church altogether. This is just their hook to bring people in, where it’s like, oh, this church is doing a Mario sermon series. This one’s doing a Star Wars one. This one is doing, I saw one of Barbie this year.
GT 02:46 A Barbie church?
David 02:47 Well, they had a sermon series on Barbie.
David 02:50 With Life Church, I don’t think they did that. But I had seen another church I was planning to attend. And I’m like, ah I better not. {Rick chuckling} But with the one that I visited, they had been influenced with these at the movies, type of sermon series. They opened up the sermon by having two high school students stage a lightsaber battle to open up the sermon. And then the pastor would grab the lightsaber, and he’s wielding it, as his, I don’t know, just swinging it back and forth to make his points, comparing Star Wars quotes of Yoda, and incorporating that into well, here’s how it is very similar to this passage in Isaiah, or this passage in Matthew.
GT 03:37 If you strike me down, I will be more powerful than ever.
David 03:40 Sort of, yeah. It was just very different with what other churches will do. In some points, as I’m seeing this, myself, as an outsider, sometimes it’s like, how far is too far? But at the same time, it’s like I understand some people may never come back to church. Maybe this is a way to bring them back. But I guess, I mean, we have to look at the facts. If it’s bringing people in, if there are numbers on that, that’s going to be the only way to see if it’s worthwhile.
GT 03:40 Well, interesting. Any other churches that strike you as very interesting or memorable?
David 03:49 Snake handling church.
GT 04:00 Which one?
David 04:24 Snake handling church.
GT 04:27 Oh, tell us about that.
David 04:29 That was week 52, with the YouTube series.
GT 04:32 Okay, let’s make sure. 2014 was your first 52 weeks. 2020 was your second 52 weeks?
David 04:42 No. I started the channel in 2020. Then because I kept talking about the first seven years ago…
GT 04:50 Okay.
David 04:50 And then 2022 is like alright…
GT 04:50 Oh.
David 04:50 Let me start this over with a whole new 52 churches.
GT 04:50 Okay.
David 04:52 Every single week, I’ll go to a different one again.
GT 05:00 Isn’t that pretty tough because you’re traveling some great distances to do these?
David 05:06 Yeah, and I wasn’t taking much vacation from my job, too. A lot of this, I would just get in my car, drive eight hours straight, sometimes 10 hours straight. Get a hotel. Go to church, and then drive right back home on the weekend I had plans to go to Atlanta in just a weekend, which would have been maybe like a 16 hour drive to and 16 hour drive back. And I’m just like, I can’t.
GT 05:36 Yeah.
David 05:36 I can’t do that.
GT 05:38 You must trade in your car a lot. Because you put some serious miles on it.
David 05:42 Yeah, it’s pretty beat up at this point.
GT 05:44 You get a lease, you have a lease, So you can trade them in?
David 05:47 No lease. I may have to look into that after. Because it is running on its last fumes right now. {Rick laughing} But it’s also my studio. So, if I get a new vehicle…
GT 05:59 Do you need people to contribute to your new car?
David 06:02 I don’t like asking for money, you know? So, no, no. I don’t want to do that. Yeah, I’m going to have to find something new pretty soon. {Rick laughing}
GT 06:13 Well, cool. Well, so you’ve done basically 104 weeks of church?
David 06:20 That are documented.
GT 06:22 Yeah.
David 06:22 I’ve done others where I just visited, but I didn’t video or talk about it.
GT 06:27 So you’ve been to over 100 easily, maybe close to 120 or 150. Maybe? What has changed your perspective? You started with this closed communion thing. I know the Bickertonites have a very closed communion. Like they make a big deal about it.
David 06:45 They were very upfront to let me know, in the most respectful way.
GT 06:49 Yeah.
David 06:49 Which I was so appreciative of.
GT 06:52 Whereas, LDS…
David 06:53 They presented it to me where it’s like, yeah, this is closed communion, but it doesn’t mean, we don’t want you. Yeah.
GT 06:58 Yeah. Because the LDS technically have closed communion. But we don’t really enforce it. Like, if you were to take it, nobody would bat an eye.
David 07:08 Yeah, no one has ever not given it to me, yeah.
GT 07:13 Has your perspective on communion changed as you’ve attended all these different churches?
David 07:19 I think so. And I think that helps with the YouTube channel, because I see so many different perspectives of different faith backgrounds. For instance, I was very… I wouldn’t say anti, but I had criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church…
GT 07:20 Oh.
David 07:21 …at first, because of the same closed communion type of aspect. But the more Catholic churches I would visit, the more I would get engagement. I get more conversation going, more discussion with Roman Catholics, and what it means. What mass means to them, and everything that goes along with that. As a result, I started seeing more beauty in how they handle their masses, and the different types of even things that like the senses. Because what a lot churches don’t get is the different senses. With Roman Catholics and even Orthodox, they use incense.
David 08:13 That gets your nose going. And with the buildings, they are there so immaculate, they’re so beautiful. It’s this visual feast for your eyes, for what you see. And then I really liked Latin Mass. It’s not even English. {Rick chuckling} And I went to a Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
GT 08:13 Right.
David 08:35 Same thing, no English. But the way that the music was, it was this different spiritual mystery to me, because I’m hearing languages foreign to me. But it’s also beautiful. You can just relax and just be still. Same thing with taste. And that’s the only thing with the Roman Catholic Church I couldn’t get is the taste.
GT 09:02 Because you’re not Catholic.
David 09:04 Because I’m not Catholic, and I can’t get the bread. I can’t get the wine. I can’t get the body or the blood. So, it’s all these senses kind of working together. I just couldn’t get the last part of it. The perspectives change when you start to understand more. I think that’s one of the more interesting things about my channel is, it’s nothing to do with theology. I’m not going to get down to the nitty gritty, but here’s what it’s like just a reaction, walking in and just seeing the development and just growing from that and getting to talk with some of the members. Even though I’m an introvert, those that do talk to me or those I do feel comfortable talking with. You can learn a lot.
GT 09:53 Snake handling. We started talking about that and then we didn’t finish. Did you handle some snakes?
David 09:58 Oh goodness. No.
GT 10:00 You didn’t want that part of the service?
David 10:01 No thank you. They were great. I had called ahead, but I got there about an hour late because in this part of West Virginia, you lose cell reception.
GT 10:13 Oh.
David 10:13 My maps weren’t working. By the time I got there, it actually went two hours. So, I got to see…
GT 10:22 It’s a two hour service?
David 10:23 It’s a two hour service. So I didn’t miss a lot. I still had a whole hour. But oh my goodness. The enthusiasm, the energy, the music.
GT 10:35 They’re Pentecostals right?
David 10:36 Very Pentecostal.
GT 10:37 Right.
David 10:38 They’ll be handling the snakes. For the one that I went to, only the pastor held up a snake. It wasn’t very long. But, I guess, Memorial Day weekend, that’s when the big snakes come out.
GT 10:52 Oh my gosh.
David 10:53 The pastor was telling me, you all need to come back from Memorial Day weekend. And so, they brought me downstairs after the service, and I got to see all these different snakes and the big one, The Big Boy is the nickname they gave him from what they told me.
GT 11:11 Now are these rattlesnakes or garter snakes? Do we know? I would prefer a garter because they’re not poisonous. But I mean, the idea with these snake handling churches is they read that scripture in the New Testament. If you have faith, snakes will bite you and you won’t die basically.[1]
David 11:28 I was reading the Book of Mormon. In Mormon and I saw a very similar one about that.
GT 11:29 Snakes?
David 11:29 I want to say, later Mormon chapter. Mormon seven, eight or nine,[2] I can’t remember.
GT 11:41 Oh wow! I don’t remember that.
David 11:41 But I remember seeing something about snakes in there. I hope I read that right.
GT 11:47 Well, does Jesus say that in the Sermon on the Mount or anything? That would be 3rd Nephi not Mormon. Huh.
David 11:55 Am I completely making that up? I don’t know. I need to look at that again. Let us know in the comments. Am I completely making things up? I’ve got to review that.
GT 11:59 Well, did they speak in tongues at the snake handling church?
David 12:10 No, not at this one.
GT 12:11 Is it just when? Well, because I went to the Bickertonite church…
David 12:14 Maybe another time they could, but not in the one that I went to.
GT 12:18 I stayed with Steve’s neighbor, who’s I think, former Catholic or something.
David 12:23 Yeah.
GT 12:24 And he’d attended the Bickertonite church, and he had seen them speak in tongues. And I was like “I’m so sad.”
David 12:32 That’s interesting. No, I’ve gone to a few Pentecostal churches where they spoke in tongues.
GT 12:37 Oh, you have?
David 12:38 Yeah. And it’s very [interesting] when the congregation does it. And this is again, I’m not researching. I’m just trying to experience it just trying to observe.
GT 12:47 Right.
David 12:48 I went to one in Indianapolis, and the entire congregation would speak in tongues. One thing that I started getting confused was like the gift of tongues. And speaking in tongues, like there was some kind of difference that someone was telling me in the comments.
GT 13:06 Interpretation of tongues.
David 13:07 Interpretation of the tongues. Exactly. So yeah, sometimes I get confused on it. And I’ve had a couple questions about that. I don’t even know. Because this is very different when you’re seeing this, compared to what you grow up [with] and what you are accustomed to with the different type of churches that you’ve been to.
GT 13:28 Right. Now I have a former LDS listener.
David 13:32 Yeah.
GT 13:33 That I know fairly well. And I think he attends the Episcopal Church now, if I have that right, or Anglican. I can’t remember. It’s one of those two.
David 13:43 Yeah.
GT 13:43 But he had attended a Bickertonite service and somebody spoke in tongues.
David 13:48 Oh interesting.
GT 13:49 And then he interpreted it.
David 13:52 Really?
GT 13:52 And I was like, “you’re kidding me?” And yeah, I’ll have to introduce you to him sometime.
David 13:57 Yeah. Was his name Matthew?
GT 14:00 It was! {Rick laughing} Have you met him? You must have!
David 14:04 I think so. I was probably sitting next to him. {Rick laughing}
David 14:07 I think so.
GT 14:09 Yeah. Matthew’s a great guy. He’s a good guy.
David 14:10 Okay. Yeah.
GT 14:13 I think that’s funny that you know Matt. {Rick continues to laugh}
David 14:15 [He has an] amazing singing voice.
GT 14:19 Yeah.
David 14:19 If we’re talking about the same person.
GT 14:20 I’m sure. Yeah. He’s a good guy. Good friend of mine.
[1] Mark 16:18
[2] Mormon 9:24 reads, “And these signs shall follow them that believe—in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover;”
