This review is from an experience in late 2010 which I started to review here on Yelp and never finished. So here it is, FWIW.
I felt like I was in a theater, not church. Who puts on a televised concert as a form of worship? The people were all plastic, the whole service seemed ... acted. As in not genuine, just performed for the camera. And the sermon - "What would Jesus undo?" - was an arrogant editorial on the pastor's pet pieves. The judgment of this pastor is not what God wants for me. God says not to judge at all, but to learn His word, help teach others and grow closer to Him through following the holy example He gave us in Jesus. But this pastor not only judged a number of social practices (some judgments of which I completely disagreed with on a scriptural basis), but he also repeatedly asked for money from the congregation without even saying what the money would be used for. Maybe the sophisticated (=expensive) audio and video production equipment used for the concert. Or his own pocket, who knows. A church needs money to operate, but whether it's helping the poor with utility bills, or paying the church's own bills, or renovation, or the Youth Ministry, or whatever, I would like some sort of explanation of what the money is used for so I know my sacrifice was worth it. Blind trust doesn't cut it. But the final straw was when the pastor linked the quality of my personal faith to how much money I donate to the church. He doesn't know me or my current financial position and even if he did he has no capacity to judge my faith or ability to donate, yet he's going to try to coerce my donation by equating it to a symbol of my faith? All I could think was how "Jim Baker" it all sounded and looked and felt.
Bottom line is I go to church to thank God for His blessings, to learn more about His word and how it applies in my life, and to be around others who want to do the same. Didn't see any of that at Grace Point.
Just don't drink the kool-aid. read more