I attended both the St. John location and the Travis High school locations for some of 2016 and most of 2017.
I was invited by some old college friends to attend and was very impressed with the amazing production values, the good coffee, the occasional donut/cupcake/macaron breakfast, the organized MC community, and the kind folks that make up Stone's attendees.
New to Austin, I dove right into the MC groups and attended regular volleyball sessions, bible studies, dinners, and other fun social activities.
So why the 1 star review? Everything about the church worship, from the sound systems, the lights, the stage design, the live bands, is amazing. But when I learned more about the MC missions, and the head pastors' theology, I realized that the organization was selling a false narrative to lure in young impressionable Austinites.
Austin Stone's theology is extremely homophobic and xenophobic.
Matt (the head pastor) holds ultraconservative views on women, race, sex, and lgbtqia. In most of the sermons of 2017, Matt would time and again point out that women were to act in service to men. Matt stated that abortion was murder, and that both husband and wife and all who assisted or approved of terminating pregnancies should be stoned to death as the bible reads. Matt preached that MCers that go out to foreign nations to convert them, should remember that ultimately they are Americans, and should not be swayed or misled by the "tempting vices" that other cultures exhibited. Matt preached that "true marriage" was only between a man and a woman. And that anything else was simply a sham ruse and perversion of God's divine mandate.
If you are someone who cares about diversity, equality, and inclusion, then avoid Stone and get the heck out of dodge. They may have decked out churches, coffee, and amazing sound systems, but their theology is wack.
Yelp took down my original review per Stone's media team's request and asked that I write a more specific review of my experience. I have done so here. read more
