Days 6-7 Chicago Illinois

Adam reads his kindle with Lake Michigan and the John Hancock building behind him.

Yesterday we strolled down Michigan Ave. - really the heart of downtown Chicago.
All the shopping is here.

In the afternoon we visited Willis tower (formerly Sears Tower). It is a tall tower that has unique glass floors in one part that allow you to look directly down and feel like you're walking on air. The kids loved it.

We decided to take the subway there which made us appear like we were like the amish in the city, as I couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket. A homeless guy who somehow had a wad of cash on him, helpfully gave me change for a 20 so I could buy the tickets from the machine (you needed exact change). He was muttering incoherently, and the kids just stood there frozen staring at him.

After that we headed home and ordered in some famous Chicago deep dish pizza. It was pretty good, but both Felicia and I felt that it wasn't amazing or anything.

This morning, Easter Sunday, we drove 40 minutes west to South Barrington to visit famed WIllow Creek Community Church. This is one of the largest and certainly the most influential church in North America. I have known of them for over 20 years and greatly appreciated the leadership and preaching of their Sr. Pastor, Bill Hybels.

The church is in a pretty isolated place, sort of in a field. We drove in and were helped by several orange jacketed parking attendants. We walked in and were overwhelmed by the size of the building - we only saw about a quarter of the entire facilities, but it was HUGE.

We headed over to check the kids in for the kids program. All their information was entered into an ipad mini. Some id stickers were printed up. A friendly woman walked with us to each class to drop the  kids off. As we entered each room, the kids info. already showed up on other ipad minis being held by workers in their classrooms! It was very impressive.

After that we headed into the sanctuary which seats 7200 people! We managed to score some seats close to the front. The service began with a 3 violinists playing with shadows profiled on the stage. This was followed by a male voice reading the resurrection account from the Bible. Then a string orchestra played more music.

All of a sudden a group of musicians were on the stage, playing a very upbeat song. The instruments included banjo and mandolin! They sounded absolutely perfect.

Announcements and offering followed.

Then the band came back and led a couple more songs.

And then there was a video presentation of 3 people who gave their testimonies. I have to say the video production was absolutely amazing. There were two women and one men. One woman talked about how she ran from God, and there were clips of her in running gear actually running. The man was a businessman, so there was video of him in his suit sitting at a desk. The last woman was a former Muslim who at one point hated God. So, she was filmed punching a punching bag.

The production was just perfect.

And then Bill Hybels took the stage and delivered the message. This is the second time I have heard him live. He is a captivating communicator.

Several years ago, Willow Creek church introduced a ministry concept known as the "seeker sensitive service". This is where creative elements such as drama were introduced to make seekers more comfortable being in a church service. There was very little Christian jargon. Sermons addressed issues like marriage, parenting or career. The church enjoyed great growth, but received some criticism from some who felt they were watering down the gospel.

Well at some point it is clear that Willow has abandoned parts of that ministry strategy. Hybels' sermon included a prolonged exposition on substitutionary atonement. That has got to be the furthest thing from being seeker sensitive that you can be!

All the elements worked and I felt the gospel was fully preached.

The service from beginning to end was done with such professional attention to detail that it was really quite amazing. Felicia and I had never seen anything even close to it before. We have been to church services that were very much a performance, and have left feeling sort of flat - like we weren't participants, but merely observers. But - at Willow - the production value of the service was over the top perfect, yet Felicia and I were fully engaged as worshippers. We did not feel we were watching a show, even though things fit together so perfectly.

I am not sure why the difference at Willow - but I suspect that a lot of intercessory prayer is poured into each service, which results in such an amazing impact on congregants. Felicia and I both agreed that if we lived in the area we would attend and get involved with Willow Creek.

Ok - now after this beautiful, uplifting service - you won't believe what happens next -
WE COULDN'T FIND OUR CAR IN THE PARKING LOT!!!
There are actually 3 massive parking lots and we were hunting for our car in the wrong one! It was so hilarious, we looked and looked, and finally after some prayer, we found it!
So, if you ever visit Willow, make sure to mark down the lot and row you parked in!

We drove back to the hotel for some nap time. After that we headed over to the Navy Pier, which is listed as a good attraction to visit. To be honest, its pretty underwhelming. There is a mall and food court which aren't that great. But, the walk along Lake Michigan is pretty, and we had fun riding the large ferris wheel.

We walked back to the hotel and Felicia and I both commented on how we could easily live in downtown Chicago. It has such a cool big city buzz to it. And - here's the weird thing - we didn't really want to live in Vancouver again! Chicago's downtown has large swathes of largely residential apartment buildings - whereas Vancouver's downtown has residential, but it is combined with a large number of stores and businesses, making it feel less like a neighborhood. Maybe westend Vancouver could be seen as more residential.

Yep - Chicago is one cool city. Maybe someday we'll end up back in a big metropolis - but for now we have the more peaceful surroundings of Ithaca NY to look forward to!

Cleveland is tomorrow night!