The Summit
2335 Presidential Dr.
Durham
North Carolina
27703
Senior Pastor:
J. D. Greear
Denomination:
Southern Baptist
A large multi-campus evangelical church.
I have attended the 10:45 and 12:30 worship services at the Briar Creek Summit campus. My first reaction upon attending the church was that they were very warm and friendly, greeting you at the door and making newcomers feel more than welcome. Once I entered the sanctuary (which is inside of a warehouse), I was at first turned off by the prominently displayed video cameras that were blocking my line of sight. The cameras are used to record the sermon and live-feed it to other campus locations. The worship music was excellent, and the worship leaders seemed to be sincerely worshipping, as opposed to performing. The best part of this church is definitely the preaching. Every time that I have attended, Pastor J.D. Greear has preached, and his sermons are engaging, theologically sound, and Biblically well-informed. I appreciate that he is up-front about real issues that his church is facing without being condeming or judgmental. The church is predominantly attended by white, middle class young professionals and college students, and the sermons seem to be geared towards the struggles of this demographic. I leave each sermon feeling like I have both learned something and been inspired to live out my Christian faith more deeply. The church also seems to have a good children and youth ministry, and a strong young-adults ministry, though I have not yet attended. They also have a strong emphasis on missions and outreach, both in evangelism and ministry to the poor.
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"I appreciate that he is up-front about real issues that his church is facing without being condeming or judgmental." I'm interested in this statement sshaffer63. Do you have any examples specifically that you can remember? This is a tone not often seen in some circles.
You also said that, "They also have a strong emphasis on missions and outreach, both in evangelism and ministry to the poor." If they are ministering to say "the roof-challenged" of the triangle, are those same "roof-challenged" people come to their service? You did seem to notice a certain pedigree, "The church is predominantly attended by white, middle class young professionals and college students, and the sermons seem to be geared towards the struggles of this demographic." Are they suffering from "affluenza"?
@ TylerM. To answer your first question, just this past week Pastor J.D. Greear discussed important issues like materialism, pornography, and marital problems to illustrate points in his sermon. When he gives examples, both of sins that people might be struggling with or difficult problems that they might be seeking God about, he does not use vague and impersonal examples, like "greed" or "lust" but rather is very specific, describing the materialism of our culture that tells us we will be happy if only we have the right car or TV or house, and describing sexual issues not in vague blanket terms, but rather with specific examples like pornography addiction, sexual frustration within marriage, sleeping around, etc. I say that he is non-judgmental because he just simple acknowledges that these are problems people might have as sermon illustrations, while the focus of his sermon is on explicating and preaching some passage of scripture or some aspect of the Gospel. He also does a good job of including examples about his own past and present struggles, re-affirming that he is not being judgmental but rather is trying to be up front and honest about the issues his congregation is struggling with.
Regarding the second question, I would say that the "roof-challenged" of Durham are not attending the Briar Creek campus, primarily because of its location near the Research Triangle Park and South Point areas of Durham, but the Summit's Club Blvd. and Summit en Espanol services, I believe, reach a wider economic demographic. I also believe that though the Church, as an instrument of redemption in the world, will naturally move towards economic inclusivity, as we live in the midst of the already-but-not-yet, between the Present Evil Age and Age To Come, churches must have a starting place from which they work towards redemption. This means that churches tend to be racially, economically, and theologically homogenous, not as a reflection of the goodness or badness of a church but as a reflection of our economically, racially, and theologically stratified and segregated society. Thus, though the Summit is generally white and middle-class, I do not believe that the church is suffering from "affluenza," especially because the Pastor and the church have a strong emphasis on combatting materialism.
Thanks for your questions, inquisitive stranger.