Off The Map Idealab | May 2007 | Issue 0705

Announcing ChurchRater.com

Now anyone can rate a church!

New review
Read chapter one

In conjunction with the recently released non-fiction title Jim & Casper Go to Church, in which a Christian and an atheist visit and rate some of America’s top churches, Off The Map has launched a new website, www.churchrater.com. Now anyone can rate a church.

“ChurchRater exists to help the church become a better place. We want to give people a chance to do the same thing Matt Casper and I did in our book—provide honest, unfiltered feedback to pastors and churches,” says Jim Henderson, founder of Off The Map and co-author of Jim & Casper Go to Church. “I believe ChurchRater will help [church leaders] see their churches in a new, and hopefully more constructive, light.”

ChurchRater allows people to submit ratings on a church’s friendliness, sermons, singing, and overall effectiveness with a simple numeric scale. It also allows them to define their relationship to the church—none, regular attender, or leader—and leave detailed comments about their visits. Pastors of churches rated on ChurchRater are also encouraged to reply to the comments they receive, and to request even more feedback if they so desire. Read more…

How do you strike up a conversation with someone wearing a dog collar?

An Interview with 74 year old street pastor Gail Wells by Pam Hogeweide

Gail is the Executive Director of City Gates Ministry, an organization that serves the homeless and poor in Olympia, Washington. You can contact her at citygates@reachone.com.

Pam is a writer who lives and drinks coffee in Portland, Oregon. She and her family are a part of The Bridge, a church community that seems more like a tavern than a church.

I was running late…as usual. My dad, a crusty old man who was raised in the south, once told me, “Girl, you ‘gon be late for your own funeral.” His scolding drawl haunts my head every time I’m late for an appointment, like today.

“Gail, right?” I confirmed as I walked through the door of Fresh Pot, one of Portland, Oregon’s funky coffee joints. I had met her briefly before, but did not trust my memory.

“Yes, hi Pam,” she said, smiling with the same warmth her daughter, Deborah Loyd, also possesses. Deborah, and her husband Ken, co-founded a church here in my beloved Portland called The Bridge. It’s the church my family and I are a part of and it is through Deborah that I first met her mom. Read more…

Midwest Pastor Goes Emergent

An Interview with Mike Clawson by Helen Mildenhall

Mike Clawson and his wife Julie are the pastors of Via Christus, one of the churches Hemant reviewed for Off The Map last year. They both maintain active blogs (Emerging Pensees and one hand clapping) and sometimes join in the conversations on our Off The Map blogs and discussion board.

How did you first hear of Off The Map?

I remember seeing the DVD’s of the Lost Interviews for sale at a few ministry conferences, but I didn’t want to shell out the money at the time (I own them now), and I remember being impressed that Brian McLaren spoke at their conferences. However I didn’t really start looking into OTM until I heard about the eBay Atheist project (can’t remember how I stumbled on that - maybe a link from someone’s blog). I was really intrigued and loved reading Hemant’s church reviews. I posted a comment to the blog suggesting other churches for Hemant to visit, including my own, and then Jim Henderson called to ask if he could send Hemant to ours. From then on I was an avid reader of the blogs and resulting message boards.

What influence has Off The Map had on you?

It’s greatly affected the way I look at a lot of things. I understand the atheist perspective far more now than I ever did and feel like I’m better equipped to reach out in friendship to non-religious people because of that. The discussions I’ve had on the blogs and message boards have especially helped me refine and improve my own beliefs.

I should also say that Jim’s opening statement at the Revolution Conference “It’s more important to be kind than to be right”, has indeed been a revolutionary concept for me. I would have agreed with that sentiment before the conference, but I had never heard it put so succinctly and so well before that. Read more…