Something that they are focusing on in church currently is "Brush with Greatness". Being motivated in your everyday life by your love and faith in Jesus. While most churches/ members of the Christian church may communicate this by just posting a bible verse, the pastor at River Pointe, Patrick Kelley, posts his own interpretation of what "Brush with Greatness means instead of solely scriptures from the bible:
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Through these #BrushWithGreatness posts, River Pointe is trying to communicate the importance of faith in Jesus Christ:
Many people say that they do or do not have Faith in Jesus Christ, but River Pointe is trying to communicate the idea that sometimes people may lose sight, or may not have ever known what faith actually is. This allows members of the church and religion the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and what they think faith is to them. They're communicating the idea that in order to have a Brush with Greatness, you have to have faith in Jesus Christ and faith that he is going to guide you to where you need to be. They also include a hashtag so that members of the River Pointe church may respond through tweeting or making their own Facebook status about what Faith means to them and how they are trying to live this message out in their every day lives. River Pointe is very much about allowing the congregation to have a voice in the church and how important community is to their mission and values, and that is why things like hashtags and the ability to comment on these different quotes are encouraged throughout River Pointes Facebook page.
Another thing that is happening currently at River Pointe church is that Patrick Kelley is traveling across the globe to speak with different famous figures about what role Jesus plays in their life and how they live their life accordingly. The first segment of this series included Patrick speaking with Dave Turin, from the History Channel's series "Gold Rush". In case members were unable to attend the service this past sunday, River Pointe has posted the main take away as well as the video that was shown during the service:
The first way that River Pointe communicates religion to it's audience through this is by sharing what they think the take away message from the interview was. "I'm not about rules and regulations, I'm about a relationship with the creator of the universe." In this interview Dave talks about how he grew up in the Catholic church and how there were so many rules that he felt like he had to follow in order to be a good Christian and a good person. He says because of this he felt like he could never be good enough, and it wasn't until he joined a non-denominational church and developed his own relationship with Jesus that he started to feel like he was living his life to the fullest and living his life for his Jesus. This is important to River Pointe because they too are a non-denominational church that strives to get the message across that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is more powerful and fulfilling than the many rules and regulations that other church's believe are important in order to get into Heaven. This and the fact that Dave Turin is a famous celebrity strongly encourage these ideas and communicate that even celebrities have a relationship with Jesus and are able to avoid the temptations and negative aspects of fame because of this.
Patrick Kelley has interviewed several other celebrities like Dave and throughout this series plans to share their stories in hopes of communicating this idea that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the best thing that we can do for our lives. The next interview with a celebrity that River Pointe plans to share with their congregation is with Kylie Bisutti, a former Victoria Secret model who left the world of Super modeling in order to become a proverbs 31 woman and wife:
This interview will speak more to women and how Fame, Beauty, and Glamour often cloud our minds as something that is supposed to be important. Through this interview, River Pointe is hoping to express that a relationship with Jesus Christ and being a strong woman of faith is more important than any of these other ideas that many women struggle with through out their lives. By interviewing a former super model, someone who was constantly surrounded by all of these ideals, and how she has bettered her life by leaving these behind in order to grow closer towards life, River Pointe is communicating the idea that this strong relationship with Jesus is so much greater than fame, beauty and glamour combined. They will most likely post the link to the interview along with the take away message this sunday after the service.
Not only does River Pointe try to make an impact on it's members during their church service through the many interesting series and messages that they share, but they also strive to impact their members on social media as well. When you are a member of River Pointe, church does not end on Sunday if you are a part of their Facebook page. They are constantly posting things in order to keep their members engaged as well as to communicate their main idea that a strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ is more important than any of the other things that we think we need. Through their posts, they try to communicate the idea that the best life is had through our faith in Jesus and his plan for all of us. I think that this aligns very much with the emerging church movement and the mission of many non-denominational churches. They strive to encourage just the idea of faith and love for Jesus and all of his children, rather than preaching about all of the different things that you cannot do in order to have Jesus's love and acceptance. Through the non-denominational churches, there is no such thing as "I'm not good enough". They preach the idea that Jesus's love is unconditional and he loves you and is there for you even if you don't deserve it. They communicate that if you have faith in Jesus and that personal relationship with him then he will lead you to the promised land and will help you live a happy life.
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