Friday, July 2, 2010
by Andy Odom
Come on upstairs to Tavern Church, a non-denominational Christian service hosted at a bar in Dallas.DALLAS — At first, it may seem like a joke: “Twenty Jesus freaks walk into a bar...” But at Tavern Church, which meets at City Tavern in downtown Dallas, that's what happens once a month. They are, after all, doing the Lord’s work. In a bar.
The idea of mixing worship and booze shouldn’t seem so strange. After all, many Christian denominations like Roman Catholic, Anglican, and the Eastern Orthodox, incorporate wine into their worship services every week. But the prevailing belief, no doubt helped along by more hard-line Protestant denominations, is that Christians don’t drink and are happy to judge those who do.
Tavern Church, however, is proudly non-denominational, which helps free it from the baggage other denominations carry. It also raises some questions. Who decided to start a church in a bar?
“There’s nothing in the Bible that says you can’t drink...”Joshua Jones was haunted by an idea. After he read Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, the general manager of KHYI told me he couldn’t stop thinking about Jesus. More specifically, Jones couldn’t stop thinking about where Jesus would be – what he would be doing – if he was walking around right now.
“If Jesus was here today, he probably wouldn't be hanging out at a First Baptist Here or First Methodist There, he would be at places like City Tavern,” Jones says. Jesus would, as he did in numerous Bible stories, challenge commonly-held conventions and would reach out to those who didn’t already know him. That thought continued to bother Joshua until he decided to start mentioning it to friends, like City Tavern owner Joshua Florence.
“I was apprehensive about mixing my faith with my business,” says Florence, a lifetime church-goer. But the idea stuck with Florence. While he grew up in church, he often felt judged or unwelcome. He understood the need for a different kind of worship experience. After more consideration and continued prodding from Jones, Florence gave in and decided to host what would become Tavern Church. Now that he had secured a location, Jones needed a speaker and music leader.
Jones attended Baylor University Hardin-Simmons with Steve Bezner, a pastor currently based in Kauffman. Friends ever since, Bezner asked Jones to put his experiences with KHYI to further use and offer Bezner some marketing advice on a new church he was starting in Fort Worth called The Commons. During the conversation, Bezner expressed the desire to take his message where people might not normally hear it. He wanted to give those who might not attend church regularly an opportunity to hear the Good News. This, of course, grabbed Jones’ attention, and he told Bezner they should start a church together. In a bar.
It wasn’t the easiest sell, because pastors are caught in a tough position. They’re called to be selfless leaders, to help others, and to sometimes take unpopular stands if they feel it’s right. However, they also have to make a living, so some risks just aren’t worth it. “I wondered how other Christians would react to that,” Bezner said. Many told him that he needed to be beyond reproach, to keep the appearance of a typical pastor, but Bezner felt the need to be involved. “For me, the more I discovered who Jesus was, I discovered that he wasn't straight-laced and proper,” he said, “but I began to discover that he was controversial and pushed the envelope … we're called to be his followers and embody that in our own lives, and I needed to push the envelope in my own life to reach people.” Bezner is risking alienating a new congregation before it even forms, but he’s sticking to his convictions.
The only person who felt comfortable with the idea was musician John Kent. Kent and Jones have a relationship through KHYI’s support of Kent’s band, The Dumb Angels. Kent grew up in the church, although he has had periods of his life where he felt closer than others – and who hasn’t? Plus, he already makes his living in bars. “We’re all beer salesman,” Kent laughs. “We work in bars day in and day out, promoting music. That’s what we do.” For Kent, his life spent in church and his life spent in bars is indivisible. But, that’s not to say the expression of that dichotomy is natural: “The people that are coming are learning to worship in a bar like the rest of us are,” Kent says. A growing number of Dallasites have bought into the idea as well.
Jones’ idea could have easily been dismissed with a laugh. How on earth could a church in a bar work? Can you really expect people to reconcile the two? In spite of common sense, however, a sympathetic bar owner, a speaker willing to take risks, and a music leader who would be there anyway made the difference. They have all bought into the idea that the world isn’t broken down to Christian vs. non-Christian, or churched vs. non-churched.
And they all agree on Tavern Church’s mission statement. While any and all are welcome, this is a special place for those who don’t go to church normally. And a bar certainly fills that role. According to Jones, whose name means “Jehovah saves,” “there’s nothing in the Bible that says you can’t drink.” According to Bezner, believers like them are called to be fishers of men, and they need to go where the fish are. That’s a great example of “preacher talk,” but the point is sincere: These guys are trying to fulfill a need and to be there for people. To put it another way, Kent says, “Those mega-churches feel more like social events and can be so impersonal … we’re just trying to do what we feel called to do, which is just love people.”
“The Weight” and The Word
Climbing the stairs at City Tavern is hardly ascending into the heavens, regardless of how miraculous $1 Shiner Bock beer and buy-one-get-one-free entrees may seem. Something feels different here on the last Sunday of every month. Sure, the corner stage has a guitar or two on it, as it usually will with the regular live music the bar hosts. But the chairs neatly arranged in front of the stage and a modest lectern certainly give you pause if you don’t know what to expect.
A Tavern Church service has a music portion at the beginning, followed by speaking, or teaching, or preaching, whichever term you prefer. Actually, the service itself is not that out of the ordinary. In fact, there are a lot of churches today trying to reach out to “seekers” that follow a similar formula. Many offer a “contemporary” service to appeal to a younger demographic or to the Tavern Church crowd. But in the end, those are just marketing ploys; there’s nothing different about those churches. Behind it all are the same things that keep their target audience out of the pews. Having services in a bar, however, goes beyond the thin veneer of appearing to be different – so far beyond that there must be more to it.
Throughout the Tavern Church service, waitresses mill about to bring food, take plates away, or refresh one’s favorite adult beverage. Attendees look for a dry place to set their Bibles on the table around beer bottle rings. The mood is somewhat reverent – it is church after all – but mostly casual.
As focused as the Bezner’s speaking is on scripture and God, Tavern Church really differentiates itself from a normal church experience with its music (well, that, and the bar location itself). At a recent service, the songs played by Kent and his band, featuring members of local group Somebody’s Darling, included “I Saw The Light,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” “The Weight,” “Let It Be,” “Stand By Me,” and Tom Waits’ “Come On Up To The House.” Not exactly “Amazing Grace” or “Onward Christian Soldiers.” The song choice, though, exemplifies larger issues concerning an endeavor like this.
It’s noble to attempt to create something new, something different, but too much can be rejected. Can striving for hyper-relevance in general, or in music choice in particular, backfire? In trying to connect with the unchurched by focusing on secular music, the risk is sacrificing all relevance by being so watered down that the actual point is lost. In what way does one connect “The Weight” to The Word? “We sort of left the canvas pretty blank for what we wanted to do through the music,” Kent said. “A song like ‘Country Road’ is talking about nature, or a personal journey ... sometimes worship or a spiritual connection can be made through a song or a memory that a lyric represents.”
Perhaps that’s why this approach works for them. Some already have a connection to pipe organ and piano or modern praise music, but many who attend Tavern Church do not have a connection to church at all. And since they cannot beat anyone over the head with their guitar any more than they can with their Bible, choosing “Stand By Me” or “Turn! Turn! Turn!” – songs that are grounded and accessible but have their own connections to eternal concepts – might help some recognize the timeless and universal themes Tavern Church is trying to address. Plus, Bezner adds, it would be different “if we didn’t faithfully talk about the Bible every time we got together.” Well, sure, there’s that.
A place without judgmentSix months in, Tavern Church is flourishing. Interestingly, they’re starting to face problems seen in other churches that drove them to start Tavern Church to begin with. There’s a fear that it will become just another “social club,” fueled by growing numbers and infrequent meetings, so Jones and Bezner are thinking of ways to keep the growing number of regulars in touch during the month between meetings. Bezner adds, “Our hope is ... that people who experience God in a real way through Tavern Church take that next step and be part of a faith community that’s more day-to-day.”
But, does that mean they want regulars to move on at some point and leave Tavern Church? No; right now, it is as much of an option as it is a destination. Besides, Tavern Church might grow into a larger organization itself, although they won’t be in any hurry to leave the bar. “I’d hate to do that,” Jones says, “It’s part of the charm ... But, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
So, given everyone’s apprehension in starting the church, are there any regrets? Heavens, no. “It really had a positive impact on people’s lives,” says Bezner. “Relationships are being built ... and barriers are coming down. They see I’m not there to judge them.” Even owner Josh Florence has discovered he actually enjoys mixing work and his faith, and that it’s helped foster a more open relationship between the bar, its patrons, and the employees.
The fact is that Tavern Church is sincerely trying to exemplify what mere Christianity is all about. And, that’s why the idea of having church in a bar is so odd. Bible-belters are conditioned to expect “church” or “Christianity” to be more about rules and regulations instead of a legitimate personal experience. And since rules are meant to be followed, they get pushed on others as though the rules are what matters most. The real message is lost. But, it’s not a blind adherence to rules that matter, and that’s part of the message that Tavern Church strives to keep alive.
As for the other pieces still left undone? Those other details will get worked out in due time. “Once it takes off, it’ll take off,” Jones says. “We’re just waiting for that moment.”
