2 /5 Gabby Gerbus: I’m not here to slam this church but to give some genuine, honest feedback for the Vive team and those curious about coming here. Let me start by saying, I haven’t been to church in a while and recently have been looking around for a welcoming church. I had high hopes for Vive but unfortunately, the experience turned me away. The service began with 10-15 minutes of worship music. Which was great. Then, one of the pastors came out and talked for about 10-15 minutes about donating/giving and joining their events. Then, worship music continued for 30+ minutes. It wasn’t even different songs but one long bridge. I’m all for the music but at some point it just got confusing. Where is the message? Where are the breaks between the actual songs? The pastor seemed like a nice guy but he was not an engaging speaker and the message felt scattered. What made me the most uncomfortable is he asked everyone to close their eyes and raise their hands if they were ready to listen to God’s voice. The reasoning was convoluted; it felt like they wanted us to raise our hands if we simply agreed with the message. Ok sure. He promised “I won’t embarrass you” but then made everyone who raised their hands come to the front. Even when people were reluctant, he kept urging. An usher suddenly appeared, touched my sister’s arm, and told us to go up. Given that this was our FIRST time, we stayed put as we didn’t feel comfortable going up there. After publicly praying for everyone who came up, the volunteers ushered them into a small room. Most likely to sell them on involvement with the church. New members or people ready to accept God’s word should be able to do so without being spotlighted or taken aside. Let them come to you. We visited another church the following week and it was like night and day. Vive has a nice community but the message and the vibe just wasn’t great.
