Hey church,

Just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for an incredible day. What a joy it was to celebrate the risen Jesus in so many meaningful ways, including inviting new people into God's family. Whether you offered your service or your presence, we are truly grateful for you. It may be hard to see sometimes, but God is most certainly doing new and beautiful things in our community, and we have the privilege to bear witness and participate in all the good things he is doing.

A few brief notes.

We are so excited for this new sermon series. I can’t remember the last time we as a church walked through proverbs specifically together. The bible is said to contain much... but does it hold actual wisdom that I can use in life today? Using common struggles as points of examination, we see that, in fact, through the pages of the bible wisdom cries out, eager to lead us in paths of peace.

We will preach on topics on Sundays, apply the bible’s wisdom to them, and then continue our discussions on Wednesday nights. We can’t wait for you to join us - obtaining and applying the wisdom of the Scriptures is a timeless help for God’s people.

Just a reminder that the church offices are closed this week. I’m taking the week off to celebrate 10 years of marriage and to rest for the season ahead. I’ll be back in business on Sunday. We have a lot of good things coming our way…

Love you all very much,
Andrew

Hello church,

Holy Week has begun; we invite you to pray with us as we posture ourselves towards the cross and the resurrection of Christ.

If you’d like to join us, hop on our message thread below.

hope you'll join us

christ is king,
Andrew

Easter Sunday is less than two weeks away, and we are busy getting everything ready for an amazing celebration of the risen Jesus. We can’t wait!

We are eagerly anticipating some baptisms that day as well. We have a number of people who have been attending our church over the past year or so who are ready to take this step; some may be inching their way towards a decision, and others may want to get baptized but have questions.

No matter where you are with this, if you have not yet been baptized, I am calling you to take these steps.

Just over a month ago, I preached on this very topic, aiming to provide clarity on this important step of faith. If you are still unsure about the concept of baptism, take some time to watch or listen to the sermon. This is a good place to start.

If you are ready to be baptized, or even if you just think you are, take a moment to fill out this form. This will give us as pastors the information needed to help you get baptized or to help provide clarity where needed.

Immediately after the gathering this Sunday (3/29), I’ll gather up everyone who has filled out the form and we will discuss next steps. The meeting should only take 15-30 minutes at most.

If you know someone who is on the fence about being baptized, and you aren’t sure they’ve seen this post, please send it to them! We want to help as many people as we can take this important step of faith into the family of God, and you can help by spreading the word to everyone who needs to see it.

Thank you all. I’m looking forward to Easter Sunday. I hope you are as well!

Blessings & love,
Andrew

Hey Anthem,

Before we know it, 2026 will be here to greet us. I wanted to take a moment to put some reminders out as we celebrate and enjoy the end of this year and look forward to the next.

Join us Wednesday, December 24 at 4:30pm for our annual Christmas Eve gathering. We will sing, hold candlelight together, and examine this very important question: how does the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us affect our lives?

Join us for a shortened gathering focused on worship, prayer, and posture as we end the year and look forward to 2026. There will be no Anthem Kids this Sunday, but the whole family is of course welcome to join.

Wednesday nights pick up again on January 14, and Journey Students will start up on Sunday, January 11. Keep a look out for more updates, signups, and information.

The book of Jonah isn't just a weird tale of maritime chaos, unlikeable people, and a lot of complaining. It's the story of Yahweh, our God, who is able to hate sin and rebellion while still offering grace, mercy, and second chances to all of us who don't deserve them. He truly is "...a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love..."

Series begins Sunday, January 11.

Finally, just a reminder that, as always, the church offices are closed and the staff is off between Christmas and New Year’s. I (Pastor Andrew) will be off through Saturday, January 3. Regular gatherings will resume on Sunday, January 4.

It is truly a blessing and an honor to be your pastor and to be a part of this incredible community that Jesus has formed and continues to grow. Thank your for loving and serving God and each other. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Blessings,
Andrew

The book of Jonah isn't just a weird tale of maritime chaos, unlikeable people, and a lot of complaining. It's the story of Yahweh, our God, who is able to hate sin and rebellion while still offering grace, mercy, and second chances to all of us who don't deserve them. He truly is "...a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love..."

Hey Anthem,

Unbelievably, Christmas is less than a week away, and soon after we will be greeting a new year. Our church is likewise focused on running through the tape of 2024 with gratitude and looking ahead with expectation and vision for all the Lord has for us in 2025. Here are a few updates and important dates for the next month or so.

Join us on Tuesday, December 24 at 4:30pm for our annual Christmas Eve gathering. We will sing, hold candlelight together, and examine this very important question: is the coming of Jesus really good news of great joy for all people?

On Sunday, December 29, we will be hosting a prayer liturgy at 10am in place of our regular gathering rhythm. We will spend time in prayer and reflection, looking back at the year that has passed, looking ahead to the year to come, and acknowledging our Lord in each part of it.

This is going to be a very simple gathering - no coffee bar, no worship team, no tech team, no volunteers of any kind. The whole family is welcome (yes, including your kids!) as we press into the Lord together as a church family. The gathering will last about an hour. Bring your coffee; we hope to see you there as we greet the new year together!

Our discipleship rhythms pick up again the week of January 13!

Our first Wednesday Night will be on January 15th. We will be hosting the same structure we did in the fall, with a bible study through the book of James, another book study/discussion, and kids community as our first block offerings (January 15 - February 19). Signups will be available in the near future (early January at the latest), so consider your options and get ready to jump in when signups are posted.

Journey Students will pick up again on Sunday January 19 and will meet in their regular biweekly rhythm on Sunday afternoons.

You have likely noticed, but there has been a considerable amount of work done around our property in the past month. While perhaps not the most exciting updates, these maintenance projects have been on our list for years and have been tackled first in order to prevent further damage to our building. We are grateful to you and to God that we are now able to make progress in these areas.

The stairs between the playground and the office have finally been demolished (gravity was taking care of a lot of that work lately), and construction on our new and sturdy stairs is well under way. Additionally, you likely noticed our new windows this past Sunday - save the yellow stained glass windows in the downstairs fellowship hall, every window on our property received a much-needed replacement. On top of looking much better, these new windows will help us regulate temperature in our buildings and will also help prevent further rot and flooding damage. The replacements are finished, and now we are looking into screen options for each window. All of this work should be completed in the first quarter of the new year.

Finally, just a reminder that, as always, the church offices are closed and the staff is off between Christmas and New Year’s. I (Pastor Andrew) will be off through January 4. Regular gatherings will resume on Sunday, January 5.

Thank you, church, for all that you are and all that you do for Jesus and for each other. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and I hope to see you soon at our upcoming gatherings.

Blessings,

Andrew

Join us in giving back this holiday season by supporting the Marin Foster Care Association through the donation of new books and toys. The books and toys will bring joy to children served through our local foster care system.

The books and toys should be new and remain unwrapped. You can bring them with you on Sunday morning an drop them off at the Welcome Desk in the lobby.

The last day we will be collecting books and toys will be Sunday, December 1. 

I want to provide a quick announcement about this upcoming Sunday. As it so happens, events have worked out (or God has sovereignly ordained, dealers choice) such that we are unable to facilitate having music Sunday morning.  This is actually a really fun opportunity for us; I cannot remember having an opportunity like this in the many years I have been here.  This creates space for us to engage with other ways to worship together; to tap into some other longstanding church traditions and perhaps do some new things.  We have prepared a specific liturgy for this day that we are all very excited about.  

Here are some things you will need to know:  The gathering will be a little bit shorter.  You'll all get to lunch a little earlier.  Additionally, we have structured the gathering so that no other ministries or volunteer roles should be impacted.  Kids will still go do kid things.

We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday, come with an open heart and ready to worship.        

Hey Anthem,

Pastor Andrew here. October is also here, but as usual in Marin, it seems the crisp autumn air will have to wait until the 90-degree weather decides to wane. This is a busy and different month for our church community, so the elders and I thought it would be good to provide an update so everyone knows what’s going on.

While I prefer not to post about my family life (you all get more than enough from my sermons anyway), being a pastor means my life is somewhat public, at least to our church. In case you don’t know, our second son is due on Monday, October 7th. We have elected to do a C-section (Rowan needed an emergency C-section, and Julianna tolerated and recovered well, so we opted to be proactive and just schedule to repeat another one). Unless the baby decides to arrive early, we are planning to meet our boy on 10/7.

If all goes according to plan on these dates, I will be gone on family leave for three weeks (10/7 - 10/27), starting when our gathering ends this Sunday (10/6). I normally like to be available after church on Sundays for needs as they arise, but this Sunday I pretty much need to head home after the gathering ends to begin preparing our family for Julianna’s surgery the next day (10/7). Our family hopes to be back to church on Sunday, 10/27. If the baby arrives early, we will amend these dates accordingly.

At the same time, the Greers (Alan and Mary) and the Bartrugs (Cody and Ginger) will both be on vacation from 10/4 - 10/18.

While we don’t normally post things like this, it is worth noting that from 10/7 - 10/18, three of our five elders/candidates will be offline and unavailable. This is not ideal, nor what we would have planned or preferred, but here we are. This period consists of 11 days and one Sunday (10/13). Should anything urgent arise during this time for which you need church assistance, please contact the church office (415.479.4700, hello@anthemchurch.net) and/or post to the member’s thread on the app if appropriate. We fully trust the church body in its ability to love and serve one another well in this season.

Thank you for your support and care for our families. As leadership, we are looking forward to returning and engaging with all the Lord has for our church family in this important time.

We also wanted to provide an update for our Wednesday night community moving forward in the fall. Here’s what to expect in October and November:

Our current block of teaching ends with a final meeting on Wednesday, 10/9. The following week, 10/16, will be an off week with no meeting, and we will pick up the next block on Wednesday, 10/23. This block will take us through Wednesday, 11/20, after which we will break for the holidays, picking up again in January.

As you know, this whole discipleship model has been a massive experiment. While it is a big departure from what we are used to doing in small groups, we have been overwhelmed and encouraged by the fruit we are seeing. Conversations, stretching, and growth we have been longing to see in our church body for years is finally starting to bud. It’s different and can be uncomfortable, but often times this pushing is just what we need to grow. Great things are happening, and we encourage you to continue to lean in, engage, and seek the Lord in this endeavor.

Our original plan was to have a tidy five-week block, break for a week, and then have another five-week block, with fresh material, ready for signup and engagement. However, Joel, Cody, and the elders have all been talking and praying, and we don’t want to completely disrupt the momentum we have been building. In the Galatians study, great conversations about theology and the gospel are taking place (among all ages!) as we slowly walk through this book. In the Habits of the Household, parents have bonded over the joys and difficulties of parenting, and this has led to a desire to press into a deeper understanding and articulation of the gospel. Our kids are having an amazing time in Kids Community and are forming relationships with each other and with members of our church community. With this in mind, we are going to continue our two teaching groups, one as a bible study and one as another book study, through the rest of the fall.

So, beginning Wednesday, October 23, you have two options. You can either continue with your group through the fall, or you can switch groups if you feel so inclined. Upstairs we will continue to walk through Galatians together, and downstairs we will be starting a new book discussing gospel fluency (a book study on growing in understanding and articulation of the gospel, not just for parents but a great follow-up to the discussions the parents have been having). As you did for the first block, please let us know by registering for your desired group using the registration link below. We need everyone to register, even if you plan to stay where you are.

We are also restructuring how we facilitate Kids Community in the next block; to explain this, here are a few words from Ginger Bartrug, our leader of Children’s Discipleship:

Thank you for being so engaged with discipleship here at Anthem Church. I believe we are just stepping into an important and fresh season at Anthem, where we are intentionally walking in obedience to what Paul lays out for us in Ephesians 4:11-16 - the church building itself up in truth and love, that we may be presented whole and mature in Jesus.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out with the button below.

In Him, on behalf of the elders,

Andrew

With the world already in great distress and turmoil, this fall will bring with it social, relational, political, and spiritual tensions. It’s difficult enough to navigate all of this in our own personal lives; on top of it all we are called to love and serve others, thereby entering into their brokenness, pain, and heartache. Some of this trouble we encounter in others mirrors our own, and some of it may disturb or frustrate us even more.

As followers of Jesus, how do we engage with all of this? How do we remain faithful in a faithless age? How do we contend for what is true and right while avoiding unnecessary culture wars, becoming empty, echoing ideologues along the way? How do we avoid keeping our heads buried in the sands of distraction and indifference, frightened and waiting for everything to pass over?

As he walked the earth, Jesus preached the gospel and invited others to participate in the kingdom of God. This fall, we are going to examine what this kingdom is, what it looks like, and how we live as citizens of this kingdom. As we embrace this kingdom reality, we are equipped to engage with the broken and hurting world around us.

Join us this fall at Anthem Church; Sundays at 10am.

Hello church,

Whether we like it or not, online presence is the new front door of the church. While the going has been slow in our efforts to improve this presence (more on this written in this old post here), we have some exciting opportunities ahead, and we are ready to share some of what's going on.

Pro Church Tools, one of the leading groups helping churches navigate the dizzying online space, recently gave themselves a challenge: to offer free website makeovers for 1,000 churches (you can learn more about it here). On a whim, Paden and I put our name on the list, thinking ours would be lost in a sea of other churches. We were surprised not only to hear back, but to find out that Anthem had been selected to receive a free website makeover.

The offer is no-strings-attached: they will come in, do their thing, and it will be up to us to decide what to use and not use. Pretty generous on their part.

As part of the package, they are sending in a professional photographer (again, free of charge) to our gathering on Sunday, September 15, to take candid pictures and video of our gathering. This footage will be very useful for us as we work on website renovations and other promotional material.

All this to say... there will be some photography going on at church on Sunday, September 15, so don't be alarmed if you see some strangers with cameras. We will receive the pictures; they won't be used by anyone except Anthem. No need to dress special or different, just come and bring your already cheerful selves that Sunday!

Thanks church!

Looking forward to what He has for us,
Andrew

Hello church, I wanted to take some time to clarify what is happening on Wednesday nights and how to sign up.

Here's how this will work:

In place of small groups meeting in homes, we are going to gather at the church on Wednesday nights this fall, 6:30pm-8pm, starting on September 11.
We will meet in two blocks; the first block will be September 11 - October 9 (5 Wednesdays). We will then have a different kind of gathering on Wednesday, October 16, followed by another block, October 23-November 20 (5 Wednesdays).
We will then break for the holidays as we have the past two years.
We plan to start again with another block in early January.

On Wednesdays, we will be offering a number of different equipping opportunities for our church based on what we think is pertinent and needed in this season of church life. For example, in this first block we are offering a study in the book of Galatians based on feedback and desire for a more traditional bible study, and we are offering a group based on rhythms of the household due to the growing number of families in our congregation.

We have a third equipping opportunity, currently called Kids Community. This is not just childcare; this is a proactive, intentional engagement opportunity for growing our kids and for making disciples of all ages. We need our church to see this as the opportunity that it is to pour into the next generation once a week, and we need participation here in order to make the whole thing work. By signing up to serve in Kids Community, you are committing to a whole block (5 weeks) of service in this area. If you are a church member signing up for one of the other equipping opportunities for this block, know that you will be asked in the future to participate in Kids Community.

Once this block is over, we will have another type of gathering on October 16, where we will offer signups for the next block, starting on October 23. Kids Community will be offered in block number two, but the other two equipping opportunities will be new and different.

To sign up, here is all you need to do:

• Select which opportunity you will be participating in (Galatians, Habits of the Household, or serving in Kids Community).
• If you have kids who will be participating in Kids Community on Wednesday nights please note that in the registration. You do not need to separately register children FOR Kids Community.
• Spread the word and commit to attending on Wednesday nights!

Hey church,

Formerly scheduled as a Member's Meeting, this upcoming meeting on Monday is now a State of the Church meeting open to anyone. If you are a guest and want to learn more about Anthem, if you are a prospective member looking to take your next steps of involvement, if you are interested at all in the direction and vision of our church, then this is a meeting for you. This meeting is still primarily geared and prepared for our membership (see you there, members), but if you'd like to look into what we are planning for the summer and beyond, please join us.

If you plan to attend however, PLEASE REGISTER, as we need to plan accordingly.

Dinner and childcare will be provided. Hope to see you there.

Pastor Andrew

Men,

Pastor Andrew here. I have something I need to say to you.

I have been noticing a few things over the past year or so. As your pastor, there have been many instances where I’ve been incredibly encouraged and blessed by men in our church who are stepping up to serve the church, stepping into deeper commitment in membership, and stepping up in certain ways to serve their families. It’s been said that two signs of a church heading in a good direction are singing men and crying babies. For a church our size, we have a great representation of men of all ages, seeking to love and serve Jesus, their families, and the church.

But two things can be true at once.

While there have been pockets of this sacrifice and grace, I am growing more and more concerned by how many men I talk to or observe who are lonely, isolated, unengaged, and discouraged. Many men in our church would love to take their next step towards growth as a man in Jesus, but many of us don’t know how or don’t even have a vision of what that would look like.

Please hear my heart. I’m not brow-beating or shaming any of you. If I’m honest, even as your pastor I have these days, weeks, and months. I’m as prone to loneliness and despair as any of you are.

That’s why I believe, with all of my heart, that it’s time for us a church to gather and strengthen our men.

This isn’t just a suggestion or a pipe dream. In this crucial moment of our church’s story, the future of Anthem Church depends on the vitality, health, and vision of our men. Whether you’re a leader or a lay-member: we need you. Whether you’re a member, a long-time attender, or a new guest: we need you. Whether you’re in a season of fruit and flourishing or in a season of despair and depression: we need you. Whether you feel strong in faith or you have a lot of doubt and questions: we need you. Whether you are a teen or an older man: we need you.

We need you more than you know. We need your vision, we need your ideas, we need your strength, we need your courage, we need your finances, we need your healthy wife and flourishing family. And it does nobody any good to posture around one another as if we aren’t all struggling in some way. Let’s together acknowledge and name our weaknesses and build one another up in Jesus.

We need you. The question is: will you heed the call?

I’ll go first.

This summer, you will have a number of opportunities to grow and engage with the men of our church, which I am leading. I encourage you, I beseech you, I exhort you, to dive in with as much of this as you can. If you are in a dark and difficult season, you especially need to lean in. If you are in a good season, we need your strength, and we still have plenty of room to grow. I can’t do this alone, and we are much stronger together.

Below are all the details so you can plan accordingly.

Men and fire.
An ancient and effective combination.
You will want to be there.
That’s all there is to say.

In two weeks, I will be starting a book club for the summer, meeting eight Wednesday mornings at 6:30AM here at the church. Together we will be slowly walking through a book titled "Fighting Shadows"; I believe it contains some timely insights and challenges for every man in our church right now. Some of the book I quite like, some of it I don’t like, but that’s the point: we will wrestle out the truth together. We need our men fully alive and fully depending on Jesus as we head into this next season in the life of the church. All men are needed, and the time is now.

If you are up for the challenge, then please do the following:

1. Please purchase the book (link below).
2. Please read the Introduction (The Lie of the Shadows) and the first chapter (The Eclipse) before our first meeting on Wednesday, 6/19.
3. If you would like to join the book club, please commit to attending as many of the meetings as possible. Summer is busy and you likely have scheduled time away and other commitments, which is understood, but please engage as consistently as possible, for yourself and for the other men.

I really do. You may not believe me, but I look at you and I am filled with so much hope for what our community could be if we joined together, fought our shadows, turned from our sin and destructive habits, walked in our true identity as sons and brothers, and used our days and our strength to build our homes, build our church, and join Jesus in building the kingdom.

Big changes start with small steps. Take this one with me over the summer.

As always, I’m here for you: andrew@anthemchurch.net

Take heart, we can do this together,
Andrew

Hello church,

 Just a reminder that the staff is off and the church offices are closed this week. We will gather as usual for church on December 31. The staff will return to correspondence and regular ministry requests on Tuesday, January 2.

Thank you for celebrating the Advent season with us this year. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and may God richly bless you with peace in his presence this week.

In love and gratitude,
Andrew

Hello church,

I am writing with an update regarding our Anthem Kids ministry on Sunday mornings. Beginning December 31, our elementary-aged kids will be joining us up in the gathering on a weekly basis. We will still hold Anthem Kids for our nursery and preschool-aged children, but for a season the elementary-aged kids will be upstairs, worshipping and joining us for the whole of the gathering.

This is not an easy decision, and it has been weighed and discussed at length. In many ways it is still being discussed and prayed over. However, it is a beautiful opportunity as well; it’s an opportunity for our kids, our families, and our church as a whole to recapture the importance of corporate growth and discipleship. To understand more deeply what went into this decision and where we are with kid’s ministry (which matters profoundly to us as a church), please read on.

Sometimes it feels like every article I write for Anthem has to do with transition and change. Transitions in our church family, transitions in our leadership, transitions in the way we do things… you name it. If I’m honest, many times I get weary of thinking and composing about it, and I’m sure many of you might be tired of reading about it, or even more so experiencing it. I am a “set-and-forget” kind of person; maybe you’re like me, and you like for things to stay constant. Change can be exciting, but too much can feel overwhelming and upsetting. I relate to this, the elders relate to this, and we feel all of this with you.

But the reality of where we are as a church can’t be avoided. We can’t be any other church except ourselves. We can always strive in the Spirit to grow, to pursue God more eagerly, to repent and turn back to the God who loves us, and to give more of ourselves in service to one another. However, we must do all of this with what is in our hands at the time. We have the five loaves and two fish allotted, and while we are to be dutiful and faithful in what God has asked us to do, we trust our sovereign, powerful God to make much out of our little.

To summarize, we are always left in this tension, no matter what situation we face as a community following Jesus: what does it look like to be faithful to God and to one another, with what we have today, together as a church family?

Every decision we make as a church must be driven by our convictions: what is our mission, our objective? What does the Word teach us to do in a given situation? How does the Word inform our worldview? What is the motive and drive behind a given ministry and decision? Is it based in biblical truth, applied with biblical wisdom? We then take these convictions and we use methods to implement and work them out. These methods can vary, but all seek to accomplish the revealed, deep conviction of the church.

In other words, we are to be firm in our convictions of what we value. If the Word of God values something, we need to value it as well. The methods, however, can often be adapted to time, circumstances and context. Many churches get this backwards: it is easy for us to let tradition or complacency place the method as the highest value, while leaving convictions subject to change and whim, moved about by the winds of culture and preference.

With this in mind, we turn our attention to our kids ministry on Sunday mornings.

Our conviction regarding our children is straightforward, and we believe is supported irrefutably in the Scriptures. Children are not a burden, but a rich, deep blessing: not just to the families that have them, but to our community as a whole. From the very beginning of their precious lives, they are not an asterisk or an afterthought in the community of God. Instead they are integral parts of our community, and it is our responsibility to treat them as such. In a culture that sees children as an inconvenience or a nuisance, the people of God must fight against this inclination and embrace them, love them, and play a part in forming them into the image of Christ. Jesus invited the children to come to him while he walked the earth, and rendered harsh criticism to anyone who would seek to hinder them (Luke 18:15-17, Matthew 18:1-6, Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16).

It is the job of the church, therefore, to help equip and support parents as these they seek earnestly to disciple and raise their children in the wisdom and instruction of the Lord. This is our goal. The manner in which this is played out is subjective; there are many ways to accomplish this, and this leads us to where we are today.

For years, as long as I can remember, we have had a ministry to children offered during the Sunday morning gathering. This was the decision made, in light of the above convictions, for helping disciple the children of the church. As a result of the many transitions we are walking through as a church, however, we are now unable to facilitate a Sunday morning elementary class as we have in a way that is healthy and sustainable in the long term. There have been many Anthem Kids volunteers who have, or currently are, experiencing a life transition, which directly impacts our capacity as a local church. As a smaller church, we are in a situation where we need to make decisions to accommodate our families (and guests) in light of the resources we have. We still very much need volunteers to serve our children on Sunday mornings, but because we have reached this point we need to adjust accordingly, trusting that the Lord will provide what we need now and in the future. If you are a member of Anthem and if there is any burden on your heart to serve our children, please let us know.

While this will be a major shift for our church, we do not view this move to bring elementary students into the gathering as an unfortunate concession. On the contrary, it is actually an opportunity for all of us. While these kids have the opportunity to worship with their families on a Sunday morning, we have the opportunity to be hospitable and to model corporate worship to them in turn. So much is caught rather than taught in these environments. As our kids participate in singing, prayer, and the hearing of the word, we participate with them, and who knows, as we offer worship to God, what they will pick up and learn. The gathering is a vitally important aspect of our spiritual formation, and these children, members of our church, now will be participating alongside us.

Please be praying for these families as they make this adjustment, and please be praying for your own heart and disposition as we embark on this together. Your attitude towards these children and families will make a world of difference in this transition. A pastoral reminder for all of us: we do not come on Sunday mornings to comfortably and passively receive preaching and music. We come to participate in communion with and worship of the living God. Children are not a hindrance to this; indeed we should be welcoming and accommodating as our parents do their best to discipline and instruct them in this environment. You were a child once; let these children learn, grow, and experience the presence of God in our midst.

We are in a dynamic time of our church’s life. As much as we’d like, we can’t settle to be a “set-and-forget” church. Things take time to develop, and we need to be patient to let things unfold as we try them, but a search for a one-stop solution will leave us paralyzed and frustrated. We have to be open to trying things, and we must be humble enough to move from these things as the Lord directs and wills.

As leaders we are doing our best to love God and love each other as we move towards God’s will for our church. Our methods are adapting to our circumstance, but our convictions remain the same. We are to be a church that honors and loves families, serving them by equipping them as they raise their sons and daughters. Before us is an awesome chance to welcome these children into our gatherings, growing alongside them and modeling our lives in Christ, on Sunday mornings and beyond. In time, our methods may adjust again, but that will come when God wills. We may try new classroom organization, or we may continue with what we have before us. Our leaders are committed to seeking the Lord in prayer earnestly in the new year to see where the Lord may lead us. For now, let us be faithful, encouraging, and hospitable during this change, pointing one another, no matter how old or young, to the one who redeems all things and makes all things new.

Hey Anthem,

After almost four years of use, we have decided to stop our Sunday morning livestream in 2024. We will still publish video and audio recordings of our sermons every week (we always publish them by the following Tuesday), but we will no longer be streaming the gathering at 10am in the new year. December 31 will be our last Sunday morning stream.

For many of you, this explanation is sufficient. You have been and remain indifferent to live-streaming and live-streaming philosophy, and honestly I don’t blame you. At this point you are free to continue on your merry way. For those who care a bit more, however, or are curious as to how we reached this decision, or for those who want to enter the Wonka factory, carnival mirror experience that is the live-stream deliberation world, feel free to read on…

The debates in the Christian community about the validity, acceptance, efficacy of live-streaming raged before COVID, reached a new pitch during the pandemic, and, rest assured, still rage to this day. I have nothing to contribute to these debates, nor have they really swayed us either way in our decision. At Anthem we have always seen our livestream as a tool used to equip our church during a difficult time and, Lord willing, as a means of outreach to our community as we have emerged from the pandemic. We hold that the mission of the church doesn’t hinge upon its use, nor is it the evil that some have made it out to be. It served us greatly in its time, and while it would be easy to continue to use it, there is one main reason we have decided to stop its use.

I can summarize our decision in one phrase: we want our online ministry to be where the eyes are.

What do we mean by this?

In the spring of 2020, live-streaming became an overnight necessity. Pastor Allen and the staff (mostly Paden, to be honest) spent hours and days getting everything dialed in. It was very complicated. Learning inputs and outputs, trying cameras, learning what OBS is, and trying to get things not just functional but also aesthetically acceptable all took months of hard work. Many of you likely remember how hard it was in the beginning. We had a number of weeks where, despite our best efforts, technical difficulties were a weekly occurrence. We are a fairly tech-savvy church, but this was an big step above in terms of a production learning curve. It stretched us, we grew, and we put together a livestream that was impressive for a church our size. When we met outside under the tent, we dragged the whole production outside, still live-streaming. We didn’t want to miss a beat; we didn’t want anyone to be disconnected from Sunday morning ministry at our church. I believed then and believe now that it was the right thing to do at the time.

However, we are in 2023 now. Many churches have adopted live-streaming as a regular part of their ministry, and we have followed suit in simply continuing what we have done through the pandemic. However, unlike other churches, our livestream isn’t quite doing what it is intended to do. Here’s what we’ve been mulling over the past few months:

We are at a crossroads in terms of the quality of our livestream production. We have reached the limit of our current setup and gear in terms of how good the mix is, how consistent the audio levels, how engaging the viewing is. As a staff we have really broken this down a few times. What would it take to increase our quality to make things more “industry standard?” We talked about getting a new sound board, we talked about adding another camera angle, we talked about the expense of other tools to make our livestream more engaging. None of these solutions are simple, and to really make a noticeable impact, we would be spending thousands and thousands of dollars, at the very least. We could do it; we definitely thought about it, and if the circumstances were different maybe we would have, but then we began to look at the data…

Across both of our streaming platforms (Subsplash (our app) and YouTube) our average weekly viewership is consistently less than 10 homes on a Sunday morning. Many weeks it’s as low as 1-4 homes on a Sunday morning. Now, we never set out expecting we would get hundreds and hundreds of views every Sunday morning. It’s not just about the numbers. Each of those homes is important: what if its someone exploring who Jesus is, and they are being fed from home? Isn’t this worth keeping the livestream for? One could make an argument that it might be, except for a few other important data points.

1. The viewership is not consistent within the county. Our system doesn’t allow us to see too much, but we are able to see that many people who happen to log in to livestream don’t do so on a regular basis. In other words, if we do get people from Marin County tuning in, we don’t get them coming back consistently. This is an important note - if there were consistently considerable amounts of people tuning in from the same regions of the county, then we could take steps towards engaging them towards deeper involvement with our community.
2. The viewership is not consistent in terms of geography. We often have a few people tuning in from surprising places all over the country. While we appreciate the viewership and are always glad for people to hear the gospel, we aren’t trying to livestream or minister to folks in Southern California or to other parts of the US… at least not on a Sunday morning. On Sundays, we are focused on the gathering of the saints in our community here in Marin County. These curious people from elsewhere can always catch the podcast on Tuesday.
3. The viewership is not consistent in time. Perhaps most convincing is the fact that we can see how long people watch our livestreams. Even with these low numbers, sometimes people are only on for 10 minutes or so, even less. One or two people a week may watch the length of the sermon, but most people don’t stay the whole time.

We have all of this set up, but who is it really reaching? This isn’t a knock on live-streaming as a strategy for other churches, but our situation forces us to ask ourselves: what are we doing here? Is it worth it?

This would all be very gloomy and depressing if we stopped here, but this is not where the data stops, and it is this additional data that is really driving our new strategy forward. 

By God’s grace, we have much better viewership of our content once it is posted to our app and to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We aren’t talking viral numbers… but this is definitely when our content is more readily consumed. This tells us a few things: first, it shows that there is interest in our content, just not at 10am on a Sunday, which has important outreach and missional implications. Second, it tells us that the vehicle of live-streaming should not be where our primary focus lies in terms of digital outreach. To pour more time, energy, and resources into perfecting a source where very few eyes are looking would be unwise.

Instead, we are going to try a different approach. We are going to record our sermons as we always have, and we are going to publish them to our app and other regular podcast venues as we always have. But where are most of the eyes these days? Where do most people go to consume media of all kinds? You guessed it…

In the coming months, you’ll see us experimenting a lot more on social media. Of course we have always been present in these venues, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a consistent presence here. So we will be trying new things, looking into best practices, and doing all we can to get the message of Jesus out in this way. In order to film well for socials, we need to adjust our camera zoom, making our regular live-streaming view untenable. We have tried social media posting with our current camera view, but it does not translate well… either the speaker is too far away for the video to be engaging, or if we zoom in post-capture the speaker is very grainy (check our Instagram or Facebook for examples). This new view will work great for our video posts and for social media, but is the main reason we can’t do both live-streaming and experiment with our new approach. Whether we like it or not, online presence is the new front door of the church. People will go there first before ever setting foot in a building or even giving up time on a Sunday morning to view a livestream.

If you have read this far, you must really, really care about this topic… so to close I’ll share this video from Brady Shearer, one of the current gurus of church media. He describes perfectly what we are hoping to accomplish with this new approach.

Our livestream has served us well for the past four years. And who knows… perhaps at some point we will decide again that it’s an apt tool to use for our church. But for now, we will do our best to steward our time, resources, and attention to reach more people for Jesus, bringing them into the fold of the church for the glory of God.

In Christ, with a hopeful heart,

Andrew

Every year at Christmastime, we examine these words as a church together. They are referenced, read, proclaimed, and sung. We cherish them greatly; they offer us hope in darkness and remind us of God's plan of redemption and reconciliation in our broken world.

This year, we will be taking each of these four titles and examining what they tell us about Christ. What does it mean for Jesus to be a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace? What do these ancient promises mean for our lives today?

Series starts Sunday, December 3.

For the past three months, we have been taking a long look at what it means to be a member of a church, and specifically what membership means here at Anthem. We have two sermons left in this series (November 19 and November 26), and then we will enter into the season of Advent as a church.

We have not focused on membership just because, nor because we want it to be the primary focus of our church, nor do we want membership to be the thing we are known for as a community. From the beginning we have said, and still hold, that membership in a local church is a means to an end: it is a helpful tool that greatly helps us walk in the instruction, discipline, love, and life in Jesus. Membership aids us as we relate to one another, serve one another, love one another in truth, and invite people in to know and love God.

With this in mind, it is time for us to journey forward with renewed membership at Anthem. For those who desire to continue in membership at our church or take the step into our church family, here is the path forward.

For those who are currently members and would like to continue as members of Anthem Church, we are having a celebratory Member Meeting on Monday, November 27. All of us, including your pastors, will be re-signing the membership covenant. We will celebrate all the good God is doing in his church, we will share a good meal together, and we will pray that God would use this next season in great and mighty ways to build us up and to reach more people in Marin County with the love of Jesus.

For those who are not yet members but would like to become members, please visit our newly refreshed membership page for instruction, linked below. On this page you’ll find a summary of our convictions on membership (which should look familiar), a link to our membership covenant for your review, a link to start the membership process, and some additional resources if you are interested. It’s simple - all we want to do is help aspiring members understand and embrace what membership means at our church, and we have simplified the process to its purest form while still holding to our convictions as a church. If you have any questions about membership or anything related to the process, feel free to let us know below.

We pray and hope that God works greatly in this next season at Anthem Church as we walk with the God who loves us, gave his Son for us, and who fills us with his Spirit.

Hey Anthem,

Pastor Andrew here. I’m about to head out and unplug from phone and email for two weeks with my family, but before I do, I’m excited to announce what we will be focusing on this fall at Anthem Church.

For some time now I have been mentioning, in sermons and elsewhere, that we will be reinvigorating and revisiting membership at our church. This fall, we are going to be stepping into this vision in earnest. There are a number of reasons why this engagement with membership is important; I won’t exhaust this point here, since I recently did so in the sermon below. If you haven’t already, please take some time to listen, especially to the points made in the introduction:

Sometimes revitalization and strengthening looks like trying new things, but other times it means simply recommitting ourselves to the things we already know God has asked us to do. In light of this, the elders believe there is no better time for us to revisit church membership and to recommit ourselves as a church to the covenant we have made with God and with one another.

To some, this may seem superfluous, overly rigid, unnecessary… but a thorough reading of the New Testament makes one thing clear: the church is to be united and involved in real, observable, meaningful ways, and we know of no better way to capture the heart of this vision of the church than through healthy membership. If you have questions about membership, fear not… in the fall we will make all things clear. Teaching and good discussion alleviates doubt and confusion, which is why we are going to spend a good amount of time on all of this as a church community. For now, here are some basics of what to expect in September and October.

This process of revitalizing church membership will consist of two main parts:

1. On September 3 we will begin a sermon series for the fall, called Family Matters. This series will cover what membership is, why it’s important, what we believe as a church, what membership looks like practically, and some other important topics pertaining to life together as the church of God. I’m personally very excited for this series; it will be a challenge to all of us (including me), but also a comfort and a guide as we step into our next season as a church family. My goal is to be as clear as possible about what this all means and why it matters in the culture of the church we know and love.
   
   
2. Secondly, we are going to be thoroughly reestablishing our membership. Every covenant member, including the elders, will have the opportunity to recommit to the member covenant. Upon reflection, we as leaders have realized that we do a good job of emphasizing the covenant when people enter into membership, but once we have established members we do a very poor job of holding ourselves accountable to this promise we have made to God and to one another. Those who are currently members will simply have to sign the updated covenant in the fall, but this will be a necessary step for all who wish to continue as members of Anthem Church. This covenant has been reviewed, clarified, and prayed over by the elders of the church, and you will find that it is a thorough, biblical, and helpful guide for our life together as followers of Jesus.
   
   For those who are not covenant members, this whole season will be an invitation into membership. More details about this process will be announced in the fall, but we are doing everything we can to simplify the process down to the essentials in terms of time and content: do aspiring members have all the information needed to make an informed decision about what it means to commit to our church as a member?

Our hope, prayer, and earnest intent in this process is not to be burdensome, or bureaucratic, or to place unnecessary hurdles in front of us as we strive to follow Jesus. In fact, healthy membership actually does the opposite: in a world where it is hard to define what a church is and what it is supposed to prioritize, good church membership provides a track upon which the wheels of truth, love, discipleship, and fellowship can attach and run forward. Without membership, it is very easy to get lost or to drift in the direction of our tendencies, agendas, and preferences. It is good for us to keep healthy church membership before us, that we may together run the race that the Lord has set before us, building one another up to look more and more like Jesus.

May we be strengthened as the family of God, called to the holiness of God, speaking the truth of God, that the love of God may mark our community in ways that bring God glory and invite people into the joy he promises us.

Family Matters begins on Sunday, September 3.

As a pastor, I think a lot about the church. Obviously... it's kind of my job to do so.

However, I'm finding that as I settle into my role, I'm not just asking questions about how to do things, but I'm asking why we do things. The elders and staff, with a weariness in their voice, will attest to my doing this ;).

If you take a good, hard look at the Scriptures, you will notice that the church is purposed with one major, difficult, glorious task: to make disciples of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4, Matthew 28:16-20, etc.) It's to collectively (aided immensely by the Holy Spirit) form our mind, our heart, and our life to look more and more like Jesus as we get closer and closer to meeting him.

Pastors love to write, rant, and rave about the best way to do this (...said the pastor writing a post about the very topic...). Indeed, much great thought has gone into this over the centuries. At the end of the day, however, each church must ask itself if its efforts, intentions, and priorities are producing disciples. Each church is different, and each context is different, and I believe now more firmly than ever that each church must discern what this task looks like with the people and season it has in its hands. There are best practices, there are things to avoid, but all in all, each church can't just copy what the church down the street or the cool church on socials is doing. As long as it is supported by Scripture and is in the best interest for the disciples being made, each church should have flexibility to adapt in the way that best suits the formation of disciples of all ages.

Discipleship in Jesus doesn't just start once we are "grown up." We don't reserve our modeling, our teaching, and our learning for those who are "mature" in age or stature. In fact, Jesus himself encouraged the children to come to him, and warned his adult disciples not to hinder them from doing so (Matthew 19:13-15).

We have always valued children at Anthem Church. This has been reflected in leadership (shoutout to Deacon Paden Rourk, who has lovingly and sacrificially led Anthem Kids for the past few years) and through the countless volunteers who have sacrificed time and energy to teach our children on Sunday mornings. We love you, we value you, and we see you. Most importantly, God sees you, and he honors your work.

We have every intention of continuing these efforts, to make Jesus known to the children of this church, but we want to ask ourselves the question that we would ask of any of our other ministries: are we doing this the best we can? Is what we are doing sustainable? Kids ministry, as it is currently constructed, is less than two hours every week. How do we equip families to disciple their children the other six days of the week? Should we try something different? What role does the church play in doing all of this? How can we help? What about our teens and preteens (more on this to come in the fall...)?

If you are a parent, a kids ministry volunteer, or have any interest in building up and strengthening our kids ministry, then I would like to invite you to join us for a Kids Ministry Meeting at 1pm on August 13, after the gathering. We want to begin these discussions and spend some time praying for the Lord's wisdom and help in establishing our church as a place where men, women, and children are built up in the person and work of Jesus.

If you plan on attending, please register below so we can plan and prepare a venue accordingly. Precise location and other details will be provided closer to the event.

May God raise up every boy and girl who come to us into men and women who are fiercely devoted to Jesus all the days of their life. May they know his grace, and may they grow in truth. May they be sharpened and sent forth, confident and competent to represent Christ as lights in the darkness of our world.

Blessings,
Andrew

Hey Anthem,

After some time away, I am excited to be back in action, preaching and worshipping with you on Sunday. We will be back in the book of John, picking up in chapter 7. A big thank you to John Neville and Joel Maginnis for covering for me on Sundays as I took a break with my family.

I've missed you, and I can't wait to see how God's word speaks to us as we continue this journey through John's gospel. In the next few weeks we will have some exciting summer announcements as well, so stay tuned for those!

Love and grace,
Andrew

Hey Anthem,

I wanted to provide you with a reminder and a thank you this evening. Let’s get the nuts and bolts out of the way first:

A brief reminder that, as always, the church offices are closed the week after Easter (Monday, April 10 - Saturday, April 15). You may see the staff working and posting in the background during this time, but we (Andrew, Paden, Nathaniel, and Joel) are off for the week. As always, you can reach the elders in case of emergency (elders@anthemchurch.net). Gatherings will resume normally on Sunday, April 16.

In addition, I (Pastor Andrew) will be out of town Friday, April 14 - Saturday, April 22. I will be back to work, phone/email, and preaching on Sunday, April 23. Pastor John will be preaching a stand-alone sermon on Sunday, April 16.

——

And now for a word of thanks.

Personally, I’ve always struggled a bit with Holy Week. Theologically and spiritually, I never miss its significance: the historical events we remember and celebrate during this week are the very hope around which our faith orbits. With no Holy Week, there is no gospel, and with no gospel, we are indeed dead, lost, and hopeless. I carry this in my heart every year, allowing it to cement me to the truest things as we plan and prepare for Good Friday and Easter.

It’s just this, however, the planning and preparing, that often take me off-track. I often don’t feel joy leading up to Easter, instead I feel anxiety and pressure. I get so lost in the details of executing gatherings and planning that I lose a lot of the wonder of the season. This is my own fault, and no one else’s; it is certainly not that the truth is lacking in any way. I allow the cares of planning for worship to smother my own worship. Oh, how strange and unpredictable our hearts can be.

However, I’ve seen enough Easters as a minister of the gospel to know this: on the other side of the event, my heart is always full to the brim. I (like many of you!) am tired after a full weekend, but I am exceedingly grateful. I am grateful for a number of reasons, but the one that always comes back is this: without the church, I am still a new creation in Christ, but without the church, my joy as that new creation is completely lacking. I need you, each of you, and as we share in our Lord’s victory each year, we inch closer to the perfect union we will all one day taste in eternity with God. Easter is never perfect, but it is a small taste of heaven, and for that, my soul is grateful. Thank you for serving, for participating, and for attending. It all matters; it is an act of celebration and an act of warfare against our enemy.

I love you all so much. I speak for all of the elders when I say that it is a privilege and an honor to pastor you. I pray that today’s worship has an echoing effect in your life and does not terminate tomorrow morning. The word of God is unbound, church, and you are called forth in power, peace, and participation to the joy of God.

In Christ,
Andrew