Lord’?” He laughs, “Not even remotely. It hasn’t affected their religious beliefs or general out- look; my kids aren’t that into it. My kids just go for the fun; they don’t get too emotionally involved.” And he questions
MyCity Youth’s sincer- ity. “One of my daughter’s good friends got baptized there last week. My daugh- ter asked if she could do it, too, and I said, ‘You’ve already been baptized; why do you want to do it again?’ She told me that she just wanted a second baptism because her friend did.” John maintains that the kids who participate do so largely for social reasons, not spiritual. “I even know some Catholics whose kids attend.” Theology? “It’s, like,
‘God loves you.’ But what if you go out and do all this stuff — get stoned and wreck your dad’s car? There’s no message of social responsibility. I’m not that much into dogma, but there is none, as far as I can tell.” Where do folks like
the Matthesiuses and the Chiddicks come from? I asked, “How does one become a lead youth pas- tor at a church like C3? Do
you attend a seminary or divinity school or attain a degree of some sort?” With nary a hint of sheepish- ness, Chiddick replied, “No, it doesn’t require that; our training and our education is practice. What it requires is actu- ally knowing who God is, what God has done in your life, the practical working- out of things. There are a lot of people with a lot of head knowledge who don’t know who God is. So, first and foremost, it’s having a love for God and God’s word, not varying from God’s word, and having a love for people.” Chiddick recounts his
path. “I don’t have a col- lege degree; I was in the Navy. I’ve served in the church close to 11 years now. What we do in our church is call people what they already are instead of calling them something else and hoping they’ll rise to that occasion. I was pas- toring young kids, look- ing after them, discipling them. One thing led to the next, and that’s when I was legally ordained as a pastor for C3 San Diego.” The gospel according
to John? He’s convinced that MyCity is, at heart, a numbers game, something
like multi-level marketing for Jesus. “In addition to coun-
selors they have student leaders who pressure other kids to join. I know of one, a girl in middle school. She’s in charge of ramping it up. The
big picture of what is actu- ally taking place in these teenagers’ lives? To me, that’s the most important part. I don’t know what this article will contain, but I really hope that it doesn’t miss what MyC- ity is doing. If the guy you
“A lot of people call things a cult when they don’t know what they are.”
sense is, ‘You’ve got to get them there.’ I asked my daughter, ‘How does this work?’ She said that the leader gets gift cards. If she gets 10 new people, she gets a $50 gift card to a store like Urban Out- fitters, 50 new people, a $100 gift card. It’s seri- ously about recruitment.” “It’s absolutely about
bringing in kids,” enthuses Chiddick. “If we’re not doing that, we’re not doing anything. We have to con- centrate on that. But, when you look at MyCity Youth, should the focus be on whether the kids are play- ing pranks? Oh, my good- ness: are you missing the
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spoke with was to look on Instagram and read some of the comments our youth have made, he’d be blown away by the transforma- tion in teenagers’ lives.” I asked Chiddick if the
criticism of lax supervision is legitimate. “Absolutely not. We actually have a security team, and they are dedicated to ensuring that every teenager who steps onto our campus is taken care of, looked after, and is safe. In saying that, teen- agers are teenagers and we’re not responsible for what they text or what they say. The security team has over-18 leaders who’ve all gone through and passed
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background checks and who have been trained by ex-military and law- enforcement people who go to our church. They’re instructed on how to look for suspicious people to ensure that the kids are safe. They’re present in the service, in the lobby, and they roam around the entire campus throughout our operating hours.” When I related John’s
criticism about a lack of “core values” and what he termed “pandering,” Chiddick countered, “That couldn’t be further from the truth. Every service is designed for the most important thing, which is for teenagers to encounter God. Every week, there’s a powerful message of who Jesus is and what he’s done for people’s lives. It’s unlike anything anyone has seen with teenagers before — how powerfully the gospel is being presented by the team and leaders. When you have teenagers who come to something that they’re not required to attend, and they bring a Bible and a notepad to take notes on what somebody’s talking about, that speaks volumes. They’re being taught something that’s
applicable to them and is radically changing their lives; those notes change their lives because of what God has done.” I brought up Yelp
reviews, which seem to be equally split between five-star paeans and one- star excoriations: C3 as a paragon of spirituality or as a wallet-wringer, with few comments in between. “Times have never
changed,” Chiddick says. “When Jesus walked the Earth, he got the same exact response from peo- ple. Many loved him, and obviously, their lives were dramatically changed, but even when they had the perfect savior in front of them, others judged, condemned, and cruci- fied him. Some people are blinded by things. Just like they couldn’t see Jesus for who he was, the same thing hap- pens today.” Chiddick claims to
know John’s real iden- tity. “I’m pretty sure I’ve reached out to him before and asked to meet, because I would love to talk to somebody like that. This guy is exactly who God has called us to reach. I’d love to meet him and talk with him. We’re never in
22 San Diego Reader February 9, 2017
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