a place where we think we know everything.” Cryp- tically, Chiddick adds, “A church that’s taking ground will be attacked, and we’re constantly being attacked. And we respond in the same way, which is all based on the Bible.” Why would MyCity
be attacked? Is there any- thing controversial, dif- ferent, or unusual about MyCity Youth that would attract criticism? “Abso- lutely,” replies Chiddick. “Any church that’s doing what God has created it to do will always be contro- versial. But I don’t know what that is. To me, our church isn’t controversial; it’s life-giving and truth- speaking. Anytime you speak the truth, it hurts.”
I asked Chiddick
about faith healing. “We absolutely pray for people to be healed. We practice what the Bible says, what Jesus commands us to do: ‘You will lay your hands on the sick and they will recover.’” “Do you handle snakes?” I joke. Chiddick laughs, “We
absolutely do not do that.” “Can prospective
parents go to a service to check it out for their kids?” “One hundred per-
cent!” responds Chid- dick. “We’ve had parents come in many times and observe. What our security team will do is, when they see people who are over the age of 18, the team meets them, talks with them, and
stays with them through- out the service, because we don’t necessarily know if they’re parents. We actu- ally encourage parents to check us out, because we have a lot of people who speculate about what we do. Every time I get a speculation, I invite them to actually come see what we do, because there’s a big difference between hearing about what we do and witnessing it. “Ask the youth, the
people who are part of what we’re doing, what’s taken place in their lives. Here’s a post from one of our youth girls who tagged me in an Instagram photo: ‘Hey, I just wanted to say this to all the people who think C3 is some rave
or a party or a cult. It’s not. We do get excited about Jesus and jump up and down during wor- ship, but there’s nothing wrong with people who are on fire for God. And maybe that’s not every- body’s thing, but at least you don’t have to talk bad about it. MyCity Youth has changed my life. I couldn’t be happier than I am now due to going to C3. God is moving there and lives are being changed. So yeah, I just want to say that I love MyCity.’” Chiddick adds,
“We’ve had many other posts like that. Look past why it might be bad and the little things you think would destroy it and look at the lives that are
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being changed.” Lurking just beneath
the surface of John’s dis- comfort is an unstated question: Does MyC- ity Youth drive a wedge between teens and parents? It was in that context that I queried Chiddick about the Connect gatherings. “These are for dis-
cipleship, because every- where Jesus went, he gath- ered a crowd and made disciples. They also work alongside parents, not against parents. Here’s what we teach our youth: the Bible says to honor your mother and father. We don’t teach them to rebel. The closer you get to God, the more you’re going to love people, including your parents.”
What about parents
who aren’t particularly spiritual or religious? “That’s most of them.” I ask Chiddick, “Is
there a danger that teens will criticize their parents for not sharing the belief?” He replies, “If our
leaders weren’t doing the right thing that could happen, but in fact, the greatest compliments we get are from the parents who don’t know who God is and don’t go to church. They thank us because their children’s lives are forever changed because of what God and our lead- ers have done. The great- est criticism we get is from the parents who would say that they’re religious.”
— Moss Gropen ■
24 San Diego Reader February 9, 2017
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