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Pastors Just Wanna Have Fun
By Jennifer Raynes (Class of 2006)
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Pastor Mark Crow motions the video crew at Victory Church to zoom in on the object in his hand. Sporadic giggling springs forth from the congregation as the image comes into focus. As he brings the intriguing figure inches from the camera, Victory's satellite campuses and online viewers can finally see what the fuss is all about: an 18-inch statue of "Laughing Jesus."
This, Pastor Mark reveals, is the very thing he wants to see whenever he is "havin' a tough day."
"I went into my office the other day," Crow says as he cradles the statue, "and I look over, and Jesus had his head thrown back, laughin'."
Jesus, it seems, always appreciates a good time.
So do Mark and Jennifer Crow, pastors of the 8,000-plus member Victory Church in Oklahoma City. Bringing some good, clean fun into the house of God, when they planted the church in 1994, the couple's aim was to "build a church filled with life and excitement." Having spent years being boisterous, loud, and "real" with his students as a youth pastor, Mark developed quite a non-traditional style of ministry. "When we started the church," he says, "it probably felt more like a youth event than an 'adult congregation.'" When Mark once asked an elderly congregant why he would want to come to such a youthful church like Victory, the man simply replied, "'You never get too old to want to be where life is.'"
Talk about life -- even the church pulpit is brimming with it. Offering a futuristic feel and eclectic design, Victory's main stage is reminiscent of what life might be like inside the pages of a superhero comic book. Some days. Other days, it is filled with an interesting mix of props ranging from a white picket fence to a giant Crayola crayon to a phone booth. The stage backgrounds change with the sermon topic . . . just to keep it interesting.
With his southern twang and a demonstrative demeanor, Mark describes his own preaching style as "rough and raw," as he addresses "life's challenges" without all the "fluff." Though he likes to retain a light, humorous feel when it comes to his sermons, Mark gets serious when he needs to. Having been through his fair share of trials, he hopes to encourage others who are facing storms in their life. "In many circles, people are judged for experiencing difficulty; they are accused of having a lack of faith. I don't agree with that." In what seems to be a natural outgrowth of his pastoral messages, Pastor Mark recently wrote a book titled Mastering Your Storms (see our book review) about how to tackle that very topic.
And if anyone knows about storms, it's Mark's wife, Jennifer. In 2001, she battled multiple serious illnesses, including chronic fatigue, tumors, infections, panic attacks, and major depression. For Jennifer, who spent days living in a worn bathrobe, too exhausted to get out of bed, every day was a struggle. "There were days when I wasn't sure how I would make it," she admits. As she desperately prayed for healing during those "dark days," Jennifer said she became "aware of negative, lying thought patterns that I had embraced that were adding stress to my life." Believing God "was extremely disappointed" in her weaknesses, the only thing that would help Jennifer get through was a process of intentionally renewing her mind. With the help of a counselor, Jennifer learned to replace the negative lies of her despairing circumstances with positive images of Christ's love for her. Today, by the grace of God, Jennifer says she is "completely free of all symptoms from my previous [fifteen medical] conditions." In 2008, she plans to release a book chronicling her path to healing "through the practice of meditative prayer."
Since weathering that storm four years ago, the Crows have watched Victory Church grow by leaps and bounds. Touting a gospel set on living victoriously, Mark and Jennifer are less concerned with building a church of big numbers than they are with empowering people to be overcomers. Since they established the church, however, they have seen more than 15,000 come to Christ. Spurred on by a biblical sense of unity, the Crows are partnering with other local churches and hope to see the city claimed for the Lord--no matter who gets the credit. "We are more thrilled now," Mark says, "about building God's kingdom than just building Victory."
Still, Victory plays an undeniably significant role in reaching out to their community. As one congregant emphatically stated, when Victory Church moved into town, it "changed the entire spiritual atmosphere of the city." And not just Oklahoma City, either. In addition to a church plant in Las Vegas, Victory has a Hispanic church in Oklahoma City and additional locations in Norman and in Corpus Christi, Texas. "We now have what we call 'e-congregants' that view us live during every worship experience," the Crows say. Through their 24/7 Internet network, VC.TV, viewers can watch a (roughly) 30-minute online video cast featuring a dynamic message from Pastor Mark and videos of worship songs (á la TV commercials) interspersed throughout the program.
It was the visioneering atmosphere of their alma mater, Mark and Jennifer say, that opened their eyes "to the bigger picture of [reaching] the whole world." During their days at ORU, the Crows learned that "nothing is impossible with God." Now, with a little help from Internet technology and that signature "expect a miracle" attitude, reaching "the whole world" no longer seems like such a far-fetched dream.
Especially when you've got "the fun church." (Who wouldn't want to "be where life is"?)
Mark is a 1985 ORU graduate, with a bachelor's degree in English Bible. Jennifer earned a bachelor's degree in music performance from ORU in 1983. The Web site: www.victorychurch.tv. Their 24-hour site: www.vc.tv.
