Q & A 9

Q: Where did you get the idea for "No Perfect People Allowed?" I went to a church that has the same slogan, though it is older.

A: I got it from a book by that title written by John Burke. Our logo was from the cover of the book and was used with permission. Burke's book is written to Christian leaders and is about creating a "come as you are" culture in the church. His church is in Austin, TX. I'm not sure where he got the phrase from (I don't think he coined it), but I really like the book and the work they're doing down there. At our Board and Elder retreat on Saturday, we watched a talk given by Burke (on DVD) on the topic of his book. Very powerful.

Q & A 6

Q: Why does the church sign out front say community church instead of Evangelical Free Church?

A: I'll answer with some history. Our name was The Evangelical Free Church of Woodbury. We found that most people outside the church literally could not say it. They tripped up over the word evangelical almost every time. We found that most people outside and inside the church had no idea what Free meant (it has to do with free from state control in the old world and has come to mean autonomous). We concluded it didn't serve our mission well, so we changed it. Five Oaks was a name associated with our land before be bought it, and it's how we often referred to it before we built. If we could do it over again, we'd probably make it shorter like Five Oaks Church.