3 Questions with Josh

Well I'm putting Josh Perry in the Budweiser Hot Seat first... to set the bar real high. I know Josh first of all as a dedicated family man. He puts his wife Sarah and 3 kids (Daniel, Jack & Alli Kate) at the top of his priority list. He is also winsome, funny, edgy, biblical and a darn good leader.

He is the lead pastor of Crew Community Church which is all of 2-3 years old. Crew is in the shadows of Marshall University in Huntington, WV and was started in Josh's living room from nothing more than a dream. Crew's Mission... Pursuing Christ with Passion... Presenting Christ with Purpose. Now on to the questions:

Q: Josh what would you say the church is like?
A: A city. Thank you Augustine (City of God). Thank you Erwin McManus and Mark Driscoll most recently. We are a community of people, a city, that sit under a king who has jurisdiction over every aspect of our life. Sex, marriage, money, career, diet, health, moral choices, environmental concerns. Everything.

We are also citizens of another city Huntington. Who we are also loyal to and has some jurisdiction in our life. We fully engage both cities. In Huntington we promote its welfare while remaining loyal to the King and promoting his agenda. It's both/and. And while living this kingdom life we demonstrate to Huntington that our city is good for Huntington by demonstrating that our city is different and better.

We don't do some things in our city that other city, Huntington, does. We don't have sex with our girlfriends. We don't divorce our husbands. Our wives choose motherhood over career. Our husbands take jobs that give them time with their family rather than the highest paying jobs. We study and work hard with integrity and take the grade that brings rather than cheat. We don't kill babies; we take in pregnant women who are in crisis to live with us. We vacation in 3rd world countries to serve them. Just a few examples of how our city is different than the big city.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church leadership is facing in LEADING that type of church?
A: Teaching this to our church. This is a foreign concept to many of us. Including mature believers. We're innovative in our methods and so this will attract believers to our church who are from more performance based churches that see the church as a business. That's not us. We attract dechurched folks back to church that grew up in a church around here where church is family. That doesn't define us either. There is a business and family aspect to our community. But that would not be our defining trait. So it's constant vision casting, instructing, keeping on message.

Q: What is the biggest challenge your church is facing in BEING that type of church?
A: Walking the line of being a part of both cities without syncretizing or being separatistic. We don't want to overstep the line and become too much like Huntington so that we lose our message because we're not distinctive. At other times in trying to hold our distinction we could become unnecessarily separated from our city and therefore lose our impact.

Thanks for your keen answers Josh and we'll be praying for the Crew. Hey... now that Rich Rodriguez has gone to the team up North... does Marshall have a chance in this years "Friends of Coal Bowl"?