Site Profile: Church of the Open Door

9060 Zanzibar Lane North
Maple Grove, MN 55311
(763) 416-5887
http://www.thedoor.org/

When I arrived at church of the Open Door, I thought I might have taken a wrong turn and ended up at the airport. Excepting the large, abstract cross looming 100 feet above the parking lot, this glass-covered building could be any large office or industrial warehouse. Instead, it’s one of the largest evangelical Christian churches in Maple Grove and the Minneapolis suburbs.

At it’s peak in the early 1990s, the church boasted about 10,000 members. They now have closer to 5,000. Most of its members are not from Maple Grove, but from suburbs 10-40 miles away. A glance around a Sunday morning service revealed a largely white audience, aged 30-40. A few mothers held babies in their arms, but most children were in the “age appropriate” worship service held in the basement.

During the first 30 minutes of the service, a professional band on stage belted out a variety of modern Christian rock songs, complete with vocal backup and professionally mixed sound. Meanwhile, the lighting changed colors with the tone of the song, while two screens projected the lyrics on patterned backgrounds.

As the songs concluded, the young band leader (who I later learned was “Beyond Our Door” Pastor Stefan van Voorst) ceded the stage to a medium-build, middle-aged man. Dave Johnson was dressed like a corporate executive on vacation: loose blacks slacks and a black shirt. He delivered the sermon at a frenetic speed, occasionally fumbling his own words and incurring audience laughter. He spoke quickly, but frequently repeated his points. Occasionally a Bible verse would enter his discourse, but modern psychological concepts of “self-talk” (what one tells oneself about one’s capabilities) and “reframing” (or rephrasing what we tell ourselves so it is more positive) appeared just as frequently. His presence was powerful and his face was projected on the screens that previously displayed lyrics. There was no doubt as to where everyone’s attention was focused.

Staff
There are 42 people in Church of the Open Door’s staff directory. 11 of them have job titles that include the word “pastor.” This large staff is divided into 6 “departments,” each supervised by a lead pastor. Senior pastor Dave Johnson and his protege, Steve Weens are in charge. The staff roster includes job titles expected from any large church: Adult Care Pastor, Human Resources specialist and Worship leaders. But graphic designers, media production specialists and pastors of “Global” and “Metro Impact” also appear.

Jen Lindwall has been the pastor of “Metro Impact” at Church of the Open Door for the last five years. Hear more about her and what she thinks is unique about Church of the Open Door...

History
Church of the Open Door was founded in 1946, as a group of people who met in each other’s homes on Sunday morning. By 1980, when Dave Johnson became senior pastor, the congregation had grown to 150 people meeting in a small, purchased church in Crystal, MN. Over the next 7 years, the church’s growth exploded, as Pastor Johnson began to preach about God’s role in recovery (from alcoholism, drug addiction, abusive marriages, etc.). The services, in the words of one pastor, were “awesome but chaotic, people just crying everywhere...people had never been told, you don’t have to have it all together, there’s grace for you where you’re at.” In 1987, the church boasted 700 members and by 1996 there were nearly 4000. Rapidly outgrowing its space, it began to meet in Robbinsdale High School gymnasium. After being unexpectedly evicted from the school, the church scrambled to purchase land and found a large enough tract in Maple Grove. With large numbers of member donations, the current mega-church was erected at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac near a group of shopping centers. Membership has been declining slowly since.