24 hours ago (as I write this), we were still in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida. Right now, I am experiencing a big-time Disney hangover ☺. As I had an amazing time with my family this past week, I did start to notice things around Disney that I (and we) can learn from in church leadership and life.

Let me just start out that the church should not attempt to become Disney. As I waited for some shows to start, I looked around and I could not help but think that some churches design their whole sanctuaries and places of worship like Disney show. The lighting, the background music, the seating, everything! It is my opinion that we should not. We worship the God who transfers out of darkness and into light. Therefore we should worship Him in light. Open the windows and let some natural light in. Let’s see each other’s faces as we worship Jesus. I know why theaters and such are designed like this – to easily control lighting and other environment factors. I get it. It is all about entertainment. But you can correct me if I am wrong, but the church is not about entertainment. It is about Jesus; worshipping, serving, bringing other to Him, discovering more about Him (growing), and the fellowship of His Body – not entertainment.

With that said, there are HUGE lessons we can learn from Disney. I truly believe they understand humans more than the church. I know that may not settle with you. But look around the Disney empire – they are onto something that the church can learn from. So, over the next several days, I want to share what I learned from Disney. Some of these posts can be applied to church leadership and some can be translated to life in general.

So here we go…