We’ve visited Mars Hill Church (not seminary) here in Seattle a few times, and I think we have a lot to learn from them about doing urban church:
+People can plug into programs
+Movies are great ways to start talking about important things
+Walls should be painted in colors that are currently (as opposed to once) attractive
+Sound systems and projectors matter when communicating to large groups of people
+It’s nice to have a kickin’ website, even if you have to hire an Elliott Bay firm to do it for ya. The MP3 thing rocks.
+Doing your own music rocks, especially if it’s vastly different from what’s out there
+Fiddles and flutes add a lot
+Big-group gatherings need to be supplemented by small-group gatherings
+Chairs should be movable
+Good page layout is worth the effort
+Doctrine needs to be taken seriously
+Food should be a part of everything. It’s sacramental.(o)
-Doctrine needs to be worked out in community, not pounded down from the almighty pulpit
-People cannot sit and listen effectively to 60 minute sermons. They might be polite and quiet, but they’re not learning anything after 15 minutes.
-A sermon and “the Word of God” are not the same thing, and raising the stakes of agreeing with you doesn’t make you more right.
-The shock value of swearing in a church setting wears off after the second time. Then it’s just gratuitous.
-Songs should not be sung with intentionally offensive harmonies

UPDATE: We went to their new building for Sunday 10am service (they have fewer now that their seating capacity has quintupled), and it rocked. Mark Driscoll preached one of the best GenX-targeted sermons I’ve ever heard. I regained a lot of respect for him, some of which was lost when I listened to his dreadful talk on the Soularize CD. But he has a message that he knows how to communicate to his audience, and I saw that Sunday. And no calvinist dogma! Yeah.

I’m going to re-read Michael Slaughter’s UnLearning Church (Group).