As part of the research for my book, I’ve been visiting churches all over the country over the past year—a tour of “America’s hippest churches,” you might say (though soon to expand to Europe as well). The goal is to gain a good bit of qualitative data on the subject I’m writing about, to understand firsthand how various church bodies are fitting in to this whole thing. I have stopped at dozens of churches in many states and talked with countless people, and every now and then on my blog I will describe in depth my various observations about these churches.

I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a number of reasons this weekend — including the Calvin College Festival of Faith and Music. It was an overwhelming weekend in many respects—and I probably should not be blogging about it so soon. Things need time to digest, ya know? But because I have to write something on here today and because all I can really think about right now is what I experienced this weekend, I might as well attempt some observations about it now.

Some observations:

Calvin College is ridiculously hip
I’d say that Calvin College is to Christian hipsterdom what Brooklyn is to hipsterdom at large. It’s the leading edge. I mean, this is the place that received national media attention when George W. Bush spoke at commencement in 2005 and sparked widespread protests among students and faculty. But it goes beyond politics. Calvin is also the only Christian college to boast a yearly concert lineup that (in 2008-09, for example) includes artists like Broken Social Scene, Fleet Foxes, Mates of State, My Brightest Diamond, Anathallo, Rosie Thomas, Anberlin, The Hold Steady, Lupe Fiasco, and Over the Rhine. They even had Sigur Ros perform on campus for goodness sake! (By the way, a reminder: saying something is hip is not a judgment, just an observation.)