Happy birthday, Pastor Chris!Bonne fête, Pastor Chris!
City Church put him in the hot seat and asked him everything, from coffee to potatoes to which hockey team owns his heart. Here's what we learned, and a quiz to find out how well you really know him.
citychurchca · Original audio ♪ a problem voice (remix)
🪑 The hot seat
How well do you really know Pastor Chris?
Seventeen questions, straight from the interview. Pick an answer and then see what he actually said, word for word.
Question 1 of 17Score 0
0/17
☕ The usual
Coffee or tea? Not even a question.
The first three questions were about coffee, and he answered all three without stopping to think.
Coffee or tea?
Choose wisely.
Espresso or cortado?
Cortado.
One shot of espresso,
about the same again in steamed milk.
One-word answer.
Favourite coffee shop?
CAFÉ MERCANTIfor Chris · cortado
I'm gonna have to go with Café Mercanti. It's a neighbourhood coffee shop.
🏒 A divided heart
Montreal Canadiens or Ottawa Senators?
His first answer: "Oh man, you're ripping my heart right now." Then he told the whole story.
Age 14"I was 14 years old when the Ottawa Senators got their team. I was living in Ottawa. It was our only professional team, so that was a big deal."
8–9 wins"I was ride or die, even when they were eight wins a year. Nine wins out of 82."
Montréal"But moving to Montreal, and especially last year, getting swept up into the Habs fever, it's really, really tough not to just have my heart switch."
Today"So I would say right now, to be completely honest, my heart is completely divided right now."
The interviewer called it "cheating." We call it pastoral.
Try to win his heart
Drag the puck toward your team.
SENS50%HABS50%
Currently: completely divided.
⚾ HOCKEY OR BASEBALL?● LIVE FROM THE HOT SEAT
TO WATCH
BASEBALL. "HUGE BLUE JAYS FAN."
FAN SINCE
1991
WORLD SERIES
★ 1992 ★ 1993
HE WAS
IN HIGH SCHOOL. "SO THAT WAS A BIG, BIG DEAL."
TO PLAY
HOCKEY, 100%.
Shootout: Sens vs Habs
"But to play, hockey, 100%." You shoot for both teams, because his heart is divided. Aim, hold to power up, release.
🎒 Ruck club
Put weight in a backpack. Walk around. On purpose.
His City Church bio says he loves espresso and running. Off camera, Pastor Chris also rucks: he loads a backpack with weight and goes for a walk. Pack his birthday ruck below.
LOAD 0 lbPACE 4:45/km♥158 bpm
0 lb
Empty pack. That's not a ruck, that's a run. (His bio does say he loves running.)
🥇 Atlanta 1996
"The first Olympics I ever watched."
His favourite Olympics are Atlanta 1996, the one where Donovan Bailey won gold in the 100 metres and set the world record. Here's how long that took.
BANG!
3🏃🏻♂️YOU
4🏃🏿♂️BAILEY 🇨🇦
5🏃🏼♂️CHRIS (watching on TV)
0.00
100Donovan Bailey · gold & world record · 9.84
4×1"The Canadian four by one team won. Atlanta 1996."
🎮 Game night
Favourite video game?
"I have a great memory. My wife and I, we played 007 GoldenEye when we first got married. There was like an ice storm in Texas. And so those are great memories."
007
PLAYER 1: CHRIS · PLAYER 2: YANCI
LOCATION: TEXAS · WEATHER: ICE STORM
PRESS START
NEWLYWED·64
We never play video games anymore. Like 20 years, but I'll have to say 007 GoldenEye.
★Favourite band? "First one that comes to mind is Coldplay."
🥔 Chef's special
Your favourite way to eat potatoes?
We asked a Montreal pastor about potatoes and he did not say poutine. We're as surprised as you are.
Pastor Chris's Classic Baked Potato
1 potato, classic
Rock salt
Lots of butter
Lots of sour cream
1 steak, on the side (strongly recommended)
Bake it in the oven. Add everything. Don't ask your cardiologist.
⚠ "Not good for the arteries"
"…but definitely tastes good with a steak."
Click the potato for more butter.
📚 Report card & bookshelf
What's your favourite subject?
"None." His least favourite took longer to answer.
Student Report Card
Student: C. McGregor · Ottawa, a while ago
Subject
Status
Comments
Favourite subject
—
"None."
Physics
F = ma
😬
"When I took it in high school, that was really hard. I was not a good physics student."
Bible
John
Favourite book. One word, no hesitation.
Reading
Keller
The Prodigal God, by Tim Keller.
Choir
🚫
See the end of this website.
Pull a book off the shelf ↑
🧪 Personality test
Introvert or extrovert?
"Every time I take the test… I love people, but I do get my energy from being alone. So probably technically I'm an introvert, but I love people."
The results
Introvert 51%
49% Extrovert
So every time I've taken it, I'm like 51% to 49.
Cats or dogs?
Texting or calling?
Tap to call
📞 Pastor Chris
Calling.
☀️ The perfect day off
Favourite way to spend your day off?
No hesitation and no particular order, though the nap came last.
❤️
First
Spending time with Yanci
☕
With
A good cortado
🚶
Then
Walking around our city
🍳
Midday
Having a good lunch, or maybe a brunch
😴
Afternoon
And then a little bit of a nap
Chris & Yanci · step one of the perfect day off
💙 Proud of
What's something you're proud of from the past year?
"It's a great question. I am so proud of our church."
2→3
9:3011:0012:30
"As I think back to the last year, we launched, 13 months ago, we started going from two services to three. That was a huge commitment for our creative team, for our staff, for all of our kids leaders and our high school leaders. Just everybody was so glad to pitch in."
"We've seen an incredible increase of people finding Jesus, but also following Jesus. And so I have to be so proud of our dream team, that it's served so faithfully every Sunday to make it happen, to create space for all three services. Thank you, dream team."
Creative teamStaffKids leadersHigh school leadersEverybody who pitched in
City Church started on September 15, 2013, with seventeen people. Now it has three services on a Sunday.
The McGregor crew
🎤 Don't miss the end of this video
What's your favourite karaoke song?
"It's gotta be I Want It That Way." Then they asked him to sing a little of it. "This is gonna live on forever. I can't put this on video."
INCIDENT REPORT · CHURCH CHOIR
Age:
8
Where:
"Even in my church"
Outcome:
"I got kicked out of our choir, our youth choir."
Reason:
"They said I had a quote unquote problem voice."
Today:
"But I'll do it just because you asked, because I love you Jerome." (He sang. It's on the internet now. Jerome, we owe you.)
PROBLEM VOICE
Now singing · for Pastor Chris
Happy Birthday to You
His pick, "I Want It That Way," is still under copyright, and his voice is still under a choir ban. So tonight everybody sings this one.
Someone in the comments called him "the missing member from the Backstreet Boys." We can't confirm or deny this.
Pastor Chris,
Happy birthday! Somebody put you in the hot seat and you answered every question: coffee, potatoes, physics, two hockey teams, a
choir that didn't appreciate you, and a song that will now live on forever. Thank you for laughing your way through it. It
was the best three and a half minutes on the internet this week.
Thank you even more for the questions nobody asked on camera. You started City Church with seventeen people. More than a decade
later you're filling three services, and everyday, imperfect people keep finding Jesus and then following him. You
lead it, you give the credit to the dream team, and you still think calling is better than texting.
We hope this year brings plenty of good cortados, slow brunches with Yanci, walks (and rucks) around our city, a nap in the
afternoon, a baked potato with too much butter, and a few wins for the Blue Jays. Also the Sens. Also the Habs. We know, your heart is divided.
Bonne fête, and happy birthday! ♥
Carol, Lucas, Noah & Lilian
(Lilian is four months old. Her favourite subject is also none.)
psst… there's a rug under this whole website.
🧶 Don't pull this rug.(drag it sideways, or just keep scrolling)
the McGregors & friends present · one night only
STERLING
IS 20!!
Oct 19Doors 7:30Show 8:30No coverAll ages (finally not a teen)
Surprise. Rug pulled.
This website was about Pastor Chris. Now it's about his son Sterling, who turned 20 on October 19th and fronts a Montreal band called Rug Pull. Yes, we just pulled the rug out from under his dad's birthday website. Yes, that's the joke.
Here's what Dad wrote on his birthday:
"Sterling has exited his teens and is officially 20 today. 🤯"
"October 19 made me a dad."
"Sterling has made me so proud…over and over again."
"Enjoy the ride buddy. It only gets better!"
Tonight's lineup
Sterlingvocals, 20 years old, officially not a teen
Rug Pull"currently getting jiggy with it"
Pastor Chrisopening act · "problem voice" · will only sing a little
Yancithe reason October 19 made him a dad
The City Church choirfinally ready to apologise
The problem voice skipped a generation
Quick recap. At age 8, Sterling's dad got kicked out of his church's youth choir for having a "quote unquote problem voice."
Decades later, his son became the lead vocalist in a punk band.
So it was never a problem voice. It was a punk voice, and it took a whole generation to find the right band.
SETLIST · 10.19
Runaway With Me
Exited My Teens
October 19 (Made Him a Dad)
I Want It That Way (Dad's request, denied)
Problem Voice (Inherited)
Happy Birthday (fast, loud, 30 sec)
ENCORE: whatever the crowd yells
ARE YOU READY?!
Turn it up. Warning: power chords, heavy drums, zero problem voices.
Rug Hero
The guitarist didn't show, so you're up. Play the birthday set Guitar Hero style while Sterling sings: hit the notes as they cross the line, hold the long ones, and don't let the crowd turn on you. Turn your sound on.
