Church Search 6: Narrowing the Search, Part 2

Yesterday we returned to Real Life Fellowship.

We hadn’t planned to return to Real Life. We thought we had narrowed our search to two other churches, but that changed with the flip of a coin. Some friends, who are also looking for a new church home, were at the house Saturday night. As we talked, it was obvious that no church had totally captured any of our hearts. We couldn’t decide where to go, so we flipped a coin and Real Life won. (Is that how Matthias became an apostle?).

As we look for a new church home, this church continues to impress me. We were very blessed by the service. My daughter loved her class. And my wife and I liked the music and sermon.

But as I reflect on why no church has really captured our hearts, I can’t help but think that church has less to do with the building, the preacher, the music, or the children’s programs and more to do with the people we love. It would be one thing if we were looking for a church in a new city; but it’s quite another thing to be looking for a new church in our own city where so many of our friends are.

As Mimi and I left Real Life yesterday, we talked through the pros and cons of the church. Eventually, however, I said, “You know, I almost don’t care where we go, I just want all our friends to go to the same place.”

Mimi agreed.

Best Compliment Ever

Not long ago someone sent me an email that I have re-read countless times. It blesses me again and again. It is from a self-proclaimed Christian  turned atheist turned Christian again. In this email he blesses me with one of the best compliments I’ve ever received when he said, “I believe you are one hell of a preacher and a great person overall.”

That’s not something a (former) preacher hears every Sunday as he’s shaking hands by the door on the way out of the church!

Church Search

I just found this unfinished post from a couple of months ago. I don’t know why I never finished it.

Anyway, for what it’s worth, here it is:

Last Sunday emotions were running too high for us to attend church so we decided to stay home for a family devotional.

We gathered around our kitchen table to read scripture, pray, and commune together. We took turns reading Matthew’s account of the last supper. As we read, we prayed and shared communion. It was a simple and powerful service.

I couldn’t help but think about how many thousands (millions?) of other believers around the world were doing the same thing. It’s amazing to think we actually have a choice of churches. (Whether that is a blessing or a curse is another matter).

Preparing to Win

As I “prepare” myself for a new career I’ve come to really appreciate this quote:

Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.
Bobby Knight

Church Search 6: Narrowing the Search, Part 1

Now that my family and I have made visits to 4 churches it’s time for us to narrow our search. What are we looking for in a church? To what leadership will we entrust our spiritual care?

First, let me say that each of the four churches we’ve looked at are great churches. Each is unique, with it’s own strengths and weaknesses. Each has it’s own style and personality. We could become part of any of them and do just fine. But, in the end, we want to be more than “just fine.” A church needs to fit our personalities and needs if we are to excel in our spiritual growth. More than just a place to attend, we need a place where we can serve.

Honestly, though, it’s tempting to find a place to hide. My spirit is dinged up a bit right now so staking out the corner of some pew sounds pretty good to me. Sit’n and soak’n might be just what The Doctor ordered. Yet, I know that will never work in the long run. We NEED to be involved. We NEED to contribute.

With that in mind, two churches have risen to the surface: Yorktown Baptist and Oso Creek Fellowship. The other churches are great churches, but we fear that it will be too easy for us to slip into the crowd and disappear. . . permanently.

Yorktown is filled with the most unknowns for us. Based on one visit, we like their music (which is INCREDIBLY important to us). But we need more information. It appears they participate in several mission trips each year (which is great) and I like that they have a full-time youth minister (this is becoming more important to us since our oldest daughter will be more and more involved with a youth group). At this point, my wife probably puts Yorktown in first place for our future church home.

For me, however, Oso Creek, is in first place. I absolutely love the ministry philosophy John has developed within the congregation. As I wrote in an earlier post, the Sunday morning service does not focus on attracting non-Christians. Instead, the church literally goes to where non-Christians are. Members regularly serve the community. At times, they “cancel” Sunday morning services so the whole church can serve others. I’m sure some other churches would not approve of such a thing, but I can easily imagine Jesus skipping synagogue to help the needy.

While no church would say this about themselves, many behave as if the heart of being a Christian is attending Sunday worship, joining a small group, and giving money to maintain the building and programs of the institution. I’ve been dangerously close to thinking and teaching this. But I’m learning that church is so much more. I think John Bradshaw and Oso Creek Fellowship already know this.

Where will we end up? I’m not sure. We’re praying and looking deeper for now.

Church Search 5

Sunday we visited Yorktown Baptist Church. Alan Reed, Yorktown’s Associate Pastor, lives across the street from us. My kids are good friends with his kids, so, like last week, this post may be a bit biased.

Yorktown has recently undergone several changes. They have a new pastor and a new building. There is a contagious excitement among the members.

The new building is simple, but nice. The church seems to be growing.

Of all the places we visited, we liked Yorktown’s music the best. The large band and singing team blend well. While we didn’t know every song, even the new songs were easy to learn and sing. There weren’t many handraisers or clappers in the crowed but the congregation did enthusiastically sing along.  The music didn’t have that “edgy” feel we experienced in the other congregations. Instead, it had a bit of an “anthem” feel to it. I suppose many church people enjoy that style (my wife certainly did), but I prefer a bit more rock to my music.

The sermon was another one of those fill-in-the-blank kind that are popular among many preachers. They aren’t, however, my favorite. Fortunately the pastor delivered it with energy and enthusiasm. That enthusiasm is inspirational and makes me willing to give the church another visit.

Hobby Horse Time:

There are lots of reasons I don’t care for fill-in-the-blank sermons. (Yes, there are exceptions. I’ve preached many a fill-in-the blank sermon). For one thing, life isn’t fill-in-the-blank. Life is story. Life is an ever changing, ever unfolding drama. Life’s problems can’t be solved by six steps that all begin with the letter “R”. In my opinion, fill-in-the-blank sermons lend themselves more to mental development than to spiritual development. There is a false sense of accomplishment that comes from filling in blanks. “I’ve done what I need to do. I completed all the blanks on my outline. Now I can go home.”  Sermons should be about life-change, not completion of an outline. People need to live the gospel. Sermons should motivate people to change. . . to be different. . . not just to think differently.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog. . . .

We did run into a bit of a snag at Yorktown when we checked in our daughter to her class. There was no one at the check-in center. Instead, someone from inside a classroom simply called out, “Come on in.” No registration. No tag. That may have been fine a few years ago, but in today’s environment it’s important to be serious about children’s check-in. I’m sure Yorktown has a check-in system, but we caught themon a Sunday when they were making some changes to their morning line-up so mistakes are bound to happen.

All-in-all, our experience at Yorktown was very positive. Is it the right church for us? Possibly.

Church Search 4

Last Sunday, for the second week in a row, we visited Fellowship of Oso Creek. My good friend, John Bradshaw, is the pastor.  I’ve long respected John and the work he’s doing at Oso Creek. I’ve preached at the church a couple of times, and I’ve traveled with a group of “Creekers” to Houston to help in Hurricane Ike recovery. So please know that my comments are probably a bit biased.

Before visiting Oso Creek, we attended two seeker-focused churches. The sermons are practical and life-oriented. The music has a concert feel to it. Both go out of their way to help visitors be as anonymous as possible.

If those two churches are at one end of a spectrum, Oso Creek is at the other end. Oso is geared for “churched” people. The sermons focused on believer’s relationship with God, the music had more of a “sing-a-long” feel to it, and visitors were anything but anonymous.

Please, PLEASE don’t hear that as a criticism. It’s not that one style is better than the other. It’s just that each kind of church begins with different assumptions about who is in the audience and how best to communicate life-change to that audience.

That Oso focuses on “churched” people is obvious in several areas. During both our visits the sermons challenged Christians to go deeper in their discipleship. There was lots of talk of “DG’s” or “Discipleship Groups”. (Most non-Christians wouldn’t even know what “discipleship” is). There was no invitation for salvation, instead the invitation was to go deeper in your commitment to Jesus.

During our first visit we attended the early service. It is the smaller of the church’s two services. It’s not the place for visitors to come who want to blend in. With so few members present, every visitor stands out. A friend of mine who attends Oso pulled me aside before the service and asked,”What are you doing at the 9:00 service? This service isn’t for you. The excitement is at the 11:00 service. You need to come back then.”

My friend was right, the 9:00 service is not geared for someone in my age bracket. While there are activities for my elementary aged daughter, there was nothing for my middle school daughter. Oso only offers a class for that age group during the 11:00 service. In many churches this would not be an issue. We could worship together as a family at 9:00 and attend class at 11:00. Unfortunately, Oso is a small-groups church. They don’t offer adult Sunday school classes. Perhaps my wife and I could find a ministry in which to serve during that time?

But I digress. . . getting back to ways that Oso Creek is more believer-focused than seeker-focused. . . . During our first week, John ended his sermon with an invitation that consisted of having everyone come forward as a sign of their commitment to break free of sinful bondage. Now, I understand the benefit of the simple act of having people take a step forward to show their commitment. It was a powerful call to deeper commitment. As visitors, however, we weren’t comfortable going forward, so we stayed seated. It just seemed safer to stay seated. We were new. We didn’t know what John would have us do once we went forward. Would he ask us to give our testimony? To give money? Would he try to perform some ancient blood-letting ceremony on us? We didn’t know what to expect; so, yes, it was safer to stay seated. Unfortunately, with all the members up front and the visitors left sitting (there were a couple of rows of us scattered through the auditorium) we stood out much more than I liked. It made us feel awkward. (But no one asked for any blood).

Again, please don’t hear that as a criticism. I don’t mean it that way at all. It’s just a few observations; not criticisms. In fact, being part of a church that focuses on building me up as a believer sounds pretty good right about now. My spiritual and emotional life could use a little TLC. So, we decided we definitely wanted to try Oso Creek again.

That brings us to this past Sunday; our second visit. We took my friend’s advice and attended the 11:00 service. . . . Wow! What a difference in atmosphere. The room was full, the crowd was excited, and we felt more at ease. My kids even loved their classes.

Yes, once again the sermon focused on the spiritual needs of believers. Instead of calling people to begin a walk with Christ, the invitation called people to walk more faithfully, to train harder for their walk with Jesus. The music was good. Unlike in the previous churches we attended, we knew the words to most of the songs. People sang along, clapped enthusiastically, even danced a bit. It was fun. It was worship.

As of now, Oso Creek is our top choice for a new church home.