Search for "Church" I

     Christopher and I are on a ''project'' of sorts.  We are in search of a local church of which God would ahve us to serve.  As we are on this daunting journey...we've decided to ahve a little bit of fun and learning along the way.....muhahahahaha....

As we embark upon this adventure....there are some ground rules.
     1st ~ We must remember our motive and not get far too wrapped up in the ''fun''
     2cd ~ It is our goal to learn more...not bash the ignorant...and too smart
     3rd ~ Apply our findings into a personable experience with others
     4th ~ Prepare for our future deputation
     5th ~ Enjoy the Ride!!!

     I have personally been in hundreds upon hundreds of different churches...some large..some very small...some loud and excited...some grumpy and old...some welcoming...some like graveyards...etc...etc
With this...and the book of Acts, i have developed in my mind what the Church that Christ started should look like. Some of these afore mentioned display such characteristics...but nonwe whole....but remember who the healer of the broken is :)
     Christopher is the one who really developed "our plan"...though we ahd both discussed it extensively before.  We believe that the church is not a resting place for the Saints, but rather and hospital for sinners...which is everyone of us. We believe that a church should not hold partiality to those who may seem to have more to offer (such as the man with the gold ring...James 2). Nor should those be ignored whom seem to have less to offer.  We have as western churches become som immune to what Christ's desire for a church body is. But...that is a discussion for another time ;)

     Round one:

Walnut Ridge Baptist

Mansfield, Tx

Chris and I both wore old tshirts beat up tennis shoes and ratty jeans.

We were clean and neat...just looking poor.

oh...and no jewelry or purse...or Bible.

Also...we drove the old 98 Ford Explorer which hasnt been bathed in over a year ;)

The church building was large and new.  As we arrived, we were directed to parking spaces by friendly faced parking helpers. As we looked around, we saw only nice cars and very well dressed ''Christian Folk." I then began to notice that ALL the women had skirts and loafer type shoes...men were in ties or a sport jacket and button down shirt...children in suits and Sunday mornin dresses. At this point, I wanted to tuck tail and leave. Chris offered such, but we decided that we needed to do this to learn how it feels and to better gauge the churches we are considering serving with. So, we began to approach the front door. Crowding and brushing past us were these people mentioned above. We found a seat towards the front left side...we sat down...about 10 minutes later, services started.

The song minister began leading the group in songs of reminding us of some great truths about God as our Creator and Friend...quite an amazing concept. My thoughts is that such an unfathomable concept would be expresed with great exhuberance...yet as I glanced arounf the congregation and within the expressions of the choir members..I realized that no more than a handful looked to be doing more than chanting a meaningless tune in sinc with one another in a rythmic fashion. It was really sad.  What ever happend to truely worshipping in song...does worhip die as the words fall off our lips...are these chanted words worship??? mmmhhh...anyhoo
After 7 songs sung in such dull manner, the pastor approached the plexiglass podium and introduced the topic of the day...

PASSION

How ironically fantastic :)

He used the portion of Scripture in Genesis 3 where God speaks to Moses through an inconsumable burning bush. He discussed that Moses had a passion for what God told him to do...We have a mission too...straight for Jesus Christ Himself...Where's our Passion. He explained that it has been lost...simmered out...we have been consumed in self rather than a consuming fire of passion for the sthings of God.

At the end of this message, I was ready to watch the flood gates oopen and see people flocking to the alter like it was feeding time for an animal on a farm or something like that.

YET RATHER...

NOTHING.

Nothing with the exception of some chanted verse of, "I Surrender All."

This broke my heart. To see this Pastor pouring out a feast of love, grace, and passionate duty...only to be refused.

As we walked past the crowd and squeezed out the door, we heard clamor of what each other were going to eat for lunch...cable bills...the football game that evening...etc...

nothing about the Passion the were pleaded to desire for that morning.

We left without even being greeted with the exception of the 3 old ladies we sat next to..they gave their obligatory handshake and half grins...

A few hours later, we there was a door hanger from the church with a note that said the missed us, some snack cookies, and a brocjure about their programs...thought that was a sweet effort :)

In a few weeks we will return in our fancy/conservative church clothes and see how the reaction differs...

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!