Detour

My alarm went off on time, I just didn’t get up or hit snooze, I just turned it off. Don’t know what I was thinking, but I guess I expected to just miraculously wake up. As it was, I woke up pretty much when I should have been getting in the car to go to Church #4. I literally got ready for church in 5 minutes and just felt grateful I had already printed out directions beforehand. I love walking into a new church looking like I have a hangover. Nice.

To make things more difficult, on my way to church I had to forgo the previously printed directions because of a big reddish-orange sign in my way, it read: “Detour”. Sigh. Needless to say I got to Church #4 a little late.

Church # 4 was nothing like I expected. First of all I felt like I was walking into a miniature mall or a large movie theater. I had no idea it was so big until I got there and walked down the stairs to the worship center while a big light projected the sermon series title on the wall above the worship center doors. Good Sunday to look like (as my mother would say) “a poor orphan child”.

As far as what I thought about Church #4? I thoroughly enjoyed the sermon. I mean I felt like the Lord was using this pastor to talk directly to me. He spoke about God’s glory coming out of our hardships. Not in an oppressive “God wants bad things to happen to you so He can look good” kind of way, but a comforting “God is in control” kind of way. I wish I could go to church some Sunday without crying, but that is looking impossible.

If I was going to be nitpick-y about things I’d say I was unimpressed by the “special music” numbers. Not that they weren't done well, I just hate… hum that is a strong word… I just have an aversion to “special music”. I want us all to worship together and I hate (yeah, hate works here) anything that seems like a performance at church. I’m not saying this church had the spirit of performance, just that I’m gun-shy about that. I had a bad experience!

After crying at Church # 4 I got in my car and drove to Church #3. Visiting their second service this week. Want to know the best part of my morning? Those 25 minutes or so in my car between churches listening to and singing with worship music on the radio in my car. I swear to you that those moments of worship just between me and my Lord are just as much “church” as anywhere that I am visiting.

Church # 3 gave me a name tag again, but besides that it seemed like a different church. The worship team was different, the people were younger, and I promise the room was brighter. I wasn’t prepared for such a difference between services. In fact it was so different I am calling the second service Church # 3.0. Again though, it felt good to be among the people of God. I got another good sermon, a reminder that we all fit together as the body of Christ. Which brings me to a question: Is each individual church “The body of Christ”? To hear pastors talk you would think so. Or could one church be a hand, while another church is a foot and maybe we all need each other? Just a thought.

Anyway, despite two services pointing towards our wonderful savior I went home feeling kind of down. A feeling that I’m still struggling with today. I feel like there are plenty of good churches to go to, but I don’t know where I belong! I don’t feel like I belong anywhere. I guess eventually I’m just going to have to make a choice and pray that it is where God wants me, even if I don’t have that emotional tug I was hoping for.

I feel like my life is taking a little detour of its own. But instead of clearly marked orange signs with arrows telling me how to get back to the road I need, I just have ambiguous signs that could point anywhere. So what do I do? I really don’t’ know. But I’m going to pray about it. I have one more church for sure that I want to visit. So next week I’m on to Church #5 and I think I’ll even have a friend who is also looking for a church join me, so that will be nice. Until then I’m going to just trust that God knows where this detour is going, even if I don’t.

Filling Church

You how know sometimes you are hungry and you don't know that you are hungry? Then you pop a handful of cheddar goldfish or a few grapes in your mouth and as soon as they reach your stomach you realize, "Holy cannoli! I'm hungry!" Mmmmm, connolis...

Well that was what I was reminded of yesterday at church. Once I started visiting churches I discovered this new passion to worship and then last week I was out of town and was unable to go to church. Meaning that yesterday during service I realized how hungry I was for worship! I didn't even know how badly I needed it until I got a little taste.

This brings me to “Church #3”… the church I said I wouldn’t go too. In fact I didn’t 100% decided to go to this church until about 30 minutes before I left home on Sunday morning. I had the directions to and service times of two churches and chose “Church #3” at the last moment. It was one that I had heard a lot about and felt I needed to at least try. I’m really glad I did.

First of all, I walked in and found everyone there wearing name tags, and then a girl about my age turned to me and said, “Your name?” So I told her and found myself one of the many name-tagged people milling about. I thought this might be something special they were doing this morning, that it might tie into the service or message or something, but no. I left still not having any idea why we all had name tags (actually I walked around Target for a while after church with the name tag on. Awkward).

However, besides the name tag confusion (which really didn’t help me get to know anyone any better that any other church I’ve visited) the church had another little twist. They sang about two songs before the message and the rest at the end of the service. I must confess I liked ending on that note (no pun intended).

Maybe it was because I was hungry for it, but worshiping in song with “Church #3” was exactly what I needed. It reminded me of the best meal I’ve had in my life... seafood in Galveston. My family had to wait so long for a table and it was already so late when we got there that we were extremely hungry when the food was served. Best. Shrimp. Ever. So I don’t know if the worship was that amazing or if it was good timing, but I left on high. It was like eating a great seafood meal (I love seafood) after a long diet of bread and water.

I felt this way at “Church # 1” as well, but I think it was intensified this week because I’m actually begining to expect it (that’s been a long time coming). NOT that I think you have to be at a church service to have these times of worship, but I do think there is something special about corporate worship (oh, I see another blog coming).

Also this church, though bigger than my former home church, seemed close; like it wouldn’t be hard too meet people there. Not that I did meet people. I was still the one introducing myself during the welcome time. I don’t think anyone would have told me there name if I hadn’t lead with, “Hi! I’m Meagan”, but of course they had name tags on, so why tell me there name!?!

The teaching there, though not as magnetic as “Church #1”, was biblically sound and not just the surface fluff I expected from this church (or churches in general to be honest). It was a good, deep sermon showing the links between the Old Testament and Jesus. Very cool.

With all that being said, I think if I time it well and don’t get lost next week I can visit the church that was almost “Church # 3” and still make it to the actual “Church # 3” for its second service. It certainly earned a second try. Oh! Also, just as a side note, they didn’t offer me coffee, but they do have a coffee bar. So they fed my need for worship and my thirst for coffee. Kudos my friends, kudos.

Standing Still - A Side Note

So a colleague of mine sent me this YouTube video, I reminder of how important it is for us as a business to stay on the cutting edge of what is going on. Especially since the non-profit I work for caters to young people in middle and high school.

As I watched this video at work I got really stirred up. Anyone who knows me well has heard my rant about: How society is changing faster now that it ever has before an how the church is standing still.

Yes, people of older generations lived through big changes during their youth, automobiles, computers the size of a room, the internet, man walking on the moon. But young people today experience more changes. MUCH more. Today to be in the present means to be forward thinking.

So what does any of this have to do with church hunting? I'll tell you. I want a church that recognizes the changing world they are caught up in and desires to be leading the change instead of following it. I mean come on! As Christians we should be more creative, more driven and more inspired than anyone (Ex. 35:31-32). Why are we always copying the secular world and not the other way around?

I would like to mention that this doesn't mean I am pro-anything new and anti-anything old. I don't want to be part of a "seeker-friendly" church that is just doing what is new to be doing it, to add numbers. A church that is a mile wide and an inch deep. There has to be purpose and vision (Ps. 29:18). But I also refuse to be part of a local congregation that does what it has always done "because it has always been good enough before" (Mark 7:6-7). No, just because it worked in the past does not mean it will work in these ever shifting times. As mentioned before, this is a soapbox of mine... sorry if I seem to be going on about it.

The last statement in this video is, “So what does it all mean?” I think that is an excellent question the modern church of America should be asking. What does this mean for us? What does it mean for the saved and unsaved people we want to reach? After talking to my mother about this she asked, “So what should churches do?”

Well, the first step is recognizing the world we are in and reevaluating what we do and why we do it. Let us not do ANYTHING because we want to do it, that leads to a church built on performance (Col. 3:17). Let’s be realistic and realize that if we want the church to be applicable to this generation and generations to come, maybe we need to find a new way to teach old truths (Acts 17:16-34, Matt.10:16). I’m not saying changing the truth of the gospel, but finding a new way to present it. Above all else we have a creative, ingenuous God who we are to follow. Let’s start by not putting Him in a box of tradition or in the box of the shiny and new.

Okay, soapbox over. For now. :D

Sunday on the 4th of July

This past weekend I opted to visit a church much closer to me, namely “Church #2”. Not only is the church closer, its service starts a little latter which equals more sleep time for me. Meaning this church was already starting with some brownie points! However, things started going south when I walked into the worship center.

Now when I say “things went south” that is exactly what I mean, they went southern. No joke, if I had forgotten I lived in the south this church was here to reminded me. Please note, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just unexpected. My first clue that something southern was a brewin’ was the red, white and blue.

I had completely forgotten that it was the 4th of July; I know this is not only un-American, but also un-Texan of me. However, I was reminded when I walked in and every single person there was wearing red, white or blue. I’m not just talking about the staff, or just the pastor, or just the worship team. The whole congregation had gotten on the patriotic band wagon. As I looked down at my black, gray and blue dress I couldn’t decided if it was a good or bad thing that I accidentally kinda fit in.

However, my blue camouflage didn’t stop everyone from noticing that I was there and that I was not one of them (oh the joys of visiting a small church). This did lead one woman sitting behind me to talk to me before the service started though. She asked my name and if I lived around there. It wasn’t the offer of a cup of coffee I was looking for, but it might as well as been, she was so warm and happy I was there that it gave the whole morning a great start.

This was the beginning of a truly patriotic church service. Now I understand that being patriotic on the 4th of July is an American thing as a whole, but I don’t think I’m wrong in thinking that it is even a bigger deal in the south. I never remember dressing in red, white or blue for church when I lived in Colorado… but down here it is natural.

Anyway moving on, the worship at this church was fun plain fun. The congregation was all into the music, everyone clapping and singing, some jumping up and down. I loved it. I also loved the beautiful country twang that the female worship pastor sang in. Made me proud to be in the south on the 4th! Of course most, if not all, of the songs we sang had to have to word “freedom” in them. I couldn’t help but wonder how many churches across the Bible Belt were singing Chris Tomlin’s version of Amazing Grace that morning just because of the phrase in the chorus, “My chains are gone, I've been set free!”

After this rip-roaring time of worship the pastor came up and gave us the sermon… It wasn’t what I’d classify as a “sermon”, it was more of a David Barton-esque type teaching time. I would count him as a very appealing history teacher if I had him as a professor at college, but for me a sermon on the Christianity and faith of our founding fathers (using the declaration of independence as his text) while interesting, isn’t the spiritual guidance I’m looking for in a Sunday sermon.

So after the sermon and taking communion (because it is the first Sunday of the month… again this is a subject I could do a whole blog on, where in the Bible do we get this “communion once a month thing”? But I digress) and some just plain good ol’ patriotic songs at the end of the service, I slipped out before anyone could catch me.

On a side note, something that concerned me about this church was they had a good representation of youth in their service, especially for a church of their size. Yet, they had no single or college age people that I could detect. I’m always concerned about a church that has a healthy youth group, but then can’t keep them after they graduate… just a thought to ponder.

In the end I can say, I liked this church. It was a place where everyone knew and loved each other, but it isn’t the church for me. So for now it is back to googling churches and asking everyone I know if they have heard of “this church” or “that church”. Next week I’ll be out of town and after that I have two potential “Church # 3”s. I don’t know what it is exactly that I’m looking for, but I hope to recognize it when I see it.

Church Blind Dating

Church hunting for me is a lot like guy hunting. You have a list of what you want, a list of what you don’t want, and absolutely no experience to tell you how it find any of it...

There are other similarities as well. Looking up “How to find a church” on Google is about as helpful as looking up “How to find a guy”. Not that I’ve tried either… Also, you are more likely to give a church, like a guy, a chance if it/he comes recommended by a friend. This of course brings me to another similarity. Very few people have church suggestions for me! (infer what you will).

You see, I’ve never looked for a church before. NEVER. So I don’t really know how to do it. Sure, I’ve visited churches in the past with my family. But it was my parents who decided where to go (how did they do that exactly?). We would discus as a family how we felt about each church we went to, but it came down to my parents to make the choice. This luckily is where the church/guy comparison breaks down. My parents never handpicked any guys for me. Actually… that might have been okay. Anyway, I ramble.

All this being said I have visited one church twice already. People ask me if I like it, and sure, yes I do. I’d go back and probably will. But I’m not the kind of girl that can say yes to the first church she visits. So I need to find others to try. And I’m picky, which is no surprise to me, making this whole process a bit of a hassle. Not to mention the fact that Sunday only rolls around once a week, so visiting several churches takes time!

Anyway, my thoughts on the first church I’ve visited. We will call it (drum roll please) “Church # 1” Oooooh, ahhhh! Beeeeeeeeeautiful!

I LOVE the teaching there. LOVE it. It has been exactly what I need to hear at this point in my life. All about grace and how Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Both Sundays there I wanted to cry at some point because the message spoke so directly to my truth starved soul.

The time of worshiping in song has been good too, I don’t know the songs yet, but I’m getting there. Plus, I feel like there is no pretense in the worship team, which let’s face it people, can be a rare thing in churches today. I could do a whole blog about that, but I won’t.

The biggest problem with this church so far (besides the fact that it is kind of a drive) is that no one has really talked to me there, I mean a turnaround-shake-your-hand-obligatory “hello” during the greeting time, but that is it. I fear this is going to be a problem I face a lot.

Do you know how much it takes for me to get up early, get fancied up for church, drive 30 minutes to get there and then walk into a church all alone? After all of this I’d really like someone to want to ask me, "What brings you here today?" or "Tell me about yourself" or "Do you want a cup of coffee?" Okay fine, that last one isn't practical, but still, say more than, "Good morning!" Something! Anything! However, if I did choose this church I’d get plugged into ministry and meet people that way. I guess.

This coming Sunday I’m trying a place a little closer to home, I’ll spice things up and call this church… “Church # 2”. Wow, jump back.

The information I have on “Church # 2” is very limited, I randomly found it while looking for a different church online. I’d compare going to this church to going on a blind date with a guy who you only know because you Facebook creeped his profile page. Meaning, I’ve looked their website all up and down and can’t find any theological flaws. Plus, I saw some things I really liked. So Thundercats are go! Yeah. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes, for all 2 of you who read this (Hi Mom!).

Really this blog is mostly to help me sort through what I’m thinking and planning. I want to be where God leads me, but evaluating things never hurts… I don’t think. So one church down… God knows how many left to go (literally, He knows). :D