Membership Class - Harvest Christian Fellowship

Over the next couple of weeks I would like to post some of the materials we have covered in the membership class at Harvest. I want to do this for two reasons: 1. It helps me to process the information if I can try to restate and/or explain it to you, and 2. I would like your honest opinion on the materials. If you read something that causes you concern - biblically or personally - I want to know. We have not committed to this church yet and should we choose to do so, want to make sure we are making a well-informed and biblically based decision.



I should have posted this material immediately after receiving it, but I did not. So - it may be a little dusty in my mind as I try to reconstruct it for you here. The class was divided up into 4 sections:



1. Who is Christ?


2. What is the church?


3. What makes Harvest unique


4. Ways to get involved - specific ministry opportunities.



We were also given some preliminary information about the church and that is where I want to start today. Please give me your honest opinions/views about this.



Harvest Christian Fellowship - Statement of Faith

• We believe the Bible to be the revealed will of God, the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice.
• There is one God, externally existent in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
• God the Father has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God became man to reveal the Father to us and to save us from our sins. Forever He is fully God and fully man.
• Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, became our atoning sacrifice through his death, and was raised from the dead bodily, ascended to His Father and will personally return in power and glory to the earth.
• Although we are created in the image of God, we have nonetheless "all sinned" (Romans 3:23). Until we call upon Christ to forgive our sins and become our Master, Scripture claims we are under the dominion of Satan and are members of the kingdom of darkness. Only through faith in Jesus Christ and the cleansing of His blood can we be saved. When we believe in Him, our sins are forgiven, and we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and transferred into His Kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
• The Father and the Son have given the Holy Spirit to regenerate us, transform us into the image of Christ, and equip us for service. Personal holiness, healing, the fullness of the Spirit and all the spiritual gifts received in New Testament days are available now and should be eagerly desired (1 Corinthians 14:1).
• We long for the return of Christ, at which time He will rectify everything that is presently wrong. Until then, we are to work faithfully to bring the world to Him through evangelism and discipleship. (Matthew 28:18-20).
• When Jesus returns, dead believers will be physically resurrected. Believers still alive will also receive their glorified bodies. Unbelievers will also be raised. Then there will be a judgement. Those who are in Christ will live with Him forever. Those who are not will be cast into Hell.
• The church as the body of Christ has been given special gifts (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, etc.) to equip every member of the body to do the work of ministry. The Church is entrusted with the ordinances of baptism in water, holy communion, the anointing of the sick, the marriage ceremony, the appointment of called persons to specific ministries, and with the preaching of the World.
• Ultimately, we believe whatever the Bible teaches on any subject. it is our absolute and infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct because God inspired every word of it in its original form.

Harvest Christian Fellowship Membership Covenant

Having received Christ as my Lord and Savior and been baptized, and being in agreement with Harvest's statements, strategy , and structure, I now feel led by the Holy Spirit to unite with the Harvest church family. In doing so, I commit myself to God and to the other members to do the following:

• I will protect the unity of my church by acting in love toward other members, by refusing to gossip, by following the leaders, by understanding biblical standards for correction or church discipline.
• I will share the responsibility of my church by praying for its growth, by inviting the unchurched to attend, and by warmly welcoming those who visit.
• I will serve the ministry of my church by discovering my gifts and talents, by allowing the pastors of this church to equip me for service and by developing a servant's heart.
• I will support the testimony of my church by attending faithfully, by living a godly life and by giving regularly.

I have read and understand the biblical expectations Harvest Christian Fellowship has for each of the members of this church. I agree it is my responsibility as a member of this church to embrace and promote these standards of living. I will live by these principles and encourage the other members of this church as they do the same.

________________________

Member's Signature and Date

_________________________________________________________________

I think it is pretty cool the church has a membership covenant and doesn't just accept every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants in. There are high expectations of membership and from what I've seen, the membership works hard to live up to them. Worship is dynamic because everyone there is committed to the church and more importantly, to God and His service. Pew warmers are not welcome to stay for long here, and that is refreshing to me.

So - what are your thoughts? Anything here that puts a burr under your saddle? I'm all ears...

Harvest Christian Fellowship - Holy Spirit Intensive

Since my last blog update, we've made a decision to spend a longer amount of time with a couple of churches to learn more about them and see if they might be where God is leading us. Our first church was CityView where we spent a month going to a Spiritual Gifts class on Wednesday nights. Our second church is Harvest Christian Fellowship which meets in Plainview. We've been attending Sunday worship services there and a small group that meets every other Wednesday that is focused on Raising Kids God's Way.

Soon after deciding to attend Harvest for a while, they offered the Holy Spirit Intensive. Wow - that is kind of a daunting name for folks coming from the churches of Christ. We weren't sure quite what to expect, so we talked with our friend Brad Snellgrove who was helping to organize the event. He assured us it was nothing weird, that "intensive" was a word they used for all types of different conferences - Marriage Intensive, Worship Intensive, etc. It simply meant that this was a special extended time of teaching on the topic of the Holy Spirit. This piqued our interest so we signed up for the Friday Evening and Saturday Morning conference.

We really feel the Spirit has been at work in our lives lately, but wanted to attend this conference to know more about what Harvest believes and teaches as well as develop our understanding of how the Spirit works. Unfortunately, we feel pretty under-educated in this area because of our church background. What I (Gabe) read in the Bible and what is common experience for many church of Christ congregations seems to be extremely different. We've both been frustrated for many years at the lack of demonstrations of power and effectiveness that were evident in early believer's lives and that we believe should still be evident today. When Jesus promises that the Helper will come to us when we believe and are baptized, I believe that is truth and should happen. While we've felt the Spirit's presence all along our spiritual journey, his presence seemed somehow lacking - probably due to our unbelief more than anything.

Anyway - the conference was great. We began each day with a time of worship and that really helped me transition from work mode into learning mode. There were 2 speakers in each session. Friday night the series was introduced by Brad Snellgrove, who is in charge of the small group ministry at Harvest. He did a superb job of introducing the topic in a very humorous way. He was very clear that Harvest was not a charismatic church - that is the over-the-top demonstrations of "spiritual" powers etc. don't have a place here. He was also very clear that Harvest teaches and believes that so-called "miraculous" manifestations of the Spirit are very much still possible and alive in today's church. He taught this is not something to be exploited or even focused on, but to be utilized and enjoyed by the church in the way it was by the church in the New Testament.

One of the things I appreciate about Harvest is their deep appreciate, respect and adherence to Scripture. In fact, I haven't been in a church that was as focused on the Scriptures as Harvest in quite a while. It is refreshing and comforting to know that the guys leading this church spend copious amounts of time in the Word preparing their messages each week. You would expect that such a modern-type church would be using contemporary language Bibles. Not these guys - New American Standard is what is read every week in our services. I'm curious to know more about that as we go along.

The second teacher was a middle aged gentlemen named Doc Sharp. They said that is because he is a full-time Christian who happens to have a hobby or side job as an optometrist. You may know him as he runs the optometry shop at the new 4th and Ave Q Wal-Mart in Lubbock. He was an amusing speaker with lots of interesting stories about how the Spirit works in people's lives. He has a special ministry of healing, rather laying on hands and praying for people. He made it very clear that he has nothing to do with healing people - that is God's job. The main thing I took away from his talk is that we often don't see the Spirit work because we aren't obedient to Scripture. For instance - he said if we aren't obedient to Scripture when it tells the church to lay hands on people, anoint them with oil, and pray for them - we won't see them healed. When we are obedient, then it opens the door for God to work and we can become the conduit for his grace to people. It was very challenging stuff to think about.

Saturday morning the Plainview Campus Pastor, Chris Craig, spoke about listening to the voice of the Spirit. So often we ignore the Spirit's voice and after a while, He stops talking to us just like we would stop talking to someone who never listened to us. He shared a humorous story about ministering to a group of drug-infested Satanists in Plainview last year. Not only did God keep prompting him to continue with this group, he also humbled Chris when he began thinking his own power, and not God's, was having an effect on the family involved. It was a good reminder that we need to really listen to that small voice calling us to action and then respond in obedience with humility.

The second speaker on Saturday was an older gentleman named Ed who shared with us many years of experiencing the Spirit at work in people's lives. It was very humbling and encouraging to hear about stories that evidence the working of the Spirit in people's lives even today. We have been hungering to know that the God we serve is one of authority and has the ability to act today - in ways that might even seem miraculous to us. Our time in Kenya proved to us that he is able and we have often wondered since then why there is so little manifestation of that power in churches here - even when it seems so pertinent and capable of helping people believe.

Each day was closed with a time of prayer from a team of experienced people. It was powerful to be prayed over by people with a powerful and effective faith as demonstrated by their lives and the fruit they bear. God used this time to reaffirm to us that he desired for us to have a time of rest and rebuilding as we re-learn to minister with His power and not our own. I think one reason we've been so drained is that we've been working in the Kingdom for the past 8 years with very little dependence on God. Working on our own, well of course we are tired. Had we been working with the Spirit - I think things might be different! We'll keep pursuing God and see what he has in store!

If you would like to hear the conference for yourself, you can order the CD's here http://www.harvestchristianfellowship.org/.

Raintree Christian Church

October 7, 2007

Now that I've taken you all backwards in time to trace our journey of church visiting since August, we are now caught up and back into current time and experience. It should be a little easier to keep up now as I'll have a whole week to blog about each experience before the next one rolls around!

We didn't know a whole lot about Raintree, but it was suggested to us by my dear sister Lynsey as she and Robby attended worship services here for a time after they were first married. As usual, I got online to check out their website - which is a pretty good one. Go to http://www.raintreechristian.org/ if you are interested. I like the fact that one of the main things on their homepage is "Before you Come - what to expect." It shows that their webpage is focused on folks like us who are looking at their church from the outside. It had really helpful things like worship style (there are different services to choose from), what kind of clothes folks wear (these seems insignificant, but is really important when you've never visited before), childcare, directions, etc. All my questions were addressed and answered up front which gave me a really good feel for what to expect and encouraged me to feel comfortable visiting.

From the website I learned that the minister, Brent McCall, has roots in the churches of Christ and that one of our friends from college, Amanda Roberts, is the children's minister. This led me to believe that our experience would be comfortable and possibly much like a church of Christ service with instruments. While we worked in Kenya, we got very acquainted with Christian church missionaries and appreciate our common heritage very much. All church of Christ and Christian church workers in Kenya actually work under one church registration - there is no official distinction between the two and lots of the Christian church workers attended our annual missionary retreats and we likewise attended their annual All-Africa missions conferences that were held in Kenya. I've kept up with some of the unity movements in the recent past and appreciate the move toward being more unified, especially since these two church fellowships share a common Restoration heritage.

That is also one of the reasons we have been hesitant to visit Raintree. As we have been searching for a church home, our main criteria is finding a place that is Spirit filled and full of people that are actively seeking God in their lives. I suppose that we have been somewhat cautious about pursuing churches with a Restoration heritage since we have observed very few that live out a Spirit-filled life. I don't want to pass judgement here or suggest that we have totally abandoned our Restoration heritage - it's not that at all. We just want to be very careful about the church we choose and find one that matches up in many significant ways (none will totally) with our theology and practice.

As we approached Raintree, there were lots of people outside visiting - presumably because we were between the 2nd and 3rd worship services. We were privileged to have Jill's parents along with us on this church visit. We got our groups together (we came in separate cars) and entered the building. We met a greeter at the door and she directed us to the children's department, which was right down the hall. I had forgotten that our friend Amanda was the children's minister there and she took Avery for us. We proceeded to the auditorium and though several people were friendly and said hello, no one made an effort to actually meet us. This auditorium was very different from most we've visited lately. It was obviously a church by the decor and I don't know how long its been since we sat in a pew. (Well, I take that back. The Episcopal church had pews with no padding!) It had a beautiful stained glass window at the front of the room with pretty wooden staircases that led to nowhere up the sides of the stage. I seriously couldn't figure out what those staircases were all about. There was a greeting on the two big screens as well as a timer indicating how many seconds to the next worship service. While some people find that attractive, I find it rather tacky and annoying. Our culture is so time driven that it would be nice to find a "sanctuary" from that - especially in the church "sanctuary."

I knew it would be a great worship time when the ticker ran out and the worship leader came to the mic - barefooted! It was great! He wore a black, un-tucked polo shirt, khaki's and NO shoes or socks. He welcomed us to worship and when his prayer was done, the whole worship team was on stage and ready to go. We started out pretty smooth and simple, but soon got cranked up and had quite the rockin' worship time! They led us in several popular Third Day type songs, which I really enjoyed. The drums were turned down to the perfect level - you could hear them, but they didn't overpower everything else like in most churches. (And they didn't even have the clear wall around them) I thought the electric guitar was turned up too much here, but I really enjoyed the worship leader's enthusiasm as he led the songs and encouraged us to worship. Knowing that Jill's mom doesn't care for the instruments too much, I wondered how she was doing, but soon got swept into the worship and was able to fully concentrate on singing and praising God. (I love you for going with us Carole!) That's the kind of worship I enjoy - an environment and music that gets me out of myself and into a place where my heart can truly adore God without being burdened by all the everyday stuff that constantly roams around in there. I liked Raintree for drawing me out of me and into worship.

During our worship time we had a communion service that was fairly similar to a church of Christ. After a blessing, the ushers passed the tray - that was one difference. The gold plated communion tray had the little plastic cups around the edge with a bowl in the middle that contained the bread. It was traditional Christian Church bread, which is tiny little rectangles of pre-cut and baked unleavened bread. It's totally different than Matzo's, but I thought it was cool to take them at the same time. (I sometimes secretly do that anyway during a cofc service!) Also, you didn't take it immediately - you kept your cup to take at your leisure and then placed the cup in the little round holder in the pew. I'd always visited churches that had those holders, but never been to one that actually used them. During the communion they played a beautiful piano composition that was calming and reflective - just appropriate for such an occasion in my opinion.

After the worship period, the minister made a few announcements while they passed the contribution plate. And after that, we realized quickly that our online research was a little incomplete! This was the second lesson in a series called, drum roll please, "The naked truth about pure sex." Oh my. I'm all for the topic, don't get me wrong, but you might be remembering at this point who is sitting beside us... Needless to say, I dared not turn and look down the row at my in-laws. I think I was a bit too red to face them. Anyway, I got over my embarrassment and tuned into the message - which was really good. He proposed that we are neither animals nor angels as our culture and church culture tend to make us believe. That is, sex is neither JUST a biological function that we can't control (animal instinct) nor are we created to be sexless like the angels. We are created human and need to enjoy the way God created us, which is to stay in the middle of the road between the animal ditch on one side and the angel ditch on the other.

As the message wound down, the worship team returned to the stage and ushered us into an invitation time and closing song. It was a very poignant and touching worship service to me, though I'm not sure anyone else in my group shared the level at which it affected me. We wandered back to get Avery and I visited with an acquaintance from Abernathy for several minutes as Jill and her folks located the girl. Apparently that wasn't as easy as you would think. Since the children's minister Amanda had taken her to class, Jill wasn't exactly sure where she was, but the teacher of the 4 year olds didn't even know who Avery was. Jill nervously asked around and it turns out she had been placed in the 2 and 3 year olds class for some reason and she had been allowed to go outside and play on the playground after class. (I don't know if this was supervised or not). Anyway - after our other experiences of churches that have rigourous check-in and check-out procedures in place, this was a little disarming.

We didn't stick around to visit much as we were running short on time to get to a Dr.'s appointment. We said our goodbye's to Jill's folks and left Raintree Christian Church. My overall impression of the experience was good. I enjoyed the worship and the preacher (which is rare) and the church seemed to have some things on the ball. I doubt we will be back, though, as we are more and more convinced that a Lubbock church just isn't the best option for us right now. Who knows - we are still seeking God on this and looking for a place that fits us best. No place will be perfect, but some are certainly better than others!

Trinity Church

August 5 and 19, 2007

We began our "church search" two months ago now. Our first visit to Trinity was born not from a deliberate choice to begin looking for a new church home, but out of a frustration with where we were and a need to experience something different for a change. One of Jill's good friends had been visiting Trinity and invited us to go with her, so we accepted.

We had been to Trinity before - usually at Christmas time for their special dramatic presentations. Avery always says "Look! There's the camel church!" when we drive by it on the loop, for she hasn't forgotten that Christmas play 2 years ago where they brought a REAL camel into the auditorium during the play. Now this may be a dumb question related to nothing of any significance, but would your church allow a camel inside??? To me it may seem irrelevant, but it communicates something about the heart of this church - they are interested in communicating the message to people's hearts and are willing to go to extreme measures to do so. That is something valuable in a church.

I suppose that Trinity is the only church in Lubbock that might come close to being classified a "mega" church. I've heard their membership is over 7000, but that is difficult to really know without asking someone in the know. Either way, it is a big place with LOTS of people and that can be either intimidating or comforting - depending on your point of view. If you are not really looking for a church home, it can be nice to just blend in and enjoy a worship service without special attention being brought your way. On the other hand, it can be incredibly difficult to meet people in such an environment if that is what you are really after. It made me really wonder how you would become involved with a church like this and what the attraction is for the mega-churches around the country. Perhaps people enjoy being anonymous and coming to get a worship-fix on Sundays. That wasn't my overall impression of this church, but I did have to wonder how all those people could realistically be integrated and active into church ministry.

Our friend had told us how to find the children's department and we were able to get Avery situated very easily. She was super excited to see what was going on in their and having her friend Kaidance in class was an added blessing. We sifted through the mob of young families toward the "sanctuary" and were greeted at the entrance with a hand-out which outlined the morning's service for us. It was a nice full-color print-out with announcements, class descriptions, meeting times and places, etc. all inside. We found a good seat towards the middle of the room and settled there as we awaited the worship service to begin.

The musical talent at Trinity is pretty impressive, especially since we hadn't been to an instrumental service in quite a while. They have, on occasion, a full orchestra setup for special worship events that is extremely impressive. This particular Sunday was not really a special event, but they did have a stage full of guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and an assortment of other instruments. The musicians tuned up and eventually the worship leader and backup singers came onto the stage with a warm welcome to enter into worship together. They have two huge screens at the back of the stage with the words to the songs easily visible for everyone in the huge auditorium. The songs were very upbeat - some were familiar and some not - and the music had a very different feel to it than what I expected. There was a lot of Southern Gospel feel to it, more so that what you'd hear on contemporary Christian radio say. I guess I was expecting more of a rockish or folkish or refined sound. Anyway - it was good, uplifting and encouraging despite not being my favorite music style.

At some point during the service, we witnessed several baptisms. They have a baptistry behind the stage, like most churches of Christ do, and there was a deacon who escorted the white robed baptismal candidate, as they were called, into the water. It was interesting that the preacher took their confession, though he was 30-40 feet away from them and obviously watching them from a video screen as he faced the audience instead of looking at them directly. Once that was done, the deacon baptized them and everyone applauded. You could also watch the whole thing in larger than life-size on the two Jumbo-trons in case the real thing wasn't good enough.

That leads to my only real critique of the service. While the pastor was preaching, he was broadcast onto the two Jumbo-trons in case his actual size wasn't good enough. My mind bounced between the three images as the cameras struggled to keep up with his lightning paced stage crossing. I appreciate a speaker who moves around, but the camera chasing broadcast on the big-screens made it seem like a blur of activity. It was very hard to concentrate on the message and I wasn't really sure why his face needed to be broadcast like that anyway. I'm pretty sure even the people in the back had a clear view of the stage. It would have been much more helpful to have the sermon outline or Bible verses or things like that projected up so we could follow along. I don't really remember what the message was about, but that isn't uncommon for me. I'm not a big fan of preaching in general and rarely take much away from a speaker's message. Perhaps that is indicative of a spiritual deficiency in me - I'm not really sure. Either way, he wasn't a particularly gifted speaker but I do remember his message being encouraging. Not challenging, but encouraging - and maybe that is what you have to offer when you are speaking to a couple of thousand parishioners whom you probably don't even know personally.

While Trinity was extremely friendly - all the people around us made an effort to meet us - it felt like a really difficult place to get involved. I know there aer a multitude of small groups and classes to join, but that is all quite daunting in such a large church where we don't know anyone. Well, I say we don't know anyone. I did see someone there I knew from Broadway and one of my customers in the parking lot. But among a crowd of several thousand, would you ever really see them again??

The overall impression - a super church to visit. Great worship, great kid's program, on the ball place, but too big for us. We want to be somewhere that we are needed and can contribute to the ministry. I think there are plenty of folks at Trinity that can handle this without us.

See more at www.trinitytoday.com .

Harvest Christian Fellowship

August 12, 2007

During our church search we felt like looking at church's in Plainview might be a good option for us. It makes more sense to worship there, since I work in Plainview and would be more able to participate in activities throughout the week and could make some good friends right there in town. We decided to try Harvest on a recommendation or two, though we weren't quite sure if we'd chosen the right place or not. We have some good friends here in Abernathy who told us they attended a Harvest church in Plainview and one of the partners in my business also told me about the Harvest church he attended. When we started looking online Saturday night to get the meeting times, we discovered there are 2 Harvest churches in Plainview - Harvest Christian Fellowship and Family Harvest Church! What to do? It was late Saturday night and we didn't feel like waking anyone up over our dilema, so we chose Harvest Christian Fellowship and went for it!

Harvest meets in a non-descript building in the center of Plainview. I have no idea what the building was originally, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't designed as a church. It's low and stucco and has pretty trees along the street. We parked in the parking lot out back (not in the "guest" parking, of course!) and headed for the door - a little concerned that there weren't too many cars there yet. The entrance was wide open on this sunny morning and two friendly people were propped against them greeting folks as we came in. The lobby was warm and inviting - it kind of felt like coming into someone's home, but in a commercial kind of way because it was big with stained concrete floors. We asked about the accomodations for Avery and the gentleman who greeted us was kind enough to leave his post and escort us around the building to the kids section.

As we walked, he showed us where everthing was - you know, the important stuff like the coffee bar and restrooms - but more impressively he introduced us to nearly everyone we passed. We me lots of folks our age, a very racially diverse group of folks, as we walked the long hall to the nursery. It was very homey - Jill really liked the throw rugs and conversation stations (otherwise called couches) along the way. The nursery attendants were very friendly and showed us the whole check-in routine, which seemed to be quite thorough. (After church, we realized that we'd forgotten to hand in the card they gave us to "claim" Avery so I returned it. The girls were visibly alarmed that they had allowed a child to go without the ticket! I thought that was pretty indicative of how seriously they take this!)

After dropping Avery, we meandered back to the coffee bar and loaded up before finding a place to sit in the worship room. It was a low ceiling room, actually it didn't have a ceiling - just open beams and air ducts painted black. The chairs were comfortable and portable - they could be easily reconfigured or moved to use the room for something else - and set-up in a big U around the stage. We found a seat and got ready to worship as the leader got up and welcomed us to Harvest. The band started their song and we were suddenly surprised from behind! Our friend from Abernathy, Jara Dubose, grabbed us and invited us to come sit with them - I think they came in late and happened to spot us across the room. It was such a relief to know someone! We really enjoyed the worship time as this church has pretty skilled musicians.

One thing I've noticed about many of the churches we visit is the number of songs we sing. I think the song service probably lasts the same amount of time a typical c of c service does, but there are usually only 2 or 3 songs. I really like this - a lot of other people don't. It means that there is a lot of repetition of the verses and chorus, which is how most new songs are written anyway. For me, this really helps me to get into the words and feel like I'm able to worship. The repetition allows me to think about the song, to sing it with heart, to enjoy offering it to God. Sometimes I feel like this means I'm a bit dense or slow. I just have a really hard time jumping into a song, singing the 2 or 3 verses and then jumping to another one. I need to let it sit, to let it simmer in my mind and at some point my mind is diverted by the repetition from whatever else it was doing to concentrate on the song. I don't know if that is a man thing or a Gabe thing, but either way I like singing the same song for 10 or 15 minutes. Call me crazy, I know...

After worship, we transistioned into commercials. That's right - commercials, not announcements. The staff had done a fabulous job of turning the boring announcements into a fun, lively, videographic (is that a word?) catchy experience. They were projected onto the screen and we watched them for 5 minutes or so. Is that a sign of the times or what? We can't sit and listen to a guy announcing stuff anymore - but our attention will stay glued to a TV screen with video images flashing by.

I'm sure there were other things during this part of the service, buts I guess they weren't significant enough to remember almost two months later. The founding pastor of the Harvest Fellowship group of churches did do the preaching that morning. He's a middle-aged guy with kids our age. He started the church a while back here in Plainview and that work has spread to several church plants over the years. I think there are "branch campuses" meeting in Lubbock, Amarillo, Seymour and Follett. He rotates around supporting the campus pastors of these churches and I think his preaching is sometimes broadcast via video to all the churches. His son-in-law is considered the Plainview Campus Pastor and has responsibility here all the time.

One of the exciting things our Abernathy friends told us is there are plans in the works to start a campus in Abernathy in the next year or two. They have a very deliberate process of getting a church planting team together, training and preparing for a plant that sounded pretty cool. So - maybe God has that in store so we can continue to worship right here in our community like we 've wanted to all along!

We enjoyed our experience at Harvest. It was one of the friendliest churches we've been to and it was obvious that the people there wanted to be there and expressed that during their worship. We love that and yearn for that so much. This was the early service and we were informed there were many more people at the late service so we vowed to return and experience that at a later date. More on that in another blog. One other fringe benefit to our visit - the partner in my business I mentioned came in and sat behind us and the financial manager from our office also attends church there. We have another couple friend from Abernathy who recently moved to Plainview and they also attend church here. We saw all them and it really felt good to know so many people from the get-go.

What a great journey we are on right now! God is good and will lead us where HE wants us to be!

If you'd like to visit the church's website, click http://www.harvestchristianfellowship.org/plainview.html .

CityView Christian Fellowship

August 26, 2007

We are a church with a vision toward:

• Becoming a catalyst in bringing spiritual transformation to Lubbock and West Texas.
• Breaking the American tradition of being primarily a “come and hear” church to become a “go and tell” church.
• Equipping our people to see themselves as full-time ambassadors of the Kingdom of God where they live work and play.
• Endeavoring to influence pastors and church leaders through encouragement, friendship and training, to get outside the four walls of their church.
• Penetrating the marketplace with kingdom principles.

We figured a church with this kind of vision must have something good going on. It's located in a new building out on Milwaukee near the new Target - nice building, but kind of unassuming and not flashy with a big sign. You kind of have to know what it is since its not well marked. I kind of like that. We drove into the parking lot and though there were clearly marked "guest Parking" spaces, we opted to be stealthy and parked as though we knew what was going on. I didn't want some greeter guy who spies on the guest parking to prey on us as soon as the car door opened. that probably doesn't happen, but that is what having guest parking makes you feel like will happen when you are a guest. The building is nice and modern, set way back from the street and surrounded by undeveloped land. It was obvious where the entrance was (which is not always the case with a church) so we went in it. I guess our stealthy approach diminished upon entering the building because the man who greeted us at the door immediately asked if this was our first visit. Maybe he asks everyone he doesn't recognize that question, but probably we just looked lost.

He made a little small talk, welcomed us to the church and asked how old Avery was. He personally escorted us to her class area (which is a really cool thing for a visitor in a big building) and introduced us to the children's staff. They got us all fixed up and even let us go beyond the "sacred" check-in desk which parents are not allowed behind. She wanted us to feel comfortable leaving Avery and to meet her teachers and that was really great and much appreciated. I was surprised to find that her teachers (a couple team) was one of my customers. I didn't know he attended church there and we had a nice visit. I hoped she acted nice! We wandered back toward the big room and were again greeted by a guy handing out a paper for the worship service. He opened the door to the room and...

...it was filled with round tables! That is not what we were expecting. Not only that, but there was the smell of coffee and breakfast burritos in the air. We looked around and everyone was eating at those tables! Someone pointed us to the food and encouraged us to load up. We'd just eaten breakfast so, we got drinks and some fruit and cautiously looked for a table. I don't know about you, but I have some anxiety about finding a table in a big room full of complete strangers. We found one that was mostly empty (I'd hate to be told a seat we wanted was "reserved") and sat down. The lady across the table was alone and we introduced ourselves - deciding making small talk was our way to ease the tension. Rather Jill decided this - I probably would have just sat there staring at the stage. Turns out she was a visitor too and was a little thrown off by the circle table set-up. She'd visited one other time and assured us it wasn't like this the first time she came.

As we ate, there was a couple milling through the crowd meeting people, but we didn't notice that before they met us. Jill asked how long they'd been members here and they replied, "Well, I guess since the beginning when we started the church." Jill was mortified to discover that he was the Pastor and we had no idea! No wonder they were circulating and introducing themselves! Soon two other couples joined us and we had a really nice chat with them. They told us a lot about the church, its history and mission. One of them happened to be a farmer from New Deal, so we were able to connect and that made it much easier. After about 45 minutes, the Pastor got up and welcomed us. It turns out that every year the church celebrates their anniversary this way by having a big birthday bash. The church turned 7 this year and it was a really neat thing to see them celebrate their community like this.

Since we had eaten breakfast, there wasn't a musical part of the worship that morning. We watched a video about the the summer basketball camp the church had recently hosted in East Lubbock. It was pretty neat to see them reaching out to the community that way. One of the camp leaders got up afterwards to talk about the experience and to do that, he needed 8 volunteers to help him. Once they got up front, he borrowed an object from each of their pockets and proceeded to make up a rap, on the spot, about those objects. It was definitely my first rap in church! He did a great job and I applauded the church for not being afraid to tap the talents of the membership, even though it be nontraditional, and share that with the body. While he was rapping, one of the girls who is a cheerleading coach had a little group of girls on stage behind him doing their "choreography" to the rap. It was really neat!

The Pastor got up and shared a message with us after that. He had a lot of details about the church's history and God's hand in getting them where they were. He told an interesting story about how they came to own the land where they are and it was a good way to learn about the church and their mission. He introduced a class they offer called "Directions" that promised to help Christians learn their spiritual gifts, ministry styles and find a place in the Kingdom (not specifically in this church) to use those gifts. It was compelling enough that we attended the course on Wednesday nights throughout September and have been blessed very much by it.

Even though this was a very different Sunday to visit the church and we didn't really get a feel for their worship time, we are very glad we cam eon that day. It really gave us an opportunity to see the heart of the church by participating in their celebration, by visiting with members for an extended time and by enjoying the fellowship and their laid back style. This visit has been a highlight for us so far and we definitely want to go back on a "normal" Sunday. If we choose to worship in Lubbock, this is a very real possibility . We enjoyed the warmth and friendliness of the people and appreciate very much the heart and vision they have for ministry in the workplace and "outside" the church. That is what all churches ought to be focusing on!

See more at http://www.cityviewlubbock.org/

Stonebridge Fellowship

September 2, 2007

Most of the churches we have visited so far are fairly large - maybe 500-2000 members. These are the ones that seem to be easier to learn about remotely - i.e. the internet - before attending, and ones that we feel would have good stuff going on with Avery. Stonebridge doesn't really fit that mold. It is a very new church planting effort located in Plainview - it's only been together about a year and has maybe 100 in attendance on Sunday. One of my employees, Aaron Ainsworth, attends there and invited us to try it out - so we did.

As usual, we did a little research on the internet (http://www.stonebridgefellowship.org/). Stonebridge is a church plant by the First Baptist Church in Shallowater of all places. We thought it very interesting that a small town church on the South Plains would be planting another church in a bigger town in the same general area. When asked why FBC is doing this, their response is "For years, we have encountered a number of people longing for a contemporary church, one in which they can identify with. We know that a vast majority of college students, young families, and people of all ages and cultures do not attend church anywhere. We want to offer an exciting alternative." So, they have a neat little church plant going on right in the town where I work and we showed up.

One of the cool things about Stonebridge is their meeting place. They borrow the antique Fair Theatre. "Located in the heart of Plainview's National Historic District, the Fair Theatre was built during the roaring 1920's as an all-purpose theatre for vaudeville and medicine shows.Today, the Fair Theatre's tradition is still alive. It has been restored to its former glory with beautiful balconies and a spacious auditorium that seats over 500 patrons." It's a really neat old building and I really like the idea that this church is recycling it - using a facility that is mostly empty anyway and using it for God's purposes without spending tons of money on a new building. We met Aaron at the front door and he introduced us to a few of his friends that were hanging around the lobby. I was disappointed the concession stand and popcorn machines weren't turned on :). It would have been a cool place to have coffee before church - and I told him he should suggest it. One of the members we met told us about the children's program and that Avery would be with us for a little while and then go to her class after the kid's sermon during the service. He actually went and got her teacher and brought the girl to meet Avery so she would be comfortable going with her when it was time. We really appreciated the extra effort to make us feel comfortable. After waiting for Aaron's wife for a while, it was time to begin worship so we filed into the theater. I was halfway expecting it to be dark and for previews to be showing on a screen!

It wasn't dark, but there was a screen. Not a movie size one, but big enough for us to see the words of the songs. I was a little disarmed by the huge counter running on the screen that ticked off the miliseconds, which i assumed were until worship started and not for when we would blast off into heaven or something. It kind of gave you an edginess that something was going to explode. I'm not sure if that was pursposeful or not, but boy were we ramped up by the time the thing hit zero! And when it did, several college age kids appeared on stage and welcomed us to join them for worship. The worship leader had an acoustic guitar, there was a girl singing back-up (and sometimes lead), some drums and a keyboard I think. It was actually a really good band that led us in a good semi-acoustic worship time. They were really talented, especially considering their age.

The children's pastor invited all the kids onto the stage for their lesson, so Jill took Avery up and sat with her. After they were done, they all trotted off to the upstairs classroom for the remainder of the service and we continued worshipping. The pastor talked about community that morning and important it was to be together and share our lives with each other. Toward the end of the lesson, he invited us to do something really different - and he warned us we'd be uncomfortable and possible not like it. I was thinking, "oh no. This is too much for a first visit!" He wanted us to look around and go find someone else in the church that we didn't know. (That was easy enough for us!) We were supposed to share with that stranger what God was doing in our life at that point in time and then pray together. Then he told us that communion had been prepared down front and he wanted us to come down and take communion together as an experience in community with our new found brother/sister. Some girl came up to Jill immediately, but I looked around and all the guys were already paired up. Being the social butterfly that I am (ha) I started to get butterflys in my stomach. About that time, my friend Aaron popped back in from taking the baby out and we broke the rules and paired up. I must say that the pastor's idea was a really good one and that was a really neat way to experience communion. It's just pretty cool that even though there were strangers all around the room, in acuality they are family because of our relationship with Jesus. That means we aren't (or at least shouldn't be) strangers at all!

While Stonebridge was a neat little church that has a great mission, we really felt like we need to be a part of a more established church at this time. The youthfulness of this church is pretty exciting, but it also means the leadership is very young and there will be lots of growing pains. Not that we are looking for an easy church to just attend and not grow with - just the opposite. We just don't feel like this is the ministry God is leading us to tackle right now. We applaude their efforts and their small group ministry. Aaron keeps me updated on what they are doing - things that are often non-traditional and attractive (like going out and doing community service projects on Sunday morning instead of sitting in their theater). I'm anxious to see what God does with this little group!

Live Oak Community Church

September 9, 2007

Live Oak is a pretty new congregation located out on South Frankford Ave in Lubbock. It's set on some native grass pasture with big live oak and mesquite trees all around the property - hence the name, I guess. I think they said the congregation has been together for about 10 years. I had been looking at their website http://www.live-oak.org/ and was impressed by what I saw there. They seemed to be very community oriented and have a lot on the ball. Perhaps its wrong to judge a church on their website, but in today's world that is certainly your first impression of a place you are visiting for the first time. It shows a lot about the leadership - if they are concerned enough to take care of the little details like a website, they are probably taking care of the big stuff too. Didn't Jesus say something about that to the disciples one time?





One of the things that attracted me to Live Oak was their theme for the season called re:discovering church. As you can read on the advertisement for the series, it seemed like Live Oak was re:considering how to do church and that is very appealing to me right now. I thought it was very possible that some really cool things were going on here and we needed to be a part of it. And perhaps there are - how do you figure that out the first time you visit a place?
We drove into the parking lot and looked for the way in. We followed several people who went in a side door, hoping someone would show us where to go. No one did - no one even greeted us when we came in. We were in what was obviously the kids department and so we asked someone where the 3 year olds go after not seeing an obvious sign. The lady looked at us kind of strangely and responded that she certainly didn't know. We saw an information desk down the hall in the foyer so we headed down there. We asked the girl working at the desk where the 3 year old class met. She didn't really know either, but thankfully Adam, a red headed guy that looks like a certain movie star whom I can't recall his name, popped out of nowhere and said he'd be happy to escort us to the right place. He'd overheard that we were visiting for the first time and did a great job of telling us about the church and what was going on. He introduced to the teacher and we got Avery all signed up. Turns out he was the associate pastor, so I guess he was doing his job that morning!

We headed back to the dimly lit sanctuary for the worship service. We sat kind of in the middle back of the room and had a good view of the stage. Their auditorium was interesting - it was just a metal building shell with all the beams, cables, lights, etc exposed but painted to blend in with the walls. It was a very good attempt at building an economical meeting center and I rather appreciated their effort at good stewardship. The room was arranged a little differently - it was rectangular like a basketball court and the stage was on one sideline about mid-court, so the audience was positioned around the jutting-out stage in a U shape. The service began when the band fired up and called us to worship with "Join the Song." Adam the Redhead offered the welcome address and we transistioned into worship with "Send Me," "Better is One Day," and "Amazing Grace." Then they had a drama group of 4 women give a neat presentation on the Mission of Live Oak, which is leading others to Christ.

We then we watched one of the coolest things I've seen in a church yet - a video presentation of their huge baptism celebration from August. It looked like they met at a community pool, or maybe someone's backyard and had a big cookout. At somepoint, the baptizer got in the pool wearing his swimming trunks and t-shirt and it showed about 18 people giving their confession of Christ and being immersed. It was REALLY cool and I was quite teary eyed by the end. What a GREAT way to celebrate people's commitment to the Lord by having a party and testimony time and getting baptized as a community of believers. There were totally new Christians in the group, a few kids from the congregation, young people and older people. It really reinforced the church's mission as evangelism as each person told how they came to Christ and to be a part of Live Oak Community Church. We were both very moved by the moment and reinspired about the tranforming power of Jesus in people's lives.

The pastor got up after a song and I was pumped to hear his message about re:discovering church. He told us about his recent trip somewhere or another and finally got the message. I was already kind of lost at this point - his voice was very monotone and he just stood behind the podium, which was on the floor where you couldn't see him very well. Anyway, re:discovering church was all about sailing ships, apparently. He told us that Live Oak was sailing seven ships and how important it was to maintain the fleet and be a captain and swab the deck and other nautical type stuff. Now I've lived on the ocean and have some grasp of things nautical, but he was losing me fast. I couldn't see it coming - couldn't imagine what ships had to do with church until the pictures of the boats on the screen got labeled:

• Worship
• Discipleship
• Stewardship
• Membership
• It was so cheesy I can't even remember the other ships.

Needless to say, I was rather disappointed. Not only was the premise a really poor attempt at being creative, it was flatly delivered and utterly uninspiring. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh in retrospect, but I wasn't impressed - perhaps I'd built it up to much in my mind. When he finished talking, that was it. No dismissal prayer or song - we were free to go. We lingered around a bit and took our time to go get Avery, hoping to meet some of the members. No one noticed us. So, picked up our little girl, who had a fabulous time, and hit the door.

Sorry Live Oak - we won't be coming back. We didn't find things to be "altogether different" in that church, at least not when it comes to welcoming strangers. I hate to judge a church on one visit, but it's awfully hard to come back when your first experience isn't very positive. It really made me think about our role in reaching out to visitors at whatever church God finally leads us to. There is that one chance to attract people and the church must make that first visit a really good one in order to attract new folks.

Turning Point Community Church

September 16, 2007

My favorite worship experience so far was definitely at Turning Point. For some reason I really connected with God that morning and was able to turn loose of my apprehension about being in a new place and really worship. I don't know if it was the music, the songs or just my state of being that morning, but it was really good.

If were forced to describe this church with one adjective it would be "professional." I don't mean that in a bad way - I mean you could just really tell that the church was about excellence in ministry and facilities. When we drove in the parking lot, an attendant directed to a parking spot. That was nice in a way, but we had read the children's department was on the far side of the building and that was really where we wanted to park. Oh well - no big deal. The building is located out on South Quaker near the Vintage Township building edition. It's not a vintage building by any stretch of the imagination - its very new and modern looking, not much like a church building. We were greeted at the door by a very friendly lady who told us exactly where to go for Avery's department. Once in the door, we were surprised to be at the brink of a full fledged coffee shop! It smelled sooo good and is what my dream of what church ought to smell like. I think that just comes from my college days of spending lots of time in the coffee shops studying and talking about spritiual things - it feels and smells like a place where spiritual things ought to happen. The cool thing about the whole concept is two-fold. First, they open an hour before the first "event" at church so you can meet friends there for breakfast and have good community time. This is a really good idea, since most everyone who attends such a church would be at Daybreak or Starbucks before church anyway. Second, all the money from the coffee sales supports their mission work! I thought this was just brilliant and such a unique way to work around the world. It really fits with folks from my generation - another one of those things that makes Turning Point "professional."

On the way to Avery's class, we noticed lots of people visiting and having good conversation. No one had a conversation with us, however, which I pretty much expected for a church like this. It's new and trendy and no one really knows who is new and who isn't. There was a "concierge" desk, we noticed, but didn't ask for directions since we knew where to go. I should have stopped to pick up a coffee mug - we could have quite a collection by now. I guess that is the "thing" to do these days for visitors. As we approached the kids area, we noticed a huge aquarium built into the wall. Yes, built into the wall. You could see inside the kids classroom on the other side of it. It was really cool and Avery loved it. Very professional. And expensive, I'm sure. We got all set up at the kid's section. It's amazing how organized and thorough most of the churches we've visited have been. They are very security conscious, which is a new thing for us. All the kids get name tags on their backs with a number and you get a card with that number which has to be redeemed in order to get your kid back. They take a list of names of people authorized to pickup your child as well and parents are not allowed into the classroom area - it's all contained behind a receiving area where you do the registration stuff. The ladies were very friendly and Avery happily trotted off to her class.

We ventured off to find the sanctuary for the worship service. We were handed a really professional full color worship guide as we came in. (In which we were delighted to read about a special contribution to be taken for the Children's Home of Lubbock!) The sanctuary was a big square room but configured as a diamond so the stage took up one corner.
This is a picture of it, but the picture looks a little different than I remember it. Anyway, there were lots of empty chairs so we found a good seat kind o fin the middle. The worship team was up there on stage and they have one screen with the words of the song where you can easily follow along. As I mentioned before, the worship time was very good and uplifting. The musicians were talented and the worship leader had a good way of keeping us focused on God. I did notice something different here - the drums were not behind a clear plexiglass wall like they have been at every other church we've visited. I don't know what the deal with the wall is - if you know, please enlighten me. I guess it has something to do with sound quality.

At some point during the service the offering bags were passed while a lady gave us her solo ministry in song. The whole service was pretty tame - some hands raised and stuff like that, but nothing off the wall. Most people just seemed to be into their worship. This Sunday there happened to be a guest speaker. I'm really glad we attended because he was one of the best speakers I've ever heard. You know (I think) that I'm not very big on preaching. This guy, however, was different. He really knew how to hold our attention and keep us with him. From telling stories, to walking into (and sitting down with) the audience, to drawing on an easel on stage - I didn't yawn once, and that is really unusual. His name is Warren Martin and he talked about facing our future and engaging God as a big deal in that future. You can listen to the podcast here if you so desire http://www.myturningpoints.com/podcast/view/sermons .

After the service was over, we wandered back through the crowd to get Avery. She had a wonderful time and they were very organized about the whole deal. She had hand-outs to take home and the lady gave us a worksheet of things to do to follow up on the lessons at home through out the week. She took time to go over that with us made sure we had all Avery's things. Then we made our way through the crowd again, stopped to peek at the menu of the coffeeshop and walked out the door without a single person talking to us. I guess that is what you expect at a professional church. I'm sure that going through the new members class and all that would get you connected, but it just seemed like everyone was wrapped up in their own little world. I think that is true with most any big church, however - even ones we've been members of! They have a vibrant small group ministry and lots going on - there would definitely be things to be involved in here. But, looking around, I'm not sure its the environment we want to be in. While the professionalism is VERY attractive to me, because it shows the leadership cares about how things are put together and perceived, its also a bit off putting. There is more to church than getting all the "things" right - it's about a Christian community enjoying life together and while it was obvious most folks there were doing just that, we were invited (or even noticed) to join in that. Maybe that's too much to expect on a first visit, but that's how it felt.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "Church Search." Next time on our journey into the past, we visit Live Oak Community Church.

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church

I'm not even sure where to start with this one. Since Jill and Avery were out of town this weekend for a birthday bash in Dallas, we thought it would be a good chance for me to explore something unique church wise. This time of transition means we don't have church responsibilities right now and what a great opportunity to explore different aspects of Christian faith expressions! I've always been a little curious about the high church side of Christian worship experience. My first dabbling in this came during one of our trips between Kenya and Texas. I (and several other family members, but we were so tired I'm not even sure who they were anymore!) participated, or attended might be more accurate, Evensong at Westminster Cathedral in London. It was VERY HIGH church - with a boys choir, liturgy and such. Honestly, that is the only time I ever remember falling asleep while standing up (and singing to boot)! I said we were tired, remember?! The service was interesting, but my sleep deprivation prevented me from having an honest experience.

My next experience with high church comes from our dear friend Heidi in Kenya. She is from Britain and was raised in the Anglican church, of which Westminster Cathedral is a part. While not very high churchy herself, Heidi and I had many discussions about her Anglican faith and her appreciation of, and dependence on, liturgical worship. What I found so interesting about Heidi's faith is the juxtaposition of her life - she is by far one of the most spiritual persons I have ever known, and that just didn't jive with my view of people who practice liturgical worship. If you are unfamiliar with what liturgical worship is, here is a definition I stole from the internet (http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0097724.html):

Liturgical Worship
In the Christian religion, acts of public worship set out in an authorized liturgy, or pattern of service. Liturgies are often very formal, elaborate, and colourful, and include many rituals. The same prayers will be said on each occasion, although there may be time set aside for free or private prayer. Worshippers become familiar with the services and learn to recite long prayers. Some of the prayers are very old, and Christians feel that by repeating them they are continuing a long and devout tradition.
The Acts of the Apostles describes how the very first Christians worshipped, devoting themselves to the apostles' teachings, prayer, fellowship, and the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42).
Liturgical worship is used in Christian denominations that have a high regard for the sacraments, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches. Worship regarded as ‘sacramental’ uses outward signs, actions, and symbols to express deep religious feelings and belief – a sacrament is an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace. The sacrament of the Eucharist, the most important act of worship for Christians, has been celebrated with the same liturgy since the time of the Early Church.

The Anglican church uses the Book of Common Prayer as guidance for its worship services. You can look here for a PDF copy: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/ . The BCP was written in the 1500's and has served as the main guide for Anglican worship services since then. All Anglican (which are Episcopal churches in America) use this book for their service every Sunday. It is calendar based, so the service is different and progresses through the calendar year accordingly. The neat thing about this is that Christians around the world are reading the same Scriptures and praying the same prayers you are on a given Sunday. It provides a very deep sense of connectedness to world Christians, or so Heidi assures me. I asked Heidi if it didn't seem impersonal or distant to pray written prayers all the time - prayers that were someone else's and not your own. Her reply astounded me. She said that the prayers become your own in time and there is something to be said about being led on a spiritual prayer journey throughout the calendar year. She assured me the guidance of liturgy meant you stayed rooted in faith and that your feelings didn't control your allegiance to God. She said often that she doesn't feel like praying, or doesn't have the words to express herself to God on the dark days of disbelief or complacency. Having written prayers, she said, gives her words to pray when she didn't feel like talking to God. It kept her connected to him, inspite of her feelings. She also related how it kept her spiritually healthy to move through a progression of seasons - to have a well rounded faith that moved her from one spot to another. I often thought liturgy would keep one stuck in a rut, but her view is quite the opposite. The progression through the year keeps faith and prayer new and yet connected to the whole of Christendom, or at least Anglican Christendom. Very intriguing stuff and VERY different from my history of praying whatever felt good or approriate at the time - usually with long times of little prayer in between.

All that to lead into my church experience today at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. I arrived about 10 minutes early and sat in the truck nerving myself up to go in. I was very nervous - nervous that it would be weird, nervous that I wouldn't know what to do, nervous that there wouldn't be many people there since this was the 8:00 service. I went in what appeared to be the front door and was greeted by a friendly man with a smile. He handed me the program for today and welcomed me to the service. I stopped briefly in the Nave (what I would call a foyer) and looked through the brochures there - selecting a couple to review later. It was very quiet in the worship area. I'm not sure what they called it, but it had a center aisle and about 20 pews on either side. People were scattered about and I choose a seat toward the back so I could observe what others were doing and not be too obviously out of place. There was a rail around the front podium and a table decorated with bright green cloths on the podium. There were two lecterns and lots of imagery all on the walls - wooden cross hanging from the ceiling, other icons carved in wood at the front, calligraphy Scriptures and passages framed on the side walls. The room was white with mostly natural lighting from some small windows along the top of the walls. There were large exposed beams on the ceiling and it sort of had a "mission" type look and feel.

A big bell had rung as I entered the church and I read in the program that this was a signal to cease conversation and turn off your cell phone. We all waited quietly for the service to start and when the bell rang again, the 4 "worship leaders" entered the room from a door on the podium. We all stood up as they entered and got situated on the podium and sat down after the Reverend Margaret S. Austin, Rector greeted us. The early service is without music, which is one reason I chose it. There were two parts to the service. Part 1 is called "The Word of God." It consisted of several recitations from the BCP and several readings from Scripture - the "Old Testament Lesson" from Amos 8, the "Gradual" from Psalm 138 (which we participated in by congregationally reading every other verse), the "Epistle" from 1 Timothy 2:1-8, and the "Gospel" from Luke 16:1-13, which was to be the topic of the Sermon thereafter the reading. The Rector did a good job of applying a very difficult parable of Jesus and her sermon lasted about 10, maybe 15 minutes. After the sermon we recited the Nicene Creed together and "Prayers of the People IV" from the BCP. This was a series of directed prayers led by one of the ladies on the podium - I don't know her title - in which we offered responses per the BCP. We then read a "Confession of Sin" together from the BCP and then "The Peace" was offered. At this point, everyone started greeting each other and saying "Peace Be with You" or "God's Peace go with you". Several people around me offered me the greeting and then introduced themselves.

After this, the Rector gave a long list of announcements and updates on the goings-on of the church. When she was done with this, we began the second part of the service, "The Holy Communion." I had been nervous about this ever since reading this script in the program:

"All baptized persons are welcome at our Lord's table.

Please receive the bread in open, outstretched hands, then take the chalice firmly and guide it to your lips.

To receive by intinction, leave the bread in your outstretched hand and the calice bearer will dip it in the wine for you.

To receive a blessing instead of the bread and wine, please cross you arms on your chest when you come to the rail."

I determined that this would be a very special communion experience and decided to just do what everyone else around me did. The Rector gave a blessing and reading from the BCP, prayed for the bread and cup and then broke the single loaf at the table. At that time, we all filed to the front and kneeled at the rail to receive communion. One of the attendants come along the rail and pinched off a piece of the freshly baked wheat bread and placed it in our outstretched, cupped hands while telling us something to the effect of "the body of Christ, broken for you" - I wasn't really listening, but trying to make sure my body performed correctly. I should have really concentrated on what was happening and absorbed the moment, but social pressure is often strong and I didn't want to offend anyone by messing up. Next came the chalice, and a chalice it was - not a cup. It was silver and ornate. After drinking from it, the bearer wiped it clean with a white linen cloth and then gave it to the next person. The taste of sour wine instantly transported me to Africa where we often used Catholic altar wine for communion for lack of grape juice. It was the same stuff and tasted just as bad mixed with clean Lubbock water as it did mixed with dirty African water. It was, however, a very sensory experience and was profoundly moving in its own way.

After communion, they had the "Beyond the Altar Commissioning" in which a man came to the front and received a wooden box. I'm assuming there was communion inside to be taken to folks who weren't able to attend, but I'm not really sure about that. There was a blessing, a doxology and we were dismissed to pass down the center aisle and be received by the Rector. Since I was in the back, and didn't immediately jump in line, almost every single person in the church introduced themselves to me. They were genuinely happy to meet me and this was by far the friendliest church I've visited - not exactly what I expected. I talked to the Rector for a while and was given a mug and encouraged to return. She was interested in my family situation and assured me that there were lots of young families like ours who attend the 10:30 service, and that the church is very oriented to families like ours. I was very impressed by their friendliness and genuineness and it made me want to come back, even though the worship service was very liturgical and different from anything else I've ever done.

I left the church feeling very surreal. I didn't expect the service to have any sort of spiritual effect on me at all - but it did, a quite profound one that I can't say I've experienced after any of the community type church experiences we've had lately. Even though the service was rote, like a small town church of Christ service on steriods, it was very humbling to think that Christians all around the world are participating in the same service I did - praying the same prayers, reading the same Scripture, studying the same passage. And not only that, but to think that Christians have been having that same service on the 4th Sunday of September since the 1500's is quite humbling and awe-inspiring. What an odd juxtaposition of feelings - the service was very mechanical and distant from God feeling while we did it, and yet I came away feeling like I'd just communed with God in a very significant way. I'm going to have to think about this one for a while.

Well - that's probably more than you wanted to know about this Sunday. It was a very unique experience and one that I would advise anyone from an evangelical Christian background to participate in. I can't say that this worship style would meet our needs long term, but the church sure seems to be vibrant and have a lot on the ball ministry wise. Stay tuned for next week's edition of the Church Search!