Ear plugs

This week, I finally attended the church that had been the nemesis of my congregation since just before I arrived. It is a church plant (one of four or five) that attracted a lot of church goers. Yes, they build the church by stealing fish. I'm not sure how many unchurched (and the dechurched) they received, but their benediction/motto is "See One, Save One".

I had been told the music is super loud. So I looked in my old purse for my earplugs. I dug and dug and finally found one way in the bottom. One wasn't going to do it! I thought and thought about where to look for more. Finally, I spotted a random item on my second dresser and there under my weekend bag was the matching earplug. Who would have thought! So now I was ready to head out.

I arrived about five minutes to start on purpose. I assumed I would run in to a lot of people I knew and possibly even former congregants who I knew had not made the switch, but did float between the two churches. I was surprised to hear my name, only to discover that one of the two families with young children from my previous church were parked next to me. Mom explained that they had problems with the new pastor's accent and trying to focus and understand his sermons while simultaneously keeping the girls quite and occupied. The girls were not happy with the move "but everyone is so nice to us here", but for the parents it worked. The girls were in their class during worship and they could enjoy the sermon. I didn't query them about the theology, as we had arrived at the door.

I entered and went right into the worship space. The band was already playing. It was loud, but not horribly so. However, I soon realized that one of the guitars was making a squealing noise (not quite feedback) that was hurting my ears. So, out came the ear plugs! The songs weren't familiar, but like most contemporary worship songs were easy to sing. I noted that about half the congregation was singing.

The sermon (one week later as I finally write this) was not memorable. It wasn't your usual Baptist fare. I didn't feel beat up, but Romans was again mentioned. It was a salvation message and need for a savior message, but I didn't feel beat up. I just didn't feel it was a very biblical message though scripture was incorporated.

I do not feel a need to return to check out another service. It was typical religion light and what people seem to be expecting in the way of Joel Osteen.