Church Hunting Experience Number Three....July 19

When we attended the Fourth of July parade, there was a group of people handing out invitations to a church in the area. The man introduced himself to our family and asked if we were looking for a church. We told him that we had recently moved to the area, and that we had been checking out different churches. He cordially invited us to try their church, and we took the information. We didn't attend the next Sunday, because we had already picked another church to try.

Upon reading over the brochure, it seemed like this might be a church to check into. They stated that they believed in salvation by grace through Jesus Christ, that they believed that the word of God was complete and accurate, and the verse they used on their brochure was one that we are familiar with. So after church experience number two, we decided to check it out. The name of the church was not decisive....by that I mean that you really couldn't discern what denomination they might be closest to...you just had to try it out! 

The man had told us that the church was relatively small and that they currently didn't have any children's programs during the service. Although I appreciate Children's church, we also didn't want to make that a deciding factor in our choices. They had only one service listed and it started at 10:30 am. One of the positive things is that we could walk to this church as it was only about a fifteen minute walk. So we walked to church, found the building, and made our way inside. There was about twenty people there, but the thing that struck me was that the pastor and Roger were the only men! However, the pastor came up and introduced himself to us as well as his wife. (That was a first. In all the other churches we've visited we were never introduced to the pastors wife.) They were both welcoming and friendly, and they have four adorable kids which were about the ages of our children. 

Shortly after the introductions, the service began. A few more people came in, mostly women and children, but a few men also. The pastors wife played the piano, and they started the service. We didn't know any of the songs, which isn't a surprise by now, but the people sure were excited. You could give yourself a really good arm workout during the song service if you were to work at it! :) 

Then the pastor opened in prayer. We were caught a little off guard as everyone began to pray at the same time. It was a roomful of people shouting and praising Jesus...and then the pastor started speaking in tongues. You should've seen my kids faces! I had to lean over and tell Garett to please close his mouth. :) (After the service, Chandler asked me why the preacher was practicing his phonics blends during prayer.) It did sound a little like a bunch of blends coming out very quickly. 

The message was very good. It was the best message we've heard out of the churches we've visited, and it was doctrinally correct. He spoke on our life as a vapor and how we should be working to reach others for Jesus. During the invitation, the whole church came to the altar, well, except us. Everyone, I mean the kids, the women, the few men, everyone. Then the preacher went around and laid hands on each one, and closed in prayer with everyone praying at once. 

In conclusion, although the message was good and the people were friendly, it's not the church for us. We believe that God gave the gift of tongues for a specific purpose, and that it is no longer a gift for today. It was a memory and an experience that I will never forget. I will always remember the expressions on my kids faces. 

Update: On July 19, we visited another church in the area. I think we've found the one for our family while we are visiting Arizona. More about that in another post!