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We just returned from a trip to the Fort Smith, and Arkadelphia regions of Arkansas.

I flat fell in love with the churches in a couple of places. Hit me as REAL Baptists.

Turns out they were CBF or dual affliations (and not gonna mention their names!)

If only I could convince the grandkids' parents to move! But sure revitalized this old lady!

Great. What did you like about them?

What we encountered was a passion for evangelism and hard to explain but the "feel" of Baptist churches more in the Hershel Hobbs/ E.Y. Mullins vein than our local John MacArthur strain.

More active laypeople, less of a "shut up and so what I say" attitude.

Very active lay people reaching out in the towns.

Linda, I'm so glad you had a good experience.

I grew up in the far edge of the Bible Belt, with extended family well into it. We expected on our trip to encounter a very different culture from our poverty pocket along the front range.

BUT--it was quite noticeable in a couple of towns that there was more going on. We were just a couple of old tourists in jeans and t shirts and driving a ten year old truck, but noticed in the stores, the cafes, the motels, everywhere in those towns that people were being treated like kings and queens when it came to service. We couldn't help but notice that after having served you so well, came the inevitable questions: Would you like to come to church with me tonight? On Sunday? Do you know my Jesus? Do you have a church home? One lady, on learning we lived in another state, offered to call a real estate agent and to help us move since her church "needs willing workers."

Not once did we encounter the "are you sure you aren't a false convert?" line so prevalent in our region. Not one person suggested we needed to talk to their pastor to find out if we were "really saved." Every one of them in those two towns (inviting to those churches) seemed well prepared scripturally to reach out and evangelize.

The churches have websites. When I got home I looked them up and discovered they were either affiliated with CBF or "duel affiliated."

I'm very conservative, and don't know but what CBF may be full of flaming liberals:) But if they are, at least two of their churches are doing a bang up good job of equipping the saints!