My next church

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

My personal preference in a worship service is one with a pipe organ, piano and a small orchestra with full choir singing hymns like the Diadem version of "All Hail the Power", "Crown Him With Many Crowns" and "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." But I can still connect with the Spirit in a praise service with a band, guitar, keyboard and drums and singing rousing hand clapping choruses like "Days of Elijah" or "My Lighthouse." I believe there are some Biblical models for worship, though I don't consider them "edicts" or requirements. A lot of what makes a worship experience be what it should be, where God is the audience, is the attitude and spiritual preparation of those who are leading it. It's not a "gig" or a performance and good worship leaders know how to avoid making it into something about their own talent. Unfortunately, at least from my personal observation and experience, there aren't many I've seen who can carry that off very well.

The most inspirational, spirit-led worship services I've ever been involved in happened during the last few years we lived in Pennsylvania and went to a Friends Meeting on Sunday. They had an "unprogrammed" meeting at 11:00 every week (except the fifth Sunday of the month) but prior to that, at 10:00 they had a "gathering" where there was singing of a mix of hymns and choruses accompanied by a keyboard and acoustic guitar, followed by a Bible study that was theme-centered and interactive. The pre-schoolers, children and youth had a Sunday School class during that time. The 11:00 worship was unprogrammed. Sometimes, typically, it was an hour of silence, sometimes there were a dozen participants reading scripture, giving testimonies, leading prayers and acapella music. We were inspired by both and leaving each week I had that sense and feeling of having been to church.

[Tim Bonney]

[Chris]

I found three churches that met my criteria. It was hard to choose between the three. I joined First Baptist Church of Newport News, Va., this morning. Pastor is Dr. Randy Shepley (I think he is a BTSR graduate). I thought very highly of Walnut Hills Baptist, Williamsburg, Va, where Dr. Jim Hunter is pastor; and Hampton Baptist Church, Hampton Va., where Dr. Mike Clinginpeel is Interim Pastor. My health, and distance were factors. FBC is just 5 miles from home; the other two are 19 miles from home. I recommend all three.

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

I'm glad you found a place where you feel you fit and close by home. Do you have any idea where the other members of your former congregation have landed and how they are doing?

[Chris]

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

That is good news, both for Chris and friends and for Sandy's friends and their new co-congregants.

I attended my first Church Council meeting in my new capacity as Vice Moderator (which brings with it Vice President of the corporation) of Fremont Baptist night before last. We heard the annual reports. Things are going well. We're getting ready to kick the search committee back to life, but are not particularly expecting to have a permanent pastoral call in 2020. People are happy with our current interim, Rev. Jeff Barker, who was already a regular attender for a couple of years under Pastor Rev. Dr. Judy Gay prior to her retirement in the fall of 2018. Our basic attendance figures stand at about 25-30 (rarely outside that range) on Sunday mornings, and the constituents of that figure include 13 or so new regular attenders who first arrived in 2019 and/or this month. As a result, the average age has come down a bit, and the racial composition is typically more diverse. We have a 20-somethings group with about 8 attending following coffee hour, not a worship service (most of the 8 attend our service) but more of a social get-together with board games etc.; not sure if it has specific Christian content or specific themes. While our budget is not such as to allow us the luxury of a full-time pastor, we did end the year more than ten thousand dollars ahead of what the 2019 budget called for, so we're at least in the black.

I've been here coming up on 30 years and haven't managed to kill the place yet. There is hope.