Today my husband and I visited another church. I was very close to our home. It was not what we expected. It was good to be in church again. My husband was glad it was literally five minutes from our house, but we both were frustrated that the praise and worship was more praise than worship. Hard to explain here, but the songs sung this morning were like the ones I listen to on my satellite radio station in my car.
There was just a moment where we thought the Pastor was going to head off into "A pray for whatever you want and God'll give it to ya" sermon, but he did not. In fact, his sermon echoed what I've been writing about here, and other places. On my Facebook page I've been posting thirty days of encouraging thoughts and today's thought was:
"Matthew 6:33 tells us there is a priority to be had in the way we order our lives. Many times we run around worried about all kinds of things we can not control. And we all know cognitively that worrying will not change a thing. Living with our thoughts focused on the eternal does change things though. It changes the way we do things, it changes the way we speak and it changes the way we see things. Does this mean we will never worry again? 'Course not, but focusing on the eternal even changes how we worry..."
The Pastor used an illustration during the sermon today about ordering your life. He used those words, ordering your life. I am not big on "signs" but I do find it interesting. We plan to go back, to listen carefully to what's being preached, to maybe sit down with the Pastor and have a chat.
We appreciate your prayers, 'cause we're still looking...
4 comments:
Please make sure that the initials of this church are not NH. If so, run as fast as you can!
Dear Anonymous~
I would love to discuss this further with you, since all of my commentators post anonymously it makes it difficult for me to know to whom I'm speaking. My email is posted on the blog, feel free to email me. xoxo
I have no idea what church you are talking about. I would just caution you to beware of non-denom churches that are basically not accountable to anyone and are run by the senior pastor. Do you see a pattern? Some non-denoms pretend to be accountable by setting up a form of "leadership" or by tagging on to their church name a national organization that they had to apply to, in order to become a part of a family of churches. Usually this type of organization exists in another state and does not monitor the activities of their churches. To further give you some signs to look for, these types of pastors are usually very charismatic and charming. They are very concerned with their image and creating a youthful style and are very physically active. Lots of flattering words flow from their mouths about how wonderful you and your family are. Also, not that this is always a bad thing, but I would further caution you if the pastor has multiple side hustles or businesses that he has ownership in. You are smart. You know the signs to look for. I will be praying for you.
I'm not sure which Anonymous I am responding to lol but I appreciate all of the comments. To the LAST Anonymous commentator I hear and understand what you are saying. My husband will be the one making the final call. We are much more cautious than we have ever been in the past, and the fact that we are even visiting churches says a lot. It's been over a year since I've been in a formal church service. I asked the first commentator to email me privately because they posted initials of a church they wished to warn us of, and I think that should be done privately rather than publicly unless there is an obvious threat as in the case of SS which is why I called out the church he currently attends. In my opinion for that church leadership to receive correspondence from a visitor stating what we did and to not even bother to reply indicates there is already a problem in their fellowship. But, that is MY opinion. Again, I feel it is my responsibility to warn people wherever SS is found until he has repented, fully.
Please continue to pray for my husband and I as we seek to find a new church home. xoxo
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