Church Search

We haven't visited anywhere new, but have made some observations. 

Two Sundays ago, we stayed home. I had been dog sitting and having some very rough nights. I didn't feel well and my husband let me sleep. I slept until 11 am that day. Of course, I only slept 5 am till 11 am, but it was great.

This past Sunday, we woke up a little late and decided to head back to First Baptist Blue Springs. 

I am glad we visited another time. I think we both were feeling like this could be our home church. There had been some fluky things that we wanted to check out again before giving up on the search and settling. So glad we did.

One of our concerns was sermon length. We have been in churches where the sermon length is either too long or the service length is too long. That wasn't the concern here. The service was about 75 minutes and was ok for us. 

What was a concern for us was the actual sermon length being too long. It seems like in a 75-90 minute service, the sermon should be no less than 1/3 to 1/2 of that. If not, it doesn't seem like a sermon, but a short devotional. We were right, the pastor only preaches for 20 minutes. During this time, there is at least two prayers and one or more videos. That doesn't leave too long for an actual sermon. 

The problem with a short sermon is that you don't really feel like you leave with much of anything. In this case, the music isn't enough to offset the difference. 

Don't get me wrong, I think this church is probably excellent for people who get deeply involved in all the ministries they have to offer. But, for someone who only attends on Sunday mornings, I'm not sure there's enough substance in the sermon. 

So, the search continues...

Content vs. God's Will

The last few weeks, I have prayed and searched for the reason why I am not content here. I should be. KC is my home. It was for 16 years and I spent 2 full years ready to come back to it.

But, it hasn't been home sweet home.

I tried. The first few months were surreal and I couldn't believe we were home. The first two months were filled with spending time with friends and family. It was great. We were home. But, it quickly dwindled to nothing. Weeks and months went by without even hearing from family and friends. Phone calls and text messages weren't returned. It felt a lot like being back in Ohio.

These past few weeks, I've had to really look at myself. Is it me? Am I just an unhappy person? Maybe if you read my blog, you'd say yes. But, in general, no. I am a happy person most of the time.

We have no idea what's going to happen with Kent's employment. We don't know where we are going to land.

That's a big thing. Because I have a little more info than I'm willing to share right now, I think I know why this transition hasn't gone well.

I don't think God wants us to be comfortable here. I don't think He has been willing to allow us to feel rooted and for good reason. I think He wants us ready to go again if that's His plan.

That's a pretty big thing to understand. I am not having an easy time because He has plans for me that I do not yet know. I've been trying to let that sink in.

Here's the other thing. He has allowed me to feel pain and disconnect here so that I would not put a place or thing or people above Him. He wants me to find contentedness in Him and His plan for my life and not in a place.

I know this! But, it's taken me quite a few months to realize that I was trying to make a place my everything. I put so much weight on this being home. I put my faith in people. I had let me skewed idea of happiness become the most important thing in my life.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think God wants us to be pained. But, I do think He allows us to push ourselves into painful situations when it'll turn us back to Him.

I am doing my best to transition my heart fully from the complaining and hurting for what this move hasn't been to being excited for where God will lead us next. That may or may not be an actual move. I know, it will at the very least be major life changes for us.

First Baptist Blue Springs

I am sort of a week behind, but not really. We visited the same church two days in a row.

Let me cover our first visit. This is the primary church for the campus we visited previously. All members were to attend the primary campus two weeks ago. As I walked in, I wanted to do two things. I wanted to see this church for itself, but I also wanted to see what their true relationship was to the other campus. Was it an integral part or was it an out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. 

My first impression of this church wasn't great. I hate that too. They have attendants and greeters everywhere. We passed at least 20 before finding a seat. Not one person said hello or welcomed us. In fact, I had to go up to the lady handing out bulletins and take one. I was really bummed. Why is this the norm in our churches today? 

Beyond our first impression, we kind of loved the church. The music was great and so was the preaching. The preacher did do one thing that annoys me with any preacher. He talked about himself/family/situation without giving details, as if anyone new would have a clue what he's talking about. There was a lot going on that day, so we also felt like he rushed and cut off his sermon a bit abruptly. That's not to say he wasn't good, he was.

While I am laying out the things that are bothersome, but not deal breakers, let me cover two areas. For the love of God, the music in a church does not need to be produced like a professional concert. The lights and fog are NOT needed. In fact, I am sensitive to flashing or moving lights. The fog triggers my sinus and allergy problems. It's actually a hinderance to worship. The other thing I find a little off-putting is the bulletin. There's really not much info on this tiny sheet. We've gotten three of them now and this church relies far too much on website traffic. I don't need a book, but I do need a little more info and not so small that I have to find my glasses to read it.

Ok, now onto the more positive stuff.

While my first impression of the church wasn't great, I did quickly get the answer to my other question. This church loves it's Valley Campus. They incorporated people from the other campus into their worship team for the day. The pastor also had everyone in attendance during that service go to the front and prayed over them. It was great. You could tell how much love and respect there is between the two campuses.

Also, the two pastors who spoke to us at the Valley Campus made a point to come welcome us at the main church. That made an impression on both of us. We were excited that someone actually spoke to us, but also remembered us from the previous week. 

Maybe the first week was a fluke because it was a holiday weekend. I'm not sure, but our second week was incredibly different. The second week, everyone spoke to us or shook our hands. One man even walked and talked us clear to our seats. It was completely different. Again, one of the Valley Campus pastors came up and spoke to us.

We hadn't originally planned to attend two weeks in a row, but it just happened to work out that way. Again, the music and preaching was superb. It was great to see some consistency in that.

This church is only about 10-15 minutes from our house. We plan to go back to the Valley Campus and check it out again. I think either one of these churches would be a good place to worship. A much shorter distance to the main campus makes this church very appealing to us. It wouldn't be as hard to attend bible study or special events.