Switched Keys

 My schedule doesn't allow me the liberty to go to church when services are normally held. I'm currently limited to early services, so I've been going to a few churches with early services. 

I'm not a "member" of any of them simply because there is a time consuming process to becoming official as a member, but I do tithe as if I was. When you consider that Jesus is head of the Christian church, I do consider myself a member of that entity. 

Church of the Pines 

When I needed to be back home by 930 I started going to Church of the Pines and I found that to be a nice place. Teaching was mostly solid although the secular comparisons were occasionally a little off. One of the important things was that worship was biblical, that is my they practiced raising your hands and clapping as encouraged in Psalms and elsewhere. That not something you see in the denomination that I grew up in. It allowed you to "worship" practically, not just theoretically by just singing songs. 

Interestingly the pastor was from my home state of Mississippi. Doctrinally they believed in the baptism of the holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and all of the spiritual gifts, but in the year I went there it wasn't demonstrated. The church met in a space at the Time Square Shopping Center, but plans were to build and move to a location in Bullard.

Rose Heights Church 

When I got a tad more freedom and was able to extend my stay until 1030 I started going to Rose Heights Church, again. They have doctrines similar to Pines, and have been in Tyler for a long while.

The teaching was insightful, although somewhat more isogesic than exogesic, but still applicable. The worship was active with , clapping, and hand raising, and music that was sometimes a bit louder than necessary.

When I started back they were doing some remodeling to the auditorium and foyer, and adding some technology, mostly unimpressive to me but irrelevant. However, with the added lighting, screen and other technology, the longer I went the more it turned into a performance with too many distractions to focus on worship. 

South Spring Baptist Church 

Somewhere in that time I heard the sermon on the radio from South Spring Baptist and visited there once. The Bible study was pretty in depth so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, the worship experience was painful.

While I do worship with lifted hands, I don't particularly like to be noticed, so the only thing I could do there was sing the words and worship "quietly in my heart". After all, it was a Baptist church.

Bethel Bible Church 

One day I found myself limited on time so I decided to go to Bethel Bible Church which was a bit closer and also had an early service. While the sermon was not dynamic, it covered scripture as it was written, intended. The pastor provided insight to the writers knowledge of the readers and culture of the time. I've been there over a month now.

On the down side, "worship" was unenthusiastic, not necessarily from the song leaders but from the congregation. Within the room I saw only a couple of people raising their hands, even though the song lyrics included the words, "I lift my hands".  That apparent lack of enthusiasm was understandable considering my first impression when I arrived. The auditorium was almost empty when services started and people started drifting in during the first song or two. 

When I see such complacency during a worship service I think,  "someone needs to teach them how to worship." A few sessions on the encouragement from the scriptures (Bible) to lift your hands, clap, and shout with a joyful noise might help. Even in Pentecostal type churches, many people don't, but enough to give those who do an opportunity to worship without being the center of attention.

You don't have to be a Pentecostal to make a joyful noise and enjoy worship, praising for what God has done and who He is. Enjoy worship. Make a joyful noise. Or as Psalms says repeatedly, Praise!

Find a church 

I've heard many preachers comment on the tendency of people to hop from church to church trying to find the perfect church, the perfect people. Indeed, church hopping is bad if it's selfish, if you are being critical about the trivial.

But I've also heard preachers encourage listeners to find a church that teaches the Bible truthfully. I concur. I would extend that to encourage you to find a church where you can worship, learn, serve, fellowship. Of course that encouragement may involve becoming a person that wants to worship, learn, serve, and fellowship.