Sunday, March 8, 2015

Looking for a Church Home

As I’ve gotten older, I realize how important attending a good church is.  I grew up in the church of Christ and spent over forty years there. Discovering greener “spiritual” pastures was a great enlightenment.  I migrated to the Baptist faith about ten years ago and am currently a member at Church of the Highlands and attend the Riverchase campus.
Judy and I enjoy Highlands, the only problem is, there isn’t a campus in Cullman. Since we spend most of our weekends working on our remodeling project, we’ve been visiting several churches in the Cullman area. We still haven’t decided which one to call home when we move permanently.

In today’s blog, I thought I’d tell a little about each, in case someone else was searching for a church home. I've included pictures of each building so you'll know what it looks like.

We first visited Temple Baptist Church on Highway 157. Temple was probably the most different from Highlands of all we’ve been to. It has a country feel with a high amount of audience participation. “Amen”, “preach it”, “he’s warming up now”, are among the accolades of encouragement for the preacher, Malcolm Carter II, during the sermon. Once I got used to that, I found it a listening encourager as well. Temple was in dire need of a larger sanctuary and currently have an ongoing construction project to remedy that.

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We also visited at Northbrook Baptist on the east side of Highway 157. By far, the prettiest building facilities in the area, Northbrook is another large church with multiple worship services. Steve Britt is the pastor and has a smooth sermon delivery with emphasis on Bible teaching. I would guess that Northbrook has the highest “average age” attendees. An interesting plus, is that breakfast is available on Sundays and a nice meal on Wednesdays, which may help some families who are rushed to make attendance.

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Daystar Church was another, located in Goodhope, Alabama. It was only fifteen minutes away and the easiest accessible by Interstate. Jerry Lawson is the pastor and is another smooth sermon deliverer. We were there on Valentines week and the series involved a lesson on “sex in marriage”. You don’t hear that very often and my research discovered it wasn’t the first time that topic was taught there. They were once maligned by some for a billboard advertising a sermon series entitled “Great Sex“. Evidently the message went viral to the extent that the pastor was interviewed on several major networks. You can read about it in the link here.

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We are currently attending Desperation Church in the Downtown area. Andy Heis is the pastor. Andy may be familiar to some in Birmingham,  since he served at Gardendale First Baptist for several years, working with the college age and young marrieds. Desperation has big plans for Cullman. They have the most worship services of any church, probably due to the limited size of the building. We were there when plans were presented for a new facility on eighteen acres, soon as the funding goals are reached. I told Judy that I needed cotton in my ears for the worship team, due to the volume. Desperation probably has the youngest “average age” of all the churches. Worship is akin to a rock concert, so that is part of the attraction for the younger folks. During Christmas week, we were shocked to find “Santa” greeting people in the foyer. He was absolutely the most realistic one I've ever seen.

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When we make that final decision it’ll be pretty tough. I forgot to mention the closest Highlands campus is in Madison, Alabama, which is about forty-five minutes away. That drive is “doable” but I feel we need to be onboard in a local environment. Our culture is racing downhill in a death spiral. Only God knows what is ahead but my feeling is that local church work will have to play a larger role in "defending the faith."  I also believe church unity across denominational lines will be extremely important for Christianity. Members in every church need to meet their Christian brothers and sisters who worship in other buildings. Jesus said that a house divided against itself, will not stand.

If you attend a church who believes it’s the “only” one going to heaven… visit elsewhere this Sunday and you’ll find there are saved believers everywhere! As they say in the country, “woods are full of em."  Preach it Bro!

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