New Church, part 3

*Okay, this is the last post on this, Promise! I'm just glad to have the whole thing written down so we can look back and remember why we chose the path we did. It's kind of like a religious time capsule, right? Yeah, I know I'm a dork = )*


My checklist for a new church:

-Serious, open-hearted worship without bells, whistles, huge velvet lined sanctuaries and expensive staffs.

-Expository scripture teaching, as in going through the bible chapter by chapter instead of spinning a wheel and picking a verse.

- Children welcome in the sanctuary, not just tolerated. Even rowdy boys that require constant training.

- No laying of hands, funny dancing, convulsions or weird languages (I apologize to those who believe in that stuff, I just can't bring myself to go to a church where people act like that. To me, whatever they have, I don't want to catch it. = )

- No preacher worship. You would be surprised at how many churches that believe that the preacher deserves to be worshiped, as in idolized and waited on. This is ridiculous when there is only One who we should be worshiping.

- SAHM, yes I would like to see a few stay at home moms. When I told people I was a SAHM at the last church they looked at me like I was an alien, the green kind.

- Homeschooling moms would be a plus = )


Then I discovered the concept of Family Integrated Churches. They believe that if family was so important to God, and a main theme in the Bible, why are families being split up into categories in Church? Pretty common sense to me. I searched, there was ONE in the Waco area.

I cannot tell you the difference.

These people are serious about worship! The fellowship was wonderful! We met and got to know more people in our first visit than we did at our old church in the entire year.
The preacher and his Deacon swooped in as soon as we set down to eat and proceeded to sit beside us and talk to us. I was dumbfounded. A preacher who talks with his congregation? I mean, pastors always have their select few who they socialize with but this was different. He acted like a normal person.
We had a very nice conversation on faith and life. It was so refreshing.

Oh and by the way, most of the mothers, including the preachers wife, HOMESCHOOL. Can we say Halelujah?


As far as the kids being in the service, I was nervous. But the pastor and his wife put us at ease . However, we had programmed Jacob without realizing it. Church = play time. Oops. Now how do we fix that?
But surprisingly he only had to be taken out a couple times and the church building has a crying room right behind the sanctuary so it was far easier to discipline and redirecting him simpler that I had thought it would be.
I can see this being an on-going process but it is so worth it to have our family together, worshiping God together, singing together…..
It just feels……..right.

We feel strengthened in our Faith. We spend even more time in the Word at home. We spend our free time reading theological books and articles, referencing everything to the Bible.

It's been a month now and we feel like a spiritual weight has been lifted. NOW, we see whey Christians are encouraged to attend church. It's not just a social get together people! It's a place to fill your cup when it runs dry. It's a place to escape to after battling the secular world for 6 days. It is the Lord's day, and we finally feel like that is how we are spending it, with the Lord.


Praise God for his wisdom and grace.