If you look you can find it

I attended a new church yesterday. It is being pastored by a very good friend of mine who had been my pastor for fifteen years at another church. He has changed direction and decided to try and reach primarily young people and the service was geared more towards them. The first thing I noticed when I drove into the parking lot was that the only person who had on a tie was me. Everyone was dressed very casual. I reluctantly pulled off my tie, mumbling something to the effect that it just doesnt seem right not to wear a tie to church. My son who is half my age stated that he liked it because it was comfortable. When I walked in I immediately began to wonder if I had inadvertently wandered into a rock concert. Musical instruments including a nice looking Stratocaster, drums, keyboard, bass, congo drums etc. adorned a stage with some awesome looking speakers on ten foot stands. Youngsters my sons age were milling around a table that contained Cokes, coffee and other refreshments. I thought that this just did not seem right somehow.

The pastor spied me and came over. He was dressed like he had just wandered in off the ninth tee. After exchanging pleasantries he asked why I was not in Florida and I jokingly responded that I had heard that he had started a cult and wanted to see it firsthand. He laughed but looked me in the eye and stated that he still preached the word of God. After he left I told my wife that if she saw any snakes or someone passing out poisoned Kool Aid that we were getting out of there. I did not care for the music, longing for more traditional gospel songs, but the young people did seem to enjoy it. True to his word the pastor preached a dynamic message about knowing God and how it is the single most important thing in all of our lives. He closed by telling them how to know Jesus Christ as their Savior; however in the end the traditional alter call was replaced by giving everyone a little card that contained choices whereby they could check an appropriate box if they wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior, join the church, or get Baptized etc. They just dropped it in the offering and it was done. Encouragers were off to the side and available to answer questions but no one had to walk down in front of anyone to do so. I told my son that it just did not seem right not to have an alter call whereby people can publicly profess their faith by walking down the aisle. He stated that he liked this method far better than the traditional churches and in fact had recently joined the church himself like that. He beamed, they make it easy for you. The pastor told the congregation that numerous people had accepted the Lord the previous week as further testimony to its effectiveness. When the offering was taken up, the pastor stated that we were going to pass the bucket. Literally that is what happened! They passed a white bucket around for the offering. The usher who passed it to me was wearing blue jeans and his shirt was not tucked in. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

As I left the pastor told me, Bob I still preach the word of God. Yes you do, I stated, and I did mean that from the bottom of my heart. I think he is dead on course for reaching his target audience. Every person that I observed seemed to enjoy the service immensely including me…Old fuddy duddys like me might feel a little uncomfortable by doing away with our traditions, but there are plenty of stuffed-shirt churches throughout Atlanta for us to go and worship in a more traditional manner if that is our choice. As for me, if I still lived here, I would attend my friends church and probably start wearing a Tai-dye tee shirt and ask to play my Strat in the band. My pastor is right, in that if our country is to be saved, we must reach young people for the Lord. The Lord has shown him a far more effective manner to do so. Personally this experience helped me to better understand the notion that we need different approaches to reach different people for the Lord; Jesus does not care how we worship or where. He Himself preached while sitting in a boat, in open fields, as well as in the temple. The Bible states that wherever and whenever we gather in His name, He is right there with us. I think of that verse every single time I enter a church. As long as the word of God is preached right out of the Bible, the pastor can wear a Jimi Hendrix tee shirt as far as Im concerned. If you are looking for a church, God will help you find it if you will just give it a little effort. There is something out there for everyone. Again though, just make sure that the word of God is preached right out of the Bible…

Matt. 18:20

For where two or three are

gathered together in My name, I am

there in the midst of them.

How well do you know the Bible?

The Bible is described as Living and powerful. It goes on to compare it to a weapon of war. What weapon? What significance do you think God intended by comparing it to that?

http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible

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