First I want to start out by saying that I have nothing but good things to say about the church I grew up in. I have been feeling the need or "tug" to look around and possibly find a new home church for some time now. I just never had the nerve to do it, nor did I want to admit that I wanted to find something else. I was comfortable at my church. I enjoyed everything about it, the people, the music and the pastor. Not every church is for everybody though. If that was the case we would have one enormous church in each town. We all have different wants and needs. Sometimes we just have to step out of our comfort zone and search for them. So the search continues... For many years Ft. Wayne has been called, "The City of Churches." (I personally think it should be called, "The City of Banks!") So I could be doing this church hopping for awhile. At this point I still only have a total of 4 that I will be visiting. Feel free to make any suggestions if you know of a church that you think I may be interested in.
The plan was to take my daughter with me today, but she's been sick so I let her sleep in and rest today. So I hopped alone today. :) Today I visited Pine Hills Church. They have a total of 3 services. One on Saturday evening and two on Sundays. I went to the later one Sunday morning, started at 10:45am. That's a nice thing about the larger churches. If you can't make one service there are others to choose from. The Saturday evening service has a nice ring to it, especially for those of us "cough, cough" that like to sleep in on the weekends. I wasn't as intimidated this week as I was last week by the size of the parking lot. Although, they did have someone directing traffic and pointing where to park. Just the size of the these parking lots kind of give you a feeling of "not being in Kansas" anymore. Thankfully I didn't have to look around and try to figure out what door to go in this week There was only one and they had 2 greeters there to greet you. I've always thought this is a must at any church, especially for newbies like myself that may be attending. Plus it gives you that warm feeling of being welcome. Like the church I visited last week, there were people everywhere, but it was very obvious where the sanctuary was this time. It wasn't near as large inside as last weeks church was. There were already quite a few people in there seated. I had no problem sitting in the very back this week (you know, that coffee thing). Oh by the way, I did take my big ole coffee cup in with me this week. :) I debated on whether or not I should mention this next part. I decided to mention it only because I think it's true of a lot of people, many of you may have experienced what I did or even been the other person. When I first sat down I noticed someone from a few rows up looking at me. We made eye contact and I realized I knew her. Just as I went to wave she looked away. She then said something to her boyfriend and then he turned and looked. Same thing, he looked away before I had a chance to wave. I've known her for a couple of years, but never became real acquainted with her. The reason I decided to even mention this is because when that happened I instantly became turned off. If I saw someone I knew walk into my church I would never do something like that. I would make an attempt to welcome them, say hi or at least wave and smile. I could feel myself getting upset by her actions or lack of. Unfortunately, I'm pretty good at turning my feelings off and shutting down (not proud of this). For a few minutes I became so focused on her that I forgot why I was there. "Focus Stephanie, focus and for crying out loud, chill out!!" I was there for me and for God!!
I heard that Pine Hills Church was moving to a new location in the fall. I soon found out why. The seats soon filled up. We were close to sitting on top of one another. The Praise Band started playing and we sang several songs. Let me tell ya, that band was ROCKIN'!! I loved it!! I sang along again, didn't just mouth the words to make it look like I was singing. Shortly after it started they did the whole "meet and greet" thing. Did they not get the memo that I sent about the shy new girl that would be there so please don't do this?? UGH!! Well even so, I was ready for it this time. I put my big girl panties on and shook hands and introduced myself to those around me. Once I got over the fear of talking to people I realized this part of the service really isn't so bad. It's nice to get to know your neighbors. Next up, Pastor Mike. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was going to like this guy. The message was on, "Sacrifice," and he focused on Exodus Ch. 35. Once again, I didn't have a hard time at all relating to this. He was easy to listen to and very easy to follow along. I actually became a little disappointed when I could tell his message was coming to an end. The time went to quick, I wanted to hear more. We rocked some more to the praise band and then it was over. They opened the sanctuary doors and we all fell out. Ok, I'm kidding, it was crowded but we all had our own seat to sit in. Since I was in the back I was able to scoot out of there pretty quick. Maybe I should have walked over to say, "Hi", to the girl I knew and maybe this is selfish of me but I didn't want her to ruin my good mood.
All in all I had a good time at this church. Once I reminded myself why and who I was there for I became very comfortable and enjoyed it tremendously. I even remembered to take a sweater (which I did need) and remembered to take my own Bible. Still haven't got a nice handy dandy cover for it though to help keep all my notes from falling out.
You probably won't hear from me next week. Since its Mother's Day I will be attending my usual church so I can spend the time and day with my mom, sisters and my kids. So until next time, "Have a fantastic week ahead and make each day count!!" :)
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