tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33818852.post726397238940122911..comments2023-10-21T23:57:46.155-04:00Comments on Wheat Among Tares: Church Shopping 101terrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12399706958844399216noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33818852.post-47551987137219856102007-11-30T05:22:00.000-05:002007-11-30T05:22:00.000-05:00Oh, I can so relate, or, as they say, "been there,...Oh, I can so relate, or, as they say, "been there, done that."<BR/><BR/>Certain denominations I won't even come near, but after "shopping" several times, each almost 2 years apart, I look 4 three things (and I'm lucky if even 2 are present): solid pulpit (i.e. meaty sermons), reverent worship (i.e. no Rock or Rap, and at least 99% solid hymns as opposed to "praise songs") and finally, genuine koinonia. Out here in the MadBadLands of the West (GoldrushLand), I have yet to experience the latter. You might more often encounter the middle one, and if you attend a certain "flavor" of church (I will not here proselytize, so cryptic is the word), you can pretty much rest assured that the sermons will be either "good" or even "outstanding."<BR/><BR/>Unlike you, I don't mind if it's a "White" church, tho I'm horrendously uncomfortable if it's the type where SUV and Izod are the litmus tests for your acceptability.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33818852.post-37153589163111705382007-11-05T23:09:00.000-05:002007-11-05T23:09:00.000-05:00To clarify...I just realized the way I worded the ...To clarify...I just realized the way I worded the above, one might assume we moved to Tallahassee 4 years ago. Actually we moved to Tallahassee about 20 years ago and lived in a small apartment on the south side near Orange Ave. for over 16 years. We finally could afford our first house and found one just north of the Tally city limits we could afford that we liked in a nice quiet neighborhood as opposed to the area we were living in (which was pretty bad for a time with gunshots on weekends and our car getting broken into twice and stolen, then recovered, once).Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11709263132449139869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33818852.post-58155570164463716292007-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:002007-11-05T23:06:00.000-05:00We moved to the north of Tallahassee about 4 years...We moved to the north of Tallahassee about 4 years ago and joined a small church nearby and have been very welcomed and I believe have been ministered to quite well. I truly feel that God led us to this church. I pray that God guides you to whatever decision you make.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11709263132449139869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33818852.post-5560930881609994612007-11-05T15:53:00.000-05:002007-11-05T15:53:00.000-05:00I admit to having just as much confusion as you. ...I admit to having just as much confusion as you. I also enjoyed the worship -- it was a great blend of traditional and contemporary music. But... there was something about all the colored lights that kept strobing and flashing to the music. It made me feel... well, kind of like I was at a cheap concert with a low budget light show.<BR/><BR/>The people seemed nice enough, and those that spoke to us were quite friendly, though not many actually made the effort to speak to us (said with an appropriate measure of conviction, as I am one of the worst myself at greeting visitors at church).<BR/><BR/>The message was... okay. But as you rightly observed, it was a guest speaker and not necessarily indicative at all of the typical sermons preached at this church.<BR/><BR/>Ultimately, one visit was not enough to draw an solid conclusions from other than that I would possibly be open to a second visit.<BR/><BR/>"Shopping" for a church is such a gut wrenching experience. In some ways, our having a selection of a multitude of local churches to choose from in this country is a curse as much as it is a blessing. We're left critiquing and analyzing and trying to weigh factors that we, if we're honest with ourselves, aren't even sure should be factors.<BR/><BR/>So do we stay at our current church, or do we look for a new church home? And if we do decide to leave, how do we choose a new church? And how long do we stay before we start to feel uncomfortable and start looking again for a new place?<BR/><BR/>I honestly don't know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com