Reflections from another church visit.

One of the benefits of the sabbatical has been my attendance at other churches. I have attended churches in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, and Arizona. Here in Tulsa, I ( and sometimes all or part of my family) have attended First Baptist Church of Tulsa, Asbury United Methodist Churh in Tulsa, Cedar Ridge Christian Church in Broken Arrow, and First Christian Church in Owasso.

While I have spent most of my time at FBC of Tulsa, I was really blessed and challenged this morning at Asbury. Some observations

1. It is a huge church. They have like 5 services. Their worship center is gigantic... The choir has 73 people in it, and they were wonderful.

2. The traditional worship was really good. I told Pam that you never know exactly what you are going to get when you see "traditional" or "contemporary". This was traditional, with the big Organ and the choir, Orchestra.... no praise team, no band per se.... It was done with excellence, and was engaging.

3. Some of the Liturgical elements of worship are very meaningful. The prayer time, with the congregational recitation of the Lord's prayer was very engaging... For those of who you are FCC members, this will become more familiar to you. Some of the Lord's prayer will be very foundational to my preaching in 2007. They also recited the Apostles' Creed. First time for me in a service, and frankly it was very stimulating to me. "I believe..." I liked that... Our creed is the Bible. But the intentional declaration of the beliefs of our faith in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit is invigorating to me. It makes me think.

4. The preaching at Asbury is fantastic. Honestly, I was kind of surprised. I had "heard" that Tom Harrison was a good Bible preacher. But I wondered... Can a denominational church really have good preaching? Can a super large denominational church have good preaching? The ansswer to both those questions is yes... Harrison's treatment of what the Bible says about truth was right on. His declaration of Jesus being the "way, the truth and the Life." was inspiring and encouraging. He applied the scripture in a masterful way.

5. The baptism of sprinkling is disappointing to me. The service had this element, and it just seemed incomplete to me. It is more than just a symbolic act. It is the connection that we have to the death, burial and ressurection of Christ... It is where we put on Christ, where we are clothed with Christ as the Bible says. It is where , as the Bible says, that we receive the Holy Spirit. ( No where else does the Bible tell us we can receive the indwelling of the Spirit in another way.) What is interesting about this morning is that I know that there is a baptismal tank in that sanctuary... and that people can be immersed there. Just seems to me to be the way to do it... after all it was good enough for Jesus, the Apostles, the early church and beyond....

6. I was encouraged overall... There are some really good Bible teachers who are doing some great ministry. Harrison was engaging, Biblical, and humble....

7. The sound of Bible pages turning is sweet. I have to say, of all the churches I have been in the last 4 months, today, you could hear the pages turning. I just think there is something valuable in people thumbing through the Word... Of course it has to be more than just thumbing through.
I heard someone say this summer, "God's objective is not to get you through the Word, but to get the Word through you." I like that... Good preaching motivates that kind of thinking.

Its been fun. We will attending three more churches before I enter the pulpit at FCC. One will be in Nebraska... small, but and effective kingdom Church. Another will be College Heights Christian Church in Joplin. Growing, dynamic and again very strong Bible teaching ministry. And we will also attend Fellowship Bible Church of Northwest Arkansas. ( Liz and Nathaniel attend there) I will write more about those in the future.

To sum up. Praise God for all churches who strive to make disciples. Praise God for different approaches. Praise God for truth which can be preached, taught, and lived in different ways. Praise God for the impact of these churches in their communities...

And Praise God that I am able to come back to FCC 4 weeks from today.