Went to a Baptist Church

I went to a Baptist church today with Shirley and Shirley Jr. Our Methodist church has been a bit unsatisfying so we thought we’d give it a shot. Here’s the good and the bad.

The good: We were greeted by a very friendly guy about my age as soon as we got to the Sunday School Registration area. He was very nice and very helpful. The older lady at the registration area was very nice and helpful too. When we got to Shirley Jr’s Sunday School classroom we were greeted by two very nice ladies who were very glad to see us.

We went to our Sunday School class and we were the only ones there beside the teacher. That was OK. She too was very friendly and nice. Soon several people showed up, but we were the youngest ones there. The teacher was very good. When one of the other ladies answered “President Bush” when we were asked to identify good Christians, the teacher (who was a woman) gently handled the situation so as not to offend those who might not see Bush as a good Christian.

People in the church were very welcoming and friendly (I know, I’m getting redundant here). The music was good and they had two bid screens so that we could read the Bible verses together aloud.

The bad: I can’t understand how they don’t get that sitting in a worship service for almost an hour and a half is too much! I guess I’m spoiled by my Methodist minister’s 15-20 minute sermons, but as my preaching professor in seminary said “There’s no such thing as a bad short sermon.” Man! That was ridiculous! There was a three point sermon (No, I’m not exaggerating!) before the offering! Then a forty minute sermon after that!

In Sunday School, the Baptist literature focused on our sinful society and of course someone had to talk about prayer in schools and taking “in God We Trust” off the stamps! Also, from out of nowhere there was a brief statement about homosexuality.

I kept thinking how uncomfortable my friends would have been there. Can’t believe they didn’t talk about drinking!

Overall it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but we did not feel that we fit in with the ideas held by those we encountered. However, they were very friendly!