Some Churches Just Stink

So this past Sunday I visited another church in the area. It had one of those "The Church at ...." names. Very nice building with a coffee shop setup in the lobby. All the goodies were free, it was comfortable and they focused on making it feel very welcoming. The building is completely decorated to look like it is THE place to be. I entered the worship center (aka sanctuary) and took a seat in the back (see picture below for my view).

When worship started the band was awesome. They reminded me of the Reach band, but more trendy and good looking (sorry guys). For those of you who don't know, the Reach Band is the band that leads worship for our young people back in Delaware. I was in the band and we rocked.......but let me get back to the story.

The worship was great both in talent, participation and song selection. I was getting very excited that this may be the place for me even though I had reservations about what I had seen outside the service. Then the pastor come onto the stage and stunk the joint up. His sermon was awful. I suddenly realized why the pretty girl at the welcome counter hurried me into the sanctuary so I didn't miss the worship time. Her quote was, " worship is the best part of the service". Boy was she right.

The pastor didn't just stroll on the stage area. He came down and roamed around the crowd like a crazy homeless man wandering the streets and hassling people for money. It was like a bad motivational seminar about finances in these troubled times. At the end he made a "gospel" presentation. It consisted of the declaration that God loves us, and that he desires a relationship with us, and that if we want one with him that we just need to do it. That was it. Jesus name was not mentioned, nor the cross, nor our sinfulness, nor our need for a savior. The good news was...get right with God. So, this church was a dud. I will not return.

In other news, I have to say that my friends back home are great. On Monday I arrived home to discover that I had a package. This package contained a photo album that was put together of pictures of them with notes to me. I have to say it made me cry..... I was doing pretty good with homesickness until that point. Now I am really thinking I need to get back home for a visit. I don't know when/if I can make it happen, but I may be back in Delaware before my planned visit in May. Maybe this is their twisted plan to get me to move back home. Pretty clever.