This was a very welcoming church, from the man we met in the parking lot who directed us to the entrance, to most of those we encountered inside. We were given a welcome pack of information and led downstairs to a coffee and doughnut area.
A few people noticed that I was military and thanked me for my service, something that to this day still surprises me. The bulletin included an abbreviated order of worship, which I appreciated. There was also a sheet to keep notes on the sermon. I enjoyed the offertory music very much.
I noticed a number of people using sign language, particularly a young man facing the congregation who paused while the recipient made notes from the screen.
The sermon, on a Thanksgiving attitude of gratitude, had an opening point of how we don’t notice our blessings till we lose them. Sorry to admit I have been guilty of this. The points of the message were well developed with Scriptural backing for each highlight.
I appreciated the anecdote of an immigrant assessing his profit and loss statement. He came with not much more than his pants, so he figured everything he now possessed – less the pants – was his profit. Are we honest enough to admit that God supplied the pants too, and that everything we have is from God?
The pastor closed with a life/death personal story from his early childhood that resulted in a genuine appreciation of the blessing that Christ has poured out.
As we exited the truck and looked around for a door to the building, I saw one open toward the right so we headed toward it. Just then a gentleman called to us from the left side of the parking lot that the entrance was over that way, so we followed him inside.
Once indoors the excellent signage allowed us to locate the restrooms without even having to ask. Nearly everyone we saw greeted us, and someone escorted us downstairs to the coffee and donuts in a nice little café.
Back upstairs, we had already been identified as visitors and were given a great “welcome” packet full of information about the church. The worship folder is a tri-fold sheet, well laid-out with plenty of current information and even space on the front for a lovely color graphic. Inserts consisted of a sign-up sheet to purchase cookie trays and a sermon outline/note page.
We found seats in the gym-type worship area and caught the end of the praise team’s rehearsal. I noticed on the screen a timer counting down to start time, which seemed to be an effective way to handle that issue as conversation quieted at the appropriate time.
Had we sat in another section we would have missed the several people who were interpreting the songs (and the sermon) in sign language. It brought back warm memories of when our daughter did this.
The praise band consisted of an acoustic guitar, a trumpet, three vocalists who also used noisemakers (forgive me…I don’t know what they’re called!), a drummer, a bass guitar, and two keyboards. They sounded excellent, and they weren’t too loud (which I hardly ever say because an ear condition tends to increase the volume in my head).
For the offertory they performed an inspiring song called “The Stand” (which I had not heard before but have purchased on iTunes today).
The message, “Attitude of Gratitude,” began with an amusing video revolving around Thanksgiving and then the reading of the 1623 proclamation of thanksgiving. He continued by detailing three attitudes that steal our gratitude including a conceited attitude (1 Corinthians 4:7), a critical attitude (Philippians 2:14), and a careless attitude (Psalm 84:11). He then moved on to speak of three areas to be thankful for: the blessings of life (Ephesians 1:3), the burdens of life (Philippians 1:21), and the benefits of life (Psalm 118:24).
He also included three viewpoints held by the Apostle Paul that enabled him to endure the burdens he did: Paul had an eternal perspective (Romans 8:18), a practical perspective (2 Corinthians 12:10), and a sacrificial perspective (Philippians 1:12).
The message was Scripture-based and very well-constructed, then topped off with the pastor’s personal story about when he was about two years old having gotten his young hands on a bottle of prescription medication and taking them all. He was in a coma for a time and was given a 1-in-500-million chance of surviving, which he obviously did, giving him quite a powerful story to tell.
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