#2 First Baptist

We succeeded in making it to First Baptist of Springfield second time around. Once again this was not a brand new destination for me, I went to Preschool there. When walking through the halls I could still vividly here the voices of my teachers thirteen years ago. "Now Sally Grace, that didn't really happen did it? Having a big imagination is a blessing, but you MUST stop making things up!" "SALLY GRACE GET DOWN FROM THERE" "Did we say you could leave the line to go talk to the stranger? No." And on and on.

Rachel and I walked into the room before the sanctuary, the foyer? There were old men in suits handing out programs, and equally old and fancy people slowly shuffling through doors with organ music drifting out. Standing there in skinny jeans, converse, and a Beatles shirt, i nearly keeled over with a spaz attack. Thankfully a man then asked us if we were looking for the contemporary service. I guess we looked as out of place as I felt. We were directed to the other end of the church, and I was subjected to more haunts from my preschool past, if i may be so dramatic.

The atmosphere in the contemporary service room was very different. I believe it doubled as the church gym, though it seemed awfully small for one. There were about 30 people all sitting on folding chairs the color of goose poop. The pastor did not stand on any sort of stage/podium. He simply stood in front of everyone and spoke, I don't recall a microphone.

The fact that there was nothing high tech was sweetly quaint, however it made it very hard to pay attention. I would realize that I was engrossed in watching a child see how many Cheerios he could fit in his belly button and had no idea what the pastor had just said. As Rachel pointed out, there were no slides to help you stay on track. No main points. I'm not sure what this says about this generations attention span, or lack there of, but it is what it is.

Luckily the sermon itself was very basic and easy to follow. Rachel and I both agreed it was good a thing, having the core and basis of the Christian belief re-presented now and again. It was refreshing.

Mary Poppins/Rachel had paper and pens in her purse, so I was able to scribble down thoughts for later instead of constantly and rudely whispering her ear off. Looking back at my notes from the message, it appears I attempted to write down what being a Christian is all about, what it means to have a relationship with God, though I was simply jotting down the pastors main points. I realize now this pastor did an excellent job in getting across many important ideas, presenting them in an easy to perceive, conversational sort of way. My crinkled piece of papers scrawlings include: "Not all that happens is good, but God can make something good come out of all." "Faith is always trusting. God will always give us what we need the most." "Romans 8" and my favorite "Information and knowledge never enough. Need something to grip our heart. Touch our soul. A relationship with God is personal." The message ended with "Renew or Commit" as I have written. After that I write "Basic? Hmm" Yes it was basic, but without a strong foundation the rest wont hold up for long, right?

As I pondered this, the importance of the basics constantly being re-enforced was made considerably more evident when a little boy about 8 went up to the pastor, accompanied by his mother. He spoke to the pastor for a moment and they prayed, then the pastor proceeded to ask for the attention of the room and announced the kiddos decision to accept Christ into his heart. He asked that everyone come and welcome Jacob into the family of Christ. On the projector we noticed a verse suddenly up there, talking about "The God of Jacob." Coincidence? I don't know, but either way it was pretty darn awesome.

Rachel and I both observed the seemingly lack of excitement towards visitors. They weren't rude or anything. But it was a very small group and we felt as if they were all eyeing us, the new faces. However nobody said hello or anything. Personally id rather have it be that way then be asked to stand up or raise my hand or whatever. *shivers*