Week 9 - Life Church

Today we set out for Life Church, Edmond campus. We were really intrigued by this church because we had heard that the sermon is televised to multiple campuses and there is no “in-house” preacher. Everyone in their community of churches hears the same message from the same preacher each week. Each campus also has a “site” minister that leads everything, encourages, prays, etc., but the actual sermon is televised. There are 4 services, one on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. There is also a multitude of other activities going on here. The auditorium has “movie theatre” style seats, complete with cup holders. Coming from a church that discourages food and drink in the auditorium, we thought this was fun and fit the casual atmosphere. But these people were certainly not worshipping casually. The worship was enthusiastic and energetic, complete with a band led by a fabulous singer. A young couple with a baby turned around and enthusiastically greeted us and welcomed us there. They asked if we had been coming to Life Church long and we told them it was our first visit. Turns out it was only their 3rd visit. They already felt at home there. The sermon was entitled “Once Upon a Marriage.” While marriage was certainly discussed, the bottom line of the lesson was we will have trouble (in our marriages, with our kids, our jobs, just in life) and we will walk through the “valley of Achor (trouble).” There is no way to avoid it. But, at the end of that walk is always a door of hope. In a time when running away from trouble and looking for something better than what we have, is the message of society, his message was to stick it out. Let God provide the solution. Interestingly enough, he invited audience participation and talked as though he was standing right in front of us. What I learned today is God is not bound by conventional methods to speak to his people.

Week 8 - Edmond's First Baptist Church

Our good friends Mike and Janet were kind enough to save us a seat and show us around their church home this week. First Baptist members were already grabbing hold of us and showering us with love and attention before we ever found Mike and Janet. The worship, complete with a fabulous choir and band, was filled with familiar songs. It’s amazing to see how worship and the music God inspires has crossed all denominations that we’ve visited so far. Once again, a meaningful sermon delivered a distinctly personal message that made it clear that God is directing us each week. There is no where we can go that He doesn’t have something to show us. Pastor Day said every sermon is designed for me. I believe him. First of all, the title of the sermon was “My Heart, God’s Home.” This just happens to be the title of a very special drawing we own given to us by a close friend who is an architect (thanks Larry Schwab!) In his drawing, made to look like a real floor plan, Larry carefully planned out all of the rooms of our heart as if God lived there. A blueprint for the heart if you will. After all these years, that generous gift is still speaking to us in ways we never would have guessed. Second, we were reminded and convicted to make our hearts a suitable place for God to reside. He wants to move in and bless us, we just have to invite Him in and prepare as if He’s an honored guest and not an afterthought. Imagine what God could do with and through us if we could do that. I think I’ll be doing some “house cleaning” this week.

Week 6 – Stillwater Church of Christ

Today we visited Danae at her college church in Stillwater. The people were extremely friendly and it was very reassuring to hear other adults there tell us how much they love our daughter. We could be a little jealous, but we are grateful. We want her to be loved and taken care of while she is away from home. It was also nice to see some of the kids she grew up going to school with there. At a time when a lot of kids lose interest in church their freshman year of college, these kids have all chosen to be involved in a church of their own. We were also very excited to meet the group of “young adults” (we can’t really call them kids!) who are going with Danae on the mission trip to Africa this summer. These young people have become fast friends and will be travelling halfway around the world to share their faith. They are doing this without the benefit of chaperones or other adults as in the days of high school trips, but completely on their own. Yes, that makes us a little nervous but we couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them. We will take any and all prayers for their safety we can get! A couple of the guys in the group led the communion portion of the worship. It was really nice to see the way these college students were given prominent rolls to play and also to see the maturity of their faith as they led. There were no bells and whistles at this church. It was traditional church of Christ and all that goes with that. What God showed us today is that a very important aspect of church life is relationships. Danae didn’t choose this place because it was a church of Christ. She didn’t choose it because of the preacher, the worship style or the ministries. She is there because of the unconditional love and acceptance that was extended to her when she arrived at college. We learned that finding a place where we can be involved and develop great relationships is very important, but also that we must extend that same unconditional love to everyone we encounter and love them into the family of God the way these kids loved our daughter into this congregation.