Week 25 - Church on the Rock

We visited Church on the Rock this week. This is another church we’ve passed by for years and we’ve also watched them grow during that time. We were greeted warmly and immediately recognized as visitors. We were then directed to the new visitor greeter who was very nice and introduced us to their church and just made us feel welcome. After we sat down, we were approached by several people who introduced themselves and took the time to visit with us and find out some things about us. I have to say it was the most interest a church has shown in visitors of anywhere we have attended so far. They have two services and we attended the early one. It was very full and a big mix of people and ages. They are set up in much the same way as the other non-denominational churches, with a large worship group including the standard instruments as well as some winds and strings. The worship was lively and most members danced, sang, raised hands and were very expressive in their worship. This church is very focused on evangelizing the state of Oklahoma. It seems they see Oklahoma as a missions field in much the same way we tend to see foreign countries. They call their pastor “apostle” which was interesting. I would be curious to know more about that. The sermon was very interesting and entertaining and we really enjoyed listening to “apostle John.” The handout was filled with scripture and he incorporated a lot of scripture into the sermon on “How to Live a Happy Life.” One of the ways he emphasized for living a happy life was “praying in tongues.” Not “speaking in tongues”, but “praying in tongues.” They very much see this as an important element of their identity as Christians. His explanation about tongues was not what I expected. He said it was the way we pray through the Holy Spirit when we don’t know what to pray. I’ve never heard that viewpoint before so that was definitely something new to think about. There was a lot of congregational reading/repeating during the sermon, including a rather loud session of congregational speaking in tongues. If anyone was looking around, I’m guessing we really stood out as visitors! I’m still not why that makes me a little uncomfortable, but God definitely had something for us to experience this morning! After all, that’s what this journey is all about.