I Like to go to Church

For 45 years, I regularly attended a traditional Baptist church near the home I grew up in. I saw the church grow from a weekly attendance of 100 per week to over 800. I then saw the church torn apart by dissent and turmoil with attendance reduced back to 200 per week. I saw great pastoral leadership and not so great, but after the 45 years in nearly the same back row pew, Terri and I left that church. We left to spite no one. We were just tired of the continuous in-fighting among the congregation that resulted in the resignation of a head pastor, the calling of a new pastor, and eventually a second resignation. Search committees can take months if not years to make a call, and we were not ready to spend that much time with yet another interim pastor. So we began our search for a new church home.

Our first stop was Colonial Presbyterian church. We were instantly attracted to the less formal worship and the friendliness of the congregation. The church was less than 15 minutes from our home, so we thought that this could be our new church home. The largest concern was the denomination. Presbyterians can be very liberal, so investigation of the local doctrine was needed. Terri and I went through their new member class and all of our questions were answered, so we joined. The pastor at that time was very direct in answering our liberal concern. His response was that a conservative voice within the denomination was far more effective that one on the outside. He had a point.

Almost immediately after joining, the head pastor announced that he was leaving so we were back to the same predicament. Did we want to wait for a new pastor, or should be continue our search? The decision was made for us when we decided to move from Overland Park to Basehor. Colonial was too far from our new home to be considered a home church, so our search was on again. We visited Methodist Churches, non-denominational churches, and Baptist churches. None seemed to feel right.

We have always avoided mega-churches. A few years before we had visited a particularly large mega-church in Overland Park and found the services to be dramatically orchestrated, and the pastor to be a stereotypical TV Evangelist personality - saving souls and raising money. His message could be summed up each week as "I need more money to save more souls". Financial governance in that church rested solely with the Pastor. Rumors started in the local newspaper surrounding how the money was being handled. The Pastor did not open up the books for scrutiny, so we stopped visiting. The Mega-church is still a Mega-church, however the reputation of the leadership has become somewhat soiled for their lack of transparency.

So Terri and I were reluctant to expand our search to other local mega-churches. Westside Family Church is definitely a mega-church with 3 locations in our area, a fourth in the Lansing Correctional Center (prison) and a presence in 3 countries - Thailand, South Africa and India. The closest services to our home was held in the Legends 14 movie theatre just a few minutes away. We started attending even though the church did not have a lead pastor. In fact, they were in recovery over an incident involving the last lead pastor and a woman at the church. At first, this church did not seem to be a great fit for us.

The setting was ... well ... comfortable. The high back leather seating of a movie theatre beats any church pew. The dress code for services was whatever you had on. Shorts, t-shirts, flip flops, or business casual - someone in attendance was wearing it. The music is what surprised us the most. At all locations, a live band led the worship. Electric guitar is featured, and decibel level is high. What a culture shock for a traditional Baptist. Services on some morning seems more like a concert atmosphere than church.

Well, this Baptist is converted. I fully believe that worship is an attitude and not a habitual routine. Suits, ties and dresses are simply tradition and not requirements. The church has since called a lead teaching pastor and he is the best I have ever listened to. His messages are not new to me. I have heard them scores of times. What is different is his delivery and tips. He does not use guilt to make points and he does not have weekly altar calls.

We all know our behaviors we want to change. The messages I hear each week provide very helpful tips on how to spot the behaviors, and how to change them. The tips are usually associating events or occurrences to behaviors. Once you recognize the bad behavior, you can immediately attempt to change it. This is the first church I have attended that has broken the mold for worship and teaching in a way that is truly effective for me. Interested? Check Westside out. Past sermons also are available online. Let me know what you think.