Wonderful Visit to Orchardville

This morning we had the chance to visit Orchardville Community Church. Orchardville is a rather small community nestled in Wayne County. Over the past 10 years this church has exploded in growth. The last time I was there the church attendance was probably less that 100. They now have a sanctuary which seats over 500, and it looked full to me!

The amazing church growth that has occurred here should be studied. I’m rather sure there are a number of factors that have contributed to this growth, one of which being their tape ministry. Before we began our search for a new church, this was something that I really had a heart for. Although it failed rather miserably for me, it is nice to see a place where it has succeeded. I have also been told this church placed a strong emphasis on prayer prior to their growth. One can assume they do still.

Okay, so what did we think? Well, first of all, we got to the church early, but quickly found a friend who showed us around. We were offered coffee from the coffee bar, and introduced to several people. We were shown the nursery, and introduced to the nursery staff. There were forms to fill out asking if it was okay to give Cassidy food, and whether or not she had any allergies. Cassidy did not want to stay in the nursery, but later on did go to children’s church. At this time, Amy was given a pager to notify us if Cassidy became distressed. This is a great idea! We also read in the bulletin that parents were asked to remove their children if they became noisy. It has been my experience that many parents don’t know to do this.

We attended a Sunday School class for new people, where the lesson focused on the church beliefs. We were informed about baptisms, communion, and general church practices. We had the opportunity to ask the pastor questions about the church. The class lasts for three weeks, and then repeats with a new group. The room was packed! This is yet another great idea for a growing church.

After Sunday School, we went into the sanctuary where we enjoyed a wonderful worship service. The music was good, and very professional. After the music, the pastor delivered a good sermon. It challenged me to want to be a better person, and was very encouraging to Amy as well. Alter time was given for people to pray, and special prayer was given for the people in the path of Hurricane Katrina.

All in all we had a very good experience. Visiting a church this large can often cause one to feel lost in the crowd. However, our friends helped us to feel welcome, and even invited us to lunch afterwards.

Trying to Decide

Well, today is Friday, and we are debating on where to go Sunday. We have both had time to think about Church of the Harvest, and we both would really like to visit there again. However, we have not yet visited Orchardville yet. My good friend there has had quite a week, and I'm not sure if this would be a good week or not. Either way, Lord willing, we will visit Orchardville this week or next week.

On a side note, I (Ryan) am thinking about getting back to playing bass guitar. I sold my amp, so if anyone knows of a good amp that is for sale, please let me know.

Leaves and Bugs!

Well, my niece and nephew are making thier Fall collections. If anyone else wants to know about leaves and bugs, go to these sites! Have fun Josh and Mallory!

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Church of the Harvest—A Definite Possibility

Today we attended Church of the Harvest in Wayne City. Everything started off a little frustrating. We got to the church about 9:45am. The local paper said the service started at 10:00am. Not wanting to be too early, we drove through town for a while to kill time before going in. When we got inside we realized that the worship service did not start until 10:30am, so we were still a half hour early. We then decided to drive to the gas station, drive around more, etc. to kill even more time. Finally, when we arrived we discovered that our friend who we thought would be preaching was not going to preach.

But after a rough start, everything went very well. Everyone greeted us kindly, and seemed glad that we were there. Cassidy stayed in the nursery the entire time, and the pastor’s message was really good. One word can describe the worship service—AWESOME. The songs ministered to us, and the music was done with skill and excellence. The excitement in the room was contagious as people clapped and raised their hands to the Lord. A general atmosphere of sincerity filled the room, and we really felt welcome there and at home to worship. In Amy’s words, it was, “really great.”

After the service, people came up to us, shook our hands, and asked us to come back. People liked Cassidy, and there are other children there her age.

Some of the additional aspects we liked about this church are that several people there have recently committed their lives to the Lord. Also, a lot was said about needing to build in the future (that could be exciting). Finally, we were both glad that people dress semi-casual. This means we will not feel like we have to go buy expensive clothes to go to church there.

All in all, it was our first good experience at visiting churches.

Watched Joel Osteen

Well, today we did not attend church. We certainly don’t want to get into the habit of doing this, but I (Ryan) had to work up at the high school in preparation for the upcoming school year—school starts on Tuesday. Actually, I finished up painting my classroom. I figured that most teachers don’t do that, but when I got home tonight I stopped by McClellan School to deal with an issue (for those of you who don’t know I serve as school board president there), and there was a teacher in her room painting. Wow, what dedication I thought!

Anyway, Joel Osteen is the pastor of the largest and fastest growing congregation in America. I have been following his ministry for quite a while now, and I truly believe they have it figured out down there. Click HERE To see the website.

If you have a fast connection (which we do at the school), you can watch the service live over the net. It was really cool, not to mention very inspiring.

We do not plan to do this every Sunday, but perhaps it will help to fill the gap when we need a break from our search. Next Sunday it is off to Church of the Harvest!

More Pictures From Vacation

Change of Plans

Okay, we were planning to attend Orchardville Church this Sunday, but we are now thinking about not visiting there yet. My good friend there may have the Chicken Pox, and I want to visit on a Sunday when all can be just right. This is also the weekend before school starts, which means my time is totally consumed with school preparation. Next week we have been invited to visit Church of the Harvest, where another old friend of mine will be speaking. I would really like to hear him, so we will probably go that Sunday. That means we are looking at Sunday the 27^th for Orchardville. But who knows, we may wake up Sunday morning and say, “Let’s go somewhere.” Sometimes the un-planned things are the best things in life.

Done with the Workshop

Just finished four days of a workshop at Rend Lake. I have to say that it was absolutely the most boring time I have spent in a while. However, we did get paid a nice little stipend for it, so I guess it was worth it. We spent two days working on determining trends in PSAE scores. About all we discovered was that if you are poor, your test scores are a lot less than if you are not poor. I guess the moral of that story is, “don’t be poor?” Most likely it means that PSAE tests are not a top priority for people of low income, which makes sense. The next two days were spent watching “good” teachers teach with a method called “Engaged Learning.” The best segment was when we got to watch the students get into the water to simulate the building of a satellite in space. I’m sure I’ll be able to do this lesson at Mt. Vernon High School (sorry, a little sarcasm). Anyway, it’s finally done and over. Just in time--school starts next week.

Picture of Us

Since I cannot seem to get a picture of us on our profile, I thought I would take one and post it here. It is a really bad picture, but it was taken on the spare of the moment, simply holding the camera out in front of us. Oh well, this is us!

Nazarene Church

This morning we visited the Nazarene Church. We felt very welcome, and everyone seemed nice. However, once again we left with the strong sensation that this is totally NOT the church we are to attend. Sometimes I just wish that God would show us before we visited so that we did not have to go through everything. Believe it or not, visiting churches can cause a fair amount of anxiety.

For the first time, we are now both entertaining the possibility of going back to (or should I say, “staying at”) the church we were at before we began this journey. The biggest problem is that we are not happy there. Unfortunately, we’re beginning to think that we are not going to be happy anywhere. Maybe we are trying to find the “perfect” church, and maybe that just simply does not exist.

Here are our options at this point:

1. Keep looking for the church we feel at home at, even if that means driving a long way.
2. Go back to the first church.
3. Forget the whole thing, stay at home and watch Joel Osteen, and wait for God to bring something our way.

Honestly, we have absolutely no idea what to do, and we are getting very frustrated.

The Plan

Well, this coming Sunday we plan to attend Faith Church of the Nazarene. I have really high hopes for this church. The pastor called and left a message while we were gone on vacation. My biggest concern is that the church is really small in number. But, as long as there are a few people there that we can connect with, it will be okay. After we visit this church, we plan to visit Orchardville. We are almost certain we will like Orchardville, but the drive is really long. We know several people who go there, and I’ve heard they have a lot of children's ministries. We need to be involved at whatever church we go to, and that drive might make that extremely difficult. Not really sure what to do after that.

The Dream

One night on vacation, I had a really strange dream. In the dream we were at a non-Pentecostal church and were about to take communion. When the elements arrived, I ate the bread, and went to take the wine. However, there was no wine in the cup. Then, a really angry man came in and said to me, “Whatever you do, don’t go to another Pentecostal church!” What in the world does this mean? Hmmm, maybe too much seafood.

On Vacation

We did not attend any church this past Sunday. We were on the road to beautiful Seagrove Beach, Florida (very close to Destin). A few years ago we stayed at the same place with two friends of ours. It was a good trip then, and this was no different. If anyone is interested, the place we stayed at was called Hidden Beach Villas. The little condos were really nice, and the price was good (about $75 dollars a night). No major problems, and Cassidy did very well riding for that long. It was nice to get away for a few days!